WED 21 JUL 1943
Pacific
Destroyers Monaghan (DD-354) and Aylwin (DD-355) carry out an unopposed bombardment of Japanese positions in the Gertrude Cove area, Kiska Island.
Tank landing ships LST-343 is damaged by Japanese bomb off Rendova; among the casualties is Captain Elphege A. M. Gendreau*, Pacific Fleet Medical Officer.
Japanese planes bomb airfield at Funafuti.
Submarine Haddock (SS-231) sinks Japanese army transport Saipan Maru (whose passenger list includes 180 geishas) and endures counterattacks by [IJN] Hato† 16°18'N, 134°04'E.
Atlantic
PBY (VP 94) sinks German submarine U-662 off mouth of Amazon River, Brazil, 03°36'N, 48°46'W.
*Casualty as in dead, not wounded.
After distinguished service in a number of assignments afloat and ashore, Gendreau was commissioned Captain on 20 September 1939. During the years 1940 and 1941, he served as Force Surgeon of Battle Force and subsequently on the staff of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet. In the summer of 1943, he was on temporary duty in the South Pacific inspecting medical facilities to improve treatment and care of battle casualties. He voluntarily embarked in LST-343 to assist in the evacuation of the sick and wounded from Rendova. He was killed in a dive-bombing attack on the LST-343 on 21 July 1943. His unspectacular but dedicated service prompted Admiral Nimitz to recommend that a destroyer be named for Captain Gendreau.†Apparently an Ōtori-class torpedo boat (鴻型水雷艇 Ōtori-gata suiraitei).
The destroyer escort USS Gendreau (DE-639) was launched on 12 December 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Josephine Gendreau, widow of Captain Gendreau, with Mrs. Chester W. Nimitz as matron of honor.
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