Vaughn R. Kimball was born 7 January 1922 in Draper, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States to Crozier Kimball (1879-1966) and Mary Lenora Roberts (1881-1937) and died 11 May 1945 Battle of Okinawa of Combat Injuries.
Biography
Vaughn R Kimball died in a naval battle on 11 May 1945. He died in the severe Japanese attack on his ship day and records list him as buried at sea.
He entered the service in December 1941 and was assigned sea duty early in 1945. He was a Yeoman 1st Class onboard the US Aircraft Carrier, USS Bunker Hill (CV-17). Before that he attended Jordan and Provo High Schools and played both football and basketball at Brigham Young University.
He was survived by his widow Ione Labrum Kimball.
USS Bunker Hill
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the second U.S. Navy ship to bear the name, was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill was commissioned in May 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning eleven battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. She was badly damaged in May 1945 by Japanese kamikaze attacks, with the loss of hundreds of her crew, becoming one of the most heavily damaged carriers to survive the war.
Kamikaze Attack
On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.
The Zero next crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a large fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as kamikazes were trained to aim for the island superstructure. The bomb penetrated the flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place.
Bunker Hill lost a total of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged and was sent to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard for repairs. She was still in the shipyard when the war ended in mid-August 1945.
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Jane Roberts Kimball (1901-1932) | |||
| Edwin Roberts Kimball (1903-1990) | |||
| Griffith Roberts Kimball (1905-1968) | |||
| Lenora Roberts Kimball (1908-1986) | |||
| Crozier Rodney Kimball (1910-2007) | |||
| Caroline Roberts Kimball (1912-1998) | |||
| Cleo Bernice Kimball (1913-2001) | 14 December 1913 Tropic, Garfield County, Utah | 27 December 2001 Logan, Cache County, Utah | Joseph Vernon Cook (1913-2003) |
| Gwen Roberts Kimball (1915-1977) | |||
| Vaughn Roberts Kimball (1922-1945) | 7 January 1922 Draper, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States | 11 May 1945 USS Bunker Hill (near Okinawa, Pacific Ocean) | Ione Labrum |
| Reid Roberts Kimball (1926-2015) | |||