Jump to content

Oliver, Robert G. USN Lost on USS GRAYLING (SS-209)


cagedfalcon
 Share

Recommended Posts

Robert was lost at sea. His neice believes he was on the

SS Grayling. If so, the sub was torpedoed in the Lingayen Gulf according to witnesses.

This is what I pulled from Wikipedia.

If someone has more information both his niece and I would appreciate it. 

 

Also trying to figure out the USS Tennessee tie-in.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

20210827_165551.jpg

20210827_165631.jpg

20210827_165639.jpg

20210827_165648.jpg

20210827_165816.jpg

20210827_165836.jpg

20210827_165729.jpg

20210827_165758.jpg

20210827_165854.jpg

20210827_165909.jpg

20210827_170546.jpg

20210827_165934.jpg

20210827_165723.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Salvage Sailor

Name:    Robert G Oliver
Inducted From:    California
Rank:    Electrician's Mate First Class
Combat Organization:    United States Navy
Death Date:    3 Jan 1946 (Missing 9/9/1943, presumed dead)
Monument:    Fort William McKinley, Manila, the Philippines
Last Known Status:    Missing
U.S. Awards:    Purple Heart Medal

 

 

 

On  Eternal Patrol, USS GRAYLING (SS-209)

EM1 Robert Gerald Oliver, 3812883, USN, Enlisted 9 Sept. 1939,

Served on USS TENNESSEE, USS PELIAS and attended Submarine School, 1939-1941

Reported aboard USS GRAYLING (SS-209) March 21, 1942

(Also served on USS TRITON)

 

Oliver-R-G-209a.jpg.b6337063f1c65e2150e2866a3c6ec809.jpg

 

On Eternal Patrol - Lost Submariners of World War II

Robert Gerald Oliver

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Salvage Sailor
On 8/27/2021 at 4:12 PM, cagedfalcon said:

 

Also trying to figure out the USS Tennessee tie-in.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

20210827_165854.jpg

 

20210827_165909.jpg

 

 

He was a Fireman 2c aboard the USS TENNESSEE but not during her sinking.

Seems that he moved around a bit as he shows up on several muster rolls on different vessels from 1939 to 1943

 

09/1939 ENLISTED - NAVAL TRAINING STATION SAN DIEGO, CA

 

01/1940 to 09/1940 (and into XX/1941) USS TENNESSEE - Received from NTS SAN DIEGO

*In September 1940 TENNESSEE was transferred to Pearl Harbor and remained there throughout 1941.  It is during this period when Robert Oliver left her and probably was in Electrician's Mate & Submarine School courses for a half year of training in the Summer/Fall of 1941.

 

10/1941 RECEIVING STATION SAN DIEGO - Received from NRL Washington D.C. Sub Rela.

*Looks like he was in training/transit on December 7th, 1941 and missed the Pearl Harbor attack.

 

12/16/1941 USS HARRIS (AP-8) - Passenger bound for Honolulu and USS PELIAS (AS-14)

*Try to imagine this scene, He's steaming into a warzone the week after the attack and enters the Harbor around Christmas day 1941 with the smoking wreckage still smoldering on the oil covered waters, his last ship, the USS TENNESSEE, among the sunken wrecks.

 

Submarine Service with SUBRON SIX, SUB DIV. 62 (Pearl Harbor & the Australia) 1942-1943

12/26/1941 USS PELIAS (AS-14) Submarine Tender for SUBRON SIX, Pearl Harbor - From RECEIVING STATION SAN DIEGO

 

01/31/1942 USS TRITON (SS-201) Flag Allowance and Relief Crews SUB DIV. 62 - Received from USS PELIAS 01/15/1942

*Hitching a ride aboard the TRITON with the relief crews heading to Australia.

 

03/21/1942 USS GRAYLING (SS-209) - Relief crew of CSD-62 USS TRITON

*He reported aboard in Australia just before her Second war cruise and was carried on the roster through her Seventh war cruise and loss.

 

12/1942 USS TRITON (SS-201) SUBMARINE DIV. 62 Flag Allowance - Received from USS GRAYLING (SS-209)

*He was back on the TRITON in December 1942 for some period and in 1943 he must have returned to the USS GRAYLING (SS-209) for her next War Cruise

 

Lost At Sea, Unknown Causes

She was reported overdue and lost on September 9th, 1943

 

Very nice Submarine Service Grouping, thanks for posting this in detail.  You're missing his Patrol badge and with some digging you can figure out how many stars he earned for the war cruises he was on.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you both Savage & Tdog for the history of his ship transfers. 

I will do what I can for the stars he is owed as well as a patrol badge.

 

Thanks again!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also picked up her father's ribbons and citations.  And when she's ready to let them go, her brothers medals & papers...UH-1 pilot shot down in Laos but never found.

Those will be for other posts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a coincidence! Two weeks ago I was walking around a cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska and I came across an interesting grave of Robert Stevens. He was only 20 years old when he was lost with the Grayling. I found some flowers and put them next to his grave. A very somber but great grouping to a lost hero!

