Crew
Plunkett had a number of ship’s parties at the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn, two in December 1942, this one on March 19, 1943 and the last one in March 1944. Captain Burke is front and center with his wife Adele. Dutch Heissler is to the left with Ginny. John Gallagher is two rows behind Burke, peeking out from behind some big hair. Jim Feltz is halfway to the rear at the far right. Irv Gebhart is four places to Jim’s right. (credit: Jim Feltz)
Lewis Miller was Plunkett’s captain when the ship went into Casablanca on Operation Torch. He ran a “happy ship” but was detached after the ship returned from North Africa after a disagreement with the squadron commander and a mishap in Wallabout Bay, Brooklyn. This picture ran in the U.S. Naval Academy’s Lucky Bag in 1926. (credit: United States Naval Academy) 
The ship’s indispensable man at Anzio, Kenneth “Dutch” Heissler was an Iowa farm boy who enlisted at 15, was renowned for both fisticuffs and sleight of hand, and was beloved by the crew. (credit: Fran Poulin) 
Dutch Heissler’s wife Virginia joined him for a spell in China where Dutch would go out drinking with Ernest “Ernie” King, Chief of Naval Operations during World War II, a fact Plunkett’s crew wouldn’t believe until one memorable encounter. (credit: Fran Poulin) 
Christmas dinner in Plunkett’s wardroom in 1942, with the ship’s officers and wives. Ken Brown is seated at the head of the table. Jack Simpson is seated with hand on chin, his wife Peggy to his left. Jack Collingwood is seated at far left. Note the menu on the tabletop. (credit: Jack Simpson Family) 
Toward the end of this party, a number of officers and crew collaborated on a telegram to Franklin Roosevelt, asking the president to keep the Navy from detaching Capt. Lewis Miller (at center, with mustache) from Plunkett. Jack Simpson (to Miller’s right) was a signatory, as was Jim McManus (at right with arms over the shoulders of two sailors). (credit: Jack Simpson Family) 
After the Plunkett’s first day in combat off the coast of Sicily on July 11, 1943, Irvin “Dutch” Gebhart wrote this in a journal he kept, surreptitiously, throughout the war: “Arrived in Gela. Landed troops. Had planes attack all day. We fired back at them. A day I will never forget.” (credit: James Gebhart) 
A ship’s engineer from Camden, New Jersey, Tom Garner was one of John Gallagher’s best friends on the ship and was in the gun tub with him when the bomb hit at Anzio. (credit: Patricia Garner Morrone) 
On the back of an official ‘Our Navy’ portrait of Plunkett, John Gallagher gathered the names of 83 shipmates, their nicknames, ratings and hometowns. Gallagher was a man, Jim Feltz said, “without an enemy on that ship.” (credit: Mark Gallagher) 
In late 1943, Plunkett’s crew piled into a truck for a “beer party” near Oran, Algeria. Vic Zakrzewski is standing at far right. (credit: Jim Feltz) 
A heavyweight boxer who, according to family lore, once fought Jack Dempsey, Dutch did mix it up with Burke in sparring sessions on the Plunkett’s fantail. (credit: Fran Poulin) 
Adriano “Spag” Spagnolo (left) with his best friend, Michael Tito, pampering local kids in Sicily. Spag’s son, Ed, says there’s a very good chance his father was one of Plunkett’s Italian-speaking crew on Dutch Heissler’s provisioning run outside Palermo. (credit: Ed Spagnolo) 
A Yale graduate and captain of the school’s squash team, Jack Oliver was the grandson of a U.S. Senator from Pittsburgh. Jack joined the CIA after the war. (credit: Peter Oliver) 
This picture of the Squadron Commander Clay and Plunkett’s Captain Burke was taken just days before the ship went into Anzio and originally appeared in a U.S. Navy publication. (credit: Christine Mott) 
Squadron Commander James P. Clay wrote in the Action Report after Anzio that he’d seen two of the ship’s 20mm gunners on the starboard side of the ship take out one of the swarming German bombers. (credit: Jim Feltz) 
Sometimes known to the crew as Dooley, Jim McManus was Plunkett’s incomparable gun captain. Tough, acerbic, and devoted to his shipmates, the canvas rag top on the top of his gun turret (instead of a heavier metal roof) is why Jim survived Anzio. (credit: Neil McManus) 
James Patrick Gilligan (standing beside wife Catherine) served on Plunkett as a ship's cook from January 1942 until May 1944. Laid up in Oran with a skin ailment, he missed the assault on Anzio. James was from the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City. The Gilligans are standing above Dutch and Ginny Heissler. 
Irving F. Diamond was born in 1916, lived in Chicago and enlisted in the Navy 15 days after Pearl Harbor was struck. He came aboard the Plunkett in Boston on March 7, 1942 and served as the ship’s storekeeper. At general quarters, Irving worked on Plunkett’s 1.1-inch gun. He was on that gun at Anzio, working to keep that swarm of a dozen bombers at bay. The 550-lb. bomb that hit Plunkett hit the ship squarely on the 1.1-inch gun mount. Irving’s remains, and the remains of the men who worked with him, were never recovered. 
Crew from the Plunkett in Toulon, France, November 1944. The only identified crew member is John Marshall at top center. (credit: Jeanne Marshall) 
Four of Plunkett’s crew lounge in the electric shop in August of 1944. Charles T. (C.T.) Renie is second from right. The picture’s caption notes the men as Willie, John, C.T. and Al. John may John E. Landers, who was an Electrician’s Mate Second Class in Dec. 1943. 
In December of 1944, Gertrude and Hugh Geraghty were married in Brooklyn. After the bomb hit the ship at Anzio, the “wild lrishman"... with superhuman energy raised that hatch and got” two other men out of the engine room. None of the other men made it out. 
Bill Carey, one of four men from Fall River on Plunkett, was killed after the bomb hit at Anzio, though his body was never recovered. Bill’s wife, Anna (right), later joined the Navy and was somehow assigned to duty in Italy. Her family says that whenever she got the chance, she walked the beaches of Anzio and Nettuno, looking for Bill. Bill’s mother is to his left. Dorothy Carey Ellis is at left. 
Eddie Webber was at his battle station on Plunkett’s search light when the bomb hit the ship at Anzio. When they found Eddie in the wreckage, 12 hours after the explosion, he was naked but for the shoes on his feet and the pneumatic lifebelt around his waist. The crew pulled three dead bodies out of the same wreckage and figured Eddie was gone to… and then someone saw his finger move. This picture of Eddie and his fiancée Evelyn Martin was taken at Rogers Corner near Madison Square Garden. 
Lt. (jg) Wesley Knaup was Plunkett’s doctor. After he saw the glide bombs dropped from two Dornier bombers at Anzio, he said, “Looks like a little business coming up.” Dr. Knaup then went down to the ship’s wardroom should it be needed as a battle dressing station. It was. 
Irv Diamond (left) and a fellow sailor named Pete. On the back of the picture, Irv wrote “don’t know the hack driver’s name.” He did write the date, Oct. 12, 1943, which means this picture was taken in Palermo, Sicily. The Plunkett had been out all night on a patrol off the island of Ustica and the Lipari Islands.
