United States Marine Corps Officer Willard Keith was one of the approximately 7,100 Americans killed during the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942. His remains were never found. The twenty-two-year-old Captain was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his gallant actions in the Allied forces’ first major offensive against the Empire of Japan.

Willard Keith gave his life for his country, but his name is more associated with what may be only an urban legend. It could, however, also be a tragedy in which his fellow comrades were accidentally killed by their peers.

Captain Willard Keith

United States Marine Corps

On December 27, 1944, two-and-a-half years after Captain Willard Keith’s death, the United States Navy commissioned a destroyer ship named in his honor. The ship was assigned to patrol the Pacific Ocean along the northern California coastline.

For the most part, serving on the USS Willard Keith was uneventful, as the sailors spent most of their time practicing with K-guns or depth charges. Three months after the destroyer hit the waters, however, something unusual happened, the results of which are still being debated.

On March 21, 1945, as the Willard Keith was sailing near San Francisco, a general quarters alarm sounded, the crew’s clue that an enemy sub was below them. Explosives were detonated resulting in an annihilation of the presumed Japanese submarine. Crewmen noticed an oil slick, but they could not detect enemy craft on sonar.

As the alleged Japanese submarine the United States Navy contented was sunk by the USS Willard Keith was never found, crewman were plagued by a nightmarish possibility; that they had accidentally sunk one of their own ships.

Nearly half-a-century after the incident, surviving crewman requested the deck log and war diary of the USS Willard Keith. Upon examination, they found the logs had no record of the sinking of a submarine on March 21, 1945, nor a record of a submarine hit off the California coast.

These findings suggested to the crew members what they had feared: the ship they had sunk may have been a United States submarine and the incident was covered up by the military.

USS Willard Keith

In the seventy-nine years since the incident, several divers between Santa Barbara and San Francisco have claimed to have seen a submarine, possibly a U-boat, in the water. Several salvage expeditions have been conducted in efforts to find and identify the mystery submarine, but none have found any trace of the alleged sunken sub.

The United States Navy has stated, “We have no record of the USS Willard Keith sinking a submarine in the spring of 1945. Additionally, we have no record of any subs sinking in the eastern Pacific Ocean during that same time frame.”

No Evidence Of A Sinking Has Been Found

A few remaining crew of the USS Willard Keith have formed The Marine War Memorial Association, a non-profit organization with the mission of finding and memorializing the alleged sunken wreck.

Searches Continue

During the Okinawa campaign of World War II, the Willard Keith destroyed two Japanese aircraft and was struck by a Japanese torpedo which did not detonate.

The Willard Keith was awarded two battle stars for her World War II Service and served across the world after the war. She was noted for escorting the royal yacht HMY Britannia carrying Queen Elizabeth II during the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959.

Following her decommission in 1972, the Willard Keith was transferred to Columbia and renamed the Caldas. She was used by the Columbian Navy for five years until being disposed in 1977.

A Decorated Ship

For his heroic actions at Guadalcanal, twenty-two-year-old Captain Willard Keith, Jr. was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, Purple Heart, and Combat Action Ribbon. He and all members of the 1st Marine Division received a Presidential Unit Citation.

Posthumous Awards

Willard Keith was born in Berkeley, California. He graduated from Beverly Hill High School in 1937 and was attending Stanford University when he joined the United States Marine Corps Reserves in 1939. At the school’s Main Quad, the Willard Memorial Terrace Garden is dedicated to him.

An Honored, And Remembered, War Hero

SOURCES:

• San Francisco Chronicle
• San Francisco Gate
• treasureNet. com
• usswillardkeith. com
• Unsolved Mysteries