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Asked Questions page. Related Resource: Naval Armed Guard Service During World War II
Source: Office
of the Chief of Naval Operations. "History of the Armed Guard
Afloat, World War II." (Washington, 1946): 166-169. [This
microfiche, identified as United States Naval Administrative History of World War II #173, is located in Navy Department Library, and can be purchased, or borrowed through interlibrary loan.]
One of the most disastrous bombing attack against allied ships
during the entire war took place at Bari, Italy, on December 2,
1943. This port was in the British theater of operations, but
several American [merchant] ships with [U.S. Navy] Armed Guards
aboard were at Bari on that fateful day [when a German air raid
occurred]. When the last bomb had fallen, and the last ship exploded,
and the large fires had run their course, 17 ships had been sunk
and six damaged. There were five United States ships sunk and
one damaged. One other United States ship came through unscathed.
The Joseph Wheeler had her starboard side blown out and
was on her port side when her Armed Guard officer, who had been
ashore arranging for the pay of his men, last saw her. The only
Armed Guard survivors were the officer and twelve men who were
taking a well-earned liberty in the town. There were 15 Armed
Guards dead or missing and 26 of the merchant crew missing.
The Samuel J. Tilden was bombed and then sunk by two British
torpedoes to prevent danger to other ships. A bomb crashed through
to the engine room at about 1920 and an incendiary bomb hit forward
of the bridge. The German pilot [of the attacking aircraft] strafed
the deck [with machine gun fire]. Anti-aircraft fire from ashore
also hit the ship. A searchlight was [shined] on the ship for
seven minutes after the attack began, apparently because somebody
ashore forgot to turn it off. All of the Armed Guards survived
but the dead and missing among the merchant crew numbered 10 and
there were also casualties to Army personnel [who were on board].
All of the Armed Guards were lost with the John Harvey [which
was carrying mustard gas]. Most of the merchant crewmen were also
missing. Apparently the only people who survived were those who
were ashore.
The John L. Motley had grim luck on her trip to the Mediterranean.
On August 8, calcium carbine had caused an explosion and fire
[on board]. Then came her end at Bari. There were only five survivors
from her Armed Guards, and 30 of the merchant crew were missing
or dead. Four of her survivors were ashore. It was reported that
three bombs hit the ship.
The Lyman Abbott was more fortunate, for she escaped with
only moderate damage. Her report indicates that the harbor was
crowded with some 30 ships plus one ship outside and that the
harbor soon became an inferno of flames and smoke accompanied
by violent explosions of the burning ships. The master ordered
"abandon ship" at 2015 when several burning ships drifted
close, but she was re-boarded [when the danger passed]. Her only
damage from bombs was to her rudder, but the explosions added
to her damage. One Armed Guard was killed and the Army Cargo Security
Officer also died. Nearly all of the Armed Guards suffered burns
and some of them were hit by fragments. All in all, it was a grim
night for the Abbott, but she was able to leave on January
10 [1944].
The Louis Hennepin was the only ship carrying Armed Guards
which escaped without material damage. But two bombs landed about
100 yards from the ship and two Armed Guards were wounded. Her
Armed Guard officer reported that lights along the dock stayed
on for 13 minutes after the first bomb dropped, and [he] declared
that port facilities were inadequate and that there was a lack
of coordination. This ship fired some 6,000 rounds of 20mm ammunition
during the attack. She also fired on December 11.
The John Bascom was hit by three bombs at 1945. This fine
ship was apparently the first in the harbor to open fire [on the
attacking German aircraft]. An explosion on the John L. Motley
caused the whole port side of the Bascom to cave in. The
ship did not have a chance to survive. From this awful carnage
emerged one of the finest heroes of the Armed Guard Service. Ensign
Kay K. Vesole won the Navy Cross and later had a Navy ship named
for him. But he lost his life in heroic service to his crew. Wounded
in the shoulder and over the heart, he still went from gun to
gun directing action and rendering aid to the wounded and dying.
