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Contact Info
Last Address LCDR Walter Owen Henry was born in, lived and died in his home state of Tennessee. He was buried in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at Evergreen Cemetery.
Date of Passing Apr 27, 1936
Location of Interment Evergreen Cemetery - Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Navy Cross, USS Fanning, WWI
HENRY, WALTER OWEN Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy
U.S.S. Fanning
Date of Action: November 17, 1917
Citation:
The Navy Cross is presented to Walter O. Henry, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Navy, for distinguished service in the line of his profession as Officer of the Deck on the U.S.S. Fanning in initiating prompt and efficient offensive action on the occasion of the engagement with, and the capture of the German submarine U-58 on November 17, 1917.
Other Comments:
World War I and the Action of 17 November 1917
Based on Queenstown, Ireland, Fanning and her sister destroyers patrolled the eastern Atlantic, escorting convoys and rescuing survivors of sunken merchantmen. At 1615 on 17 November 1917, Coxswain Daniel David Loomis sighted the periscope of U-58, and the Officer of the Deck Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry ordered the destroyer to attack. Fanning's first depth charge pattern scored, and as destroyer Nicholson joined the action, the submarine broke surface, her crew pouring out on deck, hands raised in surrender. The depth charge had hit near the submarines diving planes, forcing the submarine to surface, and also knocked out the main generator aboard Fanning. If U-58 had surfaced in battle ready mode, Fanning would have surely been lost. Fanning maneuvered to pick up the prisoners as the damaged submarine sank, the first of two U-boats to fall victim to US Navy destroyers in World War I. Coxswain Daniel David Loomis and Lieutenant Walter Owen Henry both received the Navy Cross for this action.
Fanning continued escort and patrol duty for the duration of the war. Though she made numerous submarine contacts, all of her attacks were inconclusive. On many occasions, she went to the aid of torpedoed ships, rescuing survivors and carrying them into port. On 8 October 1918, she picked up a total of 103 survivors, 25 from a merchantman and 78 from the Dupetit-Thouars.
Fanning passed in review before President Woodrow Wilson onboard the transport George Washington in Brest Harbor on 13 December, then remained at Brest until March of the following year. After a quick voyage to Plymouth, England, Fanning departed Brest for the States, by way of Lisbon, Portugal, and Ponta Delgada, Azores, in company with several other destroyers, and escorting a large group of submarine chasers. Fanning was placed out of commission at Philadelphia on 24 November 1919.
