Francis T. St. John
Francis T. St. John, Yeoman First Class, U.S. Navy.
Yeoman First Class • U.S. Navy • Serial 04049340
Entered service from New Jersey • Died February 16, 1943
Missing in action or buried at sea — Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
Introduction
Yeoman First Class Francis Tyler St. John was born on February 9, 1921. He enlisted in the United States Navy on January 22, 1940. He volunteered for submarine duty and trained as a Yeoman. On March 7, 1941, he was transferred to the submarine USS R-17 (SS-94), and by March 9, 1942, was transferred to the USS Amberjack (SS-219), a Gato-class submarine. By November of 1942 he had been promoted to Yeoman First Class.
After shakedown training, Amberjack departed for the Pacific, transited the Panama Canal in mid-August 1942, and reached Pearl Harbor on August 20. She conducted multiple war patrols in the Solomon Islands area. The last radio transmission received from Amberjack was made on February 14, 1943. All further messages went unanswered, and when by March 10 she had failed to make her routine report, she was reported as presumed lost on March 22, 1943. Enemy records obtained after the war record an attack that probably sank Amberjack on February 16, 1943.
Yeoman First Class Francis Tyler St. John was survived by his wife, Mrs. Dorothy May St. John, of 402 Burrit Street, New Britain, Connecticut.