20210811_095030.jpg

20210811_113909.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, John4022 said:

What a coincidence! Two weeks ago I was walking around a cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska and I came across an interesting grave of Robert Stevens. He was only 20 years old when he was lost with the Grayling. I found some flowers and put them next to his grave. A very somber but great grouping to a lost hero!

20210811_095030.jpg

20210811_113909.jpg

Coincidence of fate, this forum makes things come together! 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Should I create a ribbon bar for other medals he would have recieved? The ship itself earned 6 battle stars, not sure how many Robert earned, what ribbon would they be attached to?

 

Something like this mockup. Trying to keep the Tablas Straights area open as that was the last known position of the Grayling & her last kill. Short write-up will go on bottom.

 

 

20210828_153044.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Salvage Sailor

Photos from navsource.com (Official USN photographs)

Note that the USS PELIAS (AS-14) Submarine tender for SUBRON SIX is tied up forward of GRAYLING.  

 

0820904.jpg.07f3f820ceb60991f981b97157cad463.jpg

 

Caption:    Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN (center), presenting awards on board Grayling (SS-209), at the Pearl Harbor Submarine Base, following ceremonies in which he took command of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, 31 December 1941. The former fleet commander, Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel is standing to the right, in a white uniform with two-star insignia. Admiral Nimitz has just presented the Navy Cross to Ensign F.M. Fisler, USNR.
Others receiving awards, standing left-to-right in line behind Nimitz and Fisler, are: Ensign C.F. Gimber, USNR; AMM1c L.H. Wagoner (also awarded the Navy Cross); AMM1c W.B. Watson; R3c H.C. Cupps; R2c W.W. Warlick and AMM2c C.C. Forbes. They were the crew of a Navy bomber. Pelias (AS-14) is in the background.

 

0820938.jpg.9ecdc18035738a1e869b3bddc537cdfd.jpg

 

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's handwriting detailing his taking command of the Pacific Fleet on board the Grayling, 31 December 1941.

 

 

 

0820925.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fixbayonets!

Thanks for sharing this very poignant grouping.  I agree with dogchristy90 when he suggests not adding any extras.  

 

Rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

FYI for those interested. According to several websites, the Grayling was presumed (however not confirmed that I could find) to have been rammed and sunk by a Japanese passenger/cargo vessel called the Hokuan Maru. The crew of the Japanese ship reportedly recovered some of the Grayling survivors and they became prisoners of war. 

 

Sources:

 

https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/2921.html

 

https://pacificwrecks.com/ships/maru/hokuan.html

 

Thanks for posting this group.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...

After talking it over with Robert's niece, she would like to make the display as close to how he might have set it up ribbon wise.

 

Switched to a larger frame to accommodate framed photo. Sub patrol badge added as well as ribbons. All floating between glass & rayon Air Corps map of the area where the Grayling had here last confirmed kill in the Tablas Straits & the general area presumed lost.

 

 

20210928_170146.jpg

20210928_164947.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Salvage Sailor

Very nice display, but I should have mentioned previously that the last ribbon on his rack does not fit the time period

 

The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) was first authorized in 1950

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, cagedfalcon said:

After talking it over with Robert's niece, she would like to make the display as close to how he might have set it up ribbon wise.

 

Switched to a larger frame to accommodate framed photo. Sub patrol badge added as well as ribbons. All floating between glass & rayon Air Corps map of the area where the Grayling had here last confirmed kill in the Tablas Straits & the general area presumed lost.

 

 

20210928_170146.jpg

20210928_164947.jpg


Great display! If I can make one suggestion. You said the medals are floating? I assume suspended from a hanger. Might I suggest running something like fishing line from the rings on the medal to the hanger rod in an effort to take slack out of the ribbon. That way the medals are not putting tension on the ribbon. Others can speak on this, I just thought I’d bring up the thought. Either way, great display! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 9/28/2021 at 5:30 PM, Salvage Sailor said:

Very nice display, but I should have mentioned previously that the last ribbon on his rack does not fit the time period

 

The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) was first authorized in 1950

Finally fixed the ribbon bar.

On 9/28/2021 at 5:31 PM, tdogchristy90 said:


Great display! If I can make one suggestion. You said the medals are floating? I assume suspended from a hanger. Might I suggest running something like fishing line from the rings on the medal to the hanger rod in an effort to take slack out of the ribbon. That way the medals are not putting tension on the ribbon. Others can speak on this, I just thought I’d bring up the thought. Either way, great display! 

Still working on the fishing line to support the metals . NY hands don't like to do fine work anymore. 

20211103_053431.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's try putting the ribbons in the proper order- 

Top Row: Purple Heart, Good Conduct American Defense

Bottom Row: American Campaign, Asiatic Pacific Campaign, WWII Victory.

 

An EM rate and sub specialty patch would also be nice additions to the group.

 

Allan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

DOH!

Did bottom bar from top to keep it centered on frame. 

No room for more,  "Trying to keep the Tablas Straights area open as that was the last known position of the Grayling & her last kill."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
cagedfalcon

I was looking for a local drop station for U.S. flags & I found this memorial. Just one town over,

Pea Ridge,  Arkansas.

 

 

20220304_101701.jpg

20220304_101722.jpg

20220304_101611.jpg

20220304_101638.jpg

20220304_101722.jpg

20220304_101831.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...