Patrol Bombing Squadron 20

 

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AOM3c Kenneth James Crow was born April 6, 1923 in Ossian, Indiana, son of Mr. and Mrs. Claude E. Crow.  A member of Patrol Bombing Squadron 20 stationed at Tawi Tawi, Philippines, on June 4, 1945 his PBM5 was forced to make an emergency landing near the village of Tanahmeja on the northwest coast of Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) because of enemy fire from a Japanese escort vessel.    After evading and engaging the enemy for two days, he and four other crew members were captured and held by the Japanese in Sengkang, Celebes.  On August 4, 1945 he and his fellow crewmen were executed by their captors.  His body was recovered after the war and returned to the USA.  He is buried in his hometown of Ossian, Indiana

 

AOM3c Joe Harvey Garcia was born June 23, 1926 in Jim Wells County Texas, most likely the town of Alice he later moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, son of Juan G Garcia and Isabel Navarro Garcia.. A member of Patrol Bombing Squadron 20 stationed at Tawi Tawi, Philippines, on June 4, 1945 his PBM5 was forced to make an emergency landing near the village of Tanahmeja on the northwest coast of Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) because of enemy fire from a Japanese escort vessel.  After evading and engaging the enemy for two days, he and four other crew members were captured and held by the Japanese in Sengkang, Celebes.  On August 4, 1945 he and his fellow crewmen were executed by their captors. 

 

 AOM3c Charles Watson Moorfield was born June 15, 1923 the son of Archer and Mary Moorfield in Newport News, Virginia.  A member of Patrol Bombing Squadron 20 stationed at Tawi Tawi, Philippines, on June 4, 1945 his PBM5 was forced to make an emergency landing near the village of Tanahmeja on the northwest coast of Celebes (now Sulawesi, Indonesia) because of enemy fire from a Japanese escort vessel.   The crew went ashore to seek medical aid for a severely wounded crewman.  On the second day they were involved in an all day battle with the Japanese.  During this battle Charles Moorfield was shot and killed.  After the war his body was recovered and he is buried at Hampton National Cemetery in Hampton, Virginia next to his brother, Gunners Mate Alva Moorfield , who was killed one month earlier in the battle of Okinawa.