Last updated: January 22, 2024
Person
Horace Bertman Wimer
Quick Facts
Significance:
US Navy Sailor, World War II, KIA
Place of Birth:
Grafton, West Virginia
Date of Birth:
February 26, 1913
Place of Death:
Near Okinawa
Date of Death:
July 30, 1945
Place of Burial:
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
Cemetery Name:
Honolulu, Hawaii
Horace Bertram Wimer Watertender 1st Class 2/26/13 (32)
Horace Wimer was born in Grafton, West Virginia on February 23, 1913. In the 1930s, his family moved to Pittsburgh, where he enlisted at the naval recruitment station on January 4, 1942. Four days later, Wimer reported to the naval receiving station at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where he underwent training for several months.
Having served as a ship's fireman in the Merchant Marine prior to World War II, Wimer was assigned to serve aboard the fleet minelayer USS Terror (CM-5) as Watertender. Following the ship’s commissioning on July 15, 1942, the crew underwent training and then joined the North African invasion fleet as part of Operation Torch. Upon the USS Terror’s return to the United States in December, the vessel was overhauled and subsequently homeported in Yorktown, Virginia. During this time, Wimer lived in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Beatrice, and stepdaughter Pearl.
The year 1943 brought many changes to Wimer’s life. In the late summer, he was transferred from the USS Terror to study at the Naval Boiler and Turbine Lab, part of the Naval Training School in the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He also attended the Naval Training School at Norfolk, Virginia for duty in the Destroyer Training Program. In November, Wimer headed off to the West Coast, where he served on the naval receiving ship in San Francisco before being transferred to the naval receiving station at Terminal Island in San Pedro, California. On December 31, the USS Cassin Young (DD-793) was commissioned and Wimer stepped aboard to serve as Watertender in the forward fireroom.
After several months of training in Hawaiian waters, the USS Cassin Young participated in numerous naval actions in the Central and Southwest Pacific, including the Battle of Cape Engano and the Liberation of the Philippines. By March 1945, the ship was part of the fleet engaged in the capture of both Iwo Jima and Okinawa as the United States Navy and its Allies moved closer to the Japanese Home Islands. In desperation, the Japanese military launched several mass kamikaze attacks on the Allied fleet surrounding Okinawa.
One of the most devastating attacks occurred April 12, 1945, when a Japanese aircraft exploded above the ship, killing one sailor and injuring 59. After steam lines ruptured in the ship’s forward boiler room, Wimer sprang into action to minimize the damage. For his heroic actions, he received a personal commendation letter signed by Admiral Chester Nimitz. The letter, which makes clear the extent of Wimer’s bravery, reads in part:
After a plane and its bomb hit the foremast and exploded in the air above the forward fireroom holing the stacks, uptakes, and decks and piercing many pipes and electrical leads, he remained at his post in the fireroom as it filled with steam and gasses and assisted in securing the boilers and cutting off damaged lines and equipment and then assisted other personnel to safety before he himself left the fireroom. His courage and devotion to duty were at all times in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Okinawa was declared secure on June 22, 1945, but the Pacific fleet remained under threat of airborne attacks. The USS Cassin Young was one of several destroyers and other smaller combatants that served as radar pickets and an outer ring of defense for the fleet’s capital ships. On July 30, 1945, a kamikaze plane carrying a one-hundred pound bomb managed to evade a curtain of anti-aircraft fire and struck the ship. The plane exploded on the deck directly above Wimer’s station in the forward fireroom, killing him and seven other sailors in the compartment. In total, 22 crew lost their lives in this attack and another 45 were wounded.
On August 9, 1945, Captain John Ailes, the ship's commanding officer, sent a handwritten letter to Wimer's widow, Beatrice. He wrote:
We, who were his shipmates, grieve with you at his loss. We all consider ourselves better men for having known him and served with him... He was well-liked and admired by all. He truly served his country with distinction.” Wimer was posthumously issued the Navy Unit Commendation Medal and Purple Heart with Bronze Star. His final resting place is in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.