Thomas Samuel McInturff was the son of James Tobias “Tobe” Miller and Claty Myrtle Border.
He was killed in action and initially buried on 26 October 1944 on Letye Island in the Philippines. He is buried at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.
USS Albert W. Grant joined TG 77.2 and sailed to engage a Japanese task force reported steaming northward from the Sulu Sea toward Surigao Strait. That American battleship group met the Japanese force in the Battle of Surigao Strait, and Grant, along with other destroyers in advance of the main battle line, conducted a torpedo attack. During this attack, she was hit and severely damaged by gunfire, not only from Japanese naval forces, but also by its covering US battleships. Grant suffered 22 hits, many by six-inch shells. Fires broke out, and the ship lost steering control and all power. Thirty-eight men were killed and 104 were wounded. Although their ship was down by the bow and listing heavily to port, the destroyer’s crew got her engines working again and enabled her to retire to American-controlled waters in Leyte Gulf.
- Rank: Seaman Second Class
- Date of birth: 28 July 1920
- Date of death: 25 October 1944
- County: Unicoi
- Hometown: Erwin
- Service Branch: Navy
- Division/Assignment: USS Albert W. Grant
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Burial/Memorial Location: Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonifacio, Manila, Philippines
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XIX, Top Panel
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