Howard W. Gilmore
American naval submarine officer and WWII Medal of Honor recipient From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
American naval submarine officer and WWII Medal of Honor recipient From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Howard Walter Gilmore (September 29, 1902 – February 7, 1943) was a submarine commander in the United States Navy who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his self-sacrifice during World War II.
Howard W. Gilmore | |
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| Birth name | Howard Walter Gilmore |
| Born | September 29, 1902 Selma, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 1943 (aged 40) off the Solomon Islands |
| Place of burial | remains not recovered; listed on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Years | 1920–1943 |
| Rank | Commander |
| Commands | |
| Battles/wars | |
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Howard Gilmore was born in Selma, Alabama, on September 29, 1902, and enlisted in the Navy on November 15, 1920. In 1922 he was appointed to the United States Naval Academy by competitive examination.[1] Standing 34th of a class of 436, Gilmore was commissioned in 1926[1] and reported to the battleship USS Mississippi (BB-41). His Naval Academy classmates included Wade McClusky, Max Leslie, Lofton Henderson, and Carlton Hutchins.[2] Gilmore underwent submarine training during 1930 and in the years that followed served in various submarines and at stations ashore.[3]
Gilmore served as the executive officer of the submarine USS Shark (SS-174), and in a near-fatal incident during the submarine's shakedown cruise, narrowly survived an assault by a group of thugs in Panama, who cut his throat during an excursion ashore. He had to deal with several other instances of tragedy in his life, including the death of his first wife from disease, and at the time of his Medal of Honor action his second wife was still in a coma from a fall she had taken down a flight of stairs.[1] In 1941, he assumed his first command, USS Shark (SS-174), only to be transferred the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor to command the still-unfinished submarine USS Growler (SS-215).[3]
Gilmore commanded his submarine skillfully during four Pacific War patrols. During his first, on 5 July 1942 Growler attacked three enemy destroyers off Kiska, sinking one and severely damaging the other two, while narrowly avoiding two torpedoes fired in return, for which Gilmore received the Navy Cross.
During his second patrol, Growler sank four merchant ships totaling 15,000 tons in the East China Sea near Formosa for which the Navy awarded him another Navy Cross.
During October 1942, Growler patrolled off Truk in the Caroline Islands as part of a repositioning of submarine assets on the way to Brisbane, Australia. No significant action occurred.[4]
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The submarine continued to take a heavy toll on shipping on its fourth war patrol, and during the night of 6–7 February 1943, it approached a convoy stealthily for a surface attack. Suddenly a convoy escort named Hayasaki closed and prepared to ram. As the small ship charged out of the darkness, Gilmore sounded the collision alarm and shouted, "Left full rudder!" — to no avail. Perhaps inadvertently, Growler hit the Japanese adversary amidships at 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph), heeling the submarine 50 degrees, bending 18 feet (5.5 m) of its bow sideways to port, and disabling the forward torpedo tubes.
Simultaneously, the Japanese crew began a burst of machine gun fire at Growler's bridge, killing the junior officer of the deck and a lookout,[5] while wounding Gilmore himself and two other men. "Clear the bridge!" Gilmore ordered as he struggled to hang on to a frame. As the rest of the bridge party dropped down the hatch into the conning tower, the executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Arnold Schade — shaken by the impact and dazed by his own fall into the control room — waited expectantly for his captain to appear. Instead, realizing that he could not get below in time if the ship were to escape, Gilmore shouted "take her down!", ordering the ship to descend and leave him on the surface.
Surfacing some time later in hope of reattacking the Hayasaki, Schade found the seas empty. The Japanese ship had, in fact, survived the encounter, but there was no sign of Gilmore, who had apparently drifted away during the night. Schade and Growler's crew managed to control the ship's flooding and voyaged back to Brisbane on February 17.
For sacrificing himself to save his ship, Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, "the second man of the submarine force to be so decorated."[6]
| Departing From | Date | Days | Wartime Credit Ships/Tonnage |
JANAC[7] Credit Ships/Tonnage |
Patrol Area | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growler-[8] | Pearl Harbor, TH (Territory of Hawaii) | May 1942 | 15 | zero / zero[9] | zero / zero[10] | Midway Estimated |
| Growler-1 | Pearl Harbor, TH | June 1942 | 27 | 2 / 3,400[11] | 1 / 1,850[10] | Alaska |
| Growler-2 | Pearl Harbor, TH | August 1942 | 49 | 4 / 26,000[12] | 4 / 14,974[10] | East China Sea |
| Growler-3 | Pearl Harbor, TH | October 1942 | 49 | zero / zero[13] | zero / zero[10] | -->Brisbane Via Truk |
| Growler-4 | Brisbane, Australia | January 1943 | 48 | 2 / 7,900[14] | 1 / 5,857[10] | Solomons |
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For distinguished gallantry and valor above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Growler during her Fourth War Patrol in the Southwest Pacific from 10 January to 7 February 1943. Boldly striking at the enemy in spite of continuous hostile air and antisubmarine patrols, Comdr. Gilmore sank one Japanese freighter and damaged another by torpedo fire, successfully evading severe depth charges following each attack. In the darkness of night on 7 February, an enemy gunboat closed range and prepared to ram the Growler. Comdr. Gilmore daringly maneuvered to avoid the crash and rammed the attacker instead, ripping into her port side at 11 knots and bursting wide her plates. In the terrific fire of the sinking gunboat's heavy machineguns, Comdr. Gilmore calmly gave the order to clear the bridge, and refusing safety for himself, remained on deck while his men preceded him below. Struck down by the fusillade of bullets and having done his utmost against the enemy, in his final living moments, Comdr. Gilmore gave his last order to the officer of the deck, "Take her down". The Growler dived; seriously damaged but under control, she was brought safely to port by her well-trained crew inspired by the courageous fighting spirit of their dead captain.[4]
Howard Gilmore's sacrifice inspired five different authors and screenwriters.
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