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Remember...Aubra Russell Perry Jr.
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Aubra Russell Perry Jr.
Aubra Russell Perry (also known as Russ A. Perry) and Ada Ethel Taylor Perry, residents of Pence Springs in Summers County (near Alderson in Greenbrier County, West Virginia) in the 1920s and 1930s, were the parents of seven sons: Paul Parris, Theodore Bryan, Samuel Richard, Aubra Russell Jr., Herbert Newton, William Lacy, and Robert Calvin. The family also included an infant who was born and died in 1928. Mrs. Perry (Ada) also died in 1928, quite possibly due to childbirth, since her death date coincides with that of the youngest child. The 1930 Federal Census shows the family living at Wolf Creek in Monroe County in their own home, but by 1940, Russ had apparently remarried, and the family was now living at Talcott in Summers County in a rented home. Census records indicate that Russ was a farmer. Despite its moves, the family clearly is identified strongly with the town of Alderson.
According to The History of Alderson, West Virginia,
Probably the most remarkable record of a family's participation in World War II in or near Alderson was that of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Aubra Perry of Alderson and Riffe's Crossing.Six of the boys simultaneously served, and three were killed in action.
Aubra Russell Perry, Jr., Navy, was killed June 16, 1943, near Australia.
Herbert Newton Perry, Army was killed in North Africa, 1944 (?) [sic].
Robert Calvin Perry, Navy, lost his life on a submarine at an unknown location in the Pacific in 1944 (?) [sic].
William Lacy Perry served in the Navy. Samuel Richard Perry and Theodore (Ted) B. Perry served in the Army. (Kenneth D. Swope, "Military History: Page 3," compiled and transcribed by Barry Worrell, 18 November 2008, accessed 11 December 2020, http://www.min7th.com/awv/ghsmh3.htm.)
At the time he registered for the draft (the date of which was left blank on his draft card), Aubra stated that he was self-employed and listed Brighton Road in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as his address. But Aubra did not join the U.S. Army. Instead, he enlisted in the Navy at Charleston on July 7, 1942.
| About the same time that Aubra was enlisting in the Navy, the ship on which he was to meet his demise was being laid down at Vancouver, Washington. The USS LST-469 was launched on November 27, 1942, and commissioned on March 8, 1943. Navy muster rolls show that the LST (landing ship, tank) sailed from San Francisco on April 24, 1943. June of that year found the ship in the Southwest Pacific in the vicinity of New South Wales. It was there that the ship was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-174 on June 16, 1943. Seaman First Class Aubra Perry, along with two of his shipmates, was killed in that incident. While some sources indicate he was buried at sea, Navy muster rolls show his burial to be, first, at Rockwood Cemetery in Sydney, Australia, and later at the Honolulu Memorial, Pacific National Cemetery. |  USS LST-469 under repair in Sydney after being torpedoed off Smokey Cape, New South Wales, June 16, 1943. Australian War Memorial Photo No. 305770 |
In a telegram to the family, the Navy advised:
The navy department deeply regrets to inform you that your son, Aubrey [sic] Russell Perry, Jr., seaman first class, United States naval reserve, was killed while in the performance of his duty and in the service of his country. His remains were interred in territory outside continental limits of the United States. Further information will be sent promptly when received. To prevent possible aid to our enemies please do not divulge name of ship or station. The department extends its sincere sympathy to you in your great sorrow. ("Pence Springs Man Killed in Action," Summers Leader, 1 July 1943.)
 Grave marker for S1C Aubra R. Perry Jr. Honolulu Memorial photo |
But Aubra Russell was only the first of the Perry brothers to die in service to his country. |
Herbert Newton Perry
Like his older brother Aubra Russell Jr., Herbert Newton Perry was born while their parents were living near Pence Springs. His date of birth was May 16, 1920. Herbert Newton grew up in a family of brothers that included Paul Parris, Theodore Bryan, Samuel Richard, Aubra Russell Jr., William Lacy, and Robert Calvin. His mother, Mrs. Ada Perry, died in 1928, when he was just eight years old. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, indicate he grew up in Summers County and completed grammar school. His civilian occupation was that of "general farm hand." He registered for the draft on July 1, 1941, and enlisted in the U.S. Army on November 28, 1942, at Huntington, West Virginia, at which time he was branched as a warrant officer. He was assigned to the 85th Infantry Division.
