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Those Who Died That Others Might Be Free

 

Norman Duncan

 

Date and Place of Birth: Mayville, Michigan
Date and Place of Death: April 12, 1945 off coast of Okinawa, Pacific Ocean
Baseball Experience: Minor League
Position: Shortstop
Rank: Lieutenant (jg)
Military Unit: US Navy
Area Served: Pacific Theater of Operations

 

Norman J "Norm" Duncan was born in Mayville, Michigan. He attended Michigan State and was captain of the baseball team. "[He] still is considered one of the best to ever play at Michigan State," says his son Norman Jr, who later played for the same baseball coach (John Kobs) at Michigan State.

 

Upon graduation, Duncan was signed by the St Louis Browns and began his professional career with the St Joseph Autos of the Michigan State League in 1941, batting .277 with 35 RBIs in 66 games. He was released to the Springfield Cardinals for 1942 but didn't see service with that team and was on the National Defense Service List of the Toledo Mud Hens of the American Association when he joined the Navy early in 1943.

 

Duncan served on board the escort destroyer USS Whitehurst (DE-634) as an ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) Officer. The Whitehurst put to sea in November 1943 and performed a variety of escort duties in the Pacific.

 

 

At the beginning of April 1945, the Whitehurst was involved in vital screening duties off the southwest coast of Okinawa. At 1430, on April 12, 1945 four Japanese "Val" dive-bombers approached from the south. One dive-bomber detached itself from the group and headed for the Whitehurst in a kamikaze attack. It circled and then commenced a steep dive, somehow getting through the anti-aircraft fire and crashing into the ship's forward superstructure, penetrating the bulkheads and starting fires that enveloped the entire bridge.

 

Lieutenant (jg) Duncan's battle station was the SONAR Shack which was a very small compartment on the face of the ship's superstructure, just forward of the Bridge.  The dive-bomber passed through the Combat Information Center and the Pilot House which was directly below the SONAR Shack. It is not known whether Duncan was killed at this time or jumped overboard to escape the inferno, but his was body was never recovered.

 

Of the crew of 189 men, 42 were dead or missing and over 40 were seriously burned or injured.

 

Lieutenant (jg) Norman Duncan is memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery at Fort Bonifacio in the Philippines. "In Mayville, Michigan," explains his son, "They still have a memorial award in his name given to the outstanding senior athlete based on an accumulated criteria of athletics, academics and citizenship over their four years in high school."

 

Thanks to Norm Duncan's son, Norm Jr, and Max Crow, USS Whitehurst expert and webmaster of www.whitehurst.org for their help with this biography.

 

Added November 6, 2006. Updated March 25, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Gary Bedingfield (Baseball in Wartime). All Rights Reserved.