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Contact Info
Home Town Warriors Mark, PA
Last Address Hollidaysburg, PA
Date of Passing Jan 13, 1996
Location of Interment Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery (VA) - San Diego, California
Wall/Plot Coordinates Plot: P, 0, C-322
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Capt. John W. Geist was aboard the USS Panay, serving as a Lieutenant (JG) assigned as Medical Officer, when it was attacked and sunk by warplanes of the Imperial Japanese Army in December of 1937. He was severely wounded and faced the possibility of a permanent disability. But, he recovered and went on to serve in WWII and the Korean War, being present for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Japanese attack on the USS Panay, Yangtze River, December 1937. Listed as: Wounds, multiple, shrapnel, lower left leg and left shoulder. Condition favorable. Possible Osteomyelitis chronic left tibia with ulcer chronic skin of left leg. Possible permanent disabililty resulting in medical discharge.
But he wasn't discharged. Geist and eleven other Panay survivors were at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. As they saw the bombers with the red suns on their wingtips come diving down again there was an awful familiarity to it all.
He was later awarded $25,000 by the Japanese government for: Wounds, multiple shrapnel lower left leg and left shoulder.
Wyoming Class Battleship: Displacement 26,000 Tons, Dimensions, 562' (oa) x 93' 3" x 29' 7" (Max). Armament 12 x 12"/50, 21 x 5"/51, 2 x 21" tt. Armor, 11" Belt, 12" Turrets, 3" Decks, 11 1/2" Conning Tower. Machinery, 28,000 SHP; Direct Drive Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 20.5 Knots, Crew 1063.
Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York, Shipbuilding, Camden, NJ., January 25, 1910. Launched January 14, 1911. Commissioned September 17, 1912. Decommissioned July 29, 1946. Stricken August 15, 1946.
Fate: Sunk July 25, 1946, During Atomic Bomb Test "Baker" at Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands.
