May 20th, 1945 (SUNDAY)
GERMANY: Berlin: The Soviet occupiers appoint Dr Arthur Werner as the city's Oberburgmeister.
JAPAN: The USAAF's Twentieth Air Force flies Mission 179: During the night of 20/21 May, 30 B-29 Superfortresses mine Shimonoseki Strait, Maizuru harbor, and He-Saki anchorage; one B-29 is lost.
Japanese kamikazes are active off Okinawa:
- The destroyer USS Thatcher (DD-514) is struck by a kamikaze which passed down her port side, climbed steeply, did a wingover and dived in the ship striking aft of the bridge. The ship had a 6x9 foot (1.8x2.7 m) hole between the keel and the bilge. With 14 killed or missing and 53 wounded, the stricken ship limped into Kerama Retto.
- The destroyer escort USS John C. Butler (DE-339) is attacked by six kamikazes just before sunset; five are shot down and the sixth strikes the mast damaging the mast and the antennas.
- The high-speed transport USS Chase (APD-54, ex DE-158) shots down a kamikaze but the aircraft splashes 10 yards (9.1 m) from the ship and the explosion of the two bombs carried by the aircraft rip the ship's hull open, flooding the engine and fire rooms. With her steering gear jammed at hard left rudder, Chase drove off another suicide plane. Listing so badly as to be in danger of capsizing, Chase was kept afloat by her crew and towed into Kerama Retto for repairs.
- The high-speed transport USS Register (APD-92, ex DE-233) is attacked by four kamikazes at 1925 hours; two are shot down but one attacking from ahead, began a low, gliding run in an attempt to crash the bridge. Passing down the port side, the kamikaze was deflected overboard by the kingpost, which buckled and crashed over No. 3 40mm. gun mount, wounding 12 of the crew, including the gun captain, and causing considerable damage to the hull. The fourth plane though damaged, escaped. - The tank landing ship USS LST-808 is also damaged by a kamikaze.
2008: Glen Arthur Boren, 85, of Riley, and member of WWII Lists, died Today. He was born July 10, 1922.
Mr. Boren served his country in WWII in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft mechanic assigned to the USS Bunker Hill in the Pacific. His photo appeared on the Jan. 1, 1944 cover of Naval Aviation News and can be viewed, along with his WWII diary, at www.tarawaontheweb.org/boren/htm. He was a member of the Kansas National Guard from 1948 to 1950. In 1951, he joined the Air Force and spent four years at Smoky Hill AFB in Salina as a guided missile technician, training gunners during the Korean Conflict.
Other occupations he held throughout his life included working for his father at Boren Oil Company in Manhattan, patrolman of the Abilene Police Department, deputy sheriff of Ottawa County, special deputy sheriff of Saline County, special deputy sheriff of Lincoln County, and deputy game warden of Dickinson County. Additionally, he was a field service engineer for Radioplane (a division of Northrup), where he tested re-entry systems for the Gemini and Apollo missions. He eventually retired in 1985 from the Fort Riley Fire Department, having achieved the rank of crew chief (captain).
After retirement, Mr. Boren continued to work in small engine repair, fire equipment sales, and locksmithing. He also served his local communities as fire chief of the Riley Volunteer Fire Department and the Leon Springs (Texas) Volunteer Fire Department.