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PM3
Henry Warren Tucker
1919 –
1942
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Our ship was named in honor of
PM3 Henry Warren Tucker of York, Alabama, USNR. He was
posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for heroism during the
Battle of the Coral Sea, 7 May 1942.
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Tucker was called to active duty in July, 1941, and
reported to the Naval Hospital at Pensacola, Florida.
On 15 January 1942, Tucker reported aboard the tanker USS Neosho (AO-23)
for duty. The Neosho
had survived the Pearl Harbor attack despite being berthed on
"Battleship Row."
During the opening phase of the Battle of the Coral Sea,
Japanese naval forces launched an all-out aerial attack on what they
believed was the main U.S. battle force. What the Japanese found
instead was the Neosho
and destroyer USS
Sims (DD-409)
waiting at a refueling rendezvous.
Facing a 60-plane attack, the fate of the two American
ships was never in doubt. The Sims
exploded and sank immediately with a loss of almost the entire crew.
Despite its cargo of burning aviation gas and fuel oil. the Neosho managed
to remain afloat for awhile.
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For his actions during the sinking of the Neosho, Tucker was
awarded the Navy Cross. The citation reads as follows:
"For extraordinary heroism and distinguished
service in the line of his professionalism following the attack
on the USS Neosho
by enemy Japanese aerial forces on 7 May 1942.
"With complete disregard for his own life, Tucker
swam between the various life rafts carrying tannic acid in his hands
to treat the burns of the injured men.
"He hazarded the dangers of exposure and exhaustion
to continue his task, helping the injured to boats but refusing a
place for himself.
"Tucker was subsequently reported as missing in
action and it is believed he lost his life in his loyal and
courageous devotion to duty.
His valorous actions enhance and sustain the finest
traditions of the United States Naval Service."
U.S. Department of the
Navy
(1942)
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Welcome Aboard!
After many months of being offline, we finally resolved the
problems with the website. Now, we need to update it, which will take some
time. Please be patient. I'll be sending out email notifications as updates
are made.
If you ever
served aboard the USS enry WHenry W. Tucker DD/DDR 875,
this is your website. We hope
that the site will help you reconnect with your shipmates and bring you to
a reunion. Enjoy!
The USS Henry W. Tucker was in
commission in the US Navy from 1945 to 1973 and saw service in World War
II, the Korean Conflict, the “Cold War” and Vietnam. Through much of her career she was a
DDR (Radar Picket Ship) and was involved in many activities, such as the
atomic bomb tests in the Pacific, the NASA Apollo program, and the U-2
flights. In 1973, she was decommissioned and sold to the Brazilian Navy and
became the Marcilio Dias D25. She was in commission in Brazil from
1973 to 1992. After nearly 50
years continuous service, she was decommissioned and was sunk in target
practice by a torpedo of Brazilian design fired from a submarine of
Brazilian design, which was an historic event. One of her officers sent us a
newspaper article and photos of the sinking. To see the photos and a translation,
please click here. Thanks to Mike McDermott (LTJG, 68-69) for translating the article from
Portuguese to English. Click on
“history” at the top of any page to view the history.
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Newsletters
The
January 2018 newsletter is now on the website. Please click here to view the newsletter and all
previous newsletters.
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Crew Information
The Crew
Pages have been updated
as of October 20, 2016.
In the past, our crew
locator was Bob Miller, MM3, 62-65. Sadly, Bob passed away in June 2017. To
say that this is a huge loss to our association would be an understatement.
Bob worked tirelessly finding crew members. Almost single-handedly, he
brought our database from about 100 names to well over 4,500! There is no
way we can fill his shoes. If you are a crew member and have "stumbled" on
this page, please contact Pat Siler
to be added and begin receiving newsletters.
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History
Many shipmates
have contributed to the history of the ship and Gary O’Neil (FTR3, 63-66) has done
a fantastic job compiling the information and verifying accuracy. The history is separated into
five-year segments. There are
also segments on the Marcilio Dias, statistics of the ship, medals the ship
earned, the plankowners’ list, and the history of Henry Warren
Tucker, for whom the ship was named.
Click on “History”
at the top of any page to access these documents.
If you
would like to contribute to the history project, please email Gary. Copies of the history are available
on CD. Please contact Gary to order a CD.
Note: The history pages
have been updated and will be on the site soon.
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Pictures
Tom Byrne (RM2, 60-62) has created pages
for photographs on the site. He
has created an index to make them easy to find. Please click on
“pictures” at the top of any page. If you have photos that you would
like to contribute, please contact Tom.
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Ship’s Store
Please check out
the Ship’s
Store for baseball caps and coffee mugs.
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Veterans Information
Please visit the
Veteran Information page
for information that is of interest to all veterans.
There is a link
to a page of documents on Agent Orange Exposure and other health issues
which were contributed by Jim Alvarez (GMG1, 69-70).
If you need a
replacement DD 214 Form (needed
to apply for VA benefits), there is a link to the form and instruction
sheet.
Please visit this page often. If you know of any information
and/or benefits for veterans that could be included in this section of the
site, please contact Pat Siler.
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Website Information
Our
webmaster is Pat Siler, wife of
James W. “Bill” Siler, Jr. (BT3, 62-64). Pat also writes the USS Henry W. Tucker
Newsletter. Please email Pat with any information for the website or
newsletter. If you receive your newsletter via US Mail and have an email
address, please send your email address to Pat Siler. With postage costs increasing every
year, we try to send as many out via email as possible to save money.
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Facebook Page
If
you are on Facebook, we have a group page for shipmates. Type USS Henry W. Tucker in the
search box at the top of any page and then click on the name of the
ship. On the right-hand side of
the page click on "Ask to be Added" and you’re in. If you’re not on Facebook, we
invite you to join. Go to http://www.facebook.com
and follow the instructions to join.
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The original
website was created by Terry Williams (SK3, 69-71). We all owe a debt of
gratitude to Terry. If he hadn't created this site in 1997, there would be
no reunions and most of us would be still wondering whatever happened to
the ship and our shipmates.
The current
“second generation” of the website was created in 2003 by Kevin
B. Skislock, son of the late John F. Skislock (SN1/c, 45-47). Thanks to Kevin for creating this
wonderful site.
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This
website is neither authorized, endorsed by, nor approved by the United
States Department of the Navy.
The sole purpose of this site is to reunite former shipmates,
provide reunion information and is a collection of their memories.
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USS Henry W. Tucker
DD/DDR 875
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