World
War II
Andy William
"Ardy" Hankins
Killed at Okinawa aboard The Spectacle
(AM-305)
It was a mine sweeper, hit by a kamikazes
Andy William Hankins
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Andy William Hankins was born the
first day of fall in 1915. He was the
son of James Hankins (buried in
Howard/Washington Cemetery near Delaware
Bend, Cooke Co., Texas) and Mattie Lelar
Heard. At
the age of 4-1/2 Andy, his older brother
Ralph and older sister Clessie are living in
Precinct 7 of Grayson Co. in the household
of his maternal grandparents, Joe C. &
Rebecca Heard as well as their 26-year-old
uncle. In
1930 the family had moved to Precinct 6 of
Grayson Co. By
1940 Andy, along with his older brother
Ralph and his older sister Clessie, are
living in Whitesboro, Grayson Co., Texas
with his mother and stepfather, Joseph B.
Spencer.
In 1940 Julia
Lee Pilcher, daughter of General Robertson “Bud”
Pilcher and Jessie Dee Brown, was living with
her older sister & family in Gainesville,
Cooke County, Texas. It
is safe to suggest that Julia Lee and Andy met
in Gainesville and were married about a year
later.
The Spectacle was a steel
hulled Admiral class mine sweeper built for the
U.S. Navy during World War II; these ships
usually cleared the area of any naval mines
before the rest of the fleet arrives, thus
clearing the way for the larger
vessels. The Spectacle was commissioned on
Friday, the 11th of August 1944. The Muster
Roll of the Spectacle (AM-305), stamped August
23, 1944, shows that Andy enlisted at
Gainesville, Cooke Co., Texas on Friday, April
23, 1943. A trained crew was on board
and practiced with the mine sweeping gear at
Seattle, Washington. At the end of September
1944, the ship then sailed for the West Coast
Sonar School at San Pedro California where
they were trained in antisubmarine warfare.
The crew and ship proceeded to Hawaii on
Friday, October 11, 1944 and arrived at Pearl
Harbor on November 5. The following week the
Spectacle sailed in a convoy, arriving in San
Diego on November 20 and leaving again for
Hawaiian waters one week later on November 27.
The Spectacle and crew sailed for Iwo Jima in
January 1945 as part of the Allied assault
force in the Pacific in order to clear mines
from the Japanese beaches so the Allied forces
could invade. On March 7, 1945 USS Spectacle
sailed for provisions and repairs in the coral
reef among the Caroline Islands in the west
part of the Pacific. Just twelve days later,
USS Spectacle and crew sailed for
Okinawa in order to sweep mines from waters
near the island in preparation for the
upcoming amphibious attack scheduled for April
1, 1945. The fateful day for Andy Hankins
dawned on May 25, 1945. At 0805 USS Spectacle
was hit by a diving kamikaze, causing
extensive damage and blowing many of the crew
overboard. She dropped anchor to avoid running
over the men in the water. At 0815 USS LSN-135
began picking up survivors but just 15 minutes
later the medium landing ship was also hit by
a kamikaze and burst into flames. USS LSN-135
had only been in service eleven months and 25
days. Spectacle's losses were 11 KIA, four who
died of wounds later, six wounded and 14 MIA.
USS Spectacle arrived in Seattle, Washington
on August 11, 1945 and was decommissioned on
October 19, 1945. She was struck from the
Navy's list on December 5, 1945 and sold for
scrap in 1947.
The Cornerstone for Peace is a monument in
Itoman, commemorating the Battle of Okinawa and
the role of Okinawa
during World War II. The
names of over two hundred and forty thousand
people who lost their lives are inscribed on the
monument, regardless of the country of service,
as well as civilians. The
Battle of Okinawa was the largest amphibious
assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82 day long battle
lasted from early April to mid-June 1945. The battle resulted in
the highest number of casualties in the Pacific
Theater during World War II.
The casualty list included those who were
killed, captured or committed of suicide.
The
World War II Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard
Causalities reports lists :
Hankins, Andy William, Seaman 1st
class, USNR with his next of kin as wife, Julia
Lee Hankins, Rt. 3, c/o G.R. Pilcher,
Gainesville.
See the
Honerstates
website page for him.
He has memorial
stones in;
OKINAWA
PEACE MEMORIAL PARK, OKINAWA, JAPAN
& DIXIE
Cemetery