The following was provided by Contributor Catherine Haynes, a Central FL veterans advocate (47584026):
Robert enlisted in the US Navy on 24 Aug 1942 out of Chicago, Ill. even though his family lived in Ocoee, Orange Co., Florida. He appears on the muster of the USS Emmons (DD457, DMS22) on 7 Feb 1943. The ship served in the North Atlantic and then further south and later participated in D-Day activities. The USS Emmons and other fire support destroyers at Omaha closed the beach and blasted any identifiable enemy targets from one to three thousand yards offshore.
The USS Emmons was later refitted in November and December 1944 in Boston and converted to a Mine Sweeper. Her hull number became DMS22 and was sent to Pearl Harbor. After intensive training and joining other ships, sweeping operations for the Okinawa assault began around Kerama Retto on March 24th.
On April 6, 1945, The USS Emmons, USS Rodman, and others began clearance sweeps between Ie Shima and the northwest tip of Okinawa. Japan, in desperation, opened the most massive suicide attacks of the entire war on the ships off of Okinawa. Altogether some 355 suicide missions were launched against the fleet. Despite defensive actions by American planes and the ships guns, five kamakazes managed to hit the USS Emmons.
After efforts to salvage the ship, the order was finally given to abandon it. Of the 272 persons on board, 57 were killed or missing. Radioman Robert Day was one of them. His body was not recovered.
The USS Emmons was the last naval fighting ship to be commissioned before the United States officially entered World War II and was sunk by Kamakazes off Okinawa, April 6, 1945, four months before the surrender of the war.
RM2 Robert L. Day's brother, Army TEC5 Charles W. Day, was killed while in North Africa in June 1943.
Source: "Billingsley's History of the Emmons", by Edward Baxter Billingsley, one of the four commanding officers of the USS Emmons. USS Emmons Association.
(Researched by C. Haynes, Central Florida veterans advocate; 8 Sept 2022)
Robert enlisted in the US Navy on 24 Aug 1942 out of Chicago, Ill. even though his family lived in Ocoee, Orange Co., Florida. He appears on the muster of the USS Emmons (DD457, DMS22) on 7 Feb 1943. The ship served in the North Atlantic and then further south and later participated in D-Day activities. The USS Emmons and other fire support destroyers at Omaha closed the beach and blasted any identifiable enemy targets from one to three thousand yards offshore.
The USS Emmons was later refitted in November and December 1944 in Boston and converted to a Mine Sweeper. Her hull number became DMS22 and was sent to Pearl Harbor. After intensive training and joining other ships, sweeping operations for the Okinawa assault began around Kerama Retto on March 24th.
On April 6, 1945, The USS Emmons, USS Rodman, and others began clearance sweeps between Ie Shima and the northwest tip of Okinawa. Japan, in desperation, opened the most massive suicide attacks of the entire war on the ships off of Okinawa. Altogether some 355 suicide missions were launched against the fleet. Despite defensive actions by American planes and the ships guns, five kamakazes managed to hit the USS Emmons.
After efforts to salvage the ship, the order was finally given to abandon it. Of the 272 persons on board, 57 were killed or missing. Radioman Robert Day was one of them. His body was not recovered.
The USS Emmons was the last naval fighting ship to be commissioned before the United States officially entered World War II and was sunk by Kamakazes off Okinawa, April 6, 1945, four months before the surrender of the war.
RM2 Robert L. Day's brother, Army TEC5 Charles W. Day, was killed while in North Africa in June 1943.
Source: "Billingsley's History of the Emmons", by Edward Baxter Billingsley, one of the four commanding officers of the USS Emmons. USS Emmons Association.
(Researched by C. Haynes, Central Florida veterans advocate; 8 Sept 2022)
The following was provided by Contributor Catherine Haynes, a Central FL veterans advocate (47584026):
Robert enlisted in the US Navy on 24 Aug 1942 out of Chicago, Ill. even though his family lived in Ocoee, Orange Co., Florida. He appears on the muster of the USS Emmons (DD457, DMS22) on 7 Feb 1943. The ship served in the North Atlantic and then further south and later participated in D-Day activities. The USS Emmons and other fire support destroyers at Omaha closed the beach and blasted any identifiable enemy targets from one to three thousand yards offshore.
The USS Emmons was later refitted in November and December 1944 in Boston and converted to a Mine Sweeper. Her hull number became DMS22 and was sent to Pearl Harbor. After intensive training and joining other ships, sweeping operations for the Okinawa assault began around Kerama Retto on March 24th.
On April 6, 1945, The USS Emmons, USS Rodman, and others began clearance sweeps between Ie Shima and the northwest tip of Okinawa. Japan, in desperation, opened the most massive suicide attacks of the entire war on the ships off of Okinawa. Altogether some 355 suicide missions were launched against the fleet. Despite defensive actions by American planes and the ships guns, five kamakazes managed to hit the USS Emmons.
After efforts to salvage the ship, the order was finally given to abandon it. Of the 272 persons on board, 57 were killed or missing. Radioman Robert Day was one of them. His body was not recovered.
The USS Emmons was the last naval fighting ship to be commissioned before the United States officially entered World War II and was sunk by Kamakazes off Okinawa, April 6, 1945, four months before the surrender of the war.
RM2 Robert L. Day's brother, Army TEC5 Charles W. Day, was killed while in North Africa in June 1943.
Source: "Billingsley's History of the Emmons", by Edward Baxter Billingsley, one of the four commanding officers of the USS Emmons. USS Emmons Association.
(Researched by C. Haynes, Central Florida veterans advocate; 8 Sept 2022)
Robert enlisted in the US Navy on 24 Aug 1942 out of Chicago, Ill. even though his family lived in Ocoee, Orange Co., Florida. He appears on the muster of the USS Emmons (DD457, DMS22) on 7 Feb 1943. The ship served in the North Atlantic and then further south and later participated in D-Day activities. The USS Emmons and other fire support destroyers at Omaha closed the beach and blasted any identifiable enemy targets from one to three thousand yards offshore.
The USS Emmons was later refitted in November and December 1944 in Boston and converted to a Mine Sweeper. Her hull number became DMS22 and was sent to Pearl Harbor. After intensive training and joining other ships, sweeping operations for the Okinawa assault began around Kerama Retto on March 24th.
On April 6, 1945, The USS Emmons, USS Rodman, and others began clearance sweeps between Ie Shima and the northwest tip of Okinawa. Japan, in desperation, opened the most massive suicide attacks of the entire war on the ships off of Okinawa. Altogether some 355 suicide missions were launched against the fleet. Despite defensive actions by American planes and the ships guns, five kamakazes managed to hit the USS Emmons.
After efforts to salvage the ship, the order was finally given to abandon it. Of the 272 persons on board, 57 were killed or missing. Radioman Robert Day was one of them. His body was not recovered.
The USS Emmons was the last naval fighting ship to be commissioned before the United States officially entered World War II and was sunk by Kamakazes off Okinawa, April 6, 1945, four months before the surrender of the war.
RM2 Robert L. Day's brother, Army TEC5 Charles W. Day, was killed while in North Africa in June 1943.
Source: "Billingsley's History of the Emmons", by Edward Baxter Billingsley, one of the four commanding officers of the USS Emmons. USS Emmons Association.
(Researched by C. Haynes, Central Florida veterans advocate; 8 Sept 2022)
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Entered the service from Illinois.
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