Clift, John Stewart, TM2c

GRUNI0N (SS-216)

U.S. Submarine Losses World War II, NAVPERS 15,784, 1949 ISSUE

The submarine GRUNION arrived at Pearl Harbor on 20 June 1942, reporting for duty from the west coast. This vessel engaged in the pre-patrol training given to all submarines reporting from new construction yards, and on 30 June, left for patrol.

Lt. Cdr. M. L. Abele, in command, was ordered to proceed to the Aleutian theater and patrol westward from Attu on routes between the Aleutians and the Japanese Empire. On 10 July GRUNION was reassigned to the area north of Kiska. GRUNION made her first report on 15 July. Dutch Harbor received her message telling that she had been attacked by an enemy destroyer. She had fired three torpedoes at it, and missed with all.

Shortly after this message was received GRUNION sent another relating that she had sunk three destroyer type vessels on 15 July. This message was garbled to the extent that details of the attacks were never learned, (Japanese information reveals that GRUNION sank patrol boats 25 and 27 and damaged a third patrol vessel). On 19 July GRUNION, S-32, TRITON and TUNA were assigned areas in the approaches to Kiska, all to be there by daylight 22 July.

There was a strong concentration of enemy vessels at Kiska, this time being only a month and half after the enemy had taken that island. The vessels patrolling there were told to watch particularly on the afternoon of 22 July 1942 for departing enemy naval vessels, since our own surface forces were scheduled to bombard Kiska on that afternoon. The bombardment did not take place in accordance with the original plans, but our forces did stage the operation on 28 July and GRUNION was told to guard the exits from Kiska during darkness on this date. On this day GRUNION reported an attack on unidentified enemy ships six miles southeast of Sirius Point, Kiska. She had fired two torpedoes, made no hits, and been depth charged, but sustained no damage.

GRUNION's last transmission was received on 30 July 1942. She reported heavy anti-submarine activity at the entrance to Kiska, and that she had ten torpedoes remaining. On the same day, GRUNION was directed to return to Dutch Harbor. She was not contacted or sighted after 30 July, despite every effort to do so, and on 16 August, she was reported lost. Planes observing the approaches to Kiska for indications of enemy salvage operations in connection with GRUNION reported negatively.

Japanese anti-submarine attack data available now records no attack in the Aleutian area at this time, and GRUNION's fate remains an unsolved mystery. We know of no enemy minefields which were in her area; thus her loss may be presumed to have been operational or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack. [See following note.]

USS Grunion Crew

Please note -- the wreck of USS Grunion was found on August 16, 2006, by a team lead by the sons of her commanding officer, Mannert Lincoln "Jim" Abele. Grunion was sunk on July 30, 1942, by the armed Japanese freighter Kano Maru, approximately 10 miles northeast of Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

John Stewart Clift was born January 24, 1920 in Bluff City, Harper county, Kansas, as John Henry Stewart. He was the youngest of 10 children born to Joseph Howe and Mamie Alice (McCay) Stewart. His mother died when he was an infant. He was adopted by John and Flossie Clift of Bluff City, and assumed the name of John Stewart Clift. His adopted father worked as a buyer for the stockyard. John later moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he attended North High School, leaving school to join the Navy.
 
He entered the Navy July 13, 1937 at Wichita. Following basic training at the Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois he attended Ordnance School at San Diego. In July 1939 he served aboard USS S-23 (SS-128). His enlistment ended in January 1941 and In February 1941 he married Agnes Lorine Boswell. They lived in Wichita, and John worked for the Coleman Lamp and Stove Company. He was a member of Sunflower Lodge No. 86 A.F. & A.M. and of the Wellington Place Baptist Church.
 
John re-enlisted in January 1942 at Kansas City, Missouri and served aboard USS Drum (SS-228) for her fitting out at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He reported aboard USS Grunion (SS-216) in April 1942 for her commissioning, as a Torpedoman’s Mate 2nd class.
 
Grunion arrived at Pearl Harbor on June 20, 1942. The vessel completed pre-patrol training before departing on its first war patrol June 30.  Grunion’s commanding officer, Lt. Cmdr. Abele, was ordered to proceed to the Aleutian Islands and patrol westward from Attu on routes between the Aleutians and the Japanese Empire. On July 10, Grunion was reassigned to the area north of Kiska. Over the next 20 days, the submarine reported firing on an enemy destroyer, sinking three destroyer-type vessels, and attacking unidentified enemy ships near Kiska.
 
Grunion’s last transmission was received on July 30, 1942. The submarine reported heavy antisubmarine activity at the entrance to Kiska, and that it had 10 torpedoes remaining forward. On the same day, Grunion was directed to return to Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base.  There was no contact or sighting of the submarine after July 30, and on August 16, Grunion was reported lost.
 
After discovering information on the internet in 2002 that helped pinpoint USS Grunion’s possible location, the sons of Grunion’s commanding officer, Bruce, Brad, and John Abele, began working on a plan to find the submarine. In August 2006, a team of side scan sonar experts located a target near Kiska almost a mile below the ocean’s surface. A second expedition in August 2007 using a high definition camera on a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) yielded video footage and high resolution photos of the wreckage of a U.S. fleet submarine, later confirmed by Commander, Submarine Forces Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC) as Grunion.

John S. Clift’s name appears on the Courts of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii. A memorial marker is in the Clift family plot in White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Wichita, Sedgwick county, Kansas.
 
References:
Ancestry.com. Kansas, U.S., State Census Collection, 1925
1930; Census Place: Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 0046
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
Ancestry.com. U.S., Navy Casualties Books, 1776-1941
https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/clift-j-s.htm
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132463396/john-stewart-clift
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56117945/john-stewart-clift
The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, KS: Sept. 15, 1943, p.5
The Wichita Evening Eagle, Wichita, KS: May 17, 1938, p.12
US Submarine Losses WWII
United States Submarine Veterans of WWII, V.2,Taylor Pub., Texas, 1987
Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949
Mary & Richard Bentz, We Remember Them, a biographical supplement for Fatal Dive, 2014, pp. 33-35
 
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.
 
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