Lloyd J. Ethier, USS Bunker Hill

[tdogchristy90]

Lloyd Joseph Ethier was born on September 14, 1926 in St. Paul, Minnesota to Stephen and Cecelia Ethier. He graduated from Monroe High School and enjoyed hunting, model planes, and football. As a way to make some money he worked as a stock clerk for a grocery store in St. Paul. At the age of Seventeen, on August 26, 1944, Ethier enlisted for his preferred service with the United State Navy.

 

Ethier enlisted into the United States Navy Reserves, V-6, for a two year enlistment as an Apprentice Seaman. He was later released but was then recalled to active duty on October 7, 1944, training at the United States Navy Training Center in Great Lakes, Illinois. In December he completed recruit training and was made a Seaman Second Class before being sent to California, where on January 23, 1945, he was received aboard the Essex-Class aircraft carrier, USS Bunker Hill.

 

Following 58 consecutive days of flying sorties against the Japanese at such places as Tokyo, Iwo Jima, and Kyushu, the USS Bunker Hill sat off the coast of Okinawa in support of combat operations on the island. On May 11, 1945, the USS Bunker Hill would face it’s toughest fight of the war, not in a pitched battle fighting for an island, but against individual Kamikaze pilots and their unique threat of mayhem and destruction. 

 

It was on May 11, 1945, around 10am, that a Japanese pilot managed to evade naval radar and flew over the Bunker Hill, releasing a 550lb bomb on the flight deck, penetrating the carrier through the hangar deck before exiting the ship and exploding out over the ocean. The pilot himself smashed into planes on the flight deck that were being prepared for takeoff, setting off explosions that started a chain reaction.

 

A second Kamikaze pilot dropped a similar 550lb bomb which tore through the hangar deck and ready room, killing those pilots who were preparing to load into the planes just destroyed on the flight deck above. The second Kamikaze pilot then smashed his plane near the island, the command center for the aircraft carrier, killing personnel in the ship’s flag office.

 

A third kamikaze also tried to target the USS Bunker Hill but was shot down just in time. Damage control crews then set about the work of saving the ship while those stationed at their guns kept an eye out for additional kamikazes. Personnel below deck worked to keep the boilers and engines running, the lights on, and tried to help out as best they could. One of these was Seaman Second Class Lloyd Joseph Ethier.

 

One of the design flaws of the Bunker Hill and a cause of much suffering was that the air vents that supplied fresh air below deck were centrally located so that if the vents were compromised there was no other way to get fresh air to the men serving within the bowels of the aircraft carrier. The fires and smoke caused by the kamikaze attacks were sucked through these vents given their proximity to the point of impact of the kamikaze planes. The smoke, filled with all sorts of toxins such as lead, copper, petroleum, steel, hydraulic fluid, and diesel, created a dangerous mix that was sucked into the ventilation system and pumped into the work compartments below deck. 

 

Roughly twelve hours after the kamikaze attack, the USS Bunker Hill was declared secure enough for those in the engine and boiler rooms, trying to keep the ship running, to be relieved. While it was uncertain if the aircraft carrier could be saved, the USS Bunker Hill was able to steam back to Pearl Harbor under its own power. The Kamikaze attack on the Bunker Hill killed 393 of the ship’s personnel and wounded over 200 more. Among them was Seaman Second Class Lloyd Joseph Ethier who died of smoke inhalation caused by the dual Kamikaze attacks on the USS Bunker Hill on the morning of May 11, 1945.

 

Lloyd Joseph Ethier was 18 years old when killed aboard the USS Bunker Hill. He was buried at sea the day following the attack.

…

[tdogchristy90]

Thanks guys. I bought this a few years ago and thought I’d post the story to end out the year. Merry Christmas all! 

[danimal03]

Nice write up.  Thank you for sharing!