We have been blessed with a couple of days without new casualties from current wars. This gives us time to give tribute to a man who has been missing longer than many of us have been alive.
Before the "man of mystery" is introduced, let's explore some of the history surrounding his disappearance.
Most of us in the US are familiar with what happened at Pearl Harbor. The USS Helena was one of the ships damaged in the harbor during the sneak attack by the Japanese. Due to the exemplary action by her crew, the vessel was saved from sinking and went on to fight several battles in World War II.
Well over a year after it was repaired from the Japanese attack, the USS Helena was near a group of islands with two other cruisers and four destroyers. They were met by ten enemy ships. Early in the morning of July 6th, 1943, the ship was torpedoed and broken into 3 parts. It was rapidly sinking while its crew scrambled to stay alive.
A Wikipedia entry about the cruiser gives this account of the "Battle of Kula Gulf":
Helena began blasting away with a fire so rapid and intense that the Japanese later announced in all solemnity that she must have been armed with "6 inch machine guns". Ironically, Helena made a perfect target when lit by the flashes of her own guns.
Sinking of the Helena
Seven minutes after she opened fire, she was hit by a torpedo; within the next 3 minutes, she was struck by two more. Almost at once she began to jackknife. Below, she was flooding rapidly even before she broke up. In a well-drilled manner, Helena's men went over the side.
Rescue of the crew and aftermath
Helena's history closes with the almost incredible story of what happened to her men in the hours and days that followed. When her bow rose into the air after the sinking, many of them clustered around it, only to be fired on there.
Below is a map of the area to help in understanding of the relative size and location of the islands near the battle. Rice Anchorage is on the northwest shore of New Georgia (which would place it near the lower right corner of the map):
According to this site, the rescue of the survivors was complicated by enemy fire. Many were out on the water for more than a day.
Captain C. P. Cecil, Helena's commanding officer, organized a small flotilla of three motor whaleboats, each towing a lifecraft, carrying 88 men to a small island about 7 miles from Rice Anchorage after a laborious all-day passage. This group was rescued the next morning by Gwin (DD-433) and Woodworth (DD-460).
For the second group of nearly 200, the bow of Helena was their life raft, but it was slowly sinking. Disaster was staved off by a PB4Y Liberator that dropped lifejackets and four rubber lifeboats. The wounded were placed aboard the lifeboats, while the able-bodied surround the boats and did their best to propel themselves toward nearby Kolombangara. But wind and current carried them ever further into enemy waters. Through the torturous day that followed, many of the wounded died.
American search planes missed them and Kolombaranga gradually faded away. Another night passed, and in the morning the island of Vella Lavella was nearby. By dawn, survivors in all three remaining boats made it ashore. Two coastwatchers and loyal natives cared for the survivors as best they could, and radioed news of them to Guadalcanal. The 166 sailors then took to the jungle to evade Japanese patrols.
...During the night of 16 July, the rescue force brought out the 165 Helena men, along with 16 Chinese who had been in hiding on Vella LaVella. Of Helena's nearly 900 men, 168 had died.
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A young man from Tennessee, named General Preston Douglas, joined the US Navy ten days after the attack at Pearl Harbor. He had attained the rank of Seaman 1st Class and was 20 years old when his ship, the USS Helena, sank off the coast of Kolombangara Island (in the Solomon Islands). More than 700 servicemen were rescued, but Douglas was one of more than 150 servicemen who were missing as the ship sunk.
In June 2006, a resident of Ranongga Island, Solomon Islands, notified U.S. officials that he exhumed human remains and Douglas’ dog tag that he found eroding out of the ground near a trail by his village. The officials contacted the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) who subsequently traveled to Ranongga Island to examine the burial location where they verified that no additional remains were present.
Among dental records, other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of the remains.
Denny Douglas, a nephew of the seaman, says he is utterly amazed that his uncle’s remains were found. According to the Citizen Tribune:
"This is just a great surprise and a wonderful thing the Navy has done for us by identifying him, contacting us, and sending him home. He is a hero to us, and a man who deserves the full military funeral we have planned for him," Denny said.
...Denny said his mother, Regina Douglas, checked on her brother’s whereabouts for more than five years after the war.
"My mother never got word of what happened to him. She called for years to see if he had been found. She always hoped that she would one day find closure about what happened to her brother, General. She told us about him, how he enlisted in the Navy, how he went off to fight a war he believed would ensure freedom for America, and how he never returned. She wanted to know what happened to him," Denny said.
It took a while to get the DNA samples from Denny's mom and his sister processed. Unfortunately, time ran out for Denny's mom.
By the time the DNA results proved positive and plans were being made to send him home, Mrs. Douglas’ family was mourning her death. She died in November, the same month the DNA results became official.
"We regret that Mom never knew her brother had been found. This would have been an amazing time for her. She would have been happy to know that he was receiving what he was due: A funeral on American soil with full military honors. We just wish she could have been here for this," Denny said.
...Denny Douglas, 52, says his life has been inspired by the young uncle who never came home from war.
Many of our military personnel never come back home from war. According to JPAC reports, 78,000 servicemen remain unaccounted for - still waiting to be found, to be brought home to a final resting place.
To this day it is still uncertain if the Navy man survived the battle, somehow ended up on the small island, and eventually died there. The tiny islands are prone to the forces of nature. Perhaps a storm or earthquake moved the remains. There was a report of a huge wave off of Ranongga just a few days before Hawaii became a state in 1959. Just a few months after the remains were found, an earthquake moved the small island upward a few meters, enlarging its shoreline. We probably will never know, and the death of Seaman Douglas will remain a mystery forever.
This is a picture of the funeral of one of Seaman Douglas' shipmates:
It is from this site which also has several other pictures of the USS Helena. This month, so many years after that funeral, that man's crewmate will be laid to rest in his homeland.
Seaman 1st Class General P. Douglas will be buried with full military honors in Sneedville, Tennessee on January 26, 2008. The Patriot Guard riders will be attending. The Ride Captain of the Patriot Guard, Debi McKay and her future mother-in-law plan to attend the funeral. Ironically, McKay's fiancé is a descendent of one of Douglas' shipmates who did survive the sinking.
The public is invited to attend the funeral. Denny Douglas is hoping to find someone, still alive from WWII, who will come and tell him more about his uncle.
Helping our troops:
If you wish to assist our military and their families, consider Operation Helmet, or Fisher House. If you have frequent flyer miles, they can be donated to hospitalized veterans or their families. See Fisher House’s Hero Miles program for details. Also, you could visit:
Consider sponsoring a deployed service member at TroopCarePackage.com. Letters or care packages can make a real difference in a military person's life. Finally, to assist the animal companions of our deployed military, information is available here.
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About the IGTNT series:
"I Got the News Today" is a diary series intended to honor, respect, and remind us of the sacrifice of our troops. Click here to see the series, which was begun by i dunno, and is currently maintained by Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, silvercedes, noweasels, MsWings, greenies, blue jersey mom, chacounne, Wee Mama, twilight falling, moneysmith, labwitchy, joyful, roses, SisTwo, and Avila. These diaries are heartbreaking to write, but an important service to those Americans who have died and to our community’s respect for and remembrance of them. If you would like to volunteer, even once a month, please contact Sandy on Signal, monkeybiz, silvercedes or noweasels.
Fallen service members whose names have been released by the Department of Defense will usually be diaried two days after the official announcement on the DoD website. This allows the IGTNT team to cover each person more fully, but still in a timely manner
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Please bear in mind that these diaries are read by friends and family of the service members mentioned here. May all of our remembrances be full of compassion rather than politics.