My father, Norman Peden was a Sea-man 1st Class on the Quincy from 1941 until it was sunk on Aug 9th, 1942. His battlestation was the port side 1.1 Pom-Pom (Anti-aircraft) gun on the deck above the bridge. He was the first loader. He was on the 12:00 am to 4:00 am watch on the starboard side of the deck when the Quincy was attacked. He says the Japanese searchlight shone on the ship, the General Quarters alarm sounded, he ran to his battlestation (about 30 feet) on the starboard side, and the Quincy was immediately struck by the first of 5 torpedos that hit the ship. Two of the torpedos hit in the forward 8" magazines, and one hit the aviation fuel supply. He's not sure where the fourth one detonated, but of the five that hit, one did not detonate. The second loader at his battlestation had shrapnel go through his eye. As he was being carried off, the explosion in the aviation fuel supply blew him out of the hands of his rescuers and over the side of the ship, but he was the first person my dad saw on the ship that rescued them at daybreak (the USS Elliot DD-146). My father said the last torpedo that hit killed everyone on the bridge (which was the deck below him). All the executive officers were killed. Right before the officers were killed, my dad says Captain Moore came over the loudspeaker and said, "We're going in-between them. Give 'em hell." Dad says someone gave them the orders to abandon battlestations, but no one was left alive to give the order to abandon ship. However, the badly damaged Quincy was sinking quickly. It went down in 19 minutes. My father remembers another sailor telling him to follow him down a straight ladder, because the stairs were crowded with so many men. Dad went straight down to the main deck, climbed about 10' to cut down a life raft, and when he climbed back down, the raft was gone. He climbed back up a little higher, wrapped the life raft rope around his arm, and he fell with it. He said he never got to his feet, because as soon as he fell, men grabbed the boat and ran with it overboard pulling my father along with it. He said they went over a 4' gun shield and the water was coming over the top of it. He said he remembers the stern of the ship up in the air with the propellers still turning. The suction from the ship going down held dad underwater the length of the rope on the raft and the length of his arm. When he finally surfaced, he was vomiting from swallowing salt water. A doctor in the raft thought dad had internal injuries because he was vomiting, but Dad told the doctor he had swallowed salt water, and he was not injured. My father was not wounded, and he clung to the side of the life raft until daylight when the USS Elliot picked them up. He swam for the destroyer, and he says he hooked his arms through the cargo net, and at that point his strength was gone. Two crewmen from the Elliot came down and lifted him up to the deck. I'm thankful I still have my father around. He has always told us stories about the war, although he gets a little emotional about it, now. He was 84 on March 28th, and he's still going strong. His stories have helped me understand what an honor it is to be an American, and the respect we should have for the people who have served our country.

HI
I had to respond, my Dad, Daniel H. Galvin Jr, is also a survior of the USS Quincy CA39 he will be 87 in March of this year. We have compiled his memoirs on the Lone Sailor, which you can access by putting in his name...God Bless your Family and God Bless our Country.
Catherine Galvin Doucette

i enjoyed that story i have a postcard and thats it, i am doing a reserch of the quency my dads brother died on that ship, on the postcard he says he is comming home in a month, please if u have any pics or any thing email me his name was francies suggitt thanks doris bradley

Dear Judy,
My father was on the USS Quincy CA-39. His name was Walter Earl Albright. Also my uncle Chet Judd was on there too! I hardly ever new my dad since my mom took us kids away. We lived in Toledo,Ohio at the time. My mom is 85 years old now and all she ever told me about my dad's ship was that my dad's ship was hit severely and both my dad and uncle were on opposites side of the ship when the ship started sinking. My mom also said that my dad grab the big guns to try to shoot at the enemy. Both my dad and uncle came up at the same time in the water together and grab onto some floating wood to be recued. What a miracle! God bless all! Both my dad and uncle have past on and I really wish I knew who knew my dad on the ship and what happened! Take care Doug Albright

My battlestation was very close to his, control fwd, talker for the gunnery officer. I left the Quincy on Nov. 4, 1941.
Tom Cooper