4/18/1945
T/5 CPL Raymond J. Rondeau was presumed killed, and CPT George Clifford “Clifford” Sarauw, 2LT Arthur J. Zellmer, T/SGT Francis H. Zurn, and T/5 CPL Elmer J. Craddock were killed on 18 April 1945. They were assigned to 92nd Ordnance (Bomb Disposal) Squad. They were participating in the assault landing on Ie Jima (also called Ie Shima), Okinawa when their landing craft detonated a landmine. The 92nd Ordnance (Bomb Disposal) Squad had been patrolling for mines southwest of Ie Jima, where these obstacles had been thickest, discouraging Navy supply craft from landing. T/5 CPL Rondeau is listed as missing-in-action. T/5 Rondeau was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and Purple Heart Medal.
*This bio was researched and authored by SGM Mike R. Vining, USA (Retired) with supporting research from the books, Nine from Aberdeen, by Jeffrey M. Leatherwood, Ph.D., and Bomb Disposal, The Early Years of Explosive Ordnance Disposal, 1940 to 1949, by LTC Robert E. Leiendecker, USA (Retired)