Warren Hendrickson

28Sep1923 – 17Nov1943

Edison Days

Warren graduated with the Class of June 1942. He was part of the Stage Crew.

Military Service

Rate: Firemen 2nd Class

Branch: United States Navy Reserve

Ship: USS McKean (APD-5)

Warren joined the Navy 1Jun1943. It is unknown where he attended Navy bootcamp. After bootcamp, he was sent to Noumea, New Caledonia, in the South Pacific to await assignment to a ship.

Warren joined the crew of the USS McKean (APD- 5) on 21Oct1943. Originally, a World War I era Destroyer, the McKean had been converted to a high-speed transport ship during the early days of World War 2.

The following is an excerpt on the fate of the McKean:

On November 15, McKean loaded up a detachment of 10 officers and 175 enlisted men from the Third Battalion, 21st Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal. A task force of 23 ships, including eight LSTs, got underway for Bougainville late that afternoon. The group steamed up the slot without incident, making 8-10 knots, and was within about 20 miles of its destination when the attack began.

Just after 3 a.m. on the 17th, according to the log kept by the U.S.S. Talbot, an unidentified plane dropped a parachute flare about a half-mile behind the convoy. Two minutes later, five twin-engine bombers passed overhead. McKean sounded general quarters at 3:10 a.m., rousing Marines who had taken to sleeping on deck rather than endure the oppressive heat below.

One of them, 2nd Lt. William Kosanovich, told the News Record of North Hills, Pennsylvania, in 1984: “It was close to morning when the battles stations were sounded and that was an awful rumpus. You can’t sleep during battle stations. I was sitting on deck and saw a plane flying past the fantail.”

Japanese torpedo planes zoomed through the column, drawing antiaircraft fire from all corners. At around 3:45, McKean‘s crew noticed a plane that appeared to be making a run at Talbot, which was cruising directly to its starboard.

At 3:47, the Mitsubishi G4M1 “Betty” bomber piloted by Gintaro Kobayashi turned sharply to the right and bore in on McKean. Lt. Cmdr. Ramey ordered full left rudder, attempting to present the smallest possible target to the attacker. At 3:49, according to McKean‘s after-action report, Kobayashi released his Type 91 torpedo from about 300 yards. The ship’s crew believed it would pass astern, but it plowed into the starboard side of McKean a minute later, detonating at the after magazine and depth charge stowage and rupturing the fuel oil tanks.

“The entire ship aft of #1 stack was a complete mass of flames,” according to the report. “From the time of the initial explosion it was impossible to go aft of the #1 stack or for anyone aft of that point to get forward.”

The explosion knocked out light and power to the entire ship, and those forward could not raise anyone aft of the detonation site via communications links. Within minutes, the report says, some of the Marines began to jump overboard without awaiting orders to do so. As the crippled ship continued to glide forward, they were pulled into the burning oil pooling around the vessel: “The greater part of the troops that were lost were burned to death in the oil slick.”

Ramey ordered McKean‘s life rafts lowered and crew members and Marines assembled alongside as small explosions rocked the rear portion of the ship. At 4 a.m., she began to sink by the stern and men began loading the rafts. Ramey gave the order to abandon ship two minutes later and the process went off “without delay and without any confusion or panic.”

Ramey and his medical officer, Lt. Jonathon M. Williams, then made one last sweep of the forward areas before going overboard themselves at 4:12 a.m. Six minutes later, the stacks of the U.S.S. McKean disappeared as she sank in 75 fathoms of water.

A month after the sinking, Warren’s parent’s received work that he was missing in action.

Per Navy procedure, 1 year and 1 day after he went missing in action, the Navy reclassified him as having been killed in action.

Warren’s remains were never recovered.

Warren’s is one of 36,286 names inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.