This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Rolland, Harold Lomani, GMC.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Chesterfield
Casualty Date Jan 10, 1943
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Papua New Guinea
Location of Interment Buried at Sea, Pacific Ocean
On January 10th, 1943, the USS Argonaut (SS-168) was attacking a Japanese convoy when she was counterattacked by the convoy escorts. An allied plane witnessed her attack. The submarine was apparently damaged by a depth charge. When she came to the surface, she was subsequently sunk by gun fire from the Japanese destroyers escorting the convoy, with a loss of all crew members. GMC Harold L. Rolland was officially declared dead on January 11, 1944
Comments/Citation:
Rank/RateChief Gunner?s Mate
Service Number03681547
Birth DateJune 14, 1911
FromChesterfield, Idaho
DecorationsPurple Heart
SubmarineUSS Argonaut (SS-166)
Loss DateJanuary 10, 1943
LocationNear Rabaul (05� 155'N, 153� 50'E)
CircumstancesSunk by surface attack and depth charges
Harold Lomani Rolland was born June 14, 1911 in Chesterfield, Bannock county, Idaho, son of Joseph Charles and Charlotte Fanny (Call) Rolland. His father worked as a ranch hand. Before 1920 his mother had remarried. Harold had one older brother and five step-siblings. His family lived in Chesterfield, where his step-father worked as a brick mason. Harold had a grammar school education.
On November 4, 1930 he entered the Navy at Pocatello, Idaho. His basic training was at the Naval Training Station in San Diego, California. In 1935 in Long Beach, California, he married Margaret Eugenie Ziegenfuss. At Hampton Roads, Virginia he re-enlisted on November 28, 1939. On February 28, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii his rate was acting Chief Gunner’s Mate.
June 20, 1941 Harold reported aboard USS Argonaut. His rate would change to Chief Gunner’s Mate in February 1942 while aboard Argonaut.
USS Argonaut (APS-1, later known as SS-166) was the largest American submarine during WWII. Her first patrol near Midway had resulted in no damage to enemy ships, but her second was a most successful one. It was conducted following a complete modernization, at Mare Island. Her mission on this one had been to cooperate with Nautilus in transporting 252 Marine officers and men to Makin Island for a diversionary raid against enemy shore installations. In the early morning of 17 August 1942, the raiders were debarked in boats. After nearly two days ashore, the Marines returned, and the submarines transported them back to Pearl Harbor, Argonaut arriving on August 26.
While operating in the area southeast of New Britain in the Solomon Sea off Papau, New Guinea during her third patrol, Argonaut intercepted a Japanese convoy returning to Rabaul from Lae on January 10, 1943. A U. S. Army plane which was out of bombs saw one destroyer hit by a torpedo, saw the explosion of two other destroyers, and reported that there were five other vessels in the group. On the basis of the report given by the Army flier who witnessed the attack in which Argonaut perished, this ship was credited with having damaged one Japanese destroyer on her last patrol.
Argonaut was sunk by Japanese aircraft and destroyers Isokaze and Maikaze during this encounter on January 10, 1943. GMC Harold L. Rolland was among the 8 officers and 94 crew members lost. Later issued letters of commendation indicate “as a result of a severe counterattack the Argonaut was forced to break surface but with no regard to personal safety and in the face of imminent death, the officers and crew accepted destruction rather than surrender.”
Harold L. Rolland’s name appears on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.
