MCNAIR, Henry Levell, Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Service# 198070, Enl: South Carolina, MIA 09/08/1942, d.d. 10/08/1943
Parents, Thomas Luther McNair and Mary Lula Hogue McNair
Wife, Mrs. Jennie Grisi McNair
Lost at sea in the battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal, on 9 August 1942 serving with the Marine detachment aboard the cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39)
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USS QUINCY (CA-39) BATTLE OF SAVO ISLAND
Gunnery Sergeant McNair, a highly experience Marine whose career encompassed sea duty, time in China and Haiti, and a stretch as a recruit instructor at Parris Island, served with the Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser USS Quincy from 1941 to 1942. Much of that time was spent on patrol or escort duty in the Atlantic; as a gun captain, McNair was in charge of one of the ship's 5-inch secondary batteries.
Quincy's Pacific service started in the summer of 1942; on 7 August 1942, she fired the opening shots of the battle of Guadalcanal, and provided fire support and anti-aircraft defense for the Marine landings. She then assumed patrol duties with sister ships USS Astoria and USS Vincennes.
At 0147 on 9 August, Quincy received a report of "strange ships entering harbor." General quarters sounded; a few minutes later, the first shells hit the cruiser. Marine Corporal Jasper Lucas recalled the sudden surprise and horror of the battle that followed.
Quiet as a graveyard. Then, all at once, we were caught in a sweep of searchlights. The Jap fleet was coming at us.... We were being hit by shellfire, and shrapnel was whizzing about like hail. You could see it raining off the turret – it looked like rain hitting a window and bouncing off.
Somebody yelled below, "We're on fire! The Quincy's burning!" The gun deck was aflame. A torpedo had hit us, going through the main engine room..... We knew we were sinking. We knew we were out of the fight. We had no power, no control over the ship; she was beginning to list, and we knew she was on her way out....
She went down like the dignified old lady she was. Deliberately, easily, without fuss or bother, she turned her fantail right in the face of the entire Imperial Japanese Navy and with all screws turning sank beneath the waves. The screws whirred like a fan in the air, then, as it went, churned the water white. The commotion in the water died down. The USS Quincy had gone under.
Jasper Lucas, quoted in "Out In The Boondocks" by James D. Horan and Gerold Frank
missingmarines.com
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Suggested edit:
Before the war he had been a Marine recruit instructor on Parris Island in South Carolina
He had been on the USS Quincy as part of the USMC/Navy assault at Guadacanal . The Quincy got underway for the South Pacific in July 1942 with other vessels assembling for the invasion of Guadalcanal.
Prior to the Marine assault on Guadalcanal on 7 August, 1942 Quincy destroyed several Japanese installations and an oil depot during her bombardment of Lunga Point. She later provided close fire support for the Marines during the landing
While on patrol in the channel between Florida Island and Savo Island, in the early hours of 9 August, 1942 Quincy was attacked by a large Japanese naval force during the Battle of Savo Island. Despite valiant efforts she was sunk at what was later called IronBottom Sound, so named since it contained so many sunken ships.
Parents, Thomas Luther McNair and Mary Lula Hogue McNair
Wife, Mrs. Jennie Grisi McNair
Lost at sea in the battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal, on 9 August 1942 serving with the Marine detachment aboard the cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USS QUINCY (CA-39) BATTLE OF SAVO ISLAND
Gunnery Sergeant McNair, a highly experience Marine whose career encompassed sea duty, time in China and Haiti, and a stretch as a recruit instructor at Parris Island, served with the Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser USS Quincy from 1941 to 1942. Much of that time was spent on patrol or escort duty in the Atlantic; as a gun captain, McNair was in charge of one of the ship's 5-inch secondary batteries.
Quincy's Pacific service started in the summer of 1942; on 7 August 1942, she fired the opening shots of the battle of Guadalcanal, and provided fire support and anti-aircraft defense for the Marine landings. She then assumed patrol duties with sister ships USS Astoria and USS Vincennes.
