USS Brush (DD-745)

The USS Brush was one of 58 Allen M Sumner-class destroyers built during World War II. She was commissioned on April 17, 1944. Even with a somewhat late entry into the war, she still received five battle stars before the war ended, including Leyte, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

During the Korean war, for which she received four more battle stars, the Brush was part of Task Force 77, participating in screening carriers launching air strikes and also shore bombardment operations. It was during one of these bombardments, on September 26, 1950 that she hit a mine in the waters near Tanchon, Korea. In addition to dozens of injured, the following men were killed in the ensuing explosion:

John David Beagles

James Robert Colleran

Frank Allen Davis

Bobby Eugene Freeman

Meyer Louis Getz

David Morrell Grubb

Dale Lloyd Hoover

Gordon Eugene Johnson

Henry Dean Little

Warren Maxwell Shepherd

Eugene Leroy Timmons

William Duffy Morris

Oliver Clyde Sexon

Willie Henry Fisher Jr.

Also listed as having died one year and a day later, but presumably from the same incident, 

Bennie Joe Berryman

All of these men died while serving their country and in the direct protection of their fellow men who were fighting the war. Let us no forget, even 65 years later, what their sacrifices mean. Also, let us than all of those injured and all of the other men that have served aboard the USS Brush in their careers.

The Brush went on to three tours in Vietnam as well, before she was decommissioned in 1969