USS Panay Sinking after being attacked. From
Members on Board the USS Panay
On
December 12, 1937 the USS gunboat Panay was sunk by Japanese
aircraft while providing an escort for three Standard Oil Company
Vessels on the Yangtze River. Under the Treaty of 1858 the United
States had the right to ensure safe passage of all American
merchant vessels and to look out for the safety of American
citizens living in China.
USS
Panay Sinking after being attacked. From
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USN/ships/PR/PR-5_Panay.html
On December 14 the New York Times reported that sixty-one of the seventy-six on the USS Panay were known to be safe. The following is the list of the dead and some survivors:
Dead:
Charles L. Ensminger of Ocean Beach, Ca – storekeeper on the
USS Panay
Sandro Sandri – Italian journalist
Survivors:
LCDR JJ Hughes – Commanding Officer of USS Panay-wounded
LT Arthur F. Anders-Executive Officer of the Panay – wounded
George Atcheson Jr – Embassy secretary
J Hall Paxton – Embassy secretary
Captain Frank Roberts – Assistant military attache
Emile Gassie-Embassy clerk
These members and many others were picked up by the British gunboat Bee and the USS Oahu. Then they were taken to Shanghai under Japanese escort through dangerous mine fields. Because of the minefields, the boats could only travel by daylight. This ensured the greatest safety for all boats from the minefields set by the Chinese.
Four others that were not picked up by the British gunboat Bee made their way to shore. These members were Jim Marshall - Far East correspondent of Collier’s magazine, F Hayden Vines of Roanoke, Va – employee of the British –American Tobacco Company, John L Hodge-Panay fireman, and Flag Captain O’Donnell of the British gunboat Ladybird.
Jim Marshall and F Hayden Vines narrowly escaped death on board the USS Panay and they gave their personal accounts to the Associated Press.
Jim Marshall described that the Japanese planes dropped bombs all around on the Panay and the Standard Oil vessels. The planes also flew low which caused him to question why the Japanese pilots continued bombing when it should have been clear that the bombs were hitting US ships. The first bomb dropped hit the forecastle of the Panay, which resulted in the sinking of the USS Panay. Then LCDR Hughes gave the order to abandon ship. Jim Marshall jumped onto the top deck of the Standard Oil vessel, Meian from the Panay’s stern. Then another bomb hit the Meian, which caused pieces of shrapnel to wound him in the neck, shoulder, stomach, and chest. Continuing to fight for survival, Jim Marshall witnessed the Panay’s gun crew fire its last bullets and the Executive Officer, LT Arthur R Anders also wounded by shrapnel, used a piece of chalk to give his orders to use the life boats to get ashore. After struggling to shore, John L Hodge, Jim Marshall, and F Hayden Vines walked twenty miles together before being picked up at Taiping by Japanese soldiers and flown to Shanghai.
F Hayden Vines was aboard the Meian when the Japanese planes began their attack. He described the ships as being "clustered together with US flags everywhere". Like Jim Marshall, F Hayden Vines couldn’t believe that the Japanese pilots couldn’t see that they were American ships when they were flying so low. He remembers the planes attacking repeatedly. From his point of view, the attack on the American vessels was deliberate. After a bomb hit the Meian, F Hayden Vines struggled to shore and was given first aid by a Japanese soldier. United with Jim Marshall, John L Hodge, and Captain O’Donnell, F Hayden Vines made their way through twenty miles of countryside to Taiping. He accounts the journey to be filled with gunfire and explosions. Upon arriving at Taiping, the group of survivors was given a truck by the Japanese army to drive to Wuhu where they were given further medical attention and then put on a plane to Shanghai.
Survivors
Commanding Officer of the USS Panay, LCDR James Joseph Hughes, was born in New York on November 23, 1898. He entered the Naval Academy in 1915 and graduated in 1919. On May 19, 1936 LCDR James Joseph Hughes married Miss Katherine Brown. This was just a month before he was given command of the USS Panay.
Executive Officer of the USS Panay, LT Arthur Ferdinant Anders, was born in Indiana in 1902. He joined the navy in 1922 and received his commission as an Ensign in 1927. Just three months after being assigned to the Yangtze patrol, he was promoted to lieutenant on July 1, 1936.
Attached to the USS Asheville, LTJG Denis Harry Biwerse, was on board the USS Panay during the Japanese attack on December 12, 1937. He was born in Wisconsin in 1912. In 1930, he joined the Navy and was commissioned as an Ensign in 1934. Only months before the bombing, Ensign Denis Harry Biwerse was promoted to lieutenant junior grade.
Officer of the Medical Corps on the USS Panay, LT Clark Gilson Grazier, was born in Pennsylvania in 1901. He entered the Medical Corp in 1931 and hold the rank of assistant surgeon. Only six months before the Japanese attacked and sunk the Panay, LT Grazier was promoted to LT in 1937.
United States Embassy second secretary, George Atcheson Jr., is a native of Berkeley, Ca. After his service as vice consul at North Bay, Ont., he was sent to Tientsin as vice consul in 1927. Then in 1934, he was sent to Wuhu to provide protection to the Americans.
Another Embassy second secretary, J. Hall Paxton, was a native of Danville, Va. He was the vice consul at Nanking in 1927 when Chinese Nationalists overran the city.
United States Embassy Assistant Military Attache, Captain Frank Roberts, was born in Kansas. He served in the Second Infantry Regiment of the Kansas National Guard in 1916. In 1918, he was appointed to West Point and two years later he was given his commission. He received his promotion to Captain in 1935.
United States Embassy clerk, Emille Gassie, was a native of New Orleans, La. He had only established temporary offices for the embassy on board the Panay just early in December of 1937. Everything was running smoothly before the Japanese planes attacked.
by Peter Bugler, May 6, 2001
