In view of the recent posts on the Barbary pirates, it is an interesting
point that the Reuben James was named for a hero of that conflict. James
was a sailor with Stephen Decatur and a member of the party to board the
captured USS Philadelphia in the Tripoli Harbor in order to burn her and
deny her use to the Pirates. As the US sailors swarmed aboard, a pirate
swung his scimitar at Decatur. James, already wounded, stepped forward and
raised his arm taking the blow that would have ended Decatur's life. James
survived and went on to serve in the Navy and with Decatur another 30
years. The ship from which Decatur launched his attack was the USS
Constellation, and for many years that was the ship that the city of
Baltimore thought it was exhibiting in its harbor. About 1990, it was
determined by further research that Baltimore's Constellation was another
ship built about 1850, and that Decatur's Constellation did not survive.

Richard E. Dixon
Editor, Jefferson Notes 
Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society
703-691-0770
fax 703-691-0978



> [Original Message]
> From: Randy Cabell <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 10/31/2007 1:12:38 PM
> Subject: [VA-HIST] Remember the Reuben James Oct 30 1941
>
> "It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
> That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
> Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
> And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor."
>
> Seven weeks before Pearl Harbor, the USS Reuben James, an old "four
stacker" WW I destroyer on convoy duty off the coast of New England, was
torpedoed and sent to the bottom by a German U-Boat on October 30, 1941. 
It was the first US Navy ship to be sunk during WWII.  Woodie Guthrie, who
was a bit on the left (a bit?!?!?!?) and had spent the past several years
writing songs of protest and anti-war songs, was so taken with the
sacrifice of the men, that he decided to write a song about the 88 men who
were killed, and put EVERY Man's name in the song.  He used the old fiddle
tune, "Wildwood Flower", and starting off.......
>
> "There's Harold Hammer Beasley, a first rate man at sea
> From Hinton, West Virginia, he had his first degree.
> There's Jim Franklin Benson, a good machinist's mate
> Come up from North Carolina, to sail the Reuben James."
>
> His friends confinced him that in spite of his good intentions, this was
not going to be a very singable song.  So he finally compromised and added
a chorus:
>
> "Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
> Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?"
>
> So whether or not you agree with our 2007 policy in Iraq and Afghanastan,
the men of the Reuben James, as well as the men and women serving today,
exemplify the sacrifice of our men and women, so that you and I can
continue to live The Good Life.
>
> ---------------
>
> Few people know of the Reuben James, and I venture to say that even fewer
know the place of Virginia in preserving the memory of the terrible early
days of 1942, when German U-Boats roamed almost at will, sinking hundreds
of thousands tons of shipping within sight of the Virginia and North
Carolina Beaches.  I was a little kid at Virginia beach, and recall debris
washing up, and oil so thick that dead seagulls and pelicans  littered the
beaches.  
>
> It was not until April 24, 1942 that the first U-Boat was sunk off the
North Caroling coast.  The USS Roper caught the U-85 on the surface,
charging its batteries, attacked and sank it.  But not knowing whether it
was really sunk or just submerged, made a depth- charge run just be be
sure.  Sadly, the many German survivors who had abandoned ship and were in
the water were all killed.  Bodies were retrieved, brought to Norfolk, and
whoever was in charge made a bold decision.....  The Germans were to be
buried with full military honors at Hampton National Cemetery.  I remember
after the war my father, who had been Army liason officer at the Naval
Operating Base, telling me of the funeral with all the German flags, and
the population of that part of Hampton gathered at the fence, no doubt
wondering if "The World Had Turned Upside Down."  I have never visited the
cemetery, but I understand that there is a special section with the 28
German bodies.  I think it was the Norfolk Virginia Pilot newspaper that
had an moving editorial shortly thereafter, about what a meaningful act of
honor this was.
>
> I don't know what it all means.  But I think that a strong message is
that "human" trumps "hatred."
>
> Randy Cabell