Ira DeWitt Turner, Jr. 
1916 - 1945

Ira DeWitt Turner, Jr. was the son of Ira DeWitt Turner, Sr. and his wife, Lola Curren Pegram and the grandson of William Curren Pegram and his wife,  Laura Belle (Hoppes) Pegram.  He was born 5 November 1916  in Humphreys Co., Tennessee.  He married Jean Smith in April of 1943.  He was a gunner's mate in the United States Navy, and served on the USS Bismark Sea, and the USS Hood, a destroyer escort.  The Hood was torpedoed off the coast of Iwo Jima during World War II.  The destroyer escort went down in approximately 123 minutes, on February 20, 1945 and Ira was lost at sea.  He had been scheduled to be discharged around the first of February, but was commanded to make another trip out to sea.  A memorial service was held for him at the Emanuel Nazerene Church, on Charlotte Avenue in West Nashville.

Source:  Some Middle Tennessee Pegrams and their Ancestors