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Uniforms of Bill Herron- WW2 USN and USS Pitt vet


NDTMilitaria
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NDTMilitaria

Being from the small town of Auburn, Illinois, finding local items is difficult. But in 1940, when our town population was less than 2,000 people, around 400 men dedicated themselves to service. 16 didnt come home. These are the uniforms of local Auburn WW2 vet William B Herron, who lived just 2 miles from me. He graduated from my high school in the class of 1944, was drafted shortly after, and was then in the US Navy. In December of 1944 he proudly joined the crew of the attack transport ship, the USS Pitt. The Putt joined 600 other ships in February of 1945 for the invasion of Okinawa where she unloaded her ammunition cargo, as well as Guam. After the battle and other service, the ship became a receiving ship to hundreds of wounded sailors from kamikaze attacks on other ships. The ship took many wounded back to San Francisco, and then began operations with Magic Carpet, bringing home thousands of men from Saipan, Tinian, Manila, and POWs on mainland Japan. The ship participated in China service in the post war, and the occupation of Okinawa before being decommissioned in 1947. William would serve in the Navy 3 years and 10 months from 44-47, where he came home and raised a family and spent the rest of his life and raised a family here in his and my hometown. I found it recently that as a kid, at the Veterans Day events our school would do, he was there, and I met him as a very young kid! He died in 2007 when I was in middle school and to young to have ever really understand the relevance of meeting him. Its a great honor to preserve the story of a local hero

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NDTMilitaria

Sorry, I dont know why the pictures are flipped, it wasnt like that at first. Heres his other uniform, and his coat, all with his name

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NDTMilitaria

His awards from service. Again unsure why pictures are flipping on their sides, but sorry for the inconvenience, as Im unsure how to fix it

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