Valor Friday

Leading Signalman Campbell Buchanan, Royal New Zealand Navy

I’ve several times talked about men and women of valor who have received decorations from allied governments. Sometimes, as in the case of recipients of the top valor awards (such as a Medal of Honor or the Victoria Cross), these foreign decorations are nearly automatic. For example, virtually every Medal of Honor recipient in the European Theater of both World Wars was also honored with one (or more) foreign valor decorations from the countries they were fighting in or alongside. Major Charles Whittlesey, of the famous Lost Battalion during WWI, received the Medal of Honor, and then was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor (France’s highest award), a Knight Commander of the Order of Prince Danilo I (Montenegro’s highest honor for those not members of the royal family), and received Italy’s War Merit Cross (roughly analogous to an American Silver Star).

Rarer, and more meaningful in my opinion, are those awards from a foreign government for something that your own didn’t recognize, or did so with a relatively low award. It seems to me that if your heroism is enough that a foreign military notices it, then you were truly exceptional. Your own officers aren’t going to be recommending you for a foreign award. Unless operating in a joint environment, you’re unlikely to (under normal circumstances) be noticed by the senior officers of another country that it would take to earn such an honor.

Today I’ll highlight a man who, at the Battle of Guadalcanal, died in action against the Imperial Japanese Navy. Before he fell to the enemy’s hand, he drew the attention of the United States. Though only a lowly leading signalman in rank, his final act of bravery was deserving of America’s second-highest award for bravery, the Navy Cross. Of note, since the Medal of Honor can only be earned by those serving in (not with) the American military, the Navy Cross is the country’s highest military decoration that can be awarded to those of foreign militaries.

The Torpedo Bay Naval Museum tells the story;

Leading Signalman Campbell Howard Buchanan and his twin sister Chris were born on 7 April 1920 to Joseph and Emma Buchanan of Fox Street, Port Chalmers. Campbell went to Port Chalmers School and left at age 14 to work at Cadbury Fry Hudson in Dunedin before joining the Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1937 (RNZNVR service number 0/7366). By 1940 he was in England serving onboard submarines for a year before joining HMNZS Kiwi (Lt Cdr Gordon Bridson RNZNVR of Auckland commanding) as commissioning crew.

Campbell was just 22 years old when he died on 31 January 1943. His death was the result of wounds he had received two nights previously during the sinking of the Japanese Submarine I-1 by HMNZ Ships Moa (Lt Cdr Peter Phipps RNZNVR of Christchurch commanding) and Kiwi in the waters off the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

…

Our story begins in earnest on the particularly dark night of 29 January 1943 with Kiwi and Moa a mile apart, patrolling up and down the coast a mile off Kamimbo Bay at the North West end of Guadalcanal. At 1830 the Japanese submarine I-1 surfaced in the bay, however, on the realisation that the phosphorescent water had revealed her silhouette to Kiwi the I-1 promptly dived.

I-1 was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Eiichi Sakamoto, Imperial Japanese Navy and had sailed from Rabaul five days earlier on a re-supply mission to Guadalcanal. Onboard were rice, bean paste, curry, ham, sausages and a three man crew for a number of Daihatsu landing barges lashed to her hull. At 96 metres long and 2035 tonnes surface displacement the I-1 was larger than both Kiwi and Moa combined.

With a crew of 82 the I-1 was originally fitted with a seaplane hangar but had been modified and now sported a 125mm gun that not only had a greater range than those fitted to the New Zealand ships but also fired a shell more than twice as heavy. The submarine was additionally fitted with a six-pounder stern gun and two machine guns. To cap it off the I-1 was also capable of making 18 knots when surfaced, an advantage of six over her opposition.

…

Unfortunately the I-1 surfaced within sight of the two minesweepers who turned to close, opening fire with 4-inch star shells for illumination and high explosive rounds for effect. Kiwi’s third H.E. round found its mark, however, I-1 returned fire with her 125 mm deck gun with the result that two shells passed over Kiwi with the “noise like an express going through a tunnel” (Yeoman of Signals J.L.W. Salter, BEM, MiD, RNZNVR RTD). Another three shells passed uncomfortably near Moa causing Moa to call up Kiwi and ask “Are you firing at us?” to the response of “No, that’s the submarine”.

