This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Bailey, James Monroe, Jr., MM3c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Winchester, IN
Last Address Winchester, IN
Casualty Date Jul 06, 1943
Cause KIA-Body Not Recovered
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Nashville Cemetery - Nashville, Ohio
Wall/Plot Coordinates (memorial marker)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
MM3 Bailey was stationed aboard the USS Helena (CL-50). The ship was sunk during the Battle of Kula Gulf on Juky 6, 1943. His body was not recovered and he was later declared dead.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 2915845
Navy Unit Commendation
For outstanding heroism in action against enemy Japanese forces afloat in the Solomon Islands - New Georgia Areas. Gallantly carrying the fight to the enemy, the USS HELENA opened the night Battle of Cape Esperance on 11-12 October 1942 boldly sending her fire into the force of enemy warships, sinking a hostile destroyer and holding to a minimum the damage to our destroyers in the rear of the Task Force. She engaged at close quarters a superior force of hostile combatant ships in the Battle of Guadalcanal on the night of 12-13 November 1942, rallying our own forces after the Flag Ship had been disabled and contributing to the enemy's defeat. In her final engagement in the pre-dawn battle of 5-6 July 1943, the HELENA valiantly sailed down the restricted and submarine-infested waters of Kula Gulf under the terrific torpedo and gun fire of the enemy to bombard Kolombangara and New Georgia while covering the landing of our troops at Rice Anchorage, and twenty-four hours later, her blazing guns aided in the destruction of a vastly superior enemy naval force before she was fatally struck by Japanese torpedos. Her brave record of combat achievement is evidence of the HELENA'S intrepidity and the heroic fighting spirit of her officers and men.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)
From Month/Year
February / 1943
To Month/Year
November / 1944
Description The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.
The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, supported a counteroffensive in New Guinea, isolated the Japanese base at Rabaul, and counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal (see Guadalcanal Campaign) and small neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal landing and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and Bougainville Island.
In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses on Japanese military assets. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands (although resistance continued until the end of the war), and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign.
