October 24, 1944, Leyte Gulf
A Japanese aircraft hit the USS Princeton with an armor-piercing bomb. The USS Princeton had multiple fighter planes and torpedo bombers along with torpedoes on board. One of the torpedo bombers was directly hit by the bomb and exploded which triggered the other 5 torpedo bombers to explode. The bomb also hit the area of the ship where most of the torpedoes were stored. This resulted in a severe fire in the USS Princeton's hangar and the emergency sprinkler system failed to operate. The fire spread rapidly and more explosions followed. It was eventually brought under control but there was an enormous explosion causing more casualties aboard the USS Princeton. Even heavier casualties (241 dead and 412 wounded) aboard the light cruiser USS Birmingham which was alongside assisting with the firefighting.
My uncle, Franklin Leroy Marker was on the USS Birmingham and lost his life that day. He was 21 years old and had just gotten engaged the previous Christmas. His parents (my grandparents) were notified of his death on November 10, 1944... which would have been his 22nd birthday.
My cousins and I were always saddened that we never had the chance to know him. From stories we heard from our parents, he was a terrific person. He was the 2nd child in a family of 17 children. 2 daughters died at less than 1 year of age (thus I never knew them and neither did my father as they were older than him). He was 7 years older than my father so he did know him quite well. Not so much the younger children. In fact, my grandmother was pregnant with the last child when he was killed.