At 0147 on 9 August, Quincy received a report of "strange ships entering harbor." General quarters sounded; a few minutes later, the first shells hit the cruiser. Marine Corporal Jasper Lucas recalled the sudden surprise and horror of the battle that followed.
Quiet as a graveyard. Then, all at once, we were caught in a sweep of searchlights. The Jap fleet was coming at us.... We were being hit by shellfire, and shrapnel was whizzing about like hail. You could see it raining off the turret – it looked like rain hitting a window and bouncing off.
Somebody yelled below, "We're on fire! The Quincy's burning!" The gun deck was aflame. A torpedo had hit us, going through the main engine room..... We knew we were sinking. We knew we were out of the fight. We had no power, no control over the ship; she was beginning to list, and we knew she was on her way out....
She went down like the dignified old lady she was. Deliberately, easily, without fuss or bother, she turned her fantail right in the face of the entire Imperial Japanese Navy and with all screws turning sank beneath the waves. The screws whirred like a fan in the air, then, as it went, churned the water white. The commotion in the water died down. The USS Quincy had gone under.
Jasper Lucas, quoted in "Out In The Boondocks" by James D. Horan and Gerold Frank
missingmarines.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested edit:
Before the war he had been a Marine recruit instructor on Parris Island in South Carolina
He had been on the USS Quincy as part of the USMC/Navy assault at Guadacanal . The Quincy got underway for the South Pacific in July 1942 with other vessels assembling for the invasion of Guadalcanal.
Prior to the Marine assault on Guadalcanal on 7 August, 1942 Quincy destroyed several Japanese installations and an oil depot during her bombardment of Lunga Point. She later provided close fire support for the Marines during the landing
While on patrol in the channel between Florida Island and Savo Island, in the early hours of 9 August, 1942 Quincy was attacked by a large Japanese naval force during the Battle of Savo Island. Despite valiant efforts she was sunk at what was later called IronBottom Sound, so named since it contained so many sunken ships.
MCNAIR, Henry Levell, Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Service# 198070, Enl: South Carolina, MIA 09/08/1942, d.d. 10/08/1943
Parents, Thomas Luther McNair and Mary Lula Hogue McNair
Wife, Mrs. Jennie Grisi McNair
Lost at sea in the battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal, on 9 August 1942 serving with the Marine detachment aboard the cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USS QUINCY (CA-39) BATTLE OF SAVO ISLAND
Gunnery Sergeant McNair, a highly experience Marine whose career encompassed sea duty, time in China and Haiti, and a stretch as a recruit instructor at Parris Island, served with the Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser USS Quincy from 1941 to 1942. Much of that time was spent on patrol or escort duty in the Atlantic; as a gun captain, McNair was in charge of one of the ship's 5-inch secondary batteries.
Quincy's Pacific service started in the summer of 1942; on 7 August 1942, she fired the opening shots of the battle of Guadalcanal, and provided fire support and anti-aircraft defense for the Marine landings. She then assumed patrol duties with sister ships USS Astoria and USS Vincennes.
At 0147 on 9 August, Quincy received a report of "strange ships entering harbor." General quarters sounded; a few minutes later, the first shells hit the cruiser. Marine Corporal Jasper Lucas recalled the sudden surprise and horror of the battle that followed.
Quiet as a graveyard. Then, all at once, we were caught in a sweep of searchlights. The Jap fleet was coming at us.... We were being hit by shellfire, and shrapnel was whizzing about like hail. You could see it raining off the turret – it looked like rain hitting a window and bouncing off.
Somebody yelled below, "We're on fire! The Quincy's burning!" The gun deck was aflame. A torpedo had hit us, going through the main engine room..... We knew we were sinking. We knew we were out of the fight. We had no power, no control over the ship; she was beginning to list, and we knew she was on her way out....
She went down like the dignified old lady she was. Deliberately, easily, without fuss or bother, she turned her fantail right in the face of the entire Imperial Japanese Navy and with all screws turning sank beneath the waves. The screws whirred like a fan in the air, then, as it went, churned the water white. The commotion in the water died down. The USS Quincy had gone under.
