US Navy Radioman 1st Class James Otis Caraway was born in Pike County, Alabama in c1920, the son of George Henry Caraway and Sallie Ann Morgan (1898-1924). From 1900 to 1921, his parents and family lived in Pike County, Alabama. However, the death certificate of his mother states they were living in Mohave County, Arizona from 1921 to her death from pulmonary infection on February 22, 1925. Her remains were brought home and buried in the Ebenezer First Cemetery in Catalpa, Pike County, AL. By 1930, George was remarried to Bertha Ethel Barbaree and living in Miami, Florida where he is working as a motorman on a streetcar.
As for the family living in Pensacola, there is little information to substantiate this claim. Three sources indicate they did however. One was the home of record for WWII casualties that state that Route 2 Box 552 was James' address and that of his father George Henry Caraway. The second was the Pensacola News Journal article of September 18, 1942, page 3, that lists him as a Pensacola resident. And the third was the Kiwanis Club recognizing on July 8, 1943, those Pensacolians killed thus far in the war of which Caraway was listed.
James enlisted in the US Navy and was assigned as a 1st Class Radioman aboard the cruiser CA-34 USS Astoria. On the morning of August 7, 1942, she was supporting the Marine landing on Guadalcanal while repulsing several Japanese counterattacks against the offshore transports. However, on the night of August 8 the Japanese sent a large task force of seven cruisers and a destroyer to interrupt the landing and reestablish their control over Guadalcanal. Opposing them were eight American cruisers and 15 destroyers. However, the Americans were divided into three groups, totally separate from one another. The Japanese attack struck the northernmost comprised of the Astoria, Vincennes, and the Quincy.
On the night of August 9th, the enemy force hit them at 0150 hours and a tremendous firefight ensued. The Astoria was shot to pieces by 0255 hours and lay dead in the water, totally vulnerable to total destruction by the Japanese. Luckily, the enemy commander chose that exact moment to withdraw.
The fire below decks grew in intensity with explosions sounding throughout the ship. The order to abandon ship was finally given as the ship slowly took on water and totally disappeared at 1216 hours taking James Caraway's remains along with his fellow Pensacolian and shipmate Ernest Cory Harris Jr. and 217 others down to a watery grave. In the meantime, the Vincennes, carrying a young Pensacola boy George Vincent Lockwood had already sunk at 0250 hours. Their sister ship, USS Quincy had preceded them at 0238 hours and sank with Pensacolians Thomas Louis Richards and Arthur Pete aboard.
The losses were terrible with cruisers destroyed and almost a thousand sailors killed but the enemy had been turned back and the Marine landing on Guadalcanal had been saved.
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