World War II Honoree

Kenneth H. Wilcoxson

Branch of Service

U.S. Navy

Hometown

Kermit, Texas

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Seaman Second Class. He was inducted into the United States Navy April 29, 1943 from Texas, with recruit training at the U.S. Naval Training Station San Diego, California. Upon his graduation from boot camp, he was transferred to the USS Liscome Bay Escort Aircraft Carrier, CVE-56 for duty as an on-the-job trainee, in the Pacific Theater of Operations. On November 19, 1943 the Carrier and her shipmates, along with an armada of U.S. Battleships, Destroyers, Cruisers and other Warships were off-shore of Makin Atoll in support of the impending invasion of Tarawa, Code Name: Operation Galvanic. Reported missing in action, lost at sea Wednesday, November 24, 1943 when the seagoing airbase was struck by a spread of torpedoes fired from an Imperial Japanese submarine. The enemy warheads hit the carrier on her starboard side, causing an explosion in the bomb magazine storage areas. Later his missing in action status was amended to read, killed in action November 25, 1944. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the Honolulu National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, ‘Punchbowl’ Hawaii. In his Memory and Honor, a cenotaph memorial has been placed at the Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster, Texas. This American Patriot was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.