Last updated: January 23, 2024
Person
Milton Grant Isenmann
Thank you to the family of Milton G. Isenmann
Quick Facts
Significance:
US Navy Sailor, World War II, KIA
Place of Birth:
Machens, Missouri
Date of Birth:
March 15, 1925
Place of Death:
Near Okinawa
Date of Death:
July 30, 1945
Place of Burial:
Wheat Ridge, Colorado
Cemetery Name:
Olinger-Crown Hill Cemetery
Milton Grant Isenmann was born on March 15, 1925 in Machens, Missouri. His childhood took a sad turn in 1937, when his father, Theodore, abandoned the family during the Great Depression. Left on her own with four young children, Isenmann’s mother, Ruth, relocated the family to Denver, Colorado.
Isenmann enlisted at the Navy's recruitment station in Denver on June 23, 1943 and reported to the Naval Training Station in Farragut, Idaho a month later. By November, he had reached the Treasure Island Naval Station near San Francisco, where he underwent several weeks of training in such areas as gunnery and night lookout. In December, Isenmann was transferred to the naval receiving station at Terminal Island, California, where USS Cassin Young (DD-793) was in the final stages of outfitting. Isenmann began his service aboard the ship on December 31, 1943, the day of her commissioning.
Milton Grant Isenmann's signature (National Archives Personnel File)
Along with his fellow crew members, Isenmann underwent several weeks of at sea training in Hawaiian waters. On April 3, 1944, just prior to the ship’s departure from Pearl Harbor as part of a naval task force, Isenmann was transferred to the Pacific Fleet Radio Striker's School at Camp Catlin, Oahu, for a twelve-week course. After qualifying as a radioman, he was ordered back to the USS Cassin Young on August 9.
Isenmann crossed the equator aboard the USS Snyder (DE-745) as he was being delivered to a meeting point with his ship. He rejoined his fellow shipmates on the USS Cassin Young on November 17, 1944, shortly after the Allied invasion of the Philippines, and was appointed a Radioman 3rd class. His new title came just before one of the most memorable events in the USS Cassin Young’s history: participation in diversionary operations to support the Iwo Jima campaign from February through March 1945.
After Iwo Jima’s capture, American and Allied Naval Forces next moved on to Okinawa for what turned out to be the bloodiest and final campaign of the Pacific War. The invasion began in April 1945, and the USS Cassin Young was assigned to serve as part of the radar picket and provide anti-aircraft protection for capital ships of the fleet. She was also responsible for providing fire support for the landing forces. The Japanese military command responded with several mass kamikaze attacks on the US and Allied fleet. During one of the heaviest attacks, on April 12, 1945, the USS Cassin Young’s gunners shot down several Japanese planes. A single aircraft exploded just fifty feet above the main deck after hitting the ship’s mast and knocking out its radar. One sailor was killed in this attack and another 59 were wounded.
Before dawn on July 30, 1945, over a month after Okinawa had been secured, Isenmann was manning his post in the USS Cassin Young’s main radio room when a Japanese kamikaze plane crashed into the ship’s starboard side. The hundred-pound bomb the plane was carrying exploded, sending a shower of shrapnel into the radio room and surrounding compartments. Isenmann suffered wounds around his face, arms, legs, and back. Most seriously, a neck injury severed his spine and led to his emergency transfer to the destroyer tender USS Hamul (AD-20). Despite the best efforts of Navy doctors, Isenmann succumbed to his injuries later that day.
Isenmann was posthumously awarded the Navy Unit Commendation Medal and Purple Heart. He was buried at the Olinger-Crown Cemetery, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.