Hunt for U-Boat ends with Monessen’s first WWII casualty
This story is part of Mon Valley Sons of World War II, a series about our sons who lost their lives in service to our country during the war.
By April 1942, German U-boats had already sunk more than 100 ships off the east coast of North America, in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The U.S. had only been at war for four months, and tensions were high for every mariner sailing the Eastern Seaboard. Danger may be lurking just beneath the waves. Seaman 2nd Class Louis Stephens and the pilot of their submarine- hunting seaplane were carrying out vigilance from the air for the U.S. Navy. Little did they know that it would cost them their lives.
Stephens was Monessen’s first son lost during World War II. This is his story.
The Stephens family of Monessen
Louis Clifton Stephens was born Aug. 21, 1920, to Robert Gilbert and Maude Stephens née Luce in Monessen. Robert and Maude had married 18 years earlier in nearby Perryopolis. At the time, Robert was a carpenter while Maude managed the Stephens family household.
The Stephens family heritage traces back to the British colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland prior to the Revolutionary War, as well as to Germany and Wales. Maude’s family traces to the colonies of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and to Scotland and Germany.
Both families settled in Fayette County in Western Pennsylvania by the mid 1800s.
Louis, named after his paternal grandfather, was the last of three children born into the family. Robert Eugene arrived in 1905, and a sister Eleanor Rachel was born in 1912. Their father spent a few years as a manager at the Fox Grocery Store in nearby Charleroi prior to becoming a carpenter.
From 1910 through the 1940s, the family lived on McKee Avenue in Monessen. By 1930, their father returned to the grocery business as a wholesaler in the candy and tobac- co business, and by 1940, he was the proprietor of his own grocery store. Theirs was a large house and they occasionally offered room and board for a few lodgers.
While a student, Louis and his brother Robert took great interest in radio equipment, which would later prove useful. After graduating from Monessen High School, Louis entered the grocery business with his father as a clerk. Louis soon went to work for the Charleroi division of Clover Farm Stores.
Off to the U.S. Navy and to war
At the age of 20, Louis decided it was time for adventure. On July 8, 1941, he enlisted in Pittsburgh with the U.S. Navy.
Louis attended the U.S. Navy’s training school in Newport, R.I., as an apprentice seaman, the Navy’s entry rank for enlisted men. By Sept. 23, 1941, Stephens was in the Navy’s trade school at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. Louis’ earlier interest in radios and the skills he developed as an amateur hobbyist elevated his candidacy as an radio operator within the Navy’s aviation branch.
While Louis was in training, Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the U.S. military bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The U.S. declared war on Japan, and subsequently, as an ally of the Japanese Empire, Germany declared war on the U.S. Louis Stephens was about to learn what war was like as an active duty member of the U.S. Navy.
In light of the threat, the U.S. Navy established a central command, Commander, Eastern Sea Frontier (COMEASTSEAFRON), responsible for anti-submarine warfare. The command was charged with protecting the sea lanes in the North Atlantic Ocean and along the country’s Atlantic coast. They quickly organized scouting squadrons to patrol the skies over the seas.
On Feb. 3, 1942, Louis transferred to the U.S. Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Va., on temporary duty awaiting further transfer to Scouting Squadron 9 (VS-9). He had graduated from radio operators’ school, qualified as an aviation radioman and was promoted to Seaman 2nd Class (S2C).
The radioman of a scouting aircraft was responsible for maintaining radio communications with the airbase, other aircraft and ships as well as the intercom with the pilot. He was also responsible for the equipment that maintained contact with land or sea based navigational transmitters. His role was crucial to the success of every mission.
Scouting for U-Boats in the Atlantic
Scouting Squadron 9 was formed on March 1, 1942, with six officers and 146 enlisted men and was attached to the Fleet Air Detachment at Norfolk. Between April 4-7, 1942, the squadron received 18 OS2U-3 Vought Kingfisher observational float planes from New York.
Kingfishers were compact midwing monoplanes with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. They could take off and land from water, and for those equipped with landing gear, airfields. Kingfishers could carry 325 pounds of depth charges or 100 pounds of bombs for attacking ships or submarines.
On April 8, six Kingfishers were detached with six pilots and 50 enlisted men to the U.S. Marine Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C. Their mission was to patrol their offshore Atlantic area.
On April 12, the remainder of VS-9 transferred to Cherry Point. The squadron was now patrolling their assigned area from 0600 to 2100 hrs daily, from Cape Lookout to Cape Hatteras.
The squadron received orders to supply air coverage for its first convoy of ships on April 15, and dropped its first depth charges on a “suspicious object,” later identified as something other than a submarine. This action would be repeated not infrequently, as the patrolling pilots surely believed that it was better to be safe than sorry.
Fate intervenes
On April 21, 1942, S2C Louis Stephens and pilot Ensign Arnold W.P. LaGraff were assigned to fly Kingfisher OS2U-3 Bu. No. 5852 in the squadron’s North Sector Patrol. A report had been received of a submarine sighting, bearing 085 degrees “True” from Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at a distance of 35 miles. When Ensign LaGraff and the other Kingfishers arrived and thoroughly scanned the area, no submarines were spotted. They turned to head for their Cherry Point home base.
But before they could reach home, fate rudely and fatally interrupted.
At 1702 hours, Ensign LaGraff’s Kingfisher encountered trouble of an unknown origin, and the aircraft fell into the sea at a sharp angle and sank, bearing 175 degrees “True,” 29 miles from Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Rescue operations were begun at once, continued until darkness and resumed the following morning for two days.
Ensign LaGraff and S2C Louis Stephens had been lost. Neither crewmen nor the aircraft would ever be recovered.
At the Cherry Point base, a memorial service was held, and a Navy plane dropped a floral tribute into the sea at the scene of their loss.
Louis C. Stephens, remembered
His family was informed the following day that their son had been lost. The Monessen Daily Independent ran a front page headline stating “Louis C. Stephens First Monessen War Casualty.” The family of Ensign LaGraff was informed of the loss of their son, who was the first war casualty of his hometown of Potsdam, N.Y.
The following day, an editorial appeared in the Daily Independent headlined “They Must Not Die in Vain.” It asserted “We must somehow see to it that the world becomes a better place because young Louis Stephens has given the last full measure of devotion.” Monessen’s mayor was quoted, “The war has really come home to us now, and the sympathy of all our people extended to the family of Louis Stephens. His sacrifice will live long in the hearts of all of us.” The mayor proclaimed an official period of mourning and ordered the city’s flags flown at half-staff.
In July, a memorial service was held by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion at Monessen’s First Presbyterian Church. A painted portrait of S2C Louis Stephens was presented to his family by David H. Woodward.
The name of Louis C. Stephens is inscribed on the World War II Veterans Memorial Tablet, located at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and Euclid Drive in Monessen City Park.
John J. Turanin is a retired Western Pennsylvanian and grandson of the Mon Valley. He is one of hundreds of volunteers with the nonprofit organization Stories Behind The Stars who are writing memorial stories for every one of the 421,000 U.S. service members and 31,000 Pennsylvanians who lost their lives during World War II. Those interested in joining the effort are encouraged to visit www.StoriesBehindTheStars. org.
