Lawrence (Tommy) Maxon Amburgey was born on April 30, 1921 and was from Ashland, Kentucky. He was the son of Lawrence Maxon Amburgey and Vera Moore Amburgey. He attended Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tenn. He married Mary Josephine Shipley from Athens, Tennessee on July 24, 1943 in Annapolis, Maryland. Lieutenant Lawrence Maxon Amburgey is memorialized at the Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii and at Ashland Cemetery, in Ashland, Kentucky. He posthumously received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service.
The USS Bonefish SS-223 keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut on June 25, 1942 and commissioned on May 31, 1943. The Bonefish had completed seven successful patrols and by May 1945 had set out on its eighth patrol. The Bonefish had been equipped with a new mine-detecting device and along with two other submarines, were ordered to penetrate the Sea of Japan to interrupt Japanese oversea supply lines. The submarine had successfully made its way through the minefields by Tsushima Island and entered the Sea of Japan off the west central coast of Honshu.
Navigating farther up the Honshu coast, at Yoyama Bay, the Bonefish engaged in sinking a cargo ship and in a severe counterattack by Japanese escorts the Bonefish was hit with depth charges and was lost on June 18, 1945 with all of her crew still aboard. The Bonefish sank a total of 12 enemy vessels, for a total tonnage of 61,345, and damaged seven, for 42,000 more tons.
Picture from: http://www.oneternalpatrol.com
- Rank: Lieutenant Junior Grade
- Date of birth: 30 April 1921
- Date of death: 18 June 1945
- County: McMinn
- Hometown: Athens
- Service Branch: Navy
- Division/Assignment: USS Bonefish SS-223
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Purple Heart, Bronze Star
- Burial/Memorial Location: Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XV, Middle Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Lawrence M. Amburgey
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