LAWRENCE DALE RANK b. May 16, 1925 Redford d. Dec 5, 1944 Killed in Action
Surigao Strait, Philippines Islands
Radioman 3c LSM
8627636 USNR
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| 17586 Trinity |
Buried Greenwood Cemetery, East Tawas, Michigan
Parents: Christopher C. & Hazel May (Boomer)
Lawrence was the only child of Chris and Hazel. They
lived on Trinity for some 20 years. Chris was an interior decorator. In 1930
they had a boarder living with them.
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| Hazel Rank |
Larry had been in a minor auto accident on the day
he was to take a college exam which may having exempted him from the draft. His
father Dhris demanded he apologize and make amends to the owner of the car he
damaged. Because he missed taking this exam he was drafted, and eventually
killed. This story was told by Larry’s Uncle D.C. McCormick to his son Dallas.
Larry graduated from Redford June 1943 and
enlisted Aug 27, 1943. He attended radio school in Evanston, Ill. A newspaper
notice reports he visited his parents on March 2, 1944.
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| USS LSM 23 |
In the Navy he served on a Landing Ship Medium.
Muster rolls show him as being on USS LSM-23; 8 were KIA in Surigao Strait on
Dec 5. LSM 23 was in service after the war.
The photos show LSM 20 sunk in Surigao Strait after hit by a Japanese Kamikaze
attack on Dec 5. It was hit just aft of the conning tower some 3 feet above the
water line. With the loss of 8 enlisted men and the wounding of 9 others. While
Rank’s LSM 20 was not sunk, the photos show the action in the Surigao Strait
that day.
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| LSM 20 sinking |
Larry was reburied in the East Tawas cemetery in
1949.
Photos of Navy ships: http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/14/14020.htm
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