Steers Vessel Through Bombs
Ralph Carroll, 21, of Sioux City Was Aboard Calhoun
Steering a destroyer through a hail of bombs is one of the accomplishments of Ralph Carroll, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.B. Carroll, 1222 Jackson Street, one of the survivors of the sinking of the U.S.S. Calhoun in the Solomon Islands August 30.
Carroll, quartermaster third class, was helmsman on the Calhoun when Japanese bombers came out of the sun about 3 p.m. He began zigzagging the ship, but four bombs struck amidship to aft. It did not take long for the destroyer to sink.
With others, Carroll swam to a life raft from which he was rescued and hour later by boats from a sister ship and taken to the shore of Guadalcanal island.
The Calhoun had transported marines from the Fiji Island to Guadalcanal and then patrolled off shore waters for Jap submarines which were strafing the beaches.
Carroll, a former carrier salesman for The Journal here, attended Smith School and Central High School. His furlough here ends today. He became a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars recently at a ceremony in the Labor temple.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, November 9, 1942 (photo included)
