Richard Martin Waldron, Jr.

Killed in action – lost at sea on March 1, 1942. Served as a Seaman First Class aboard the seaplane tender USS Langley (AV-3), survived its sinking on February 27, 1942, was rescued and transferred to the USS Pecos (AO-6) which was then also sunk in the Battle of the Java Sea, on March 1, 1942, approximately 250 mile south-southeast of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, with loss of over 500 crew, survivors from four vessels, and evacuees from Java on board.

Originally a coal carrier, Langley was converted to this nation’s first aircraft carrier (CV-1), and later to a seaplane tender. The USS Langley was performing duty with the Pacific fleet at Manila when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Following the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, the vessel departed for the Dutch East Indies and then later Australia and became part of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) naval forces and assisted the Royal Australian Air Force running anti-submarine patrols out of Darwin. On February 22, 1942, the USS Langley departed Freemantle, Australia in convoy with the SS Sea Witch, SS Dunthroon, and SS Katoomba under the escort of the destroyer USS Phoenix. That evening, in compliance with orders from the ABDA Command, the Langley left the convoy and proceeded to Tjilatap (Cilicap), Java, to arrive at 0930 February 27, 1942, with 33 U.S. Army Air Corps pilots and 12 enlisted men, and 32 P-40E’s Allied fighter planes to deliver to the U.S. Army Air Forces 49th Pursuit Group. Tjilatap was also an important departure point for Dutch colonists fleeing the Japanese invasion. On February 27, 1942, about 75 miles outside Tjilatap, the USS Langley was attacked by 9 Japanese Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers. On the third strike, the USS Langley took 5 hits and 60 crew members were killed. Aircraft topside burst into flames, steering was impaired, and the ship developed a 10 degree list to port and the Langley went dead in the water as her engine room flooded. The order to abandon ship was passed. Langley’s antisubmarine destroyer USS Whipple (DD-217) picked up 308 survivors and the USS Edsall (DD-219) picked up 177.

The USS Langley was then sunk by her destroyers to ensure that she did not fall into enemy hands. Destroyers Whipple and Edsall then rendezvoused on February 28, 1942 at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island to transfer all of the survivors to the oiler USS Pecos, which already had survivors from 3 other vessels aboard. The USS Pecos had gotten underway from Tjilatap on February 27, 1942 bound for Ceylon for fuel, with one destroyer, the USS Pillsbury, escorting. At 1300 she had received word of the Langley bombing, 30 miles south of her and she changed course to west and then southwest. At 1600 she received word to proceed to lee of Christmas Island and take Langley survivors from Whipple and Edsall. She dismissed the USS Pillsbury for duty as escort of merchantmen with planes. The survivor transfer was broken off due to a surprise air attack on Christmas Island from planes from a Japanese Task Force, 80 miles away, with four aircraft carriers. Far at sea, in heavy weather, in the early morning of March 1, 1942, the transfer of all 453 of the Langley survivors to Pecos was completed. The destroyers departed and Pecos set course for Australia. From 1200 to 1450, Pecos was attacked four times by four squadrons of Japanese “Val” bombers, one squadron from each of the carriers. Pecos sank at 1548, one hour after the abandon ship signal was given. With approximately 700 men in the water, the last three Vals machine-gunned the swimmers.

Meanwhile, the destroyer Edsall was also sunk on March 1, 1942 with only five survivors (all of whom died in POW camps and whose beheaded skeletal remains were discovered in 1952 in Indonesia). Destroyer Whipple received the Pecos distress call and returned, arriving at night and began picking up survivors. With only 233 survivors rescued from a long night in oil covered waters, two torpedoes were spotted. Whipple engaged a Japanese submarine and twice had to drop depth charges not that distant from the already exhausted men still in the water. Due to the continued submarine threat to itself and those already aboard, a most difficult decision was made and Whipple was forced to depart the area leaving approximately 500 men to their fate, including Seaman First Class Richard Martin Waldron, Jr.

At the end of the war, on December 15, 1945, Seaman Waldron was memorialized on a Tablet of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Fort Bonafacio, Manila, the Philippines, the nearest American oversea military cemetery to the casualty. He is now also memorialized in the WWII Memorial and the Navy Memorial, both in Washington, D.C., and can be viewed on-line.

Seaman Waldron earned the Purple Heart Medal posthumously for his ultimate sacrifice, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Medal with one bronze star for the East Indies Campaign and the World War II Victory Medal.