Name: Calvin Ball EMERY
Rank / Rating: BUGLER 2-Bugler Second Class
Service #: 884 72 75
DOB: Oct 03, 1924
From: Salt Lake City, UT
Parents: David Seaton and Ruby Emery
Went Aboard: Dec 30, 1943
Age When Kamikaze Struck: 20 years, 5 months, 28 days
Spouse:
Children:
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Marilyn Northcutt Henry and Carl Fahnestock
Date Posted:

During the battle of Okinawa, a Japanese Kamikaze plane made Indianapolis his target in the early morning hours of March 31, 1945. The damage to the ship was not severe but the attack took the lives of nine crewmembers including Calvin Ball Emery, BGM2c.

He was born October 3, 1924 in Salt Lake and graduated from East High School in 1942. Prior to entering service on May 3, 1943, he was employed by the U.S. District Engineers, B2-c, War Department.(1) Calvin came aboard USS Indianapolis CA-35 December 30, 1943. On the day of the kamikaze attack, a funeral service for one Sailor was held. As the bodies of the other eight were recovered, a service for six was held on April 1, and for two on April 2, 1945. Each service was preformed with full military honors by the ship's chaplain, Father Thomas Conway. After the funeral services, Calvin's body was carried from Indianapolis by his shipmates for burial in the US Armed Forces Cemetery located on Zamami Shima, Kerama Retto, off the island of Okinawa. Calvin had been overseas for 18 months and had participated in eight of the ten engagements and operations for which Indianapolis was awarded 10 battle stars. He was an active member of the Emerson Ward. He was survived by his parents, David Seaton and Ruby Emery, and two sisters: Mrs. B. L. Fullmer and Mrs. W. C. Dangerfield, and a brother, Ray B. Emery, all of Salt Lake.(2) After the war, families were given the opportunity to request that the remains of their loved one be returned to the US for reinterment. Calvin was reinterred with military honors on Monday, April 11, 1949 in the Salt Lake City cemetery, Salt Lake Co., Utah. Click or tap here to learn more about the kamikaze attack and to access links to each of the nine individual bios of the kamikaze victims.