Most of us tend to associate the start of America’s involvement in World War II with the tragedy that struck Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Technically, we aren’t wrong. The United States did in fact make the decision to officially enter the war following the events of that terrible day. However, the Attack on Pearl Harbor was not the first deadly attack against U.S. forces during the overall duration of the war, nor was it the first time a U.S. warship was ravaged by the Axis.

The story I am about to tell you may sound familiar to any Woody Guthrie fans out there. In 1942, Guthrie released a song entitled, “The Sinking of the Reuben James”, whose recognizable chorus reads,

Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?

Guthrie’s song recounts the fate which befell the Clemson-class destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) on 31 October 1941, 78 years ago to this day, making her the first U.S. Navy ship to be sunk during World War II.

(Excerpt) Read more at navalhistory.org ...

Here ya go:

The version sung by the Kingston Trio is really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7jBbCQwJ0g

And Johnny Horton did a good one, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rbj89yI54nM

Both are very stirring tributes but the Trio version has their anti-war slant inserted in the last verse.

Now technically we, The U.S.A., entered the war on June 22nd 1941... look it up.

I discovered this in doing some research on Herlong California....

The community was named after Captain Henry W. Herlong, the first United States Army ordnance officer to die in World War II.

I think he died in a plane crash in Georgia on June 22nd or a day or so after that.

Only familiar with the Johnny Horton version myself, and never really cared for it, so never looked into it any farther. (talking about the song and it's origins, who wrote and originally sang it, not talking about the ship itself)

Good song, good story. Woody was trying to get emotions stirred to get the US to declare war.

A little context that may be of interest.

This was not a US DD in NY Harbor, minding its own business, getting torpedoed. Open, though undeclared, hostilities between the USN and the Kriegsmarine in the Atlantic had started before the Reuben James was sunk. What was it doing when it went down? Defending a convoy of ships with military supplies which was near Iceland, en route to England.

Wikipedia: Reuben James

quote:

Reuben James had positioned itself between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German "wolfpack", a group of submarines poised to attack the convoy. The destroyer was not flying the Ensign of the United States, and was in the process of dropping depth charges on another U-boat when it was engaged.

Declared war or not - you go in hot, you take risks. The loss was tragic, but this was not a Lusitania situation.

FDR was in a political bind - the US was extremely reluctant to get involved in WWII, and needed as much time as possible to gear up. It took events on the other side of the earth to get the US ready to declare war on anyone. Even after Pearl Harbor, we did not declare war on Germany until after Hitler had declared war on us, saving FDR the trouble.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Woody was trying to get emotions stirred to get the US to declare war.

The song was released in 1942, after the US had already declared war.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Woody was trying to get emotions stirred to get the US to declare war.

The song was released in 1942, after the US had already declared war.

Can't say when it was released, but it was written in 1941 with the purpose of getting Americans to support declaring war on Germany.
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Joel, thanks for the links, info in there I wasn't aware of, such as the original listing of names and the subsequent writing of the chorus. Thanks. WG