Weak from the loss of blood, he conducted a party of his men below
decks and supervised the carrying of wounded to the boat deck.
When the ship was in a burning and sinking condition he supervised
the loading of the only lifeboat not destroyed. His crew had to
force him into the lifeboat. He wanted to swim to make room for
men with worse wounds than his. He insisted on rowing with his
uninjured arm as he helped disembark the wounded. He helped carry
wounded to the bomb shelter and had to be restrained from going
back into the flames to rescue other wounded when an ammunition
ship blew up. He dispatched a signalman to the end of the jetty
to signal for help. He refused to embark in the first boat sent
to rescue the Bascom survivors but was forced into the
second. He appears to have sacrificed every chance to recover
in his efforts to save others. He was in every sense one of the
finest heroes of World War II and typified the finest in the traditions
of the Navy and the Armed Guard Service. From this destruction
of his ship nine of his Armed Guards perished with him. Nine men
from that crew were awarded Bronze Star Medals.
Bari was one of those sudden blows which did great damage but
did not long delay the victorious march of the allies in Italy.
The blow was too sudden for Armed Guards to do much to defend
their ships. It well illustrates the danger which was always just
around the corner for all Armed Guard crews. Men who go through
such actions have to be highly disciplined and trained, and to
have superb courage.
Note: Among the ships sunk when German JU-88 bombers attacked
the port of Bari on the night of 2 December 1943 was John Harvey,
which was carrying mustard gas intended for use in retaliation
by the Allies if German forces initiated gas warfare. Most of
the released gas was carried out to sea by an offshore breeze,
but many military and civilian personnel were temporarily incapacitated
or killed by undetermined amounts of the gas which were held in
solution in oil that was floating on the water. Of the more than
800 casualties hospitalized after the raid, 628 suffered from
mustard gas exposure. Sixty-nine deaths were attributed in whole
or in part to this cause.
Medical officers and aidmen treating the casualties were unaware
of the presence of the gas, which was diluted sufficiently to
be detected by odor. In the belief that casualties covered with
oil but showing no physical damage were suffering from exposure
and immersion, they were wrapped in blankets, still in their oil-soaked
clothing, given hot tea, and left as they were for twelve to twenty-four
hours while the more urgent blast injuries and surgical cases
were treated.
Those with the energy and will to clean the oil from their own
bodies suffered no serious damage, but the remainder suffered
varying degrees of mustard burns. Eyes began to burn about 6 hours
after exposure, and were so badly swollen in 24 hours that many
of the patients thought themselves blind. The first deaths occurred
without warning 18 hours after exposure.
About 90 percent of the gas casualties were American, the bulk
of them merchant seamen. Since no U.S. hospital facilities were
yet available in Bari - equipment for all but one of the U.S.
hospitals scheduled for the area were destroyed in the bombing
- casualties were hospitalized in British installations. [Adapted
from: Wiltse, Charles Maurice. The Medical Department: Medical
Service in the Mediterranean and Minor Theaters. (Washington:
Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Of the Army): 350-351.]
For further information:
Infield, Glenn B. Disaster at Bari. New York: Macmillan,
1971.[contains a useful bibliography and reproductions of official
reports].
Mahoney, Tom. "Comment and Discussion: The Bari Incident."
United States Naval Institute Proceedings. 94, no.1 (Jan.
1968): 101-102. [comments regarding mustard gas casualties].
Morison, Samuel Eliot. Sicily - Salerno - Anzio, January 1943
- June 1944. vol.9 of History of United States Naval Operations
in World War II. Boston: Little Brown, 1954. [On pages 319
and 322, Morison briefly describes the raid calling it "the
most destructive enemy air raid on shipping since the attack on
Pearl Harbor."].
Sanders, D.M. "The Bari Incident." United States
Naval Institute Proceedings 93, no.9 (Sep. 1967): 35-39.
Southern, George. Poisonous Inferno: World War II Tragedy at Bari Harbour. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2002. [Includes a chart on pp. 14-15 of ship berthing at port of Bari, with locations of ships indicated.].