Torpedoman's Mate 3rd Class in the US Navy during World War II. Killed in Action and missing. Recipient of the Purple Heart.
Buried or Lost at Sea U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday.
Robert Bachman Kuhns was born on 1 Nov 1918 in Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA to William James Kuhns (1990 - 1952) and wife Gertrude "Gertie" M. Bachman (1880 – 1951). William was a drayman and later owned and managed a draying/transfer company. His son Robert was the youngest of eight children, including a set of twins, all being raised in Wilkes-Barre Township, PA.
The children of the family were:
1) Ruth M. (1904 - 1984, Allentown, PA, married 1924 , spouse Leonard Ellsworth Edwards 1903-1972 )
2) James Jeremiah (1905-1969, a drayman / 1940 was a truck driver in the transfer industry, married 1932 to Mildred E. Haughney)
3) Edith Louise (1907 - , married 1932, spouse Albert E. Greenwood 1900 – 1958 Kingston, PA)
4) twin Helen (1/7/1910 - 1985, married 1933, spouse David R. Hughes 1906-1974 NYC, NY)
5) twin Ethel Mae (1/7/1910 - 1988, married 1933, spouse Frank Matzer1908 -1982)
6) Mildred Arline (1912 -1991 FL, married 1940 spouse Paul Dolan 1915- 2009)
7) Charles William ( 1914-1986 , married 1951 to Agnes E. McCloskey-Miller-Patterson, 1915 - 1999)
8) Robert Bachman (1918-1944, married 1940, spouse Myrtle Edith Bannon)
In 1910 Robert, his parents and siblings lived in the David Street, Wilkes-Barre home of their widowed patriarch David Bachman. David at the time must have been nearly overwhelmed by a houseful of descendents 37 years or more junior of him, but they had a live-in servant to help. He graduated Meyers High School in 1939. On 18 Sept 1940 he married Myrtle Edith Bannon who also was a Meyers High School graduate. The couple continued to live Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA and had one child, a daughter Gale/Gail/Gaile Ann Kuhns born in about 1943.
Robert dutifully completed his WW2 draft registration on 16 Oct 1940 where he was described as being 5ft 11in in height, 165lbs, grey eyes, and brown hair. At that time like his older brothers, he was working for his father's business Kuhns Transfer Co.. Robert entered military service on 3 Feb 1944 and received basic training at Sampson, NY. He then went to Torpedo School at Newport, RI where he finished as honor man of his class in Aug 1944, after which he was assigned to the U.S.S. Intrepid as a Torpedomans Mate 3c.
He probably went through the official shellback ceremony on 1 Sept 1944 when the vessel crossed the equator line. The Shellback marked the traditional "Crossing the Line" initiation ceremony, in what amounted to a hazing, the "shellbacks", sailor who had already crossed the equator, tested the mettle of the "pollywogs," the uninitiated. The pollywogs ran a gauntlet of paddle-wielding sailors and were doused with a hose, among other trials. At the end of the ceremony, all members of the crew became trusted shellbacks and received certificates and identification cards confirming their new status. At the end of the "Crossing the Line" ceremony, each crew member received a colorful certificate acknowledging his initial into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep."
Robert served on this aircraft carrier for less than 12 weeks before being killed in a kamikaze raid upon the ship. Two of the planes struck the flight deck five minutes apart. At the time of his death he was identified as TMV3c V6SV. He posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for his sacrifice.
His widow Myrtle E. Bannon-Kuhns remarried in 1947 to Frederick Warren Ruger (1921-1999, railroad clerk). They had a son Warren Frederick Ruger (1947-2009). Robert's daughter Gale Ann was raised in this family setting. Gail completed the Forty Fort High School in PA where she was the student council vice president. She went on to Bloomberg State Col. PA where she was the Sophomore class elected secretary and was believed to have trained to be an educator. In 1964 she married Thomas Todd Morris (1940-2020). Later she married Mr. Harrison and resided in Downey, CA.
Per a 2012 declassified military document, the U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary of 26 Nov, 1944: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday. [GPS coordinates +14.7833N, +121.4155E). [The location is about 465 miles NE of Samar Island, Philippines.]
Although buried at sea he was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
Buried or Lost at Sea U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday.
