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Casualty Info
Home Town Nanticoke, PA
Last Address 2027 N 15th St Philadelphia, PA
Casualty Date Aug 24, 1944
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery and Memorial - Manila, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
The USS Harder (SS-257) began her 6th War Patrol on August 5th, 1944 and formed a "wolfpack" with four other submarines. She sank two merchant ships before her final attack on August 24th. While the Hake escaped sinking, a depth charge attack sunk the Harder with all hands. Lieutenant Junior Grade James was listed as Missing in Action and later declared dead 2 October 1945.
Comments/Citation:
Service numbers:
Enlisted: 6500303
Officer: 225456
Daniel James joined the Navy in 1941 as a Pharmacist's Mate (PhM). He entered as a PhM2 because he was a pre-med student at the time. In 1943, the Navy sent him to Columbia University in New York to recieve officer training and was commissioned as an Ensign.
Submarine war patrols: USS Harder (SS-257) - 4th through 6th
Presidential Unit Citiation
For outstanding performance and distinguished service during her War Patrols in enemy-controlled waters. Resolute and daring in combat, the USS Harder has operated dangerously. Striking wherever the enemy could be found, she sank or damaged many thousands of tons of hostile shipping. The officers and men of the Harder have achieved a brilliant record of gallantry 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/Mariana and Palau Islands Campaign (1944)
From Month/Year
June / 1944
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, also known as Operation Forager, was an offensive launched by United States forces against Imperial Japanese forces in the Mariana Islands and Palau in the Pacific Ocean between June and November, 1944 during the Pacific War. The United States offensive, under the overall command of Chester Nimitz, followed the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and was intended to neutralize Japanese bases in the central Pacific, support the Allied drive to retake the Philippines, and provide bases for a strategic bombing campaign against Japan.
Beginning the offensive, United States Marine Corps and United States Army forces, with support from the United States Navy, executed landings on Saipan in June, 1944. In response, the Imperial Japanese Navy's combined fleet sortied to attack the U.S. Navy fleet supporting the landings. In the resulting aircraft carrier Battle of the Philippine Sea (the so-called “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”) on 19–20 June, the Japanese naval forces were decisively defeated with heavy and irreplaceable losses to their carrier-borne and land-based aircraft.
Thereafter, U.S. forces executed landings on Guam and Tinian in July, 1944. After heavy fighting, Saipan was secured in July and Guam and Tinian in August, 1944. The U.S. then constructed airfields on Saipan and Tinian where B-29s were based to conduct strategic bombing missions against the Japanese mainland until the end of World War II, including the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the meantime, in order to secure the flank for U.S. forces preparing to attack Japanese forces in the Philippines, in September, 1944, U.S. Marine and Army forces landed on the islands of Peleliu and Angaur in Palau. After heavy and intense combat on Peleliu, the island was finally secured by U.S. forces in November, 1944.
Following their landings in the Mariana and Palau Islands, Allied forces continued their ultimately successful campaign against Japan by landing in the Philippines in October, 1944 and the Volcano and Ryukyu Islands beginning in January, 1945.
