USS ASTORIA CA-34
The Official Home of 'Nasty Asty'
Warren D. Cloninger
USS ASTORIA CA-34 1939-1942
Warren Cloninger during his tenure aboard USS ASTORIA, 1939-1942.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Warren D. Cloninger joined the United States Navy at the age of 18 in 1939. Following boot camp, he was assigned to USS ASTORIA CA-34 as a ship's cook. Cloninger served aboard ASTORIA through the outbreak of war and into 1942. After action in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, he left the ship before her sinking off Savo Island in August 1942.
Cloninger went on to serve in the Pacific assigned to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 2 followed by floating drydock ABSD-6 based at Guam. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in November 1945, having served through the entirety of World War II.
Cloninger's recruit company at NTS San Diego in June 1939.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Warren Cloninger poses with a life ring from USS ASTORIA's no.3 motor launch in a pre-war photo.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Cloninger with shipmates aboard USS ASTORIA.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Warren Cloninger poses with a pith helmet and pistol belt in the Pacific, probably on Guam.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Warren Cloninger as a Ship's Cook 1st Class with two other cooks in a late war photograph, taken after he left USS ASTORIA.
-photo courtesy of Bud Cloninger
Sources
Cloninger, Bud. Private photo and document collection.
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