Added by: Lionel Alva, Jr.
“Chief Electrician’s Mate
Purple Heart
From:Milton, Florida
The USS Wahoo (SS-238), a 1525-ton Gato class submarine was commissioned in May 1942.
In September 1943, the Wahoo returned to the Sea of Japan to begin her seventh war patrol in the Soya (La Perouse) Strait, between the Japanese island of Hokkaido and the Russian island of Sakhalin.
Beginning October 5th, 1943, the Wahoo sank 5 ships of about 13,000 tons. On October 11, 1943, the date the Wahoo was to leave the La Perouse Strait, a Japanese anti-submarine aircraft sited a wake and an oil slick from a submerged submarine. The Japanese Navy started a combined air and sea attack using depth charges throughout the day.
The Wahoo was mortally damaged and sank with all hands. She was declared overdue on December 2, 1943 and was stricken from the books on December 6, 1943. All further missions into the Sea of Japan were stopped and did not continue till June of 1945, when special mine detecting became available.
The USS Wahoo sank 20 enemy ships at a time when the submarine force was using unreliable torpedoes.
Beginning in 1995, the Wahoo Project Group started the search for her location based on available evidence. In 2005 electronic surveys showed what turned out to be a US Gato class submarine in the strait. On October 31, 2006 the US Navy confirmed the wreckage of the Wahoo in 213 feet of water in the La Perouse Strait.
On July 8, 2007, the US Navy held a wreath laying ceremony at the confirmed site of the sinking of the Wahoo. On October 11, 2007, the US Navy held an official remembrance ceremony for the crew of the Wahoo. The ceremony was conducted at the USS Bowfin Museum and Submarine Park at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Note: Entered the service from Florida.”
Source: FindAGrave
Lionel Alva, Jr. Record added: Jul 29, 2008
Norman Ware was my uncle he married Catherine Gaston, my aunt. Norman was from Milton and Catherine from Jay, FL. I met Norman Ware only one time before he and Catherine were deployed to Hawaii before the war started. Catherine told me a story of when Pearl Harbor was attacked that a bomb fell within a block of Norman and Catherine’s house, but it never went off. After news of the Wahoo sinking Catherine moved back to Florida and married Uncle Freeman and had two boys. Freeman was also a WWII vet and fought the Japanese in the Pacific.
J.C. Moore
Houston, Texas