Brightwood Boys, The History of the Men from
the North End of
Springfield, Massachusetts,
During World War II
by Christopher P. Montagna
CHAPTER 7
THE FIRST TO SACRIFICE
As the Japanese forces continued their conquest of the Pacific, the USS Peary was stationed at Darwin, Australia. The USS Peary was a World War One ear Clemson class destroyer.
Serving aboard the USS Peary was Electricians Mate (EM2) Richard Joseph (RJ) Lee. Richard was the son of Charles and Genevieve Lee who resided at 6 Springfield Street. Richard Lee enlisted in the Navy on October 12, 1938 and completed his basic training at Naval Training Station in Newport, RI. His first duty station was the Battleship USS New York. He was later transferred to the cruiser USS St. Louis for three years. The executive officer of the ship picked RJ Lee for further training and he was sent to the sound motion and communications school in San Diego, CA. Upon graduation from the school he returned to the USS St. Louis and on November 20, 1941 was transferred to the Pacific area and assigned aboard the USS Peary.
Only two months into the war the Peary and her crew were veterans of the fight. On December 10, 1941, the USS Peary was damaged during the attack on the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines. That attack killed eight of the Peary's crew.
On February 19, while in Darwin Harbor, Richard Lee and the crew of the USS Peary came under attack from Japanese aircraft. The fate of the Peary was eloquently conveyed in the following article published by the Chicago Tribune:
"The Peary's great and final hour came when she was lying in harbor. The Japs had sneaked an aircraft carrier among the Indonesian Islands near Australia and sent over 72 bombers with approximately 30 fighters.
The Peary had no choice but to lie at quay. Dive bombers plunged upon the Peary. In all five 500-pound bombs fell on the moored destroyer.
[Five bombs hit: the first exploded on the fantail, the second, an incendiary, on the galley deck house; the third did not explode; the fourth hit forward and set off the forward ammunition magazines; the fifth, another incendiary, exploded in the after engine room.]
When the stern bomb landed, four 50 caliber machine guns were sending streams of lead skyward against the divers. When the smoke cleared only one member of this gun crew was alive.
The destroyer was fast going down by the stern. But a Lieutenant in the Australian Navy watched the action from a culvert upon the water front. He said to this correspondent:
I saw the last American sailor continue to fire the remaining gun with dead and wounded all around him. The water came steadily higher and finally began creeping up the deck. But the gunner kept firing even while the waster rose over the base platform. I saw him still at his gun controls – loading, aiming and firing, unaided – when the Peary went down stern first."
On February 19, 1942, Richard Joseph Lee, the man from Springfield Street, was killed in action aboard the USS Peary, becoming the first Brightwood Boy to give his life in the service to his County. Four days before RJ's death, his parents received a cablegram from him saying he was doing well. Richard Joseph Lee's body was never recovered. He is memorialized along with ninety of his shipmates on a plaque located in Darwin, Australia.
The Japanese forces continued to extend its empire across the Southern Pacific as Allied generals began developing plans to cease their advances. In May of 1942, the first battle between the Navy's of the United States and Imperial Japanese was fought in the waters southwest of the Solomon Islands and eastward from New Guinea. The fight became known as The Battle of the Coral Sea.
Preliminary operations on May 3-6 and two days of active carrier combat on May 7-8 cost the United States the aircraft carrier USS Lexington, the destroyer USS Sims and one of its very valuable fleet oilers the USS Neosho, plus damage to the carrier USS Yorktown. The Japanese were forced to cancel their invasion of Port Moresby. In the fighting, the Japanese lost a light carrier, a destroyer and some smaller ships.
On May 15, 1942, Mrs. Anna Brennan was working as a clerk at the American Bosh, when she received a telegram from Rear Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of the Bureau of Personnel stating:
"The Navy Department exceedingly regrets to advise you that according to the records of the Department, your son, Ralph John Brennan, seaman first class, U.S.N., was performing his duty in the service of his country in the Manila Bay area when the station capitulated. He will be carried on the records of the Navy Department as missing pending further information. No report of his death or injury has been received and he may be a prisoner of war. It will probably be several months before official information can be expected concerning his status. Sincere sympathy is extended to you in your anxiety and you are assured that any report received will be communicated to you promptly".
Anna Brennan would not learn the true fate of her son for several years. On May 6, 1942, Ralph Brennan was killed in action during fighting ashore on the island of Corregidor. Ralph Brennan was with the improvised naval battalion which fought so gallantly on Bataan and Corregidor. Like many of the men killed in the early days of the war, Ralph Brennan's remains were never found.
Springfield Union, May 20, 1942
Roland Dupre, first class seaman U.S. Navy is visiting his parents Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Dupre of 2991 Main Street. Dupre is on seven days leave from his ship. He enlisted in the Navy at the recruiting station here on Jan. 7, 1942, and received his preliminary training at the Naval Training Station, Newport, R.I. After leaving training school he was assigned to Boston where he was later assigned to the fleet. He will leave on Thursday to join his ship at an Eastern port.
Roland Dupre was serving as a Fireman Third Class aboard the USS Quincy (CA-39). The USS Quincy was a New Orleans-class heavy cruiser. In mid-March of 1942 the USS Quincy was in the States for an overhaul. Once work was completed, Roland Dupre joined the crew of the Quincy and headed for San Diego to join Task Force 18. In July the USS Quincy then headed to the South Pacific.
On June 19, 1942, Nino Montagna embarked aboard the MS John Ericsson at San Francisco, CA and sailed for "Permanent Foreign Duty Beyond the Seas" on June 22, 1942. He arrived in Wellington, New Zealand on July 12, 1942.