Name: Matt A. KLUCARIC
Rank / Rating: QM3-Quartermaster Third Class
Service #: 854 53 82
DOB: May 21, 1925
From: Chicago, IL
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Matt Klucaric
Went Aboard: April 27, 1944
Age When Kamikaze Struck: 19 years, 10 months, 10 days
Spouse:
Children:
Grandchildren:
Bio Submitted By: Marilyn Northcutt Henry and Carl Fahnestock
Date Posted:

During the battle of Okinawa, a Japanese Kamikaze plane made Indianapolis his target in the early morning hours of March 31, 1945. The damage to the ship was not severe but the attack took the lives of nine crewmembers, including Matt A. Klucaric. Matt was born May 21, 1925, in Chicago Illinois to Mr. and Mrs. Matt Klucaric. Research did not locate any other family members.

Matt registered for the draft on his 18th birthday. This was the usual practice for the many patriotic young men who felt the calling to serve in the United States military to defend our home country from tyranny. His mother, Mrs. D. Klucaric signed as the one who would know where Matt would be at all times. The Muster Roll of USS INDIANAPOLIS for the month ending 30 April 1944 shows Matt enlisted on September 16, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois. His training completed, he was transferred to the Navy Recruiting Barracks (NAVRECBAKS), Shoemaker, California for transfer aboard Indy on April 27, 1944, as a S1c(QM) V-6. The Muster Roll for USS INDIANAPOLIS for the month ending 31 March 1945 reported Matt Klucaric as QM3c (T) V-6: "USNR Missing in Action since about 0700, 3/31/45. Believed to be dead." Matt had been killed in the kamikaze attack in the early morning hours. His body was recovered from the lower levels of the ship and a funeral service was preformed with full military honors by the ship's chaplain, Father Thomas Conway. After the funeral services, Matt's body was carried from Indianapolis by his shipmates for burial in the US Armed Forces Cemetery located on Zamami Shima, Kerama Retto, off the island of Okinawa. After the war, families were given the opportunity to request that the remains of their loved one be returned to the US for reinterment. Matt was reinterred in Camp Butler National Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. Click or tap here to learn more about the kamikaze attack and to access links to each of the nine individual bios of the kamikaze victims.