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Casualty Info
Home Town Lytle, GA
Last Address USS Gregory in the Pacific.
Remembered at Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia- Plot MI 138
Casualty Date Sep 05, 1942
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Drowned, Suffocated
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Buried at Sea - N/A, Pacific Ocean
Wall/Plot Coordinates Lost at sea with the USS Gregory off Guadalcanal
After transporting marines during the night of September 4-5, 1942, USS Gregory (APD-3) and a companion APD were returning to their anchorage at Tulagi after transferring a Marine Raider Battalion to Savo Island.
The night was inky-black with a low haze obscuring all landmarks and the ships decided to remain on patrol rather than risk threading their way through the dangerous channel. As they steamed between Guadalcanal and Savo Island at ten knots, three Japanese destroyers entered the Slot to bombard American shore positions.
At 0056, the two American ships saw flashes of gunfire which they assumed came from a Japanese submarine until radar showed four targets, as apparently a cruiser had joined the three DD's. While the two outgunned but gallant ships were debating whether to close for action or depart quietly and undetected, the decision was taken out of their hands.
A US Navy pilot had also seen the gunfire and, assuming it came from a Japanese submarine, dropped a string of five flares almost on top of the two APD's. Unfortunately, they were silhouetted against the blackness, and were spotted immediately by the Japanese, who opened fire at 0100.
Gregory brought all her guns to bear but was desperately overmatched and less than 3 minutes after the fatal flares had been dropped, she was dead in the water and beginning to sink. Two boilers had burst and her decks were a mass of flames.
Lieutenant Commander Bauer, himself seriously wounded, gave the word to abandon ship, and Gregory's crew reluctantly took to the water. As the crew began going overboard and Bauer was being assisted by two crewmen, he made the ultimate sacrifice as he ordered his two companions to aid another crewman yelling for help.
Bauer was never seen again. For his gallant conduct, he posthumously promoted to Commander.
Comments/Citation:
USS Harry F. Bauer (DD-738/DM-26/MMD-26) was a Robert H. Smith-class destroyer minelayer named in honor of Commander Harry F. Bauer.
Service number: 061133
Commands:
Executive Officer - USS Tracy (DD-214/DM-19) - 1937 through 10/1938
Commanding Officer - USS Gregory (DD-82/APD-3) - 12/1941 until his death on 9/6/1942
SIlver Star
Awarded for action during World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Division: U.S.S. Gregory (APD-3)
General Orders: Commander South Pacific Force and Area: Serial 0509 (March 26, 1943)
Citation:
"The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Commander Harry Frederick Bauer (NSN: 061133), United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. GREGORY (APD-3) during action against enemy Japanese forces off Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, on 4 September 1942.
...
When hostile vessels moved in under the misty haze of night and bombarded our shore positions, Lieutenant Commander Bauer, although seriously handicapped by limitation of fire power and reduction of armament, unhesitatingly steamed forward to challenge the attacking foe. Suddenly spotlighted under a flood of illumination from two forces of Japanese destroyers, he fought his ship with courageous determination and grim defiance, well aware that she was unequipped to engage an outnumbering force in battle. Scoring several hits on the enemy while attempting to withdraw before a vigorous curtain of fire, he kept his guns blazing away until the GREGORY was eventually struck and set aflame.
...
His brilliant leadership and relentless fighting spirit, maintained with utter disregard of personal safety, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
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.
