David Henry McKee, Jr.
Private David H. McKee, Jr. served with the ground echelon of VMF-223 at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.
He was reported missing in action after a bombing attack on the USS McFarland on 16 October 1942.
Branch
Marine Corps Reserve
Service Number 270296
Current Status
Remains Not Recovered
Pursuit Category
The DPAA has not publicized this information.
Capsule History
Pre-War Life
Birth
April 28, 1921
at San Diego, CA
Parents
David Henry McKee (Captain USMC)
Clara Hollister (Girton) McKee
Education
Drew Preparatory College (1940)
Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute
Occupation & Employer
Details unknown
Service Life
Entered Service
February 12, 1939
at Oakland, CA
Home Of Record
825 Orange Avenue
San Carlos, CA
Next Of Kin
Mother, Mrs. Clara McKee
Military Specialty
Aviation (Ground Echelon)
Campaigns Served
Solomon Islands / Guadalcanal
Individual Decorations
Purple Heart
Additional Service Details
—
Loss And Burial
Circumstances Of Loss
David McKee served with VMF-223, a Marine fighter squadron based at Henderson Field during the Guadalcanal campaign. He was a member of the ground echelon; with his civilian training in aviation mechanics, courtesy of the Curtiss-Wright company, McKee was probably assigned to an aircraft ground crew.
In mid-October 1942, the Cactus Air Force “surveyed” a number of men who had been wounded, taken sick, or were suffering the mental effects of heavy shelling against Henderson Field. Private McKee was also slated for evacuation; he wrote to his parents that he was due for a furlough and would be home soon. McKee was one of 160 passengers to board the USS McFarland, a seaplane tender anchored off Guuadalcanal on 16 October. Passengers and patients alike crowded into the ship’s gangways and congregated on the open seaplane deck at the stern. McKee may have shared space with two of his squadronmates, PFC Raymond H. Moershall and PFC Harold J. Doerr.
Shortly after 1700 hours, shore parties spotted a periscope near Lunga Point. McFarland was pumping aviation gas into a barge, and got underway at a speed calculated to outpace a submarine but not interrupt her work. At 1750, lookouts called a warning as Japanese Aichi “Val” dive bombers appeared overhead.
Nine enemy planes suddenly peeled out of a cloud bank. Each of them carried two 300-pound demolition bombs slung under their wings. The first two missed altogether, though one bomb from the second plane dropped close enough to throw water and splinters as high as the bridge. The third plane was shot down less than 100 yards away by a direct hit from McFarland’s 3-inch guns.... Bauer’s fighters splashed three more of the enemy’s planes. But three more were still boring in. Two of these planes were stopped dead by the Mac’s 20 millimeter guns. The lone remaining Jap plane kept boring in from astern and, as his first bomb hit far astern, the second made a direct hit right on the ship’s tapering fantail where here depth charges were stacked.
The result of the combined explosion of the Jap’s bomb and the ship’s depth charges sounded like an ammunition dump blowing up. The entire ship took to the air, almost clearing the water and every man aboard was thrown off his feet. Upon examining the ship it was found that the deck from the amidship structure aft was missing. The gasoline barge, still hovering nearby, caught fire and most of her cargo went skywards in one great blast.
E. G. Gardner, McFarland’s executive officer, hurried aft where he found “the entire stern of the ship blown off from the after head of the washroom…. The head and washroom spaces were filled with many mangled bodies of dead and dying marines and sailors.” Quick thinking damage control managed to keep the ship afloat, and she was safely beached at Tulagi. McFarland was eventually repaired and returned to service; her crew was recognized with the first Presidential Unit Citation awarded to a ship.
The chaos of the attack was amplified by some of the Marine patients. Gardner noticed “several Marines… evidently in a highly nervous state as they made no move [to help] but stared vacantly ahead…. Many Marines, probably the war neurotics, went into a highly excited state and congregated in passageways, thereby greatly hindering the passage of the crew…. It is not believed that small ships should be asked to evacuate mental patients under any circumstances.”
Gardner took stock of the casualties: nine killed, 28 wounded, and 18 missing, for a total of 18.6% of all personnel aboard. He listed eight Marines among the missing; five later turned up alive and unscathed. Gardner further noted “there were eight unidentified bodies found in the head and washroom. Observers witnessed at least two men blown over the side.” Eyewitnesses later said that McKee was running aft along the deck when the bomb hit, and was possibly knocked overboard by the blast.
Burial Information or Disposition
Casualties from the McFarland were offloaded to D Medical Company Hospital on Tulagi; Gardner notes that “the process of identifying and transferring the dead for burial” began at 0100 on 17 October. Remains were interred in the White Beach Cemetery; five of the eight unidentifiable bodies were subsequently resolved as crew or passengers.
Two of the three unidentifiable bodies – designated Guadalcanal Unknowns X-220 and -221 – are buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The whereabouts of the third body is not clear.
The unknowns may be passengers Doerr, McKee, Moershall, AOM1c Rider W. Berge or MM2c Charlie A. Bagwell, Jr.;
or McFarland crewmen Sea1 James A. Martin, SM3c Sheldon A. Potter, MM2 Robert T. Trahey, or F3 Charles E. Turner.
Memorials
Next Of Kin Address
Address of mother, Mrs. Clara McKee.
Location Of Loss
The McFarland was attacked near Taivu Point, Guadalcanal.
