WALTER S GORKA APD 114
Ship Name and Designation History
This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.
Keel Laid April 3 1945 as Rudderrow Class Destroyer Escort DE-604 Redesignated High-speed Transport (APD) July 17 1944 Launched May 26 1945 |
This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).
Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.
- Covers Page 1 (1945)
Postmarks
This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.
A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an
image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN
THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the
existing example.
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Postmark Type |
Postmark Date |
Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image |
Thumbnail Link To Cover Image |
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Locy Type |
1945-12-19 |
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Note:
Other Information
Awards, Citations and Campaign Ribbons...
American Campaign Medal - World War II Victory Medal
NAMESAKE - Walter Stanley Gorka USNR (March 24 1922 - November 10 1942)
Gorka enlisted in the Naval Reserve at Hartford, Conn., on May 15 1940 and eventually attained the rate of Aviation Ordnanceman, Third Class. Attached to Escort Scouting Squadron (VGS) 27 which was embarked in the Auxiliary Carrier USS SUWANNEE ACV-27 at the time of Operation "Torch", the invasion of French North Africa—Gorka served as bombardier and gunner in the aircrew of a Grumman TBF-1 Avenger of that squadron. On November 8 1942, the first day of the landings— SUWANNEE's air group bombed French ships and shore installations in the Casablanca area, including the immobile but formidable Battleship JEAN BART and the coast defense and shore batteries at Table d'Aukasha. Two days later, Gorka went on an attack mission against a French submarine. The French antiaircraft fire proved deadly accurate, and Gorka's plane was shot down. For his performance of duty with VGS-27 during "Torch," Gorka received the Air Medal posthumously
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