| USS MEREDITH (October 15, 1942)
Lost near San Cristobal Island in the Solomons. While escorting a convoy of two cargo vessels, the minesweeper USS Vireo, the destroyer USS Nicholas and the gunboat USS Jamestown, each ship towing barges loaded with ammunition, bombs and aviation fuel, the convoy was spotted by a scout plane from the Japanese carrier Shokaku. Between Espiritu Santa and Guadalcanal, the convoy was attacked by a group of Japanese dive bombers. One direct hit on the Meredith exploded below deck and four more bombs hit the ship in quick succession virtually blowing the ship to pieces. Then an aerial torpedo hit the stricken ship causing her store of depth charges to explode. The Meredith sank within 20 minutes with the loss of 185 crew members. On the minesweeper Vireo, 51 of her crew were killed. Survivors were rescued by the destroyer USS Grayson.
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On weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
'Though men grow old, they stay the same'
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
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