Frank Oberfield Strauss
Chief Gunner's Mate Frank Oberfield Strauss was from Camden, NJ. His mother, Mrs. Julia Strauss, lived at 814 North 8th Street, Camden, NJ. He served in both the Atlantic Fleet and Pacific Fleet. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. He died on April 22, 1945, when a kamikaze struck the USS Isherwood (DD-520) off Okinawa. He is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
USS Isherwood (DD-520)
The second Isherwood (DD-520) was launched by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., Staten Island, NY, on November 24, 1942, sponsored by Mrs. A. J. Kerwin, granddaughter of Rear Admiral Isherwood, and commissioned April 12, 1943, at New York Navy Yard, Comdr. R. E. Gadrow in command.
The new destroyer conducted her shakedown training in Casco Bay, Maine, and off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, through April and May. During the next two months she operated with a patrol and escort group out of Argentia, Newfoundland, and on August 5, 1943, departed for England with troop ship Queen Mary. Isherwood arrived Scapa Flow on August 19 to carry out combined operations with the British Home Fleet, including a search toward Spitzbergen for German battleship Tirpitz. Sailing September 14, the destroyer returned to Boston with a convoy on September 29, 1943.
Isherwood was subsequently reassigned to the Pacific, sailing from Boston on November 14 for San Francisco. From there she steamed to Pearl Harbor and sailed December 11 to join Task Force 94 in the Aleutians. For the next eight months, Isherwood carried out antisubmarine sweeps of the cold Alaskan waters. In June she took part in bombardments of the Kurile Islands, finally arriving San Francisco for repairs on August 15, 1944.
Isherwood sailed for Pearl Harbor on August 26, 1944, to take part in the long-awaited invasion of the Philippines, scheduled for October. She arrived Manus on October 4 and steamed into Leyte Gulf with the assault force on October 20, carrying out escort and patrol duties during the first days of the operation. She also provided gunfire support and night illumination fire. Isherwood remained in the assault area during the giant four-part Battle for Leyte Gulf, October 23–26, in which the Japanese surface fleet was all but annihilated. During November the ship escorted convoys from advance bases to the Philippines in support of the buildup there.
The next major invasion of the Philippines campaign was to be at Lingayen Gulf. Isherwood joined Vice Admiral Wilkinson's Lingayen Attack Force at Manus, sailing December 27. During the voyage through the islands from Leyte to Lingayen, the transport groups and carrier task groups were attacked incessantly by kamikazes, but even these desperate attacks could not stop the invasion. Isherwood shot down at least one suicide plane and assisted in splashing others before arriving the assault area on January 9, 1945. She screened a landing craft group during the landing, sailing for Leyte with a returning group on January 11. During the last days of the month, specifically January 29 and 30, the ship returned to Luzon to support the unopposed landings at San Antonio and Subic Bay, as ground units moved on Manila. Isherwood remained in the Philippines providing antisubmarine protection and patrolling until mid-March.
The veteran ship sailed for the Okinawa operation on March 21, 1945, and after her arrival five days later, took part in the landings on Kerama Retto preparatory to the main Okinawa assault. Troops from the main task force stormed ashore April 1 in the biggest amphibious operation of the Pacific war, and two days later Isherwood moved to a position off the beaches for fire support missions. This continued until April 16, when the ship was sent to aid stricken destroyers Pringle and Laffey off Ie Shima. That afternoon she took over Laffey's duties as fighter director ship on picket station.
The days that followed found Isherwood in numerous heavy air raids, as the Japanese made a desperate attempt to drive off the invasion fleet with suicide planes. While on station on April 22, a kamikaze made a dusk attack on the destroyer and crashed No. 3 gun mount. Many fires were started, but all were quickly extinguished except the one in the depth charge rack aft. After 25 minutes of dangerous fire-fighting, the charge exploded, causing great damage in the after engine room. The gallant ship arrived Kerama Retto with over 80 men killed, wounded, or missing.