Robert Bachman Kuhns was born on 1 Nov 1918 in Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA to William James Kuhns (1990 - 1952) and wife Gertrude "Gertie" M. Bachman (1880 – 1951). William was a drayman and later owned and managed a draying/transfer company. His son Robert was the youngest of eight children, including a set of twins, all being raised in Wilkes-Barre Township, PA.
The children of the family were:
1) Ruth M. (1904 - 1984, Allentown, PA, married 1924 , spouse Leonard Ellsworth Edwards 1903-1972 )
2) James Jeremiah (1905-1969, a drayman / 1940 was a truck driver in the transfer industry, married 1932 to Mildred E. Haughney)
3) Edith Louise (1907 - , married 1932, spouse Albert E. Greenwood 1900 – 1958 Kingston, PA)
4) twin Helen (1/7/1910 - 1985, married 1933, spouse David R. Hughes 1906-1974 NYC, NY)
5) twin Ethel Mae (1/7/1910 - 1988, married 1933, spouse Frank Matzer1908 -1982)
6) Mildred Arline (1912 -1991 FL, married 1940 spouse Paul Dolan 1915- 2009)
7) Charles William ( 1914-1986 , married 1951 to Agnes E. McCloskey-Miller-Patterson, 1915 - 1999)
8) Robert Bachman (1918-1944, married 1940, spouse Myrtle Edith Bannon)
In 1910 Robert, his parents and siblings lived in the David Street, Wilkes-Barre home of their widowed patriarch David Bachman. David at the time must have been nearly overwhelmed by a houseful of descendents 37 years or more junior of him, but they had a live-in servant to help. He graduated Meyers High School in 1939. On 18 Sept 1940 he married Myrtle Edith Bannon who also was a Meyers High School graduate. The couple continued to live Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA and had one child, a daughter Gale/Gail/Gaile Ann Kuhns born in about 1943.
Robert dutifully completed his WW2 draft registration on 16 Oct 1940 where he was described as being 5ft 11in in height, 165lbs, grey eyes, and brown hair. At that time like his older brothers, he was working for his father's business Kuhns Transfer Co.. Robert entered military service on 3 Feb 1944 and received basic training at Sampson, NY. He then went to Torpedo School at Newport, RI where he finished as honor man of his class in Aug 1944, after which he was assigned to the U.S.S. Intrepid as a Torpedomans Mate 3c.
He probably went through the official shellback ceremony on 1 Sept 1944 when the vessel crossed the equator line. The Shellback marked the traditional "Crossing the Line" initiation ceremony, in what amounted to a hazing, the "shellbacks", sailor who had already crossed the equator, tested the mettle of the "pollywogs," the uninitiated. The pollywogs ran a gauntlet of paddle-wielding sailors and were doused with a hose, among other trials. At the end of the ceremony, all members of the crew became trusted shellbacks and received certificates and identification cards confirming their new status. At the end of the "Crossing the Line" ceremony, each crew member received a colorful certificate acknowledging his initial into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep."
Robert served on this aircraft carrier for less than 12 weeks before being killed in a kamikaze raid upon the ship. Two of the planes struck the flight deck five minutes apart. At the time of his death he was identified as TMV3c V6SV. He posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for his sacrifice.
His widow Myrtle E. Bannon-Kuhns remarried in 1947 to Frederick Warren Ruger (1921-1999, railroad clerk). They had a son Warren Frederick Ruger (1947-2009). Robert's daughter Gale Ann was raised in this family setting. Gail completed the Forty Fort High School in PA where she was the student council vice president. She went on to Bloomberg State Col. PA where she was the Sophomore class elected secretary and was believed to have trained to be an educator. In 1964 she married Thomas Todd Morris (1940-2020). Later she married Mr. Harrison and resided in Downey, CA.
Per a 2012 declassified military document, the U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary of 26 Nov, 1944: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday. [GPS coordinates +14.7833N, +121.4155E). [The location is about 465 miles NE of Samar Island, Philippines.]
Although buried at sea he was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
Torpedoman's Mate 3rd Class in the US Navy during World War II. Killed in Action and missing. Recipient of the Purple Heart.
Buried or Lost at Sea U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday.
