Rednour
Ship's Cook 2c. Forrest Orin Rednour, USCG, was born on 13 May 1923 in Cutler, Ill. He enlisted in the Coast Guard at Chicago 19 June 1941, and perished when Cutter Escanaba was sunk on "... 13 June 1943, after being blown to bits by an explosion of undetermined cause" off Ivigtat, Greenland, with a loss of 101 of the 103 men aboard. Rednour was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroic action 3 February 1943 when he voluntarily subjected himself to pounding seas and bitter cold for nearly 4 hours to rescue survivors from the torpedoed Army transport Dorchester. Realizing the ". . . danger of being crushed between the rafts and the ship's side, or of being struck by a propeller blade if the engines backed, he swam in under the counter of the constantly maneuvering Escanaba and prevented many floating survivors from being caught in the suction of the screws, in one instance retrieving a loaded raft."
(APD-102: dp. 1,650; l. 306'; b. 37'; dr. 9'8"; s. 23.6 k.; cpl. 204; a. 1 5", 6 40mm., 6 20mm., 2 dct.; cl. Crosley)
Rednour (APD-102), a high-speed transport, ex-DE-592, was laid down 30 December 1943 by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., Hingham, Mass.; launched 12 February 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Forrest O. Rednour, widow of Ship's Cook 2c. Forrest Orin Rednour, USCG; and commissioned 30 December 1944, Lt. Comdr. Roland H. Cramer in command.
After shakedown in Bermudan waters, Rednour arrived in Norfolk, Va., 7 February 1945. She then underwent amphibious training in Chesapeake Bay and coastal training operations, after which she departed Melville, R.I., 24 February, bound for the Pacific.
Arriving at San Diego on 11 March, she engaged in a week of coastal training exercises before standing in to Pearl Harbor on the 25th. There she assisted in the training of underwater demolition teams through 8 April, when she steamed as an escort for several cargo ships en route Ulithi, via the Marshall Islands.
Rednour departed Ulithi 23 April, overtaking a convoy which arrived off the Hagushi beaches of Okinawa 26 April. She patrolled off Kerama Retto through the following month and assisted in the screening of inward- and outward-bound convoys. She also assisted in repelling almost constant air raids.
On the night of 27 May, Rednour assumed an antiaircraft patrol station 14 miles west of Zampa-misaki (Point Bolo), Okinawa, in company with Loy (APD-56) and Eisele (DE-34). Shortly before midnight, the first of several suicide planes which attacked Loy was exploded in midair by antiaircraft fire, but a second aircraft crashed the high-speed transport. A third aircraft evaded the gunfire, but a fourth closed rapidly on Rednour's starboard bow. Despite the withering curtain of fire thrown up by her gunners, the plane crashed Rednour's stern, starting fires and blowing a 10-foot hole in her main deck. Three men were killed and 13 wounded. After driving off yet another suicide plane, Rednour entered Kerama roadstead for temporary battle damage repairs.
Departing Okinawa 14 June, Rednour steamed for California stopping en route at both Leyte and Pearl Harbor. Arriving at San Pedro on 22 July, she underwent a general overhaul, got underway, then for service in the Marshall-Gilbert Islands Command with Transport Division 104.
Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Saipan, she arrived Eniwetok 15 September 1945. During the following months she carried passengers, vehicles, provisions, and other cargo between Eniwetok, Wake, Ponape, and Kwajalein. From 29 October through 5 November, she served as headquarters ship for a hydrographic survey party from Hydrographer (AFS-2) in the area of Taongi Atoll.
Rednour's inter-island transport service ended on 5 January 1946 when she departed Kwajalein with the staff and records of the Marshall-Gilberts Command, bound for Guam. Debarking her passengers and records at Apra Harbor 4 days later, she sailed for the United States via Kwajalein and Pearl Harbor, arriving at San Pedro on 2 February.
Departing San Pedro 20 February, Rednour transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Norfolk on 8 March to prepare for inactivation. She sailed on 31 March for Green Cove Springs, Fla., decommissioned there on 24 July 1946, and was assigned to the Florida Group of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Later towed to Orange, Tex. she remained there until struck from the Navy list 1 March 1967 and sold for scrap.
Rednour received one battle star for World War II service..