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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Buckley, James Parr, RM1c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Greenville, SC
Last Address 15 Manly St Greenville, SC (wife~Dorthy Mae Buckley)
Casualty Date Oct 11, 1943
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Lost At Sea-Unrecovered
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)/Sinking of the SS Wahoo (SS-238)
From Month/Year
October / 1943
To Month/Year
October / 1943
Description USS Wahoo (SS-238) was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the wahoo, a dark blue food fish of Florida and the West Indies. Construction started before the U.S entered World War II, and she was commissioned after entry. Wahoo was assigned to the Pacific theatre. She gained fame as an aggressive and highly successful submarine after Lt. Commander Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton became her skipper. She was sunk by Japanese aircraft in October 1943 while returning home from a patrol in the Sea of Japan.
Japanese records also reported that on 11 October, the date Wahoo was due to exit through La Pérouse Strait in the morning, Wahoo was bombarded from Cape Sōya. An antisubmarine aircraft (likely an Aichi E13A floatplane) sighted a wake and an apparent oil slick from a submerged submarine. The Japanese initiated a combined air and sea attack with numerous bombs and depth charges throughout the day. Sawfish had been depth-charged by a patrol boat while transiting the strait two days before, and the enemy's antisubmarine forces were on the alert; their attacks fatally holed Wahoo, and she sank with all hands. She was declared overdue on 2 December 1943 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 December 1943.
After the loss of Wahoo, no US submarines ventured into the Sea of Japan until June 1945, when special mine-detecting equipment became available.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
October / 1943
To Month/Year
October / 1943
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Seventh patrol, September - October 1943
Morton, smarting from that last luckless patrol, asked to return to the Sea of Japan, and permission was granted. He elected to take a full load of the newly-arrived Mark 18 electric torpedo rather than chance the Mark 14 steam torpedoes might still be defective. Wahoo got underway from Pearl Harbor, topped off fuel and supplies at Midway on 13 September, and headed for La Perouse Strait. The plan was to enter the Sea of Japan first, on or about 20 September, with Sawfish following by a few days. At sunset on 21 October, Wahoo was supposed to leave her assigned area, south of the 43rd parallel, and head for home. She was instructed to report by radio after she passed through the Kurils. Nothing further was ever heard from Wahoo.
On 5 October, the Japanese news agency, Domei, announced to the world that a steamer, the 8,000 ton Konron Maru, was sunk by an American submarine off the west coast of Honshû near Tsushima Strait, with the loss of 544 lives. Postwar reckoning by JANAC showed Wahoo sank three other ships for 5,300 tons, making a patrol total of four ships of about 13,000 tons. Japanese records also reported, that on 11 October, the date Wahoo was due to exit through La Perouse Strait, an antisubmarine aircraft sighted a wake and an apparent oil slick from a submerged submarine. The Japanese initiated a combined air and sea attack with numerous depth charges throughout the day. Sawfish had been depth-charged by a patrol boat while transiting the strait two days before, and the enemy's antisubmarine forces were on the alert; their attacks apparently fatally holed Wahoo, and she sank with all hands. Despite the assertions of Dick O'Kane, it is unlikely she was the victim of a circular run by one of her own torpedoes. Other speculation in some texts suggests that she may have struck a mine. She was declared overdue on 2 December 1943 and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 6 December 1943.
The loss of Wahoo caused profound shock in the submarine force. All further forays into the Sea of Japan ceased, and it was not breached again until June 1945, when special mine detecting equipment became available.