Robert Bachman Kuhns was born on 1 Nov 1918 in Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA to William James Kuhns (1990 - 1952) and wife Gertrude "Gertie" M. Bachman (1880 – 1951). William was a drayman and later owned and managed a draying/transfer company. His son Robert was the youngest of eight children, including a set of twins, all being raised in Wilkes-Barre Township, PA.
The children of the family were:
1) Ruth M. (1904 - 1984, Allentown, PA, married 1924 , spouse Leonard Ellsworth Edwards 1903-1972 )
2) James Jeremiah (1905-1969, a drayman / 1940 was a truck driver in the transfer industry, married 1932 to Mildred E. Haughney)
3) Edith Louise (1907 - , married 1932, spouse Albert E. Greenwood 1900 – 1958 Kingston, PA)
4) twin Helen (1/7/1910 - 1985, married 1933, spouse David R. Hughes 1906-1974 NYC, NY)
5) twin Ethel Mae (1/7/1910 - 1988, married 1933, spouse Frank Matzer1908 -1982)
6) Mildred Arline (1912 -1991 FL, married 1940 spouse Paul Dolan 1915- 2009)
7) Charles William ( 1914-1986 , married 1951 to Agnes E. McCloskey-Miller-Patterson, 1915 - 1999)
8) Robert Bachman (1918-1944, married 1940, spouse Myrtle Edith Bannon)
In 1910 Robert, his parents and siblings lived in the David Street, Wilkes-Barre home of their widowed patriarch David Bachman. David at the time must have been nearly overwhelmed by a houseful of descendents 37 years or more junior of him, but they had a live-in servant to help. He graduated Meyers High School in 1939. On 18 Sept 1940 he married Myrtle Edith Bannon who also was a Meyers High School graduate. The couple continued to live Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA and had one child, a daughter Gale/Gail/Gaile Ann Kuhns born in about 1943.
Robert dutifully completed his WW2 draft registration on 16 Oct 1940 where he was described as being 5ft 11in in height, 165lbs, grey eyes, and brown hair. At that time like his older brothers, he was working for his father's business Kuhns Transfer Co.. Robert entered military service on 3 Feb 1944 and received basic training at Sampson, NY. He then went to Torpedo School at Newport, RI where he finished as honor man of his class in Aug 1944, after which he was assigned to the U.S.S. Intrepid as a Torpedomans Mate 3c.
He probably went through the official shellback ceremony on 1 Sept 1944 when the vessel crossed the equator line. The Shellback marked the traditional "Crossing the Line" initiation ceremony, in what amounted to a hazing, the "shellbacks", sailor who had already crossed the equator, tested the mettle of the "pollywogs," the uninitiated. The pollywogs ran a gauntlet of paddle-wielding sailors and were doused with a hose, among other trials. At the end of the ceremony, all members of the crew became trusted shellbacks and received certificates and identification cards confirming their new status. At the end of the "Crossing the Line" ceremony, each crew member received a colorful certificate acknowledging his initial into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep."
Robert served on this aircraft carrier for less than 12 weeks before being killed in a kamikaze raid upon the ship. Two of the planes struck the flight deck five minutes apart. At the time of his death he was identified as TMV3c V6SV. He posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for his sacrifice.
His widow Myrtle E. Bannon-Kuhns remarried in 1947 to Frederick Warren Ruger (1921-1999, railroad clerk). They had a son Warren Frederick Ruger (1947-2009). Robert's daughter Gale Ann was raised in this family setting. Gail completed the Forty Fort High School in PA where she was the student council vice president. She went on to Bloomberg State Col. PA where she was the Sophomore class elected secretary and was believed to have trained to be an educator. In 1964 she married Thomas Todd Morris (1940-2020). Later she married Mr. Harrison and resided in Downey, CA.
Per a 2012 declassified military document, the U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary of 26 Nov, 1944: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday. [GPS coordinates +14.7833N, +121.4155E). [The location is about 465 miles NE of Samar Island, Philippines.]
Although buried at sea he was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
Buried or Lost at Sea U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday.
