US Navy 2nd Class Messmate Arthur Pete was born in Marianna, Florida on March 26, 1890, believed to be the son of Henry Pete (1866-1920) and Lula Kimbell. His father is listed with the War Department as Edward Pete of 324 East Chase Street however there are no records of as "Edward" being related to Arthur. However, there are records of an Arthur Pete (1890-1942) being the son of Henry. All in all, many of the Pete family come out of Marianna, Jackson County, Florida. Henry and Lula appeared to migrate from Jackson County to Franklin County to Pensacola arriving here prior to 1910. The Edward that is listed and his brother James W. (1900-1972) were longshoremen by trade and in 1944 were working for the Pate Stevedore Company. One of the Pete family, Susan Pete was a longtime teacher at the Spencer Bibbs School. As for Arthur, he was working at a restaurant in 1919 while living at 520 Fort Street off South Clubbs Street. His alleged parents were living ten blocks north at 705 West LaRua Street.
In 1918, Arthur registered for the WWI draft and was described as tall and slender. He was working as a fisherman at the time which prompted him to apply for his seaman's certificate. This experience may very well have prompted him to enlist in the Navy later on.
Regardless of his parentage, we do know that Arthur enlisted in the US Navy on September 10, 1940, and after processing and basic training he was assigned to the USS Quincy. He reported aboard on November 29, 1940, as a 2nd Class Messmate. Based on this date, he would have been aboard the ship on July 28, 1941, when she sailed for Iceland performing neutrality duty. She returned to Icelandic waters on January 25, 1942, on convoy duty before receiving an overhaul at the New York Navy Yard that lasted until the end of May.
Then they sailed for San Diego on June 5th, and upon arrival the captain was notified they would be the flagship of Task Force #18 under the command of Rear Admiral Norman R. Scott. When all was ready they sailed for the South Pacific in July to join the invasion of Guadalcanal. Her job was to destroy enemy shore installations and provide fire support for the Marines ashore.
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 group comprised of the cruisers Astoria, Vincennes, and the Quincy.
On the night of August 9th, this 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. The Quincy's captain ordered his crew to open on the Japanese but they were caught unprepared to return fire. Suddenly, she was caught in the crossfire of three heavy Japanese cruisers who poured round after round into her setting her ablaze. The captain ordered the Quincy to charge the enemy but was then hit by two torpedoes. At 0210, a shell wiped out the Quincy's captain and his bridge crew. Another torpedo slammed into her at 0216 as the ship's guns were silenced forever along with 370 of her crew. She sank at 0230 hours taking Pensacolians Thomas Louis Richards and Arthur Pete to their grave 2,000 feet below.
The USS Quincy was discovered in July 1992, and they found her bow missing forward of her #1 turret. One gun on #1 was jammed and one on #2 had exploded. As expected, the bridge was heavily damaged but intact and both funnels were missing. The ship's stern was bent upwards aft of the #3 turret and heavily damaged by implosions.
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