First activated in World War I, the 85th Infantry Division entered active military service in World War II in 1942. Personnel trained at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and Leesville, Louisiana. The Division was sent to California for desert warfare training and then moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey, before embarkation. They were headed to North Africa.
The 85th Infantry Division left the United States on 24 December 1943 and arrived in Casablanca, French Morocco on 2 January 1944. It received amphibious training at Port aux Poules near Arzew and Oran, Algeria, 1 February to 23 March, then embarked for Naples, Italy, arriving on 27 March. The 339th Regimental Combat Team was the first division element to depart Port-Aux-Poules for movement to the Italian Campaign. Arriving in Italy on 14 March, the 339th RCT was attached to the 88th Infantry Division and became the first regiment of the 85th to see combat during World War II on the Minturno-Castelforte front north of Naples, 28 March. The 85th Division, under II Corps of the U.S. Fifth Army under Mark W. Clark, was committed to action as a unit, 10 April 1944, north of the Garigliano River, facing the Gustav Line, and held defensive positions for a month.On 11 May, it launched its attack, taking Solacciano, Castellonorato, and Formia. Itri fell, 19 May, and the 85th continued to mop up the Gaeta Peninsula. Terracina was taken and the road to the Anzio beachhead was opened. The division pursued the enemy to the hills near Sezze until pinched out by friendly forces from Anzio. The Gustav Line had been smashed and the 85th started for a rest area on 29 May, but was ordered to the Lariano sector which the division cleared by the 31st. Driving on Rome, the 85th pushed through Monte Compatri and Frascati, entered the Italian capital of Rome on 5 June 1944, and advanced to Viterbo before being relieved on 10 June. ("85th Infantry Division [United States]," Wikipedia, last updated 2 January 2021, accessed 6 January 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/85th_Infantry_Division_(United_States).)
According to the Hinton News ("Pence Springs Soldier Dies," 29 June 1944), "Aubrey Russell Perry, of Pence Springs, was advised by the war department today that his son, Pvt. Herbert Newton Perry, 24, had been killed in action in Italy, the second of Mr. Perry's sons to die in the service of his country in this war. It was not learned on what date he was killed." He did, in fact, die a month earlier, on May 13, which coincides with the above description of the attack on the Gustav Line. A document from the U.S. World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954, notes that he was injured in the line of duty by fragments of an artillery shell in his leg.
| Private Herbert Newton Perry is interred at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery at Nettuno, Italy, Plot H, Row 13, Grave 16. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. |  Sicily-Rome American Cemetery is the final resting place to nearly 8,000 Americans that gave their lives in World War II. Courtesy American Battle Monuments Commission |
Robert Calvin Perry
Robert Calvin Perry was born July 28, 1926, at Pence Springs, West Virginia, to Aubra Russell Perry (also known as Russ A. Perry) and Ada Ethel Taylor Perry. Some confusion exists regarding where his parents were living at the time of his birth. His draft card states he was born at Pence Springs, which is considered to be in Summers County, but his birth is recorded in Monroe County. It seems safe to assume that his farming family, which moved around a lot, lived in the area where Summers, Greenbrier, and Monroe Counties adjoin. He was the last of seven sons (who lived to adulthood) born to this marriage, and his mother died just two years after his birth, as did an unidentified infant sibling. His older brothers were Paul, Theodore, Samuel, Aubra Junior, Herbert, and William. The 1930 Federal Census shows the family living at Wolf Creek in Monroe County in their own home, but by 1940, Russ had apparently remarried, and the family was living at Talcott in Summers County in a rented home. Census records indicate that Russ was a farmer.
Perhaps due to the Great Depression or the fact that his widowed father had a large number of family members to support by farming, by 1943, when Robert registered for the draft, he was living in Mullens, Wyoming County, West Virginia. At that time, he stated that Mr. R. N. King, presumably a relative, would always know his address. Robert was working at the Elmore shops in Elmore, Wyoming County. At the young age of 17 he was living as an independent adult, even though he was the youngest of the family.
