Hull Number: DE-575
Launch Date: 12/21/1943
Commissioned Date: 02/12/1944
Call Sign: NTPI
Class: BUCKLEY
BUCKLEY Class
Namesake: EDWARD HENRY AHRENS
EDWARD HENRY AHRENS
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, April 2016
Edward Henry Ahrens, born on 4 November 1919 in Dayton, Ky., enlisted in the Marine Corps on 3 February 1942 at Cincinnati, Ohio, and underwent boot camp training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C. He transferred to the Marine Barracks, Quantico, Va., on 16 March 1942.
Assigned to Company “A”, 1st Raider Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, soon thereafter, Ahrens landed with that unit from Little (APD-4) at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, British Solomon Islands, in the second assault wave on 7 August 1942. With Company “C”, 1st Raider Battalion, securing the right flank on the beachhead, Company “A” moved inland and down the right slope of Tulagi’s central ridge. Initially, the Marines were not opposed.
That evening, Company “A” took positions for the night west of a cricket ground on the island, as part of the defensive line extending along the ridge. The Japanese later launched a fierce nocturnal counterattack which drove a wedge between the two Raider companies. Isolating the latter near the beachhead, the enemy concentrated his efforts on Company “A” in an attempt to sweep up the ridge toward the residency, a former British government building serving as a Raider battalion command post. The Raiders, however, stood firm.
During the savage battle that ensued, Ahrens, in a security detachment assigned the task of protecting the Raiders’ right flank, singlehandedly engaged a group of Japanese in hand-to-hand combat as they attempted to infiltrate the Raiders’ rear. Although painfully wounded in the groin, the gallant young Marine killed at least three Japanese (including the attacking unit’s senior officer) and aided materially in stopping their infiltration.
For his part in stopping the enemy, Ahrens, who died of his wounds on 8 August, was posthumously awarded a Navy Cross as well as a share of the Presidential Unit Citation earned by the 1st Marine Division.
Disposition:
Stricken 1 April 1965.