By Deborah Larsen
Earl Francis Ferrier
Earl Francis Ferrier was born in Rochester, Michigan, on July 12, 1919, the son of Leon and Thelma McBride Ferrier. Earl attended Rochester High School and graduated in the class of 1937. After high school, he worked for the Detroit Creamery Company.
In April 1943, Earl entered the U.S. Navy. He was trained as a radioman and stationed aboard LST 909. His ship was sent to the Pacific Theater, where it participated in the invasions of Leyte, Mindoro, Luzon, and Okinawa. LST 909 was in the thick of the action, and Earl wrote home to his parents that the ship’s company had gone to General Quarters 172 times during the year they had been at sea. During the battle for Mindoro on December 15, 1944, the ship’s crew stood at General Quarters for 13 hours and 37 minutes. Despite being involved in heavy fighting, the ship had suffered no major casualties, Earl reported. However, it had been necessary on one occasion to perform an emergency appendectomy in the ship’s wardroom. Earl was released from military service in December 1945.
After the war, Earl and his family lived in Waterford, Michigan. He worked for Sealtest Dairy and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department.
Earl Francis Ferrier died at age 80 on October 6, 1990, and was laid to rest in Waterford, Michigan.