Clarence V. Beckley

World War II
-
MIA
Fallen

Bordulac, ND

County:
Foster

Date of Loss:

Branch of Service:
Navy

Rank:
Lt. Jr. Grade

Company / Ship / Flight or equivalent:
USS Trout

Circumstances:

Killed in action on the USS Trout in the Philippines Basin. Remains not recovered. 

Among his 80 shipmates lost that day aboard the USS Trout was fellow ND Native Gilmore J. Knutson of Sherwood (Renville County) ND.

The veteran patroller TROUT (LCDR A. H. Clark) left Pearl Harbor on 8 February 1944, enroute to her assigned area for her eleventh patrol. She topped off with fuel at Midway and left there on 16 February, never to be heard from again. She was to patrol between 20° 00'N and 23° 00'N, from the China coast to 130° 00'E. TROUT was scheduled to leave her patrol area not later than sunset on 27 March 1944 and was expected at Midway about 7 April 1944. When she did not arrive, she was reported as presumed to be lost on 17 April 1944.

Reference: http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/beckley-c-v.htm

On 8 February 1944, USS TROUT (SS-202), fresh from an overhaul, departed Pearl Harbor on her eleventh war patrol. She filled her fuel tanks at Midway eight days later and then headed for the East China Sea. She never returned home.

 

Japanese records examined after the war€™s end indicate that on 29 February, a convoy of seven Japanese ships€”four troop transports packed with soldiers on their way to Guam and three destroyer escorts€”was attacked by an American submarine. One of the transports was sunk, a second seriously damaged. Not long after, Asashimo, one of the destroyers, detected the sub and loosed nineteen depth charges; when oil bubbled up to the surface, the ship dropped a final depth charge in the middle of the slick. It is likely that the target of this attack€”the boat that had just sent a gigantic transport and an entire regiment of soldiers to the bottom€”was TROUT, the only sub known to be operating in that area at the time.

TROUT, the recipient of eleven battle stars and three Presidential Unit Citations, took 81 men down with her. Two of those lost were the C.O., Lieutenant Commander Albert Clark, and the X.O., Harry Eades Woodworth, both of whom had been with the boat since before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

TROUT€™s builder€™s plaque as removed when the boat was overhauled at Mare Island in late 1943. It was not reattached before the eleventh patrol and thus was not lost with the sub.

Reference: http://ussnautilus.org/blog/the-loss-of-uss-trout-ss-202/

 

Biography:

Rank/Rate Lieutenant, Junior Grade Service Number O-214365 Birth Date March 6, 1919 From Bordulac, North Dakota Decorations Purple Heart Submarine USS Trout (SS-202) Loss Date February 29, 1944 Location 22° 40'N x131°45' E in Philippines Basin Circumstances Probably sunk by depth charge attack Remarks Clarence was born in Paynesville, Minnesota.