US WWII Navy Good Conduct & ETO Medal, USS John Penn, Torpedoed Guadalcanal 1943
This item is listed for historical interest only. It was listed on our site previously but has been sold and is no longer available for purchase.
Sold for: $150.00

Original period manufacture. US Navy contract 28675 ETO Medal, and a 1945 dated US Navy Good Conduct Medal named to William Howard Schmitt. Searching Ancestry provided the following information for that name in the Navy Muster Rolls 1938-1949. Service number 2433207, MMM2c, Enlisted 13 Feb. 42, US Receiving Ship San Francisco 31 March 1942, Line 19. Further down in the document at line 19 the following; Trans. March 4 to R/S Norfolk for crse inst. operation & maint. Sepc. Landing Boats & Ult. assign to USS John Penn (AP51). Not too much else I'm sorry to say, although his draft registration address was San Francisco, and this was purchased from a collection in that area. His is the only listing with that full name, he had to have served at least 3 years to earn the Good Conduct Medal. The Attack Transport, USS John Penn took part in the landings in North Africa in November 1942, and was later transferred out to the Pacific in December. In late January 1943 she picked up survivors from the USS Chicago which was sunk off of Guadalcanal. On the 13th of August 1943, after finishing unloading supplies at Guadalcanal, she was attacked by Japanese torpedo bombers, one of which she engaged, shooting it down only to have the flaming aircraft crash into her superstructure. While all of this activity was occurring, a second bomber launched a torpedo which struck the John Penn on her starboard quarter. Despite desperate efforts to save the stricken ship, she went down stern first at 2150 hours. Only 35 survivors were picked up by the USS APc-25, a small coastal transport. Should be a fun project for further research.