USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774) Memorial Web Site

The Champion Kamikaze Killer

Last Update, 27 July 2010


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 The Champion Kamikaze Killer
11 May 1945 0755 to 0935, Radar Picket Station # 15, northwest of Okinawa.
All time Gunnery record of any ship in a surface engagement .
Fired 801 rounds 5"38 CAL, 8,950 rounds 40MM, & 5,990 rounds 20mm.
Hit by three(3) Kamikazes, one 500 pound bomb, one smaller bomb. 
 

The Hadley was commissioned on 25 November 1944, decommissioned
15 December 1945 and was scrapped shortly after. It lived for only 385 days.
The story of this ship and it's men is unique in naval history in that it applies
 to all those men whose names and pictures appear in the following pages. 

We are sad to announce that Hadley Webmaster Robert I. Eaton, Jr. has
set sail on his final cruise. His obituary as published in the Antelope Valley
Press on April 11th, 2010 can be viewed by clicking here.

An opinion piece written by Dennis Anderson, the editor of The Antelope
Valley Press, can be viewed by clicking here.
 

Please see the REUNION section at left for details about the ship's 18th Reunion.
This reunion took place in May 2010.

17th REUNION -  Wrap Up - is now added to our 'Reunion Section
See photograph, surviving Hadley crew members.
 

ATTENTION ATTENTION ATTENTION

CAPT Baron J. Mullaney's ''COMBAT ACTION REPORT", 11 May 1945.
It's here. See HISTORY/CAPT Mullaney Combat Report.
 
Open BIOS Section for newest  entry.  W. O. (Bill) Winter has
presented us his story and it is a very successful one at that.
 

Using a little intelligence and adding two and two we have determined
that our Marine Corp operated F4U Corsairs operated from Yontan Air
Field.  The first captured Japanese base. See Index, Pictures/Enemy.

Open MEDALS SECTION. Slew down to last picture. It is replica of the
Certificate from the Governor of the State of Maryland, presented to the
   crew of Hadley for recognition of their achievements on 11 May 1945.   

See Miscellanies SECTION for Picture of Frank & Stella Boffi also
upgrade to pix of Art & Rose Lowery.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.

On October 12, 2000, 17 American sailors were killed
in a vicious kamikaze boat attack on the USS Cole. Eight
years later the charges against this attack's mastermind,
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, were dropped as part of plans
to close Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay. Don't let this
injustice stand. Call your Representative or Senator
and demand justice. Hang a noose from the ship's
mast of the USS Cole!

Those 20th century Kamikazes remain with us today,
only with a new name.  Continue to be vigilant and be 
aware that they can be anyplace.

KEEP YOUR EYES AND EARS OPEN!
As of 20 November 2009, more than 28,000 people have visited this site. 
It is our hope that we have supplied some facts and background to
give you folks a feeling of what it was like to sail on a World War II
Destroyer.  We continue to seek out any new information about
the USS Hugh W. Hadley or its shipmates.     

Now working on 29,000
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This page and all pages within www.usshadley.com, are copyright of Robert I. Eaton, 1996.
 

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