Jack Victor Scranton was born 21 May 1919. His parents are William C. & Dorothy L. (Johnson) Scranton former resident’s of Marion. Jack graduated from Harding High School in 1938. Before entering service he was employed at Mautz Brother’s Hardware, as a salesman. He was dating a young lady from Lima, Ohio at the time of his enlistment.

Jack V. Scranton entered service on 16 June 1940, with the United Sates Navy. He attended Basic Training at Providence, Rhode Island. He then went on to training at Pensacola, Florida. He is found on the muster rolls of the USS Luce, on 30 April 1944. He served aboard the Luce until his death. While with the Luce he saw service in Alaska for a year and then in the South Pacific. Scranton attained the rank of Yeoman 2nd Class (Y2C). The USS Luce (DD-522) was a destroyer, nickname the “Lucky Luce.” From late 1944 into 1945, the Luce served in the Philippine Islands, New Guinea and Okinawa.

Y2C Jack V. Scranton was aboard the USS Luce when she was attacked on 4 May 1945, off Okinawa.
While on screening duty in support of Operation Iceberg, the Lucky Luce was targeted by two Japanese attack aircraft. The Luce was able to down the first, but only when the aircraft had already closed in, thus the blast of the explosion still caused general power failures aboard the ship. A second enemy aircraft struck the aft section on the port side. This impact and explosion knocked out the port engine, jamming the rudder, and caused flooding. After the ship began to list, the commanding officer gave the order to abandon ship. The USS Luce exploded as she sank. 126 of the 312 on board were killed in the attack and the sinking.

In less than a minute after the first plane splashed off the starboard bow, at least two other planes had simultaneously hit the aft section, and possibly a third crashed close to midship on the port side. . . . One of the planes that hit, in all probability, carried a bomb which blew up in the aft magazine, the combined explosion of the ammunition and the bomb blowing out a section of the bottom of the ship, thereby giving it the coup de grace, as the ship had probably already started to sink because of the damage caused by the first plane which splashed close to the ship and exploded.

From: DD 522: Diary of a Destroyer
by Ron Surels

Y2C Jack Victor Scranton was killed in action on 4 May 1945. His remains were never recovered. Y2C Scranton is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Jack V. Scranton is remembered on the Honor Roll, at the Veterans Memorial Park, in Marion, Ohio; on the west wall of the Marion County Courthouse; and on the World War II Veterans Memorial Wall, at the Marion Cemetery.