October 31, 1941 - First U.S. combat casualties in WWII

[machI]

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/navy/dd-245.htm

In March 1941, Reuben James joined the convoy escort force established to promote the safe arrival of war materials to Britain. This escort force guarded convoys as far as Iceland, where they became the responsibility of British escorts. Based at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, she sailed from Argentia, Newfoundland, 23 October 1941, with four other destroyers to escort eastbound convoy HX-156. While escorting that convoy, at about 0525, on 31 October 1941, Reuben James was torpedoed by German submarine U-562. Her magazine exploded, and she sank quickly. Of the crew, 44 survived, and 115 died. Reuben James was the first U.S. Navy ship sunk by hostile action in World War II.

REUBEN JAMES by Woody Guthrie

Have you heard of the ship called the good Reuben James?
Filled with hard fighting men, of honor and of fame
She flew the stars and stripes of the land of the free
Now she's in her grave at the bottom of the sea
chorus:
Tell me what were their names,
tell me what were there names?
did you have a friend on the good reuben james?

It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
that we watched for the u-boat, and waited for the fight
the fire and the rock and the great explosions roar
and they laid the reuben james on the cold ocean floor
chorus
One hundred men went down to their dark watery grave
when that good ship went down only forty four were saved
twas the last day of october that they saved forty four
from the cold icy water and the cold icy shore
chorus
Now there are lights in our country so bright
and in the farms and the villages their telling of the fight
Now our mighty battleships steam the bounding main
and remember the name of the good reuben james
chorus

[Catch22Dem]

1. Hmmm. Based on what I wonder?

Lots of guys went to Europe to fly with the Brits in the late 30s. Surely some were killed before 41.

[machI]

2. Lots of men went Europe and the the Flying Tigers were in China

However great the sacrifice these men made to the war effort, they were not sanctioned by the United States Government.

It was not my intentions to enter into a debate about the minutia of WWII, but more to point out the war was going 'hot' before Pearl Harbor.

For the history buffs who like finding obscure facts, one of the first casualties was a civilian, Henry Antheil.

Among the nine people on board was Henry Antheil, a courier for the American embassy in Helsinki, whose death is considered one of the first U.S. casualties of World War II. He had rushed to Tallinn to evacuate sensitive documents from the American Legation with the Soviet Union moving into occupy Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Kaleva crashed into the Baltic Sea on June 14, 1940, minutes after taking off from Tallinn, the Estonian capital.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_estonia_060408/

more here:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-29-wwii-plane_N.htm