Jasper Lucas, quoted in "Out In The Boondocks" by James D. Horan and Gerold Frank
missingmarines.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested edit:
Before the war he had been a Marine recruit instructor on Parris Island in South Carolina
He had been on the USS Quincy as part of the USMC/Navy assault at Guadacanal . The Quincy got underway for the South Pacific in July 1942 with other vessels assembling for the invasion of Guadalcanal.
Prior to the Marine assault on Guadalcanal on 7 August, 1942 Quincy destroyed several Japanese installations and an oil depot during her bombardment of Lunga Point. She later provided close fire support for the Marines during the landing
While on patrol in the channel between Florida Island and Savo Island, in the early hours of 9 August, 1942 Quincy was attacked by a large Japanese naval force during the Battle of Savo Island. Despite valiant efforts she was sunk at what was later called IronBottom Sound, so named since it contained so many sunken ships.
Parents, Thomas Luther McNair and Mary Lula Hogue McNair
Wife, Mrs. Jennie Grisi McNair
Lost at sea in the battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal, on 9 August 1942 serving with the Marine detachment aboard the cruiser USS Quincy (CA-39)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USS QUINCY (CA-39) BATTLE OF SAVO ISLAND
Gunnery Sergeant McNair, a highly experience Marine whose career encompassed sea duty, time in China and Haiti, and a stretch as a recruit instructor at Parris Island, served with the Marine detachment aboard the heavy cruiser USS Quincy from 1941 to 1942. Much of that time was spent on patrol or escort duty in the Atlantic; as a gun captain, McNair was in charge of one of the ship's 5-inch secondary batteries.
Quincy's Pacific service started in the summer of 1942; on 7 August 1942, she fired the opening shots of the battle of Guadalcanal, and provided fire support and anti-aircraft defense for the Marine landings. She then assumed patrol duties with sister ships USS Astoria and USS Vincennes.
At 0147 on 9 August, Quincy received a report of "strange ships entering harbor." General quarters sounded; a few minutes later, the first shells hit the cruiser. Marine Corporal Jasper Lucas recalled the sudden surprise and horror of the battle that followed.
Quiet as a graveyard. Then, all at once, we were caught in a sweep of searchlights. The Jap fleet was coming at us.... We were being hit by shellfire, and shrapnel was whizzing about like hail. You could see it raining off the turret – it looked like rain hitting a window and bouncing off.
Somebody yelled below, "We're on fire! The Quincy's burning!" The gun deck was aflame. A torpedo had hit us, going through the main engine room..... We knew we were sinking. We knew we were out of the fight. We had no power, no control over the ship; she was beginning to list, and we knew she was on her way out....
She went down like the dignified old lady she was. Deliberately, easily, without fuss or bother, she turned her fantail right in the face of the entire Imperial Japanese Navy and with all screws turning sank beneath the waves. The screws whirred like a fan in the air, then, as it went, churned the water white. The commotion in the water died down. The USS Quincy had gone under.
Jasper Lucas, quoted in "Out In The Boondocks" by James D. Horan and Gerold Frank
missingmarines.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Suggested edit:
Before the war he had been a Marine recruit instructor on Parris Island in South Carolina
He had been on the USS Quincy as part of the USMC/Navy assault at Guadacanal . The Quincy got underway for the South Pacific in July 1942 with other vessels assembling for the invasion of Guadalcanal.
Prior to the Marine assault on Guadalcanal on 7 August, 1942 Quincy destroyed several Japanese installations and an oil depot during her bombardment of Lunga Point. She later provided close fire support for the Marines during the landing
While on patrol in the channel between Florida Island and Savo Island, in the early hours of 9 August, 1942 Quincy was attacked by a large Japanese naval force during the Battle of Savo Island. Despite valiant efforts she was sunk at what was later called IronBottom Sound, so named since it contained so many sunken ships.
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MC NAIR HENRY LEVELL - GUNNERY SERGEANT - SOUTH CAROLINA
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