Specifications:

Click on thumbnail for full size image	Size	Image Description		Source
RADM Aaron Ward
	83k	Namesake: Rear Admiral Aaron Ward, USN. Portrait photograph, in Special Full Dress uniform, taken circa 1910-1913. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. Naval Historical Center photo NH 98489		Bill Gonyo
USS Aaron Ward (DM 34)
	100k			Hyperwar U.S. Navy in WW II
	88k
	130k
	341k	Photographed on 17 November 1944. The ship is painted in Camouflage Measure 32, Design 11a Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1975 Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 83213		Original photo: Robert Hurst Replacement photo: Darryl Baker Replacement photo added 28 September 2021
	127k	List of officer on board 3 May 1945		Wolfgang Hechler
	131k	Kerama Retto, 4 May 1945 showing kamikaze damage U.S. Navy photo		USS LCS(L)3 1-130 Association
	174k	Damage amidships received during Kamikaze attacks off Okinawa on 3 May 1945. View looks down and aft from Aaron Ward's foremast, with her greatly distorted forward smokestack in the lower center. Photographed while the ship was in the Kerama Retto on 5 May 1945. A mine is visible at left, on the ship's starboard mine rails National Archives photo 80-G-330107		Naval Historical Center
	253k	In the Kerama Retto anchorage, 5 May 1945, showing damage received when she was hit by several Japanese suicide planes off Okinawa on 3 May. Note three-bladed aircraft propeller lodged in her superstructure, just forward of the after 5"/38 twin gun mount Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN U.S. Navy photo NH 62571
	204k	In the Kerama Retto anchorage, 5 May 1945, showing damage received when she was hit by several Kamikaze off Okinawa on 3 May Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN U.S. Navy photo NH 62572
	203k	Bluff City Cemetery, 945 Bluff City Road, Elgin, Illinois 60120 Aaron Ward's anchor on display in Elgin, Illinois, where it was installed as a memorial 6 September 1971 by the parents of S2/c Laverne Harry Schroeder, USNR, killed on her decks in the 3 May 1945 attack		Tommy Trampp
	291k	Dedication plaque

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Commanding Officers
01	CDR William Henry Sanders, Jr., USN - USNA Class of 1930 Awarded the Navy Cross (1945), the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart - Retired as Rear Admiral	28 October 1944 - 3 May 1945

Courtesy of Wolfgang Hechler and Ron Reeves

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THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON

The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the

UNITED STATES SHIP AARON WARD

for service as set forth in the following

CITATION:

"For extraordinary heroism in action as a Picket Ship on Radar Picket Station during a coordinated attack by approximately twenty-five Japanese aircraft near Okinawa on May 3, 1945. Shooting down two Kamikazes which approached in determined suicide dives, the U.S.S. AARON WARD was struck by a bomb from a third suicide plane as she fought to destroy this attacker before it crashed into her superstructure and sprayed the entire area with flaming gasoline. Instantly flooded in her after engineroom and fireroom, she battled against flames and exploding ammunition on deck and, maneuvering in a tight circle because of damage to her steering gear, countered another coordinated suicide attack and destroyed three Kamikazes in rapid succession. Still smoking heavily and maneuvering radically, she lost all power when her forward fireroom flooded under a seventh suicide plane which dropped a bomb close aboard and dived in flames into the main deck. Unable to recover from this blow before an eighth bomber crashed into her superstructure bulkhead only a few seconds later, she attempted to shoot down a ninth Kamikaze diving toward her at high speed and, despite the destruction of nearly all her gun mounts aft when this plane struck her, took under fire the tenth bomb-laden plane, which penetrated the dense smoke to crash on board with a devastating explosion. With fires raging uncontrolled, ammunition exploding and all engine spaces except the forward engineroom flooded as she settled in the water and listed to port, she began a nightlong battle to remain afloat and, with the assistance of a towing vessel, finally reached port the following morning. By her superb fighting spirit and the courage and determination of her entire company, the AARON WARD upheld the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service."