James Patrick Cunnally – Lost Aboard Submarine USS Seawolf

James Cunnally was born in Dorchester, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on March 30, 1912. According to the 1930 U.S. Census, his father was named Thomas, 63, and worked as a mason in building trades. His mother, Margaret, 50, gave birth to three sons, Thomas, 23, Edward, 16, and James, 18. James had two sisters, Catherine, 26 and Margaret, 13. Both parents were born in Northern Ireland. They lived at 118 Florida Street in Boston.

Cunnally registered for the U. S. World War II Draft Card on October 16, 1940 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. At 28 years old, he worked for the National Biscuit Company. James was five foot six inches tall and weighed 150 pounds. This document recorded that he was married to Marion and according to the 1940 US Census, he had a son, James Jr., 4. He then worked as a machines helper at a construction company.

On June 30, 1943, James reported to ComSubDivision 43 for duty. He then mustered aboard the USS Seawolf (SS-197) on September 30, 1943. He attained the rate/rank of Motor Machinist's Mate, First Class in his Navy career. His Service Number was 607 80 94.

Cunnally, with 86 other sailors and 16 US Army soldiers, was aboard the USS Seawolf upon departure for the boat’s fifteenth Pacific Patrol from Brisbane, Australia. Tragically, he died, along with the rest of the crew and soldiers on October 3, 1944, when the submarine was probably sunk by an American destroyer. He was awarded a Purple Heart posthumously. A memorial grave stone was placed at the American Memorial and Cemetery at Fort William McKinley, Manila, the Philippines.

A team of 16 Army soldiers were aboard the USS Seawolf for a secret landing on the Island of Samar, Sumatra. The soldiers were to establish underground radio communications with the Philippines as part of the 978th Signal Services Company. Ten of these Army men were born in the Philippines, and were U.S. Citizens.

The following was compiled by Paul W. Wittmer and Charles R. Hinman, originally from: U.S. Submarine Losses World War II, NAVPERS 15,784, 1949 ISSUE:

SEAWOLF (LCDR A. L. Bontier) left Brisbane on 21 September 1944 beginning her 15th patrol, and arrived at Manus on 29 September. Leaving Manus on the same day, SEAWOLF was directed to carry certain stores and Army personnel to the east coast of Samar.

On 3 October SEAWOLF and NARWHAL exchanged SJ radar recognition signals at 0756. Later the same day an enemy submarine attack was made at 2° 32'N, 129° 18'E, which resulted in the sinking of U.S.S. SHELTON (DE-407). Since there were four friendly submarines in the vicinity of this attack, they were directed to give their positions and the other three did, but SEAWOLF was not heard from. On 4 October, SEAWOLF again was directed to report her position, and again she failed to.

U.S.S. ROWELL (DE-403) and an aircraft attacked a submarine in the vicinity of the attack on SHELTON, having at that time no knowledge of any friendly submarines in the area, and it was thought that SEAWOLF must be held down by these anti-submarine activities. ++It is possible that SEAWOLF was the submarine attacked.++

The report from ROWELL indicates that an apparently lethal attack was conducted in conjunction with a plane, which marked the spot with dye. ROWELL established sound contact on the submarine, which then sent long dashes and dots_ (Editor's note: Rowell's War Diary characterizes the signal as "a continuous dash") _which ROWELL stated bore no resemblance to the existing recognition signals. After one of the several hedgehog attacks a small amount of debris and a large air bubble were seen. It has been established that the Japanese submarine RO-41 sank SHELTON on 3 October, and was able to return to Japan.

In view of the above facts, and the fact that there is no attack listed in the Japanese report of anti-submarine attacks which could account for the loss of SEAWOLF, it is possible that SEAWOLF was sunk by friendly forces in an anti-submarine attack on 3 October 1944, in the vicinity of 02° 32'N, 129° 18'E. It is also possible that she was lost due to an operational casualty or as a result of an unrecorded enemy attack.

During her first fourteen patrols, SEAWOLF sank 27 enemy ships, and damaged 13. This gave her total tonnage for ships sunk and damaged of 108,600 and 69,600, respectively.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

Resources:

https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/uss-seawolf-197.htm

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2238&h=196049703&tid=&pid=&queryId=c1ec4f0eec3ed122e1690763a1a288a9&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tqd2085&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/19318176:6224?indiv=1&tid=&pid=&queryId=c1ec4f0eec3ed122e1690763a1a288a9&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tqd2084&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/93512047:2442?indiv=1&tid=&pid=&queryId=4d6660e8123c16322fef666e4e63f774&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tqd2093&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/44745846:1143?indiv=1&tid=&pid=&queryId=692d48b26a6c646ac83c1fd85e974cca&usePUB=true&_phsrc=tqd2089&_phstart=successSource