CM3c Maki was killed on 18 February, as the U.S.S. Blessman headed for a screening station after being damaged in the Invasion of Iwo Jima.

 The phosphorous wake made the APD an easy target for a kamikaze and an enemy bomber, identified as a “Betty”, when it came in at 2121, very low over the port quarter, strafing, and scored a direct bomb hit in the high-speed transport’s starboard mess hall, above her number one engine room. A second bomb hit her stack, glanced off, and splashed close aboard without exploding. Fire broke out immediately in the mess hall, galley, and troop quarters on the main deck; and the ship lost all power. Heavy smoke forced the abandonment of the number two fire and engine rooms, while a 500-gallon-per-minute portable pump was demolished, and all other such pumps were rendered inoperable by the shock. 

At 2250, anti-aircraft and small arms ammunition began exploding, forcing the evacuation of wounded to stern. In all, 40 men were killed, including CM3c Maki and 16 others of UDT15.

EUGENE ELMER MAKI

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