75 years ago:

03/11/1945

24 Yokosuka P1Y's take off from Kanoya Airfield on Kyushu.

Loaded with a single bomb, Nipponese airmen would throw their lives between their nation and the colossus they had stirred.

Only 2 crews successfully made it to their target, of the 2... only one found it's mark.

Plunging through the night, sons of the Empire of Japan did what little they could do.

They caught our men completely by surprise and in an attempt to stave off the inevitable defeat of their nation, drove their bomb laden aircraft into the deck of the USS Randolph (CV-15).

The crew succeeded in putting the CV-15 out of action for about a month. 27 Americans were killed.

Despite the futile attempts of brave, albeit foolish, Nipponese airmen, the CV-15 would still sortie to extract her recompense. Okinawa would fall under the wings of American planes that called the USS Randolph Home.

S1e Kenneth Wayne Bonsett
AM3e Lannis Riley Adcock
ACMM Joel Butler Huntsman
S1c Veron Joseph Molino
AMM1c Harris Brantly Odum Jr.
ACMM Louis Kenneth Pucilowski
AMM2c Dayle Wendell Breazeale
AMM1c James Lewis Cash
CAM Albert Madison Day
AMM3c William Dale Dolan
AMM1c Willis Homer Guxnn
F2c Charles Edward Hickey
S2c Frederick Laurenzo Jasper
AMM3c Paul Bookman Kempert
CCM George Clarence Laws
AMM1c Harold Taylor Robinson
AOM2c Harold Herbert Smith
AMMP2c Robert Franklin Steward
S1c Charles Joseph Edward Ruiz
S1c Wayne Frederick Whitman
AMM2c Martin Harold Zwillinger
CWT Harry Lawrence Kirby
S2c Claxton Lafayette Evans
S2c Justin D’Agostino
AMM3c Angelo Joseph Chiarelli
AMM2c Robert Lawrence Fox
AMMP2c Norman Eugene Pierson