Project 888
Name: Prentice William HOPPER
Rank / Rating: S1-Seaman First ClassService #: 982 18 14 DOB: Sep 02, 1926 From: Winslow, IN Parents: Virgil and Audie Bell Robling Hopper Went Aboard: Jun 01, 1945 Age When Ship Went Down: 18 years, 10 months, 28 days Spouse: Children: Grandchildren: Bio Submitted By: Patricia Stephens (Admin) |
 HOPPER, Prentice W |
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Prentice was the eighth child born to Virgil K. and Audie Bell Robling Hopper. He was born in Winslow, Pataka Township, Pike Co., IN on Sept 3, 1926. His father was a coal miner and his mother a housewife.(1)
The photo shown in this bio was taken from the Winslow High School Yearbook, 1943, eighth grade students. His age is unknown. His name nor photo appears in any other Winslow yearbook. It is not known if the family moved from the area before the next year or if he dropped out of school. No other photo of Prentice has been found.
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| He registered for the draft on his 18th birthday, Sept 2, 1941, in Petersburg, IN. Prentice enlisted in the USN in Jan, 1945. He was received at Great Lakes, IL, for basic training on Jan 6, 1945 as a AS (Apprentice Seaman). While there, his rate advanced to S2c (Seaman 2nd class) on March 3, 1945. Also, his branch of enlistment was changed from the general V-6 to the V-6S level. The "S" indicated a specialty service. Records, below, show that his specialty was aviation. Upon completion of basic training, Prentice was transferred on March 17, 1945, to the Distribution Center at Shoemaker, CA and on April 11, 1945 he was received at HedRon (Headquarters Squadron), FAW-8 (Fleet Air Wing Eight), Alameda, CA. Alameda was a the major operational command of the Navy and a hub for aircraft repair and training. It was here that Prentice began his specialty training. After two months at Alameda, he was transferred on May 18, 1945, and received at Scout Observation Service Unit Three (SOSU3). This was an intensive training program specifically for maintenance and repair of scout observation planes. At the end of training he was transferred, May 30, 1945. While the ship was in drydock, Prentice came aboard USS Indianapolis CA-35 on June 1, 1945 for duty with the Aviation Detail. Indy carried three to four Curtis SC-1 Seahawks on board. These floatplanes launched by catapult, landed in the sea and were brought on board by the ship’s crane. The pilots formed Cruiser Scouting Squadron (VCS) 4. The recapitulation record for Indy, ending June, 1945, shows that in April, May and June, 1945, 14 new aviation unit crew members came on board and 13 transferred off in this same time period. Prentice continued his service in the aviation unit where his rate advanced to S1c. When Indianapolis left Mare Island, CA, on 16 July, 1945, this was Prentice's first time on a ship. Terror and excitement surely were among his feelings. Not only was he going to sea, but the ship was on a top secret assignment to Tinian, in the Northern Mariana Islands, with part of her mysterious cargo in one of the aviation airplane hangers where Prentice would have spent most of his time. The cargo was guarded at all times and no one was allowed in the hanger. Prentice would serve only two months on board Indianapolis. After delivering her secret cargo at Tinian and a brief stop in Guam, Indy sailed for Leyte. About half way there, she was sunk by two torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945. His name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Philippines. He was awarded the Purple Heart, posthumously. Eight of his fellow aviation crew members were killed also on July 30, 1945: Arnold, Carl Loyd Dorman, William Burns McKenna, Michael Joseph Schlatter, Robert Leroy True, Roger Glenn Turner, William Henry, Jr Underwood, Carey Lee Hopper, Roy Lee In March 1981, Prentice's brother, Cledith J. Hopper, requested a government issued flat bronze grave marker. The marker was placed in Ashby Cemetery, Winslow, Pike County, Indiana, in memory of Prentice. It lays directly in front of the large granite headstone inscribed with the names of his parents and another brother, Charles. A photo is at FindAGrave. Source: (1) IN State Board of Health, Pike Co., Pataka Twsp., Winslow; Certificate of Birth, #47426; citing yet unnamed son, 8th child of Virgil and Audie Bell Robling Hopper. USN WWII Muster Rolls, 1938-1949; Ancestry database USN Ships, Stations and Other Naval Activities, 1939-1949; Ancestry database USN USS Indianapolis CA-35 Final Sailing List, 17 Aug 1945; Ancestry database Navy Department, Casualty Section, Office of Public Information (1946): Combat Connected Naval Casualties, WWII, by States; Vol AL-MO; IN, p. 10 The Vincennes Sun-Commercial, (IN), Fri, Aug 17, 1945, p. 1 US Government, Department of Veterans Affairs, Application for Memorial Grave Marker; citing Prentice Hopper, 1981. | |
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