Dual
Memorial Service
was held for the Endress brothers sometime following the war.
Younger brother, Seaman 2nd Class Melvin H. Endress was killed in action
on 4 April 1945. [Note that the date of his death as shown is
inaccurate.]
S2C
Endress is memorialized on on the panels of the missing erected on the
Cenotaph in the Courts of the Missing, Court 3, of the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific,
Honolulu, Hawaii.
Two brothers lost in battle on opposite sides of the
globe. |
The USS Franklin (CV-13),
nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built
during World War II. On 19 March 1945 the Franklin maneuvered
within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland, closer than any other U.S.
carrier had done during the war. Suddenly, a
single enemy plane pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run
dropping two semi-armor piercing bombs. Both struck the flight deck
causing enormous fires in the hangar deck below which threatened the ship
and left 724 killed and 265 wounded.
Remarkably, on 28 April "Big Ben" made it back to
New York City and the Brooklyn Naval Ship Yard to undergo repairs.
As seen here, her flight deck suffered massive damage. |