New gasoline decision near
Petroleum administration to reveal allotment
…
Nazi collapse in 1943 viewed as improbable
Britain’s sudden interest in second front is too late
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
…
‘Unknown’ wins acclaim in first film role
Came to aid Greece; stayed to win stardom
By Rosellen Callahan
…
Background of news –
Stettinius for Vice President?
By Henry J. Taylor, North American Newspaper Alliance
…
The Fighting Merchant Marine
Rough-and-ready Colonials give Britain many headaches with reckless privateering
By Gilbert Love
…
Simms: Victories boost Stalin’s hand at Allied parley
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard staff writer
…
Return to gold standard held post-war need
U.S., British and Canadian monetary plans called ‘undesirable’
…
The Pittsburgh Press (September 29, 1943)
Auch eine Stimme zum Dreimächtepakt –
USA.-General bestätigt Deutschlands Stärke
…
U.S. Navy Department (September 29, 1943)
Press Release
For immediate release
September 29, 1943
Marine sergeant tells of the sinking of the JOHN PENN
Guadalcanal – (delayed)
Although knocked across the deck and injured by a falling 12‑ton beam, Marine Capt. William C. Roberts, of 501 22nd Avenue, San Francisco, California, the son of a banker, probably saved the lives of several badly wounded men last night by tying life jackets on them and lowering them over the side of the torpedoed and sinking USS JOHN PENN (APA-23).
The 9,000‑ton JOHN PENN, a transport cargo ship, was formerly the Excambion of the American Export Lines. Her loss was revealed September 23, 1943, in a communiqué issued at the headquarters of Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, USA. Next of kin of casualties have been notified by the Navy Department.
The action was described this morning by Marine Sgt. William F. Stoddard Jr., of 138 Quincy Road, Riverside, Illinois, while Stoddard was lined up on the beach with the other survivors.
These torpedoed survivors, clothed in pajamas and coveralls given them by Navy Hospital Corpsmen, were answering a roll call to check the missing.
Stoddard related:
A Jap plane put her fish right in our engine room. The bow began going under almost immediately, and the entire ship was out of sight in less than 20 minutes.
Capt. Roberts was injured when the explosion occurred. He was injured by a 12‑ton beam that instantly killed two men standing right next to him. He picked himself up, bleeding, and right away began to help the other wounded lying around the deck.
He tied lifejackets around the unconscious and lowered them to the water, hoping the rescue boats would pick them up. The bow was the last to go under, and when I left the ship he was still up there helping men to get aft before the whole thing went down.
Stoddard explained:
We still don’t know how many men we lost.
Even while he was relating the story another alarm sounded and our interview had to be finished in a foxhole.
He continued:
It was an all‑Navy crew, except Capt. Roberts and myself, the only Marines permanently attached to the ship.
Ever since I got ashore, I’ve been looking for him. I was afraid he went down with the ship, but I finally located him just a little while ago. He’s at one of the hospitals with a bad right shoulder and a couple of burns, but he says he’s okay and should be out within a week.
The torpedoing last night was not Sgt. Stoddard’s first contact with the Japs. He is a Guadalcanal veteran who landed with the first invasion troops August 7, 1942. After two months under fire, he was transferred to ship duty, and since then has been serving in and out of Solomon waters.