Earl Nixon Hartpence
https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=140917
Excerpt and photo of Earl Nixon Hartpence from bio compiled by Gerry Lawton
Earl was the son of Whitfield Thatcher and Hannah Lear Hartpence who were married about 1918. They were the parents of four other children; Raymond C., John Carter, Whitfield Thatcher Jr., and Thomas C. Hartpence.
Earl attended Lambertville High School in Lambertville, NJ before he enlisted in the US Navy (NSN: 223-84-14) as an Apprentice Seaman on 17 Sep 1940 in New York, NY. He was sent to the Naval Training Station (NTS) Newport, RI for recruit training. Upon completion of recruit training and a short leave period, AS Hartpence was detached from NTS Newport and transferred to the light cruiser, USS Philadelphia (CL- 41), for duty on 16 Nov 1940 in Hawaii. On 17 Jan 1941, AS Hartpence was advanced in rate to Seaman Second Class (S2/c). Three months later on 20 April 1941, S2/c Hartpence detached from the Philadelphia and was transferred to Asiatic Station in Manila, Philippines via the transport USS Henderson (AP-1).
He boarded the Henderson on 23 Apr 1941 as a passenger bound for Manila. The Henderson got underway that day from the navy yard at Pearl Harbor and steamed for Guam, M.I. via Midway and Wake Island. Three weeks after the Henderson’s departure from Pearl Harbor, she arrived in Manila on 15 May 1941 disembarking her passengers. S2c Hartpence was then transferred as a passenger to the heavy cruiser USS Houston (CA-30) for further transfer (FFT) to the destroyer tender USS Black Hawk (AD-9) for duty assignment. From there S2/c Hartpence received orders to report for duty on board the old four-piper destroyer, USS Edsall (DD-219), on 26 May 1941.
Ordered to comply with the Asiatic Fleet CINC Adm. Thomas C. Hart’s “defensive deployment” well south of Manila, units of the Asiatic Fleet, including destroyer tender USS Blackhawk (AD-9), USS Edsall (DD-219) and other ships of Destroyer Division (DesDiv) 57, got underway on 25 Nov 1941, and arrived on the morning of 29 Nov 1941 in Balikpapan, a major oil port on the eastern coast of Borneo.
On 8 Dec 1941, Edsall, an element of Destroyer Division 57 (DESDIV), was enroute to Batavia (Djakarta) when word of the attacks on Pearl Harbor was received.
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Missing In Action - Navy - WWII 
Reblogged this on A tribute to Richard "Chick" Harmer and US Navy Night Fighter Squadron VF(N)-101 and commented:
Missing in action
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