United States. A USN Purple Heart Pair, KIA During Japanese Attack on USS Asheville off Java

Footnote: James Lawrence was born on November 21, 1917 in Concord, California and had no middle name. Both his mother and father were born in Portugal and he had one sister, Mae A. Dutra of Concord. He had a Grade 10 education and was a resident of Martinez, California, seeking a career in the United States Navy in "Mechanics", when he signed his Application for Enlistment on November 16, 1934 in Oakland, California, five days shy of his seventeenth birthday, naming his next-of-kin as his guardian, Thomas A. Boyer, a Probation Officer at the Court House in Martinez, stating that he was not married and that he was a Student. Lawrence was accepted and officially enlisted as an Apprentice Seaman (375-70-72) with the United States Navy, on June 15, 1935. He was posted to the United States Naval Training Station at San Diego, California, from September 9 to 19, 1935, then assigned to the hospital ship USS Relief (AH-1), from October 29, 1935 to December 19, 1938. His rating changed from Seaman Second Class to Fireman Third Class on January 5, 1936, then changed from Fireman Third Class to Fireman Second Class on December 1, 1936. Lawrence extended his enlistment for an additional two full years, on November 14, 1938 and had his rating changed from Fireman Second Class to Fireman First Class two days later, on November 16th. He was transferred to the New Mexico-class battleship USS Idaho (BB-42) on February 4, 1939, and it was while serving with this ship, that he received his Navy Good Conduct Medal on February 13th. Lawrence was Honorably Discharged on October 10, 1940 at San Pedro, California, re-enlisting the following day, on October 11th, for an additional four years, now acknowledging his sister as his next-of-kin. He qualified in swimming on October 31, 1940. After twenty-five months with USS Idaho, Lawrence was transferred to the USS Nitro (AE-2) on March 9, 1941, "for further transportation and further transfer to the Asiatic Station for assignment to duty". Soon after he would join the Asheville-class gunboat USS Asheville (PG-21) for service in the Pacific theater. The USS Asheville was the first ship of the United States Navy named for the city of Asheville, North Carolina and was built at the Charleston Naval Shipyard of North Charleston, South Carolina, from her keel laying in June 1918, her launching in July 1918, and her commissioning in July 1920.

 

The USS Asheville was part of the United States Asiatic Fleet and it was from this ship, that a letter dated February 15, 1942 was sent by Lawrence to the United States Navy, requesting that his beneficiary and next-of-kin be changed from his wife, Linora Lawrence of Long Beach, California to his sister, Mae A. Dutra of Concord, California, as his divorce had been previously approved. Linora Lawrence had remarried and was now known as Mrs. Marty Landing. Little did he know at the time, that he would meet his demise only two weeks after sending the letter. The outbreak of war in the Far East on December 8, 1941 (December 7th east of the Date Line), found USS Asheville at anchor in Manila Bay. Soon after receiving a priority radio dispatch at 0340 on that day telling of hostilities with Japan, USS Asheville got underway for Mariveles Bay and, over the next two days, conducted patrols off Corregidor. At 1300 on December 10th, while operating on patrol station "Cast", her men noted bomb explosions in the direction of Cavite Navy Yard. Observing twenty-seven Japanese bombers, land attack planes from the Takao and 1st Kōkūtai, headed to seaward from Cavite soon thereafter, Asheville manned her air-defense stations as guns on Corregidor opened fire on the enemy. Following the Japanese attacks on the Philippines, Admiral Hart sent USS Asheville, and other surface ships, south from Manila Bay to the "Malay Barrier". By and large, only tenders and submarines remained in Philippine waters. USS Asheville stood out of Manila Bay a half hour into the mid watch on December 11th, and, steaming via the Celebes Sea and Balikpapan, Borneo, ultimately reached Surabaya, Java, three days after Christmas of 1941. She was eventually based at Tjilatjap, on Java's south coast. When Japanese planes bombed and heavily damaged Langley south of Java on February 27, 1942, USS Asheville was one of the ships sent to her assistance. She returned to port soon thereafter, the seaplane tender's survivors being picked up by other ships. As the Allied defense crumbled under the relentless Japanese onslaught, however, the Allied naval command was dissolved. On the morning of March 1, 1942, Vice Admiral William A. Glassford, Commander, Southwest Pacific Force, formerly the US Asiatic Fleet, ordered the remaining American naval vessels to retire to Australian waters. Lieutenant Jacob W. Britt, in command of USS Asheville, cleared Tjilatjap a little before 1500 on March 1st, bound for Fremantle. In the late afternoon on March 2nd, she was seen by the Australian corvette Bendigo, heading for Australia. At 0615, the gunboat USS Tulsa (PG-22) sighted a ship, and identified her as USS Asheville, probably the last time the latter was in sight of friendly forces. During the forenoon watch on March 3rd, USS Asheville radioed "being attacked," some 300 nautical miles (350 miles) south of Java. The minesweeper Whippoorwill, heard the initial distress call and turned toward the reported position some 90 nautical miles (100 miles) away. When a second report specified that the ship was being attacked by a surface vessel, however, Whippoorwill's captain, Lieutenant Commander Charles R. Ferriter, reasoning correctly that "any surface vessel that could successfully attack the USS Asheville would be too much" for his own command, ordered the minesweeper to resume her voyage to Australia. USS Asheville, presumed lost, was stricken from the Navy list on May 8, 1942. Not until after the Second World War, however, did the story of her last battle emerge, when a survivor of the heavy cruiser USS Houston, told of meeting, in prison camp, Fireman 1st Class Fred L. Brown. Hampered by engine troubles and sailing alone, USS Asheville was discovered on March 3, 1942 by a shipborne scout plane south of Java and overtaken by a Japanese surface force, lead by Vice Admiral Nobutake Kondō, consisting of the destroyers Arashi and Nowaki, and the heavy cruiser Maya. As the cruiser stood by, the two Japanese destroyers closed and engaged USS Asheville at close range with their guns. After an intense thirty-minute gun battle, the smoldering hulk of USS Asheville, her forecastle and bridge almost completely shot away, finally sank. Brown, age 18, from Ft. Wayne, Indiana, had been in the gunboat's fire room when the surface force had overtaken the ship. Many men topside were dead by the time Brown arrived topside to abandon ship. After calling to ask if there was an officer among the swimmers, a sailor on board one of the enemy destroyers threw out a line, which Brown grasped and was hauled on board. USS Asheville's only known survivor perished in the Japanese Makassar prisoner-of-war camp on March 18, 1945, in the Celebes Islands of the Netherlands East Indies. USS Asheville received one battle star for her Second World War service. Machinist's Mate Second Class James Lawrence was initially declared "Missing in Action" as of March 1, 1942, as the USS Asheville had been "lost due to enemy action while en route from Java to Australia". In a letter dated to his sister, Mae A. Dutra of Concord, California, dated April 28, 1943, the Navy updated her as to her brother's current status: "The list of prisoners made available by the Japanese through the medium of the International Red Cross has so far failed to include the name of any of the personnel attached to the USS Asheville", the letter also stating that Lawrence was "to be continued in a missing status until information is received or other circumstances occur which indicate that he should no longer be continued in this status".

