Bill Abernethy poses with his nephew

Mike (left) and his niece Patricia (right).

Photo courtesy of the Abernethy family.

Bill advanced in rate while aboard the KIDD, eventually making Metalsmith 2^nd class (T).  Shipmate Richard Utley, who came aboard at the age of sixteen, remembered Abernethy as a fatherly figure.  "He would stand there at the gangway as we went on liberty," said Utley, "and tell the other guys, 'Now you watch out for that kid.  Don't get him into trouble.'  He took care of me."

During the KIDD's overhaul at Mare Island, Bill married Marian Carley on January 23, 1945.  He shipped out in February and, just over a month later, was killed at his post on April 11 when the kamikaze struck the KIDD's forward fireroom.  The bomb that the plane carried did not detonate inside of the ship but rather was catapulted through that space, holing the destroyer and exploding outside the port side hull.  The crash, however, ruptured the Number One boiler, releasing steam that was 800° F in temperature and killing every man in the compartment.  Bill was thirty-four years old.  Initially listed as Missing In Action, his body was later discovered in the fireroom's wreckage during recovery operations there.  He was buried at sea along with his shipmates at 1100 on Sunday, April 15, 1945, at 10.0 N latitude, 139-50 E longitude as the KIDD was en route back to Ulithi Atoll from the front lines.

Bill's widow Marian met Grace Grieshaber at a local grocery in Brooklyn not long after learning of Bill's death.  Grace had also lost her husband George, the KIDD's chief engineer, on April 11.  Years later, they both began to attend KIDD reunions where they reconnected and became fast friends.  Bill's nephew and niece, Michael Abernethy and Patricia Suppa, have also attended the reunions for many long years, representing their beloved uncle.