The wreckage of the World War II American destroyer USS Johnston, one of the small warships that, in October of 1944, took on a desperate Japanese naval fleet made up of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers when they surprised an American fleet of small carriers and destroyers, including the Johnston, has been found. The action was desperate and heroic, and the Johnston and her crew has long been an exemplar for me of going into the teeth of the impossible and making it merely improbable. Most of the small carriers escaped, and the nearby American land forces came through unharmed. It was as if a can of soft peaches came equipped with savage teeth – and the Johnston was the lead fang in driving off the Japanese fleet.
What I didn’t know is conveyed in the WaPo article’s title:
Wreckage of long-lost WW II ship, sunken with its Native American skipper and half its crew, identified
I was unaware of his heritage. In honor of his leadership and sacrifice:
[Captain] Evans and 185 members of the crew were lost, and he would become the first Native American in the Navy to receive the Medal of Honor.
There’s little more I can say in their honor.
