The Long Blue Line: Warren Deyampert – African-American rescue swimmer of World War II

Posted by Diana Sherbs, Thursday, February 7, 2019

This blog is part of a series honoring the long blue line of Coast Guard men and women who served before us. Stay tuned as we highlight the customs, traditions, history and heritage of the Coast Guard.

William H. Thiesen
Coast Guard Atlantic Area Historian

Painting of the Escanaba rescue effort by an unknown artist. (U.S. Coast Guard)

. . . his courageous disregard for his own personal safety in a situation of grave peril was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
Navy & Marine Corps Medal citation, Officer's Steward 2/c Warren T. Deyampert

Enlistment photograph of Warren Deyampert at the beginning of his brief but heroic Coast Guard career. (U.S. Coast Guard)

African-American Warren Traveous Deyampert served in the U.S. Coast Guard in early World War II. It was a time when the U.S. military barred African-Americans from the officer ranks and limited them to junior enlisted or food service ratings. Deyampert was a heroic Coast Guardsmen with great loyalty for his cutter and shipmates. This fact seems surprising given the second-class status African-Americans held in the service at the start of the war.

Born in Alabama, Deyampert moved to Pittsburgh while in high school and enlisted in the Coast Guard at age 19, five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor. During his time in the Coast Guard, Deyampert served on only one cutter, the Escanaba. He came aboard in August 1941 and, over the next two years, he advanced rapidly from a third class mess attendant to second class officer's steward.

With heavy seas and icy water, the North Atlantic seems an impossible place to save lives. Nevertheless, the challenge of rescuing as many men as possible motivated Escanaba's crew to develop a system of tethered rescue swimmers equipped with parachute harnesses and leash lines as well as rubber dry suits that insulated the swimmers from the cold water. Three of the cutter's crew volunteered to serve the hazardous duty of rescue swimmer, including Deyampert.

Deyampert and his fellow rescue swimmers drilled frequently, so they and their supporting deck crews could work in heavy seas and blackout conditions. In early February 1943, Deyampert and the others had a chance to put their skills to the test. At the time, Escanaba served as an escort for the three-ship convoy, SG-19, bound from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to southwest Greenland. Weather conditions during the convoy's first few days proved horrendous as they usually did in the North Atlantic winter. The average air temperature measured well below freezing, the seas were heavy and the wind-driven spray formed layers of ice on Escanaba's decks and superstructure.

U.S. Army Transport Dorchester before its ill-fated voyage to Greenland. (U.S. Coast Guard)

At 1 a.m., Feb. 3, the enemy submarine U-223 torpedoed the convoy vessel and U.S. Army transport, Dorchester, that carried over 900 troops, civilian contractors and crew. Within 20 minutes, the transport slipped beneath the waves sending surviving passengers and crew into lifeboats or the icy water. By the time Escanaba arrived on scene, Dorchester had already begun its descent into the abyss. The seas were smooth due to a heavy oil slick and the wind was light. Dorchester's life preservers were equipped with blinking red lights to help rescuers locate floating victims at night. These lights dotted the water's surface into the distant darkness.

A state-of-the-art military issue dry suit shown in 1943. (U.S. Coast Guard)

During the war, the service required cutters to observe blackout conditions during nighttime operations. Hence, Escanaba's crew began preparations to deploy the rescue swimmers in advance, to minimize confusion in the dark. As Escanaba steamed to the scene of Dorchester's sinking, the rescue swimmers donned their exposure suits and the deck crews made lines ready for hauling helpless survivors aboard. Sea ladders and heaving lines were made ready and a cargo net dropped over the side.

Once on scene, Escanaba located its first group of floating survivors, stopped and drifted toward them. Some of the men were clinging to doughnut rafts, while others remained afloat using life preservers. The victims suffered from severe shock and hypothermia and could not climb the sea ladders or the cargo net. In fact, they were incapable of grasping a line used to haul them on board the cutter. Clad in his dry suit and secured to Escanaba by a line, Deyampert swam out to the floating victims and life rafts. He checked for signs of life and secured victims to a line, so the deck crews could pull the survivors up to the cutter. Even though many victims appeared frozen to death, 38 out of 50 that appeared dead were frozen but still alive. The swimmers got the floating victims to the cutter immediately saving time and saving more lives. Thus, Escanaba could reach more victims before exposure froze them to death.