Robert Bachman Kuhns was born on 1 Nov 1918 in Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA to William James Kuhns (1990 - 1952) and wife Gertrude "Gertie" M. Bachman (1880 – 1951). William was a drayman and later owned and managed a draying/transfer company. His son Robert was the youngest of eight children, including a set of twins, all being raised in Wilkes-Barre Township, PA.
The children of the family were:
1) Ruth M. (1904 - 1984, Allentown, PA, married 1924 , spouse Leonard Ellsworth Edwards 1903-1972 )
2) James Jeremiah (1905-1969, a drayman / 1940 was a truck driver in the transfer industry, married 1932 to Mildred E. Haughney)
3) Edith Louise (1907 - , married 1932, spouse Albert E. Greenwood 1900 – 1958 Kingston, PA)
4) twin Helen (1/7/1910 - 1985, married 1933, spouse David R. Hughes 1906-1974 NYC, NY)
5) twin Ethel Mae (1/7/1910 - 1988, married 1933, spouse Frank Matzer1908 -1982)
6) Mildred Arline (1912 -1991 FL, married 1940 spouse Paul Dolan 1915- 2009)
7) Charles William ( 1914-1986 , married 1951 to Agnes E. McCloskey-Miller-Patterson, 1915 - 1999)
8) Robert Bachman (1918-1944, married 1940, spouse Myrtle Edith Bannon)
In 1910 Robert, his parents and siblings lived in the David Street, Wilkes-Barre home of their widowed patriarch David Bachman. David at the time must have been nearly overwhelmed by a houseful of descendents 37 years or more junior of him, but they had a live-in servant to help. He graduated Meyers High School in 1939. On 18 Sept 1940 he married Myrtle Edith Bannon who also was a Meyers High School graduate. The couple continued to live Wilkes-Barre Township, Luzerne, PA and had one child, a daughter Gale/Gail/Gaile Ann Kuhns born in about 1943.
Robert dutifully completed his WW2 draft registration on 16 Oct 1940 where he was described as being 5ft 11in in height, 165lbs, grey eyes, and brown hair. At that time like his older brothers, he was working for his father's business Kuhns Transfer Co.. Robert entered military service on 3 Feb 1944 and received basic training at Sampson, NY. He then went to Torpedo School at Newport, RI where he finished as honor man of his class in Aug 1944, after which he was assigned to the U.S.S. Intrepid as a Torpedomans Mate 3c.
He probably went through the official shellback ceremony on 1 Sept 1944 when the vessel crossed the equator line. The Shellback marked the traditional "Crossing the Line" initiation ceremony, in what amounted to a hazing, the "shellbacks", sailor who had already crossed the equator, tested the mettle of the "pollywogs," the uninitiated. The pollywogs ran a gauntlet of paddle-wielding sailors and were doused with a hose, among other trials. At the end of the ceremony, all members of the crew became trusted shellbacks and received certificates and identification cards confirming their new status. At the end of the "Crossing the Line" ceremony, each crew member received a colorful certificate acknowledging his initial into the "Solemn Mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep."
Robert served on this aircraft carrier for less than 12 weeks before being killed in a kamikaze raid upon the ship. Two of the planes struck the flight deck five minutes apart. At the time of his death he was identified as TMV3c V6SV. He posthumously awarded a Purple Heart for his sacrifice.
His widow Myrtle E. Bannon-Kuhns remarried in 1947 to Frederick Warren Ruger (1921-1999, railroad clerk). They had a son Warren Frederick Ruger (1947-2009). Robert's daughter Gale Ann was raised in this family setting. Gail completed the Forty Fort High School in PA where she was the student council vice president. She went on to Bloomberg State Col. PA where she was the Sophomore class elected secretary and was believed to have trained to be an educator. In 1964 she married Thomas Todd Morris (1940-2020). Later she married Mr. Harrison and resided in Downey, CA.
Per a 2012 declassified military document, the U.S.S. Intrepid War Diary of 26 Nov, 1944: At 1400, in the vicinity of latitude 14degrees 47'N., longitude 131degrees 25' E, held funeral services and buried the officers and men killed in action yesterday. [GPS coordinates +14.7833N, +121.4155E). [The location is about 465 miles NE of Samar Island, Philippines.]
Although buried at sea he was memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. This is an American Battle Monuments Commission location.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Pennsylvania.
Family Members
Other Records
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