As you no doubt are aware, SS JOHN BURKE was completely and instantly destroyed in the kamikaze attack, with the loss of all hands. There were 40 merchant mariners and 29 Armed Guard aboard. She was one of three Liberty ships lost to kamikaze attacks.
Mr. Snell's suggestion of obtaining information from the National Archives may not be helpful. It is true that the Archives has copies of crew manifests and of the separate Armed Guard commanding officer's reports from voyages of merchant ships during World War II. However these documents were filed only at the end of a voyage. Since JOHN BURKE was lost with all hands, the documents would have been destroyed in the attack and consequently never filed.
I did find the information that you seek in a more roundabout manner. The excellent website American Merchant Marine at War (www.usmm.org)has listings of merchant marine and Armed Guard casualties. The list of Armed Guard killed and wounded begins at http://usmm.org/armedguard.html. This page also lists the sources of the information found on the website. The listing is alphabetical by last name of the person killed or wounded but not grouped by name of vessel. Consequently I had to search and copy from each of 26 separate alphabetical indices to find the information. OK, it didn't take that long.
Anyway, here is the list. The columns show the name of the deceased individual, the name of the vessel, the date of loss, the individual's rank or rating, and the individual's home state, if known.
Ashley, Glenn E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c KS
Bates, Robert F. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c OH
Cardoza, Arthur John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA
Davis, Shearon C. John Burke 12/28/44 GM3c NE
Dolberg, Harry L. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NE
Ellard, Robert E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c AL
Ephland, Charles E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MO
Ferrel, Ralph E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NV
Font, Adrian M. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c LA
Gordan, William E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c NC
Harrison, John C. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA
Jarrett, Guy S. John Burke 12/28/44 SM3C AR
Keniston, Theodore H. John Burke 12/28/44 SM3C MN
Kimball, Milton A. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c IA
Koehn, Frank S. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ND
Miller, William D. John Burke 12/28/44 BM2c IL
Morehead, Westly A. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c IN
Oglesby, Alex A. John Burke 12/28/44 RM1 ?
Olson, John E. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c WA
Orten, James W. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ID
Overbay, James J. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ?
Porter, Perry J. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c LA
Proctor, Gerald R. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c CA
Ramsey, William D. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c UT
Rice, Jay J. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MI
Ross, William R. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c ?
Snitzer, Charles W. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c PA
Watkins, Owen W. Jr. John Burke 12/28/44 Ltjg AZ
Whitacre, Allen B. John Burke 12/28/44 S1c MD
I hope this is useful to you.
Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com
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