This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
to remember
Beeman, Arthur Castles, CPhM.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Memphis, TN
Last Address 3209 Panshawe St Philadelphia, PA (Wife~Doris Edith Beeman)
Casualty Date Feb 04, 1943
Cause KIA-Killed in Action
Reason Gun, Small Arms Fire
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery - Taguig City, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates Tablets of the Missing (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Amberjack reported having sunk a 5,000-ton freighter laden with explosives in a two-hour night surface attack that date in which five torpedoes were fired. During this engagement, an officer was slightly wounded in the hand by machine gun fire. Chief Pharmacist's Mate Arthur C. Beeman, went to the bridge to assist the officer and was killed by machine gun fire.
Comments/Citation:
Arthur Castles Beeman was born December 13, 1912 in Memphis, Shelby county, Tennessee, son of Arthur Lewis and Mattie Rebecca (Carr) Beeman. He had an older brother and a younger sister. His mother died in 1919, and by 1930 he was living with his father and siblings in Clarksdale, Coahoma county, Mississippi, where his father worked as a building contractor. Prior to Joining the service he lived in Blytheville, Arkansas.
Before 1930, at age 17, he joined the Navy and was first attached to the 5th Marine Regiment. On December 21, 1935 he married Doris Edith Corlett in Belair, Maryland. His son, Lawrence Eugene, was born in 1941.
He served aboard USS Wyoming in 1936, re-enlisting as a Pharmacist’s Mate 1st class, on November 18, 1936 at Portsmouth, Virginia.
As a Chief Pharmacist’s Mate, he reported aboard USS Amberjack (SS-219), for her commissioning on June 19, 1942. Her first patrol was made in the Shortland-Rabaul-Buka area, as her last was. During this first patrol conducted during the last half of September and the first half of October 1942, she sank a freighter, a transport and a large tanker of 19,600 tons. In addition she damaged a freighter and a transport, and made a valuable reconnaissance of several islands in her area. The second patrol of this vessel was in the area west of Bougainville. Although several attacks were made, no damage was done to the enemy.
Departing Brisbane on 26 January 1943, Amberjack started her third war patrol in the Solomons area. On 29 January she was directed to pass close to Tetipari Island and then proceed to the northwest and patrol the approaches to Shortland Basin. Orders were radioed on 1 February for her to move north and patrol the western approaches to Buka Passage. Having complied with these orders, Amberjack made her first radio report, on 3 February, telling of contact with an enemy submarine 14 miles southeast of Treasury Island on 1 February, and of sinking a two-masted schooner by gunfire twenty miles from Buka the afternoon of 3 February 1943. At this time she was ordered to move south along the Buka-Shortland traffic lane and patrol east of Vella Lavella Island.
The last radio transmission received from Amberjack was made on 14 February 1943. She related having been forced down the night before by two destroyers, and that she had recovered from the water and taken prisoner an enemy aviator on 13 February. She was ordered north of Latitude 6°-30'S, and told to keep hunting for Rabaul traffic.
All further messages to Amberjack remained unanswered, and when, by March 10, she had failed to make her routine report estimating the time of her arrival at base, she was ordered to do so. No reply was received, and she was reported as presumed lost on 22 March 1943.
CPhM Arthur C. Beeman was among the men listed as missing in action and later declared dead. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Arthur C. Beeman’s name appears on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines.
The Enlisted Club on the (former) U.S. Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor was named Beeman Center in his memory.
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.
World War II/American Theater
From Month/Year
December / 1941
To Month/Year
September / 1945
Description The American Theater was a minor area of operations during World War II. This was mainly due to both North and South America's geographical separation from the central theaters of conflict in Europe and Asia. Thus, any threat by the Axis Powers to invade the mainland United States or other areas was considered negligible, allowing for American resources to be deployed in overseas theaters.
This article includes attacks on continental territory, extending 200 miles (320 km) into the ocean, which is today under the sovereignty of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several other smaller states, but excludes military action involving the Danish territory of Greenland, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Aleutian Islands. The most well known battles in North America during World War II were the Attack on Pearl Harbor (the first attack on US soil since the Battle of Ambos Nogales), the Aleutian Islands Campaign, the Battle of the St. Lawrence, and the attacks on Newfoundland.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
January / 1942
To Month/Year
December / 1943
Last Updated: Dec 24, 2023
Personal Memories
Memories The last radio transmission received from Amberjack was made on 14 February. She related having been forced down the night before by two destroyers, and that she had recovered from the water and taken prisoner an enemy aviator on 13 February. She was ordered north of latitude 6??30'S, and told to keep hunting for Rabaul traffic.
All further messages to Amberjack remained unanswered, and when, by 10 March, she had failed to make her routine report estimating the time of her arrival at base, she was ordered to do so. No reply was received, and she was reported as presumed lost on 22 March 1943.
Reports received from the enemy after the war record an attack which probably sank Amberjack. On 16 February 1943, Hiyodori and Sub Chaser Number 18 attacked a U.S. submarine with nine depth charges at about 5??05??S 152??37??E / 5.083??S 152.617??E / -5.083; 152.617. An escorting patrol plane had previously attacked the submarine. A large amount of heavy oil and "parts of the hull" came to the surface. This attack is believed to have sunk Amberjack. However, no final conclusions can be drawn, since Grampus was lost in the same area at about the same time. From the evidence available, it is considered most likely that the attack of 16 February sank Amberjack, but if she did survive this attack, any one of the attacks and sightings thought to have been made on Grampus might have been made on Amberjack.
