IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS AND RADIO
JANUARY 24, 1946
USS FLUSSER
A charter member of the "workhhorse fleet" of the Southwest Pacific Area, the USS FLUSSER fought in every mah0or action of that threee-year battle which began at the Eastern tip of New Guinea nad finished with the total recovery of the Phillippone Islands.
The FLUSSER was operating with the USS LEXINGTON task force put of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and took part in the effort to intercept the retiring Jap forces.
The destroyer went to the Southwest Paacific in the Spring of 1942 on convoy duty, and joined acction with the enemy at Lae, New Guinea. Later, in the invasion of Finschafen, the FLUSSER, in a half-hour night aaction, destroyed two troop-laden enemy barges by gunfire and a third by ramming.
On Decembert 27, 1943, during the landing at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, the FLUSSER and USS MAHAN [roceeded omtp Borgan Bay ahead of the formation, laid buoys to mark the reefs and conducted and effective shore bombardment.
During these months the FLUSSER took part in the landings at Arawe, New Britain; Saidor, New Guinea, and the Admiralty Islands.
The destroyer was damaged once by enemy fire. This occurred while patrolling near Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands, when shore batteries found the range, inflicting light damage. Nine men were wounded.
After supporting the Leyte landings in October, 1944, the FLUSSER was assigned to a force covering the landing of the 77th Division at ORMOC. The formation was subjected to repeated Kamikaze and bombing attacks. When the USS LAMSON, patrolling near the FLUSSER, was hit by a suicide plane, the FLUSSER's small boat crew rescued a large number of survivors. The FLUSSER stood by during a ten-hour attack by appproximately 50 Japanese suicide planes, permitting salvage of the LAMSON
After the invasion of Luzon, in Lingayen Gulf, in January, 1945, the FLUSSER participated in the numerous thrusts which finally dislodged the Jap garrisons from the central and Southern Phillippine Islands and Borneo.
The FLUSSER is credited with shooting down four suicide planes and an assist in downing a heavy bomber.
The Legion of Merit medal, three Bronze Star medals and one commendation ribbon were awarded men and officers of the FLUSSER during the war.
The destroyer was built in the yards of the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Kearny, New Jersey, and was commissioned October 1, 1936.