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Seaman 1st Class Phillip Andrew Ackerman
 Record NO: (1)
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Rank / Rate Seaman 1st Class War of Service WWII Date of birth Jun 16, 1923 Place of birth / home town LaFayette, OH- Allen, CO. Born in Paulding County, OH Family Members Father, Emmet F. Akerman.
Mother, Telitha R. (Holman) Akerman.
Sisters, Cynthia R, Mary M. and Irma L. Akerman.
Brothers, James E, David W, and Emmet J. Akerman. High School Enlistment Date Branch Navy Service Number 2797784 Unit / Ship / duty Station USS Hoel (DD-533) Date of Casuality Oct 25, 1944 Cause of Death or Status KIA Place of Incident Battle of Leyte Gulf, Philippines Campaign (1944–45), Pacific War (World War II) Place of Burial or Memorial Lost at sea Memorialized at Lafayette Cemetery, Lafayette, OH and Memorialized Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines [ https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/ackerman%3Dphilip ] Awards Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WWII Victory, Phillipines Presidential Citation.  |
| Phillip Akerman was born in Paulding County, Ohio.,,,,, USS Hoel (DD-533) was a Fletcher-class destroyer built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was named after Lieutenant Commander William R. Hoel. Commissioned in 1943, she was sunk in the Battle off Samar during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944. USS Hoel (DD-533) took a hit to her forward engine room from an eight-inch shell that disabled her starboard engine. By 0840, USS Hoel (DD-533) was dead in the water with a heavy 20° list to port, the sea lapping at her fantail. Kintberger passed the word to abandon ship. Battered from having absorbed, in Kintberger’s estimation, more than 40 direct hits from five-, eight-, and sixteen-inch shells, USS Hoel (DD-533) finally surrendered to the sea at 0855. USS Hoel (DD-533) was stricken from the Navy Register on 27 November 1944. For a complete history of USS Hoel (DD-533) please see its DANFS page. Only 86 of Hoel’s complement survived while 253 officers and men died with their ship. Commander Kinterberger described the incomparably courageous devotion to duty of the men of the Hoel in a seaman’s epitaph to the action: “Fully cognizant of the inevitable result of engaging such vastly superior forces, these men performed their assigned duties coolly and efficiently until their ship was shot from under them.” In addition to the Presidential Unit Citation, Hoel received the Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation Badge and five battle stars for World War II service. Learn more about this ship at NavSource History https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/533.htm |
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