DONALD ANDERSON
COLEMAN b. 1924 d. Oct 25, 1944 Missing
in Action
Battle of Samar, Leyte Gulf
Gunner’s Mate 3C
3125908 Navy USS Johnston
Buried: unknown
Parents: Father Oscar W. Coleman, mother Helen Aurora
(nee Beauchamp, Coleman) Haring and stepfather Myron Lee Haring.
Sibling: Lee Stephen Coleman 1923-1991This family presents a complicated family history with lots of players. Not too hard to fill in the spaces between census data, marriages and divorces. Once again is evident the migration of people from diverse birth places pulled to Detroit to find work in a promised land of factories. Oscar Willis Coleman was born 1900 in Herndon, KY. Helen was born1902 in Grenville, Quebec; immigrated to Houghton, MI in 1905 with her family where she lived until after 1920. Two of them made their way to Detroit where Helen married Oscar, he a conductor and she a file clerk, Aug 22 1922 and then had two sons, Lee & Donald.
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| 16194 Bentler |
Helen is buried in North Farmington cemetery with son Lee and his wife, Helen R. Myron is buried alone in Grand Lawn Cemetery. Oscar might be in Forest Lawn, Detroit.
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| 2924 Vinewood |
Here is the peculiar part – the two boys. They were
not to be found living with parents until 1940 in the house at 16194 Bentler, Detroit with Myron and Helen. In 1930 only Helen lived in Detroit
with her uncle and his large Beauchamp family. Tracked the boys down in the
1930 census at two different addresses as lodgers, Lee and Donald together. The
boys were only 6 & 5. These were places housing several other young
children as boarders. Locations were 2850 Vinewood, Detroit with the
Lieflanders and 255 Michigan St, Clinton Twp with Frank Action.
Donald did manage to graduate from Redford in June
1942. He entered the service Dec 1, 1942 and was first received onboard the USS
Johnston DD-557 Oct 27, 1943. The Johnston was a small Fletcher class destroyer
under the command of Lt. Commander Ernest E. Evans. Commander Evans was park Cherokee
and Creek. He saw service on the USS Alden which had to retreat from battle. As
commander of the Johnston he made clear he intended to get into harm’s way so
if any of the crew didn’t like it they could get off!
The Johnston sailed 12 Oct 1944 to help protect
escort carriers in eastern Leyte and the gulf, giving troops direct support on
the landing beaches. Johnston and the accompanying escort carrier unit were lonely
sentinels in Leyte Gulf, east of Samar. As enemy ships fled the Battle of
Surigao Strait daybreak Oct 25, the powerful Japanese Center Force slipped
along the coast of Samar directly for the task unit and the American beachhead
at Leyte. The Johnston’s gunner officer later reported “We felt like little
David without a slingshot.”
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| USS Johnston |
At 9:30 the Johnston was going dead in the water; the
Japanese made sort of a semicircle round the ship, shooting at hem like a bunch
of Indians attacking a prairie schooner. 10:10 the ship rolled over and began
to sink. A Japanese destroyer came within 1,000 yards and pumped a final shot
to make sure she went down. Of the crew 186 were lost, 50 killed by enemy
action, 45 died on rafts from battle injuries, and 92, including Cmdr. Evans, were
alive in the water but never heard from again. 141 were saved as they clung to
3 rafts and 2 floater nets for 50 hours.
A detailed action report is found on : http://ussjohnston-hoel.com/322/376.html
A few days after the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Samar, Oct 2019,
a research vessel found what is believed to be the wreckage of the USS
Johnston. Found 20,400 feet below the surface on the edge of a steep precipice,
the wreck is completely decimated. It is beyond the limits of underwater search
equipment. Video footage shows the remains of a gunnery tower, perhaps where
Gunner Coleman fought. The footage can be viewed at: https://www.facebook.com/rvpetrel/videos/452037628757336/
There is no internment application or grave site
found for Donald.
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