Selflessly, Deyampert remained in the icy water nearly four hours. Pulling rafts in close to the cutter and securing them with lines from Escanaba, the officers' steward was often in danger of being crushed between life rafts and the cutter's side. He kept helpless survivors afloat until they could be secured with a line and hauled aboard the cutter. He also swam under the fantail of the maneuvering cutter to keep floating victims away from the suction of Escanaba's propeller. All the while, he disregarded the danger to himself trying to save as many lives as possible.

Cutter Escanaba shown in camouflage paint scheme during its deployment with the Greenland Patrol. (U.S. Coast Guard)

In the end, Escanaba's tethered rescue swimmer system proved more effective in recovering survivors than any other method. After eight hours of rescue operations, the cutter had saved 133 lives. However, the glow of success proved short-lived. In June, Escanaba joined cutters Storis and Raritan to escort a convoy bound from Greenland to Newfoundland. At 5 a.m., Sunday, June 13, Escanaba fell victim to a catastrophic explosion, believed by many the result of a torpedo. The cutter sank in minutes, taking Deyampert and 100 of his shipmates down with it. Only two Coast Guardsmen survived the sinking.

Despite his secondary status in a segregated service, Deyampert placed the needs of others before his own and played a key role in the rescue of well over 100 Dorchester survivors. For his heroic service, Deyampert posthumously received the Navy & Marine Corps Medal and Purple Heart Medal. Soon, the U.S. Coast Guard will name a Fast Response Cutter in his honor. Deyampert was a selfless and courageous Coast Guardsman who embodied the service's core values of honor, respect and devotion to duty.

Deyampert's father, Joseph Deyampert, receives the Navy & Marine Corps Medal from a Coast Guard officer near Mobile, Ala. (U.S. Coast Guard)

Commandant’s Message

The Long Blue Line: Gun captain and African-American war hero Louis Etheridge

Posted by Diana Sherbs, Thursday, February 14, 2019

This blog is part of a series honoring the long blue line of Coast Guard men and women who served before us. Stay tuned as we highlight the customs, traditions, history and heritage of the Coast Guard.

Written by William H. Thiesen
U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Historian

. . . . Etheridge coolly directed the rapid and accurate firing of his gun, remaining steadfast at his post and scoring direct hits throughout a vigorous engagement in which the captain [sic] of the U-boat was killed and other officers prevented from assuming tactical control.
Bronze Star Medal citation, Chief Steward Louis Etheridge, 1952

Faded photograph of Louis Etheridge early in his career as a third class mess attendant. (U.S. Coast Guard)

African-American Louis Cullen Etheridge, Jr., enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1935. It was a time when the U.S. military barred African-Americans from the officer ranks and limited them to junior enlisted or food service rates. Nevertheless, Etheridge was a loyal Coast Guardsman devoted to his cutter, shipmates and his service.

Etheridge was born in 1916 in the eastern North Carolina town of Edenton. He graduated high school there then moved to New York City. Two years later, he enlisted in the Coast Guard as a mess attendant. Over the next five years, he served aboard the cutters Electra, Mendota and Dione before transferring to the new 327-foot cutter Taney in Honolulu. In early 1938, he received orders to Taney's sister cutter Campbell (WPG-32), serving out of Stapleton, New York.

In February 1943, under the direction of Cmdr. James Hirshfield, Coast Guard Cutter Campbell joined its sister cutter Spencer and other warships to escort Convoy ON-166 steaming from Ireland to the U.S. On Sunday, February 21, a "wolf pack" of over a dozen German U-boats pounced on the convoy. With a wartime rating of chief steward, Louis Etheridge commanded an 11-man African-American gun crew of stewards, mess attendants and stewards mates. They served the cutter's Number 3 gun, a 3-inch/.50 caliber cannon located aft of the cutter's superstructure and smoke stack.

Late in the day, the convoy's command dispatched Campbell to assist a torpedoed tanker left behind by the fast moving convoy. When it arrived on scene, Campbell found the ship still afloat with its 50 crew members in lifeboats. Meanwhile, the German submarine U-753 sent a torpedo toward the cutter and crippled tanker. Campbell dodged the torpedo, chased down the U-boat, and damaged it so badly the sub had to withdraw from the fight. The cutter returned to the tanker, picked-up its crew and shelled the ship's bridge to destroy classified documents left behind in the rush to abandon ship.

"Queen of the Fleet," cutter Campbell, in camouflage paint scheme early in the war. (U.S. Coast Guard)

On that day of days, Campbell would steam through U-boat infested waters engaging several Nazi subs sighted on the surface and lurking underwater. By the end of Sunday, Campbell had singlehandedly damaged or driven-off half-a-dozen U-boats. Serving at battle stations and running on adrenaline, Etheridge and his crew fought their deck-gun during this running battle with the wolf pack's U-boats. As evening turned to early morning on Monday, February 22, Campbell closed the 40 miles separating it from the convoy steaming west.

