Fallen Crew Members of
USS KIDD (DD-661)
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Fallen Crew Members of USS KIDD (DD-661) |
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SYLVESTER WILLARD HANSEN
The child of James B. and Cecilia Hansen, Sylvester Willard Hansen was born in Balsma Lake, Wisconsin, on April 20, 1920. He was one of seven children: two girls—Carla and Adele—and five boys including Sylvester himself—Raymond, Neil, Donald, and LeRoy. His brother Donald was killed in an airplane accident in Green Cove Springs, Florida, during World War II. It was his sister Adele and brother LeRoy who supplied a photo of Sylvester and much of the information that we have about him to researcher Richard E. Ammon, Jr.
Sylvester attended school in Balsma Lake through the 8th grade. He enlisted in the Navy on December 05, 1939, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was sent to boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. When he left boot camp, he was ordered to report aboard the battleship USS TENNESSEE (BB-43). He would later transfer to the destroyer USS LUDLOW (DD-448). |
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Three years after the above biography was published in The KIDD's Compass newsletter, we received an email from his niece, Cheryl Hansen Calvillo. Like many children of the World War II generation, she was searching for information on her uncle from a generation that rarely talked about the sacrifices made for freedom during World War II. |
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June 22, 2003
I have recently found out that my uncle, CWT Sylvester W. Hansen, was killed aboard the USS KIDD on April 11, 1945. I had been told growing up that I had an uncle who was killed overseas during World War II, but the family never really talked about it. I never heard my father (Sylvester's younger brother, Neal) talk about him, mostly I think because Sylvester was killed sixteen months after another brother, Donald, was killed in a training mission in Florida. He was a Naval pilot and had just received his wings the day before. Sylvester and Donald were the two oldest sons and their deaths left my father the oldest of the five remaining Hansen children.
Not until recently did I take an interest and decide to find out more about my uncles. I found out through yet another Hansen brother (my Uncle LeRoy) that Sylvester was on the KIDD and that he was in the boiler room where the kamikaze plane flew into. His remains were never found, not even his dog tags. I have been waiting for your website to be back up and running, and it was worth the wait. Until now, all I had was word of mouth that my uncle was on the KIDD. But now, I see his name clearly printed on the picture of the brass plaque mounted on the quarterdeck. (He is the fifth name down on the left.)
My husband (of two-and-a-half years) is retired Navy after serving twenty years as a cryptologist. We are both looking forward to planning a trip to Baton Rouge to visit the KIDD, and even attending a field day. We live in the Washington, D.C. area.
Sylvester still has a brother, LeRoy, and two sisters, Carla and Adele, remaining and tons of nieces and nephews. I don't know if any of them have taken an interest in learning more about him. I just know once I started researching, the more information I got, the more amazed and proud I was to have had an uncle who gave his life for our country, and in such an important and historical battle. Even though I never knew my uncle, as he was killed fifteen years before I was born, I feel a closeness to him, one that makes me feel compelled to board the USS KIDD and be where he was on that day, and touch his name on the plaque. My father passed away twenty years ago, and my uncle and aunts still to this day do not like to discuss Sylvester, so outside of my mother, who knows only what the family has told her, my only source of information are those, like you, who have kept his memory alive. I thank you.
Cheryl Hansen Calvillo |
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**Copyright 1997-2007 by Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission** |
