This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Felix Cervantes, III (Admiral Ese)-Historian
to remember
Thurston, Golden Lock, T/5.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Stevensburg
Last Address Albemarle County, VA
Casualty Date May 21, 1944
Cause Non Hostile- Died Other Causes
Reason Artillery, Rocket, Mortar
Location Hawaii
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Technician Fifth Grade Golden Thurston enlisted in the Army on 10 March 1941 in Richmond, Virginia.
He was killed on 21 May 1944, at West Loch, Pearl Harbor, Oahu Hawaii, while loading mortar ammunition aboard LST 353. This ammunition subsequently exploded aboard LSTs destined for the invasion of Saipan (as part of Operation Forager).
There was a black out of news regarding this incident, though followed two months later by the Port Chicago Disaster in California, and the details of the tragedy remained shrouded in secrecy for many years.
LST 480 remains at the site where the explosions and fires occurred that Sunday afternoon. This incident came to be known as The West Loch Disaster.
Note: "The West Loch Disaster was a previously secret American World War II maritime accident during which six ships docked at the West Loch peninsula in Pearl Harbor sank and 163 service members loading the vessels with munitions and supplies were killed. Operations at West Loch served as a staging area for ships in preparation for Operation Forager, the invasion of Japanese-held Mariana Islands. In addition to the Sailors and Marines that prepared the ships for the upcoming operation, Army personnel from the predominantly African-American 29th Chemical Decontamination Company also loaded the ships."
Source: http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=53604
