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BROWN spending time searching
for
USS Stokes history
By Meghan Cooke
Staff Intern
SANDY RIDGE --- Pulling in to Ken
Brown’s driveway in Sandy Ridge, there is no doubt that a proud
veteran lives in this home. A sign hangs from his mailbox reading
“USN” with an anchor below it and “The Browns” written across the
bottom. A painted wooden ship sits just behind the mailbox and a
small American flag waves off the top of the post as cars pass by.
Brown, a Navy retiree, is not only
a proud veteran, but also a researcher of local history. One of his
projects includes researching the USS Stokes, an attack cargo ship
that was named after Stokes County and sailed to Iwo Jima during
WWII.
“That’s really something,” Brown
said. “It’s a great honor to have a ship named after our county.”
Brown retired from the Navy as a
senior chief petty officer in 1977, but his military career actually
began in the Air Force in 1954. It was during a voyage to England
during his service in the Air Force that he fell in love with the
Navy. When his time commitment with the Air Force was up, he quickly
joined the Navy. His love for the Navy has not since faltered.
“He’s got sea water in his blood,”
his wife Margo said with a grin. “He has to make a trip to Norfolk
every few years to smell the salt water.”
Brown’s exploration into the
history of the USS Stokes began in the early 1990s as he searched
through old copies of the Danbury Reporter in the Danbury Public
Library. He was simply doing some research on family genealogy when
he stumbled on an article from 1944 about Stokes County
commissioners traveling to Wilmington to see the commissioning of
the USS Stokes. He had no idea there was a ship named after Stokes
County. His discovery that day led him on a research journey that
continues even now.
The USS Stokes (AKA-68) was built
and commissioned in Wilmington, N.C. in 1944. It set sail for Pearl
Harbor on December 11, 1944, the third anniversary of Italy and
Germany’s declaration of war on the United States.
Once it reached the Pacific, the
ship received orders to begin loading supplies and transporting
Marines as preparations were made for the invasion of Iwo Jima.
The USS Stokes reached Iwo Jima on
February 19, 1946, according to naval records. Transporting the
Marines to the island and supplying them with ammunition and other
supplies over the course of two weeks of the battle, the Stokes was
anchored a few hundred yards out as the brutal combat ensued. The
ship also carried the wounded to a base hospital in Saipan, an
island to the south of Iwo Jima.
James Kyger, of Troup, Texas, was
a gunner’s mate aboard the USS Stokes, which he described as a “big
bulky thing.” Sailing with the ship from the time of its commission
and throughout the war, Kyger’s job was to keep the guns in working
condition. He said that the Stokes was never hit, but there were a
few close calls. He recalled a time when a Japanese aircraft came
over the treetops as the ship sat offshore near Okinawa. Gunners
aboard the Stokes raced to their stations.
“I would have hated for that
Kamikaze to hit the Stokes,” he said and then described how the
gunners opened a barrage of fire and fortunately, the aircraft
veered away.
The ship received two battle stars
for its service during WWII. It was decommissioned on July 9, 1946.
Because the end of the war decreased the need for such ships, Brown
said the Stokes was sold to two companies and was eventually
scrapped in the 1970s.
Brown has spent years researching
the USS Stokes and collecting photos and stories from aboard the
ship. By putting notices in military magazines that he was searching
for veterans who served on the Stokes, Brown managed to contact
seven former crew members, but with WWII veterans dying at a rate of
approximately 1,200 per day, it has become increasingly difficult to
establish contact with others.
Brown said transport ships were
commissioned as the need for them increased during WWII and they
were named after different counties across the U.S. According to
another 1944 article from the Wilmington Morning Star, the USS
Stokes was the second ship of its kind to be named after a North
Carolina county.
Although having a ship named after
the county is a great honor, most people are unaware of the vessel
and its significance. Brown said that its short commissioning of
only two years may be the reason for people’s unfamiliarity with the
ship. But, Brown said, he would like to make the information
available to those whose interest is peaked by the ship’s history.
Brown gave all the information he
has gathered so far about the USS Stokes to the Danbury Public
Library. He also created a website about the ship.
Kyger said that he has the flag
that flew over the USS Stokes during its stay at Iwo Jima tucked
away in storage. He told Brown that he would find it and send it to
him. Brown plans to have the flag put on display in Danbury.
“We have to keep history alive,
and the spirit of those who are gone, too,” Brown said as he thumbed
through a binder containing photos and letters from crew members who
served aboard the USS Stokes.
Brown’s research is not limited to
the USS Stokes. He has also spent a great deal of time researching
Stokes County veterans who were killed or missing in action.
“It never quits,” he said smiling
as he sat in front of his computer, where he spends a considerable
amount of time doing research. Framed photos of all of the ships
Brown served on and various awards line the walls of the room that
has become his research room.
“He has taken a lot of pride in
the county,” said Margo Brown.
But his wife is not the only one
who has taken notice. Rachel Southard, of Winston-Salem, wrote an
email to Brown thanking him for adding her father to the WWII
registry for the National World War II memorial.
“It takes a very special person to
do something for someone else without asking them to do it,” she
wrote.
You can find out more about the
USS Stokes at Brown’s website, http://kenbrown.info/aka68/.
Note:
This article by Meghan Cooke appeared in a supplement to The
Stokes News, King, North Carolina on Thursday, June 28, 2007. |