Unidentified Wiki
in: Male, Decomposed, Deaths by drowning,
and 14 more

Amchitka Island John Doe (1943)

Sign in to edit

Amchitka Island John Doe was a United States Navy Sailor whose remains were found in March 1943. They are presumed to be a crew member of the USS Worden destroyer.

Case[]

Discovery[]

In the middle of March 1943, the partial remains of a United States Navy sailor were found washed ashore on Amchitka Island, Alaska. No identification tags were found on the remains, and the head, both lower arms, and the lower portion of the legs were missing. Very little clothing was found on the remains, which were a hundred yards from where the USS Worden destroyer had sunk. At the time of the discovery, bits of hulk were still occasionally visible on the rocks.

The victim, referred to as "X-1," was inspected by Lieutenant Commodore Reed on March 21, 1943. After he could not be identified, "X-1" was buried at the temporary Amchitka Island Post Cemetery. Following the war, he was buried in Section K, Site 30 of the Sitka National Cemetery in Sitka, Alaska.

Investigation[]

"X-1" is presumably one of the 11 sailors of the USS Worden destroyer who drowned on January 12, 1943, and whose remains were never recovered. A strong current had swept the destroyer onto a pinnacle that tore the ship into a hull beneath the engine room, causing a power outage. The ship broached off and began breaking up. An order to evacuate the vessel was then made.

The crew, just dispatched from the South Pacific via California, was inexperienced and received little, if any, Arctic training. Most had stripped to their underwear before diving into the Bering Sea because they mistakenly thought their navy pea coats and pants would cause them to drown. In reality, the sailors in the water drowned or succumbed to hypothermia. Their shirts and pants had their names on them, and their dog tags could easily slip off their necks while floating in the water; this would explain why "X-1" could not be immediately identified.

Fourteen United States Navy sailors died in the incident; three of the sailors, Leland Bass, Don Blue, and Charles Wood, had their remains identified. Bass and Wood were buried at sea, while Blue was initially buried alongside "X-1" at the Amchitka Island Post Cemetery, then was buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in Houston, Texas.

Possible candidates[]

The 11 sailors who were listed as missing following the USS Worden incident are most likely one of the identities of "X-1", as follows:

Clothing[]

  • Non-military-issued leather belt.
  • Piece of blue dungaree with no laundry marks

Sources[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ↑ Discovered before or on March 21, 1943.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.