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Joseph Williams Vance, Jr. was born on 4 December 1918 in Memphis, Tenn. He attended Southwestern University (The College of the Mississippi Valley) in Memphis from 1936 to 1938 and later the University of Florida at Gainesville before he enlisted in the Naval Reserve on 26 July 1940 as an apprentice seaman. After serving at sea in Arkansas (BB 33) during the late summer and early fall, he was appointed midshipman on 22 November and reported to Prairie State (IX 15) for further training. Commissioned ensign on 28 February 1941, Vance joined USS Parrott (DD 218) in the Philippine Islands on 16 April. His ship conducted exercises in the Philippine Archipelago through the summer of 1941; and, as the international situation worsened, was dispatched on 24 November with Destroyer Division 58 to Tarakan, Borneo. Soon after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 (8 December west of the date line), Parrott and her sisters joined the American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) effort to stem the Japanese tide sweeping down from the north. She operated in the Netherlands East Indies archipelago until the fall of Java, participating in the Battle of Makassar Strait (24 January 1942) and the Battle of Badoeng Strait (20 February 1942). For his gallantry during the first action, Ens. Vance was awarded the Bronze Star. As the ship's torpedo officer, Vance had charge of the destroyer's 12-tube battery of 21-inch torpedo tubes—in effect the ship's "main battery." On 23 January, DesDiv 58 began a final approach to the town of Balikpapan, Borneo, captured only that day by the Japanese. Dutch "scorched earth" policies and a Dutch air raid had set fire to most of the vital petroleum storage areas, starting blazes which clearly silhouetted the Japanese transports lying to offshore.
On 24 January, in the initial phase of the Battle of Makassar Strait, Vance and his torpedo crews had bad luck. All eight torpedoes missed on the first run-in. The division turned and tried again, this time with success, sinking 3,500-ton transport Sumanoura Maru. Within minutes, Parrott teamed up with Pope (DD 225) and Paul Jones (DD 230) in delivering a torpedo attack on Tatsukami Marut, holing her and sending her to the bottom shortly thereafter. Soon the American force retired in the confusion of the melee while the Japanese area commander sent his escorts on a wild goose chase after American submarines!
Parrott then continued her operations in defense of the Malay barrier, taking part in the Battle of Badoeng Strait on 20 February, in which she was damaged. She ended up in Fremantle with the remnants of the Asiatic Fleet. Vance remained in Parrott through the spring, when he was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade) on 15 June 1942. As Allied forces gathered for the assault on Japanese-held Guadalcanal, Vance received orders to HMAS Canberra, as liaison officer with the Australian Navy. Canberra departed Wellington, New Zealand, on 22 July, bound for Guadalcanal and what was to be her final action. On 8 August, the Australian cruiser helped to screen American transports off the landing beaches and then in the evening retired, in company with Chicago (CA 29), to a night screening position south of Savo Island. Unbeknownst to the Allied force, a Japanese cruiser formation steamed undetected down "the Slot" between Guadalcanal and Savo Islands. They soon opened fire with guns (8- and 5.5-inch) and the dreaded "long lance" torpedoes. Chicago took a torpedo forward, but Canberra took the worst punishment in the form of a veritable hail of shells which soon reduced her to a blazing wreck. During the engagement, Lt. (jg.) Vance was killed in action.
USS Vance (DE 387) (1943-1969) was the first ship to be named in his honor. (Photo from the USS Vance Web Site thanks to Joe Betters) |
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