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World War II
Service Men and Women

From Logan County, Oklahoma

Submitted & © 2000-02 by: Norma Vanhoutan

Submitted & © 2000-02 by: Norma Vanhoutan

The letter below was written to The Guthrie Daily Leader, July 7, 1944 by S/Sgt. Bob E. Miller. Submitted by: Norma Vanhoutan

New Guinea
7 July, 1944

The Guthrie Daily Leader

Dear Editor:

An incident which may be of interest to the communities of Oklahoma, especially Logan County, in as much as seven members of our outfit were among those present--Mr/Sgt. Coy W. Friday, Crescent, Oklahoma, T/Sgt. Merle E. Myers, S/Sgt. Johnnie A. Smith, S/Sgt. Bob E. Miller, S/Sgt. Clyde L. Bass, Cpl. Earl L. Jayroe (deceased) of Guthrie, Oklahoma and Sgt. Delmer G. Bertram of Meridian.

This incident, which was just recently released to the press was the torpedoing of the SS Cape San Juan, troop transport. In no way can the details be fully described as the sensation and anxiety felt is entirely different from anything yet experienced by any member of this group.

The torpedos struck just before it was time to get up in the morning, about five thirty (5:30) and caught most of us sleeping, although some men were on duty at their various posts on deck.

As you may imagine it didn't take long to get into high gear; over the side and down the landing nets into the oily water. What a sensation.

After floundering around for quite sometime with nothing but a life jacket between us and the bottom we made our way to a crowded life raft. Smith being on duty as assistant gunner to the Naval Armed Guard, stuck with the ship and helped the sailors to fire a barrage that kept the submarine from surfacing and machine gunning the survivors. Cpl. Jayroe gave his life at his post.

Later in the day, a Liberty ship, SS Meredith, in answer to our SOS came up and picked up survivors including those still aboard the Cape San Juan and after getting as many as possible aboard she pulled out leaving us to spend the night with the sharks which were plenty numerous in waters of the South Pacific.

What a night, it was about the longest on record for any of us. The night was spent in various ways, praying, singing, joking and Tojo got plenty of cussing and you may be sure there was plenty of deep thought during those trying hours.

Dawn finally came with flares being shot by those boats and rafts having them and attracted the attention of the Navy ships that were sent to our rescue. A destroyer, a minesweeper and a sub-chaser picked us up and we were all aboard early in the afternoon and most of us had been up to our arm pits in cold water for over thirty hours.

Our trip to Fiji Islands was uneventful except for a few laughs at ourselves when we looked in the mirrors while washing the oil out of our eyes and seeing clearly for the first time in many hours. You couldn't tell whether we were black or white with that half inch of oil on our bodies.

With plenty of rest at the hospital and rest camp in the Fijis we joined the survivors picked up by the SS Meredith in New Caledonia and it was a joy to meet those who were there.

Our sorrow at the loss of Cpl. Earl L. Jayroe is impossible to describe but he is truly missed by the entire company and we all feel that it was for us that he was taken while on duty at a Navy gun. We think of him often and his spirit is still with us and we feel proud at having him as a member of our organization and member he will be, so long as we are organized.

We are now in New Guinea, having spent some time in Australia and although we are all hail and hearty, we will never forget the Torpedoing of the Cape San Juan.

	Yours truly,
	/s/
	S/Sgt. Bob E. Miller
	253rd Order. Maint. Co. AA
	A. P. O. 322 PM
	San Francisco, Calif.

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