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by Ray De Crane - Cleveland Press March
30, 1943
"Wherever I go visiting around the neighborhood, people
start to treat me like a hero. Shucks, I haven't done anything" But Joe has a gold star on his left sleeve-the Navy's new
insignia for its sailor who have survived a ship sinking. He saw action in February off Guadalcanal Island. The
whole fight lasted only 6 minutes. It ended with Joe's ship, the destroyer
DeHaven, going down. That was the biggest sea battle Joe was in, but for a real
thrill, he would sooner tell you about the sub his ship sank in the
Caribbean last August. The 21-year-old veteran of 10 months in the Navy had just
been out of Great Lakes Naval Training Station and was on his first
assignment. The sub sank a tanker and the DeHaven started out after it.
Guadalcanal Battle "We tracked it for four days," he said today at his home
at 6902 Madison Ave. "Frequently we would lose it, but our sound detectors
would pick up the trail again. We finally cornered it." The Guadalcanal action came as a task force was escorting
troops from Savao to Guadalcanal Island, a distance of about 10 miles. "It was 3 P.M. Feb 1 and the condition was red, meaning
there were enemy planes in the air. We trained our guns on the approaching
planes but at first we didn’t know if they were our own or the Japs. Then
they started to dive down on us. We opened up with everything we had. "It’s a funny feeling to have a Jap plane fly about 300
feet overhead. I could see the silver bombs under the wing. Then I saw one
let go and thought it was going to hit me right on the head. I ducked. Captain Killed "There were 18 Jap bombers. None of them ever got back to
their base. One of their bombs mad a direct hit on one of our guns. I
could hear someone holler to duck and as I bent down I could feel pieces
of the gun whish over my head." "The captain was killed by a direct hit on the bridge.
Five minutes after the action started an officer ordered the men to
abandon ship. The screws were already out of the water but the men were
still firing their guns." With the rest of the crew, Joe spent a half hour in the
water before being picked up in a Higgins barge. Eight inches of oil
covered the water. Taken to Guadalcanal Island the Marines made Seabees
(construction battalion men) out of the sailors. Although Joe just got home Friday and doesn’t have to
report back until April 22 (1943), he would just as soon return right now
were it not for his family. "None of the fellows are left in the neighborhood," he
explained. "Only two of the old gang are still here and they will be going
any day now."
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See the actual newspaper clipping.