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| Lt. John Spears commanded turret #2 on the USS Vincennes during the Battle of Savo Island. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56785647/john-p.-spears https://www.flickr.com/photos/msh-images/627340374/ |
John P. Spears never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 25, 1918 in Tennessee. His parents William and Blanche were also both born in Tennessee. His father was a 1905 US Naval Academy graduate (the same year with Chester Nimitz) who became a career naval officer. He rose to the rank of rear admiral. John had an older brother and a younger brother. Blanche raised her boys living with her mother while her husband served at various Navy postings at sea or on station. Both John and his older brother William also graduated from the US Naval Academy. In John's case he was in the class of 1940 where he was a varsity boxer. All three Spears brothers, plus their father, served in the US Navy during WW2.
Upon graduation Ensign Spears was assigned to the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes. He rose to the rank of lieutenant junior grade.
William was the first to see action while serving on the destroyer USS Pope. Pope was in Manila when the Japanese attack American forces there hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was sent to the Dutch East Indies. Pope was bombed by Japanese carrier based dive bombers on March 1, 1942, forcing the crew to abandon ship. The crew was rescued by a Japanese destroyer and became prisoners for the balance of the war. I don't know if his family learned of his fate during the war.
Meanwhile Lt j/g John Spears, on Vincennes, was active in the Pacific. He became the turret officer of the #2 8" guns. Vincennes was part of the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway. Moved the South Pacific, Vincennes screened the initial Marine landing on Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942. Two days later is took part in the Battle of Savo Island. It took up position to intercept any Japanese ships sent to sink the transports still unloading supplies on Guadalcanal. The Japanese got the jump on the Americans and within a minute Vincennes had taken a number of major hits, including one that wounded Lt. Spears in turret #2. The pounding didn't let up (it was hit by at least 85 shells including 2 more that hit turret #2 and killed Lt. Spears). Within 5 minutes a torpedo left the ship dead in the water. The captain had no choice but to order the ship abandoned. The sinking took 322 men down with the ship.
During the war Rear Admiral Spears was the Director of Pan-American Division of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He died in 1966. John's brother William survived the war and died in 1995. His younger brother Morton served on the next USS Vincennes during WW2 and also served in the Korean War and died in 2006.
John Spears is memorialized at the Tablet of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
Last year on this date I profiled Distinguished Service Cross hero Judge Trammell, a Solomon Islands coast watcher. You can read about Judge here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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