En route to the convoy, the cutter encountered more Nazi subs, including a U-boat later identified as U-606. The U-606 had already sunk two convoy vessels and damaged a third. In the process, it received damage from depth charging. After sustaining the damage, U-606's captain surfaced hoping to inflict more losses through a daring surface attack. After sighting U-606 on the surface, Hirshfield ordered his cutter to ram the sub. Meanwhile, Campbell's crew brought to bear searchlights and deck guns.

Campbell quickly closed the distance and the cutter struck a glancing blow to the sub before loosing two depth charges beside it. The explosives lifted the U-boat out of the water. Meanwhile, the only guns with a clear shot at U-606 were Etheridge's Number 3 gun and a .50 caliber machine gun jury-rigged on the flying bridge. Already skilled and experienced as a gun captain, Etheridge directed his crew to fire as many rounds at U-606 as possible. During these decisive minutes of the battle, Etheridge's 3-inch gun fired 32 shells into U-606's deck and conning tower decimating the sub's crew and rendering the U-boat defenseless.

A type VII U-boat similar to U-606 on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial near Kiel, Germany. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

While Etheridge's Number 3 gun crew battled U-606, the cutter's damage control team raced against time to staunch flooding in Campbell's engine room. When the cutter rammed the U-boat, it also sustained a gash in its hull below the waterline and Campbell's engine room began taking on water. The cold seawater reached Campbell's electrical system shorting the ship's circuits and dowsing its searchlights. Luckily, by the time Campbell had lost power, the German submarine's crew had abandoned ship and the cutter's guns ceased fire. The disabled cutter lowered its boats and rescued five of the surviving German submariners.

Louis Etheridge as a senior enlisted man later in his career. (U.S. Coast Guard)

After the battle, Campbell's crew continued the struggle, only this time it was for the very survival of their cutter. Hirshfield believed he might lose his ship, so he transferred to another vessel the German prisoners, the 50 tanker crew members and all non-essential crew. The cutter sat powerless in the open ocean while the convoy pressed on to the U.S. Meanwhile, a skeleton crew, including Etheridge, stemmed the flow of water into the cutter's engine room. Finally, after wallowing in the North Atlantic for four days, Campbell received a tow to St. John's, Newfoundland, and returned to duty after repairs.

On February 21 and 22, Etheridge played a key role in battling the Nazi wolf pack that attacked Convoy ON-166. Moreover, his gun was largely responsible for destroying German submarine U-606. For his heroic service, Etheridge received commendations from Hirshfield and the Navy task force commander. However, after the war, his rating reverted from wartime chief to a first-class steward. Within five years of the war's conclusion, members of Campbell's command learned that Etheridge's valor and leadership had been overlooked and brought his case to the attention of the Coast Guard Awards Board. As a result, he was reinstated as a chief steward in 1952 and awarded the Bronze Star Medal.

Etheridge's Bronze Star was the first military medal bestowed on an African-American Coast Guardsman for combat heroism. In 1959, he retired from the Coast Guard with nearly 20 years of distinguished service. Louis Cullen Etheridge, Jr., was a selfless and courageous Coast Guardsman who embodied the service's core values of honor, respect and devotion to duty.

 

Reposted by:

ANACO David G. Porter

National Diversity Directorate

USCG Auxiliary

Commandant’s Message

Greetings USCGA Admissions Partners,

Below is a response from the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Schultz, regarding the recent arrest of a Coast Guard Lieutenant at D.C. Headquarters.


To the Men and Women of the United States Coast Guard,

As has been reported, an active-duty Coast Guard member stationed at Headquarters was arrested last Friday on drug and weapons charges. The ongoing investigation also revealed correspondence attributed to him that promoted extremist views and discussed potentially committing violent acts. The proactive efforts and professionalism of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Coast Guard Counterintelligence Service, and FBI prevented a potentially dangerous situation from escalating.

Extremism, hate, bigotry, and advocacy of violence have no place in our Service. Any individual espousing these behaviors and failing to live by the Coast Guard's Core Values of Honor, Respect, and Devotion to Duty will be held accountable. Through combined vigilance, we will do everything in our power to ensure our Coast Guard is the safest possible environment. We owe nothing less to ourselves and our Nation.

Semper Paratus,
Admiral Karl Schultz
Commandant

Reposted by
ANACO-DV David G. Porter
National Diversity Team
US Coast Guard Auxiliary