Ben Conn

Ben Conn Death Notice, August 19, 1945

Daily Illinois State Journal

Quick Facts

Significance:

U.S. Navy Sailor, World War II, KIA

Place of Birth:

Morehead, Kentucky

Date of Birth:

January 1, 1912

Place of Death:

Near Okinawa

Date of Death:

July 30, 1945

Place of Burial:

Honolulu, Hawaii

Cemetery Name:

National Memorial Cemetery of The Pacific

Ben Conn was one of the older sailors aboard the USS Cassin Young (DD-793). 

Ben Conn was born in Morehead, Kentucky on January 1, 1912. He grew up in a family of two boys and five girls. When he volunteered to join the US Navy, he was 31 years old, married to Anna Irene Conn, and worked as a chauffeur and groundskeeper for a grain brokerage in Peoria, Illinois.

On July 9, 1943, Conn enlisted as an apprentice seaman. Conn attended basic training in the Naval Training Station, Farragut, Idaho (the Navy’s only landlocked training base). He graduated as a seaman 2nd class (S2c). In November 1943 he began specialty training at the Radar Operators School at Point Loma in San Diego, California. In March, he completed a three-week intermediate course at the same location.¹ A radarman was required to operate and maintain a RADAR (RAdio Detections And Ranging) console, the primary battle station of electronic warfare equipment. They trained in specialized, damage-control repair procedures when their assigned ships ventured into combat areas. Radar served as the eyes of a fleet of ships. Conn learned how to work with two radar systems: Search RADAR, model "C," and search RADAR, model "G." Model "C" used long radio waves for tracking incoming planes and ships. Its range was reliable up to 30 miles when detecting a bomber flying at 1,000 feet. Search radar, model "G," used microwaves to look for ships and to aid in navigation. This model had a reliable range up to 15 miles.² Used as radar pickets, Destroyers (and Destroyer Escorts) reported to their assigned radar picket stations that surrounded a convoy or fleet; their job was to give advanced warning of any incoming planes or ships.

S2c Conn was one of the older sailors aboard USS Cassin Young (DD-973). Most of the crew of the Cassin Young boarded on December 31, 1943, when the ship was commissioned. Conn joined the ship the following March (after completing the training mentioned above), in time to ship out, when Cassin Young headed for active duty in the South Pacific. Cassin Young crossed the equator on April 23, 1944. For Conn and many of his shipmates, this was their first crossing and a very special occasion that earned them the coveted title of “shellback”. On his 33rd birthday (January 1, 1945) Conn was appointed radarman 3rd class (trainee).³

In the spring of 1945 Cassin Young was active in the Okinawa campaign, serving on picket duty many times. On two occasions, kamikaze attacks struck the ship. The first attack on April 12th wounded 59 sailors and killed one sailor. The second kamikaze hit Cassin Young on July 30th. The attack wounded 45 sailors. Twenty-two sailors were killed; Rdm3c (T) Conn was one of them.

Radarman 3c (T) Ben Conn was survived by his father Millard Fillmore Conn, his wife Anna Irene Conn, and six siblings. He lies buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

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Footnotes:

1. Official Military File of Ben Conn National Personnel Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, St Louis, MO.
2. Hyper War HYPERTEXT history of the Second World War, U.S. Radar Operational Characteristics of Radar Classified by Tactical Application, HyperWar: U.S. Radar: Operational Characteristics [Shipborne Search Sets] (ibiblio.org)
3. Official Military File of Ben Conn National Personnel Records Center, National Archives and Records Administration, St Louis, MO.