THE USS was already reeling from a kamikaze attack on April 12, 1945, when a strange new threat, with a large fuselage and stubby wings, came skimming across theor “cherry blossom.” It slammed into the American destroyer at the waterline, causing a massive explosion that broke the in two. Commander Alton E. Parker ordered his crew to abandon ship and the destroyer sank into the East China Sea, 75 miles off the coast of Okinawa. Altogether, 84 crew members perished.
