This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Stormes, Max Clifford, CDR.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Elmira, NY
Last Address USS Preston in the Pacific.
Remembered at the Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
Casualty Date Nov 15, 1942
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Solomon Islands
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Buried at Sea - N/A, Pacific Ocean
Wall/Plot Coordinates Lost at Sea off Guadalcanal with the USS Preston.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Guadalcanal Campaign (1942-43)
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
February / 1943
Description The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theatre of World War II. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
On 7 August 1942, Allied forces, predominantly American, landed on the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida in the southern Solomon Islands with the objective of denying their use by the Japanese to threaten the supply and communication routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Allies also intended to use Guadalcanal and Tulagi as bases to support a campaign to eventually capture or neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain. The Allies overwhelmed the outnumbered Japanese defenders, who had occupied the islands since May 1942, and captured Tulagi and Florida, as well as an airfield (later named Henderson Field) that was under construction on Guadalcanal. Powerful US naval forces supported the landings.
Surprised by the Allied offensive, the Japanese made several attempts between August and November 1942 to retake Henderson Field. Three major land battles, seven large naval battles (five nighttime surface actions and two carrier battles), and continual, almost daily aerial battles culminated in the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November 1942, in which the last Japanese attempt to bombard Henderson Field from the sea and land with enough troops to retake it was defeated. In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned further efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the US Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.
The Guadalcanal campaign was a significant strategic combined arms victory by Allied forces over the Japanese in the Pacific theatre. The Japanese had reached the high-water mark of their conquests in the Pacific, and Guadalcanal marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to the strategic offensive in that theatre and the beginning of offensive operations, including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and Central Pacific campaigns, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of World War II.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1942
To Month/Year
December / 1942
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
People You Remember Comdr. Stormes was killed in action during the night of 14 and 15 November 1942, when Preston was sunk in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. Comdr. Stormes was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross as "his coolness and courage in the face of grave danger, inspired his men to supreme efforts of determination and endurance to carry on the attack."
Memories On the evening of 14 November, Preston, with TF 64, sailed along the western end of Guadalcanal to intercept another Japanese run down the Slot to bombard Henderson Field and land reinforcements. Swinging around Savo Island, the force, two battleships preceded by four destroyers, entered the channel between Savo and Cape Esperance. At 2300, the battleship Washington picked up the Japanese cruiser Sendai on her radar, and, at 2317, the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal began.
Sendai, accompanied by the destroyer Shikinami, had been following the Americans, but 16-inch projectiles drove them off. Soon after, however, the battle was rejoined. The Japanese force had been dispersed and within minutes of the battleship/cruiser encounter, enemy destroyers, edging along the southern shore of Savo, entered the fray. Benham and Preston followed. Gwin, which had been firing illumination shells toward the earlier gunfire exchange, came into the action in time to sight the cruiser Nagara and 4 destroyers closing in. Farther out, heavier Japanese ships were preparing to join in. The concentrated American destroyers were now central targets.
Approximately 8 minutes after the enemy was engaged, Walke was hit. Soon after, Preston, preparing her torpedoes, was struck. One salvo from Nagara had put both firerooms out and toppled the after stack. Her fires made an easier target and shells came in from both port and starboard. The fires spread. At 2336, she was ordered abandoned. Seconds later, she rolled on her side. She floated for another 10 minutes, bow in the air; then sank, taking 116 of her crew with her.
The battle continued. Gwin now became the target of Japanese guns. Shells exploded in an engine room and on the fantail. At 2338, Walke's forecastle was blown off. Benham's bow was all but demolished; she would go down on the 15th. Walke soon followed Preston to the Savo Island graveyard. At 2348, as the battleships took over, the remaining destoyers were ordered to retire. In the ensuing duel, Washington inflicted irreparable damage on the Japanese bombardment force and remained unscathed. South Dakota, however, was exposed by searchlight and took shells from that enemy force. The Japanese had again scored heavily, but in doing so had lost a battleship and a destroyer, and, more important, had abandoned their mission of bombarding Henderson Field into uselessness.
