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For meritorious conduct as a member of the crew of the U.S.S. GRUNION which destroyed three enemy destroyers while engaged in a war patrol in enemy controlled waters. Despite severe and persistent anti-submarine measures resulting from these three successful attacks, the GRUNION was brought safely through the counter attacks and continued an aggressive war patrol. As a member of the crew of the GRUNION, your performance of duty was an important and material contribution to the prosecution of this war.
Comments/Citation:
Chester Lewis Bouvia was born October 3, 1902 in Savanna, Carroll county, Illinois, son of Elmer Lewis and Margaret (Habnick) Bouvia. He had one brother. His family resided in Old Mill Park, east of Savanna. Chester had three years of high school education.
He entered the Navy in 1923, and re-enlisted September 5, 1939. He married Helen Krumviede and they had one daughter. Over the years he served aboard many ships: USS Texas (BB-35); USS Ontario (AT-13); USS R-10 (SS-87); USS R-1 (SS-78); USS Wyoming (BB-32); USS Arkansas (BB-33); USS Ranger (CV-4); USS Shaw (DD-375); USS Chester (CA-27) and USS R-6 (SS-83).
Chester reported aboard USS Grunion (SS-216) on April 11, 1942 as a Machinist’s Mate 1st class. Grunion arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 20, 1942. The vessel completed pre-patrol training before departing on its first war patrol June 30. Grunion’s commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Abele, was ordered to proceed to the Aleutian Islands and patrol westward from Attu on routes between the Aleutians and the Japanese Empire. On July 10, Grunion was reassigned to the area north of Kiska. Over the next 20 days, the submarine reported firing on an enemy destroyer, sinking three destroyer-type vessels, and attacking unidentified enemy ships near Kiska.
Grunion’s last transmission was received on July 30, 1942. The submarine reported heavy antisubmarine activity at the entrance to Kiska, and that it had 10 torpedoes remaining forward. On the same day, Grunion was directed to return to Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base. There was no contact or sighting of the submarine after July 30, and on August 16, Grunion was reported lost.
After discovering information on the internet in 2002 that helped pinpoint USS Grunion’s possible location, the sons of Grunion’s commanding officer, Bruce, Brad, and John Abele, began working on a plan to find the submarine. In August 2006, a team of side scan sonar experts located a target near Kiska almost a mile below the ocean’s surface. A second expedition in August 2007 using a high definition camera on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) yielded video footage and high resolution photos of the wreckage of a U.S. fleet submarine, later confirmed by Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) as Grunion.
MM1 Chester L. Bouvia’s name appears on the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii. A memorial marker is in Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island, Illinois.
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.
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USS Grunion (SS-216) was a Gato-class submarine that was sunk at Kiska, Alaska, during World War II. She was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grunion, a small fish of the silversides family, indigenous to the western American coast.
Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company inGroton, Connecticut on 1 March 1941. She was launchedon 22 December 1941, (sponsored by Mrs. Stanford C. Hooper, wife of Rear Admiral Hooper), and commissionedon 11 April 1942 with Lieutenant Commander (Lt. Cmdr.)Mannert L. Abele, USNA class of 1926 in command.
After shakedown out of New London, Grunion sailed for the Pacific on 24 May. A week later, as she transited theCaribbean Sea for Panama, she rescued 16 survivors ofUSAT Jack, which had been torpedoed by the German U-boat U-558,[5] and she conducted a fruitless search for 13 other survivors presumed in the vicinity. Arriving atCoco Solo on 3 June, Grunion deposited her shipload of survivors and continued to Pearl Harbor, arriving 20 June.
Departing Hawaii on 30 June after ten days of intensivetraining, Grunion touched Midway Island before heading toward the Aleutian Islands for her first war patrol. Her first report, made as she patrolled north of Kiska Island, stated she had been attacked by a Japanese destroyerand had fired at her with inconclusive results. She operated off Kiska throughout July and sank two enemy patrol boats while in search for enemy shipping. On 30 July the submarine reported intensive antisubmarine activity, and she was ordered back to Dutch Harbor.
Grunion was never heard from nor seen again. Air searches off Kiska were fruitless; and on 5 OctoberGrunion was reported overdue from patrol and assumed lost with all hands. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 November 1942. Captured Japanese records show no antisubmarine attacks in the Kiska area, and the fate of Grunion remained a mystery for 65 years until discovery in the Bering Sea in August 2007 of a wreck believed to be the boat. In October 2008, the U.S. Navy verified that the wreck is theGrunion.[6] The reason for her sinking is still not known, though there are two possible explanations.
One is: During World War II, magnetic pistols often exploded prematurely or not at all. The reason was that magnetic lines are more horizontal close to the equator than towards the poles. For example, the US Mark 6 magnetic pistol was designed and tested only once at 41° latitude (60° geomagnetic latitude) at Narragansett Bay, but was primarily used in equatorial latitudes.[2] At the equator, the signal strength to the Mark 6 magnetic pistol was only about half that of where the Mark 6 was tested. Moreover, relative velocity (i.e. when a torpedo is fired from behind or in front of a ship) would additionally change the abruptness of the magnetic signal, resulting in the magnetic pistol being triggered prematurely or not at all.
Eventually, the US Mark 6 magnetic pistol was replaced by contact pistols (which, in case of the US Mark 15 torpedo, proved to be unreliable as well).
The second Grunion was sunk on July 30, 1942, by the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru, approximately 10 miles northeast of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.
Grunion received one battle star for World War II service
The Grunion was never heard from again. Air searches off Kiska were fruitless, and on 5 October the Grunion was reported overdue from patrol and assumed lost with all hands. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 November 1942. Captured Japanese records show no antisubmarine attacks in the Kiska area, and the fate of Grunion remained a mystery for 65 years until the discovery in the Bering Sea in August 2007 of a wreck believed to be her. In October 2008, the U.S. Navy verified that the wreck is the Grunion
