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USS Colorado Sailor Accounted For From World War II (Slaton, I.)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2018 - Navy Reserve Seaman 2nd Class Ira N. Slaton, killed during the attack on the USS Colorado in World War II, was accounted for on Sept. 24, 2018.

On July 24, 1944, Slaton was aboard the battleship USS Colorado, which was moored approximately 3,200 yards from the shore of Tinian Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Early in the morning, the USS Colorado, along with the light cruiser Cleveland and destroyers Remey and Norman Scott, commenced firing toward the island. Within two hours, a concealed Japanese shore battery opened fire on the USS Colorado and the USS Norman Scott. The first hit on the USS Colorado resulted in a heavy explosion, and the ship sustained extensive fragmentation damage. From the attack, four crewmen were declared missing in action, and 39 personnel were killed, including Slaton. Slaton and the other casualties were subsequently interred in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Saipan.

DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission for their partnership in this mission.

Slaton’s name is recorded on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, in Honolulu, along with the others missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

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