WWII Roll of Honour,
HistoryNT,
Second World War, 1939-1945,
Date
2021,
Date of birth
1922-05-13,
Place of enlistment
Portland, Oregon (USA),
Date of enlistment
1940-09-11,
Nation of service
United States of America,
Service
United States Navy,
Unit
USS Peary (DD-226),
Rank
Seaman 1st Class,
Service number
393-39-42,
Date of death
1942-02-19,
Place of death
USS Peary (DD-226),
Cultural heritage
American,
Biographical notes
Paul James Rossiter, Seaman 1st Class (393-39-42), was born on 13 May 1922.,
History
Enlisted on 11 September 1940 in Portland, Oregon, serving on the battleship Oklahoma in 1940 and on the destroyer Porter. From May to November 1941 he served at the Naval Ammunition Depot and Submarine Base, in Cavite, before transferring to the Peary on 30 November 1941.
Rossiter was on the Peary when she was bombed in Cavite Bay, and also survived the three subsequent bombing attacks on the way to Australia and Timor. His body was recovered and buried in Australia. He was re-interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of The Pacific, Honolulu, on 14 January 1949.
The Peary had endured a dramatic voyage to Australia in December 1941, after sustaining damage in a bombing attack on the Cavite Navy Yard in the Philippines. The crew camouflaged the ship with green paint borrowed from the Army, and took refuge during daylight by anchoring close to the islands and covering the ship with palm fronds. Many of the Peary's crew contracted malaria on this journey and eight men eventually died from the disease. They were attacked on 26 and 27 December, but avoided damage by violent manoeuvring. The Peary arrived in Darwin on 3 January.
In January the Peary was operating on anti-submarine patrol, convoy and escort missions; while escorting troops from Darwin to Timor, the ship was again attacked. They returned to Darwin, refuelled and set off again with the cruiser USS Houston. A fruitless submarine chase exhausted the Peary's fuel, and she returned to Darwin in the early hours of 19 February.
The Peary was hit early in the bombing of Darwin, and appears to have sunk within 40 minutes. The fifth bomb to hit the Peary caused the fatal damage that sent her to the bottom and it was said to be the last bomb dropped that day on the harbour. The Peary's machine guns continued to fire at the Japanese planes even as she sank. Eighty-eight officers and men, including Captain Bermingham, were killed; twenty of the fifty-seven survivors were wounded.
In December 1942 the Peary was awarded one battle star for service in World War II.,