 USN - Submarine USS Lagarto (SS-371) during trials, late 1944. Photo #NH79774. Naval Historical Society |
Robert would go on to join the U.S. Navy, where his rank was electrician's mate third class (EM3). On the night of May 2/3, 1945, he was serving on the USS Lagarto (SS-371) off the Malay coast near of Gulf of Siam, when the Japanese minelayer Hatsutaka sank the Lagarto with a depth charge. All 88 crew members were lost. |
The Lagarto was a relative latecomer to Pacific operations in World War II. According to an entry in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships,
After trial tests and training in Lake Michigan, LAGARTO entered a floating drydock 3 December 1944, was floated down the Mississippi River, and 2 days later departed New Orleans for the Pacific.LAGARTO sailed from Pearl Harbor 7 February 1945 for her maiden war patrol in waters around the Nansei Shoto. In a coordinated attack 13 February with submarines HADDOCK (SS-231) and SENNET (SS-408), she engaged four heavily armed picket boats in a gun battle, sank two, and damaged the others. On 24 February, LAGARTO sank small freighter TATSUMONO MARU off Bungo Suido and not long afterward spotted a Japanese submarine. She torpedoed and sank enemy submarine I-371 in a day periscope attack. LAGARTO arrived Subic Bay 20 March.
LAGARTO departed Subic Bay for the South China Sea 12 April and late in April was directed to patrol in the Gulf of Siam, where sister ship BAYA (SS-318) joined her 2 May. That afternoon BAYA signaled that she was tracking a tanker traveling under heavy escort. That night BAYA tried to attack but was driven off by enemy escorts equipped with radar. The two submarines met early next morning to discuss attack plans. BAYA made a midnight attack but was again driven off by the unusually alert Japanese escorts. Early next morning, 4 May, when BAYA tried to contact her teammate, LAGARTO made no reply. Since Japanese records state that during the night of 3-4 May, mine layer HATSUTAKA attacked a U.S. submarine in that location, it is presumed that LAGARTO perished in battle with all hands. (“Largato,” transcribed by Michael Hansen, [1969], Vol. 4: 19, accessed 8 December 2020, http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/submar/ss371.txt.)
In a statement to the families of those lost on the USS Lagarto, Secretary of the Navy James C. Forrestal writes, in part:
The LAGARTO had been directed to proceed to the Java Sea and depart from there for Fremantle, Australia, on 4 May 1945. She failed to arrive at Fremantle on or about 24 May 1945, in accordance with her schedule and, to date, no further information has been received by the Navy Department concerning the fate of the submarine or her crew.In view of the strong probability that the submarine sank during action in enemy-controlled waters, and that your son lost his life as a result thereof, because no official or unconfirmed reports have been received that he survived, because his name has not appeared on any lists or reports of personnel liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps, and in view of the length of time that has elapsed since he was determined to have been missing in action, I am reluctantly forced to the conclusion that he is deceased. In compliance with Section 5 of the Public Law 490, 77th Congress, as amended, the death of your son is, for the purposes of termination of pay and allowances, settlement of accounts and payment of death gratuities, presumed to have occurred as of 25 May 1946 which is the day following the expiration of twelve months in the missing status.
I know what little solace the formal and written word can be to help meet the burden of your loss, but in spite of that knowledge, I cannot refrain from saying very simply, that I am sorry. It is hoped that you may find comfort in the thought that your son gave his life for his country, upholding the highest traditions of the Navy.
In December of 1945, the Perrys also heard from Captain C. O. Triebel, U.S. Navy Commander of Submarine Division 101. By that time, he had the liberty to provide more details regarding the sinking of the Largato, but he also conveyed his sympathy to the family. After a detailed summary of what the Navy knew about the action, he writes:
I assume that the LAGARTO was probably severely attacked by surface and air escort while driving home her attack against the Japanese. The odds the LAGARTO were up against in having one escort for each merchant ship sailing, plus air coverage made her attack one of the most difficult I know of.However, it was only the splendid fighting spirit and grim determination of our men who would resolutely attack against such odds that drove the Japanese to their knees.
May I be allowed to offer as a small measure of condolence my wholehearted sympathy to you at this time of your sorrow. Those of us who are still here will do our utmost in the future to safeguard the ideals and heritage of our country for which those who are missing gave so much.
| Although the Perry family never received his remains, Robert Calvin Perry is not forgotten. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery. His commendations include the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and Combat Action Ribbon. |  Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery. Courtesy American Battle Monuments Commission |
Article prepared by Patricia Richards McClure
January 2021
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West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
