USS HARMON DE-72

LEONARD ROY HARMON

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, June 2019

Leonard Roy Harmon, born in Cuero, Tex., on 21 January 1917, enlisted in the U.S. Navy at Houston, Tex., on 10 June 1939 as a mess attendant third class (MAtt3c). After receiving training at the Naval Training Station, Naval Operating Base, Norfolk, Va., he traveled in heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa (CA-37) to join her sister ship San Francisco (CA-38). Harmon reported on board San Francisco on 28 October 1939. Advancements in rate followed: to MAtt2c on 16 August 1940, and to MAtt1c on 5 November 1941, a little over a month before Pearl Harbor.

On 12 November 1942, San Francisco was covering a force of transports disembarking reinforcements off Guadalcanal when Japanese land attack planes, carrying torpedoes, attacked. During the ensuing engagement, one of the enemy aircraft crashed San Francisco despite a withering barrage of antiaircraft fire, and caused “considerable damage and intense fires,” demolishing the after control station and burning out Battle II, putting the after antiaircraft director and radar out of commission. One officer and 15 men were either killed outright or died of their injuries soon thereafter. Four officers, including Comdr. Mark H. Crouter, the executive officer, and 25 men were wounded, most suffering horrible burns. San Francisco transferred the wounded men to the transport President Jackson (AP-37), with one exception.

“Rather than submit to transfer for medical treatment,” Comdr. Crouter, although in “intense pain and waning strength” from severe burns on both legs, insisted on remaining on board “so that he could be returned to duty in a minimum of time,” exhibiting “sturdy endurance and courageous disregard for his own personal safety.” MAtt1c Harmon had exhibited “unusual loyalty on behalf of” Crouter. It seems most likely that Harmon attended to the wounded executive officer before the young mess attendant had to proceed to his battle station later, for that night (12-13 November 1942), San Francisco fought again, this time in a desperate surface engagement at close quarters in the confined waters off Guadalcanal.

San Francisco suffered heavy damage from Japanese guns that ranged from 14-inch to machine guns. During the battle, a projectile plowed into Comdr. Crouter’s cabin and exploded, inflicting fatal wounds. MAtt1c Harmon, meanwhile, was rendering “invaluable service in caring for the wounded and evacuating them to a dressing station” until, as he was working as a stretcher bearer topside, near the cruiser’s secondary battery 5-inch mounts amidships, a 6-inch projectile from the secondary battery of the Japanese battleship Hiei struck in the vicinity and exploded. Shouting “Look out, Doc,” Harmon moved to shield PhM3c Lynford L. Bondsteel from the lethal fragments, pushing him to the deck. Although Bondsteel managed to get his courageous shipmate below, Harmon died of his wounds soon thereafter.