Monument Details

USS Peary Memorial

Details:

Along the waterfront esplanade, overlooking the bay. Monument

The memorial consists of a plaque and one of the 4-inch deck guns recovered from USS Peary. The gun points at the site where the ship lies wrecked. It is now a memorial to the 91 crew who went down with the ship when it was sunk by the Japanese during the bombing of Darwin in 1942. It is the US Navy's greatest loss of life in Australian waters.

The gun was recovered by Carl Atkinson and restored by the Royal Australian Navy.

On 19 February 1942 Darwin experienced a massive Japanese air attack. At about 10:45, Peary was attacked by Japanese dive bombers, and was struck by five bombs. The first bomb exploded on the fantail, the second, an incendiary, on the galley deck house; the third did not explode; the fourth hit forward and set off the forward ammunition magazines; the fifth, another incendiary, exploded in the after engine room. A .30 caliber machine gun on the after deck house and a .50 caliber machine gun on the galley deck house fired until the last enemy plane flew away. Peary sank stern first at about 1300 on 19 February 1942 with the loss of 91 crew. It was struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1942.

Source: www.monumentaustralia.org.au

Monument Text:

Front Plaque:

A STORY OF SACRIFICE

Darwin Harbour is the resting place for the U.S. destroyer Peary sunk on 19th February 1942 by Japan`s Pearl Harbour veterans.

This 4 inch gun was salvaged from the Peary in the 1950`s by diver Carl Atkinson (dec.). It was restored by the RAN for the Northern Territory`s 1992 War Service Memorial Year and now points towards the Peary`s grave.

This plaque was unveiled by the Chief Minister The Hon. Marshall Peron MLA on 29th January 1992 in the presence of Peary survivors Dallas Widick and Melvin Duke and a colour guard from the U.S. frigate Robert E. Peary.

The wartime Peary came under repeated fire from December 1941 - February 1942. In her last action she sank with her guns still blazing and represents the U.S. Navy`s greatest loss of life in Australian waters.

Her gallant sacrifice is forever part of Darwin`s history.

Rear Plaque:

USS PEARY DD 226

IN REMEMBERANCE [sic] OF THESE MEN WHO

LOST THEIR LIVES FEBRUARY 19, 1942,

DURING THE BOMBING OF DARWIN,

AUSTRALIA BY JAPANESE AIRCRAFT.

John B. Andrews	Herman E. Goldman	John R. Mather	Curtis Rodgers
Robert B. Armstrong	Augustus H. Gray	Forest G. Mathews	Paul J. Rossiter
Delmer E. Baker	Ralph Griffin	William G. Matler	Louis Roth
William E. Bancroft	Harold G. Gronau	Willis E. McCord	Milton D. Rude
Murren A. Barbee	Ralph E. Gunn	William McFarland	Max N. Schuler
George E. Barkett	Arthur G. Gustafson	Jackson D. McGinnis	Norman F. Schuler
Lee Anthony Bauer	Robert L. Gusti	Whitman S. Miller	Eugene R. Senyohl
John M. Bermingham	Alonzo D. Hall	Charles F. Minnegi	Walter Shofner
Charles C. Boudreaux	Wendel H. Hanson	Jack Y. O'Donnell	Willis C. Shook
Claude L. Buckley	Franklin R. Harris	Donald C. O'Tyson	William L. Smith
Cyrus D. Carter	C. C. Holerstott	James W. Palmero	John J. Spata
Robert F. Chapman	William M. Hooks	Arthur R. Parker	Paul R. Sweeney
Archie R. Cook	Robert Lee Howell	Clifton F. Patch	Joseph Tapia
John W. Cross	Robert T. Hunter	Raymond B. Pearson	Douglas H. Tew
Arthur WM. Davis	Philip M. Joyce	Lester N. Peterson	John Tinsley, Jr.
Shirley O. Day	Edwin J. Kalisz	Ralph D. Piercy	Eugene E. Umpleby
Ray L. Deatrich	Joseph M. Kapps	Eugene H. Poland	Walter Vernon
Willie R. Denmark	Gilbert T. Kennaugh	Willis F. Polhemus	Everett F. Waite
James H. Fair	Gerhardt M. Kjolhede	Jack Quiggen	James T. Weiss
Chester H. Frayer	Martin M. Koivisto	George S. Radinski	Robert D. White
Harold A. Frisbie	Bob B. Kriener	Victor F. Radinski	John Louis Wilson
C. S. George, Jr.	Will C. Labrie	Alexander Reese	Frank E. Zizak
Frank A. Glover	Richard J. Lee	Benjamin B. Rich