 

It wasn't until almost thirty-nine months after the USS Asheville sank, that Lawrence was officially presumed to be dead, as of November 25, 1945. In another letter to his sister, dated November 30, 1945, the Navy declared him to be deceased, relaying the circumstances of the incident to her: "According to information which has now been received, on 28 February 1942, a strong enemy force operating in two groups about 150 miles south and east of Tjilatjap, Java, were reported headed toward the northwest. On 1 March 1942 all allied surface vessels operating in the vicinity of Java were ordered to proceed to Exmouth Gulf, Australia. In compliance with this order, the USS Asheville left Tjilatjap at 2:48 p.m. on that date. A survivor of the USS Asheville, who later died as a prisoner of war (the aforementioned Fireman 1st Class Fred L. Brown) at Makasar, Celebes Island, East Indies, informed naval personnel who were liberated from that camp, that the USS Asheville was sunk approximately 300 miles south of Java by fire from enemy surface vessels. While many of the crew were killed in the action, some of the other personnel managed to abandon ship. After the ship sank, three Japanese destroyers came along-side, only one of which threw out a rescue line. The above mentioned crew member was the only survivor taken aboard ship and the remainder of the crew were left in the water. To date, no further information has been received concerning the USS Asheville or any other member of the crew. In view of the length of time that has elapsed since your brother was determined to be missing in action, because of the strong possibility that he lost his life during the engagement with the enemy or afterward, in the water, because no official nor unconfirmed reports have been received that any of the crew survived, because his name has not appeared on any lists or reports of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he is deceased. In compliance with Section 5 of Public Law 490, 77th Congress, as amended, the death of your brother is, for the purposes of termination of pay and allowances, settlement of accounts, and payment of death gratuities, presumed to have occurred on 25 November 1945. I know what little solace the formal and written word can be to help meet the burden of you loss, but in spit of that knowledge, I cannot refrain from saying very simply, that I am sorry, It is hoped that you may find comfort in the thought that your brother gave his life for his country, upholding the highest traditions of the Navy." The following Spring, his sister received a letter, dated May 27, 1946, informing her that her brother was a recipient of the Purple Heart and that she would be receiving the award under separate cover. In addition to the Purple Heart and the Navy Good Conduct Medal, he was also posthumously awarded the World War II Victory Medal. Machinist's Mate Second Class James Lawrence is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing, at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Taguig City, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.