Bancroft Capital Honors the Life of Walter S. Ivcic, U.S. Navy Veteran
Posted: May 27, 2020
With Memorial Day only two days past, Bancroft Capital is reminded of the debt owed to our deceased service members, not one day, but every day of the year. Today we mourn the loss of a member of our own family and the greatest generation our country has known, the GI Generation. Walter S. Ivcic served his county honorably in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Petty Officer on board the fabled U.S.S. Intrepid.
The U.S.S. Intrepid suffered more kamikaze attacks than any other ship in the U.S. Navy – 5 kamikaze attacks taking the lives of 89 sailors. On April 16, 1945, the U.S.S. Intrepid was engaged in a mass air attack of kamikaze and conventional warplanes. The Intrepid Air Group downed 43 planes that day while the ship’s gunners downed 4 kamikaze planes. However, one suicide plane got through the stiff anti-aircraft fire and crashed into the flight deck, with its bomb exploding in the hanger deck.
In his Bronze Star Citation, Petty Officer Ivcic was noted for “heroic achievement” as he charged into a compartment filled with fire and smoke to remove three badly injured shipmates. His selfless act in the heat of battle saved the lives of three men.
As in all awards, Petty Officer Ivcic’s Bronze Star Citation notes that his actions that day “were in keeping with the highest traditions of United States Naval Service.” It is in that service and those cherished traditions that we honor in a life well lived.
Walter is survived by four children (Susan, Steven, Joanne, Margaret), nine grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren with two more great-grandchildren due in the next month.
Fare winds and following seas, Walter S. Ivcic.