Given that the I-1 was now only 365 metres from Kiwi and beam on, Lt Cdr Bridson decided to ram the submarine. As Kiwi gained speed Moa delivered support by firing star shells to provide more general illumination. Sakamoto realised what was afoot and managed to initiate a turn to starboard resulting in Kiwi striking a glancing blow port side abaft the conning tower. Such was the force of the impact that Kiwi had to use full astern power to pull free from the now holed submarine.

Once clear Kiwi gathered speed and rammed a second time, striking a glancing blow well aft that damaged the port hydroplane. Despite the mounting damage toll the Japanese were by no means ready to give up the fight. Many submariners on deck returned fire with 0.303 rifles in addition to more rounds from the submarine’s main gun, which fortunately all missed.

Kiwi returned fire with as many weapons as could be bought to bear whilst withdrawing from the submarine. The liberated Oerlikon was put to particularly good use clearing the bridge, killing the submarine’s Commanding Officer Lt Cdr Sakamoto in the process. The 125 mm gun crew suffered the same fate and I-1’s main gun finally fell silent.

The accuracy of the fire was greatly enhanced by the illumination provided by Leading Signalman Buchanan at his station on the ship’s signalling lamp, pressed into service as a searchlight. The barges lashed to the submarine’s deck also caught fire and provided additional light. Kiwi’s signalling lamp drew a lot of fire in an attempt to halt its operation and as the corvette closed to ram a third time one of the submariners succeeded in mortally wounding Buchanan, with the high velocity .303 round actually passing through the gun shield. Buchanan nevertheless remained at his post until officially relieved.

…

The action drew to a close roughly two hours after it started when at 8.40 PM the submarine ran aground on a submerged reef at 09-13S, 159-40E. Moa loitered in the vicinity until dawn when it became apparent that the forward 15 metres of I-1 was protruding from the water at an angle of 45 degrees. As daylight broke shore based Japanese artillery fire forced Moa to move off but not before a submariner was shot off the submarine’s casing and a wounded officer pulled from the sea.

The corvettes had collectively expended 58 x 4-inch rounds resulting in 17 definite hits and 7 probable. The unofficial 20 mm Oerlikons fired 1,259 rounds and a further 3,500 machine gun and rifle rounds were expended. One NZ Sailor (Buchanan) was killed in return for 26 Japanese, including Lt Cdr Sakamoto, the submarine’s Commanding Officer. Despite Kiwi’s bow being stove in, her ASDIC gear out of action and minor damage sustained from enemy gunfire she returned to NZ and was soon repaired. The unofficial Oerlikon was removed before arrival in Devonport!

Kiwi’s Commanding Officer Lt Cdr Bridson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his exploits whilst Phipps (later Vice Admiral Sir Peter Phipps, KBE, DSC and Bar, VRD who went on to become the first NZ born Chief of Defence Staff) received a bar to his Distinguished Service Cross. Steward Ernest Barton from Moa was Mentioned in Despatches for his gallantry during the attack (and was himself to be wounded in another action only a couple of days later, receiving the Distinguished Service Medal in the process for remaining at his post until he collapsed).

There is much more at the source that hides behind my use of the “…”.

The Royal New Zealand Navy Communicators Association has another write up that details a significant contribution to the overall war effort in the battle to sink I-1;

A significant postscript to this action concerned Japanese naval codes. After the Battle of Midway (3-6 June 1942), senior IJN officers knew their military codes used in radio communications had been compromised. There had been too many seemingly fortuitous occurrences for the Americans that could not be dismissed by the Japanese as “lucky coincidences”, so they now ordered their reserve codes to become operational. A major task given to Lt. Cdr. Sakamato, captain of the I-1 was to deliver 20,000 copies of the reserve code books to Japanese forces operating in the South Pacific. Many of these code books were still on the I-1 when it was destroyed. When US divers inspected the interior of I-1 after the action there was evidence of the Japanese crew’s attempt to destroy the remaining code books. However, enough material remained intact for US code breakers to solve the codes and allow them once again to decipher IJN encrypted radio messages. One of the first major allied successes from eavesdropping on Japanese military [c]ommunications was the shooting down of the aircraft carrying the Commander-in Chief of the IJN, Adm. I. Yamamoto, the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbour. The death of this very senior Japanese Naval officer had an immediate demoralising [sic] effect on the morale and direction of the Japanese Navy.

From his own service, the Royal New Zealand Navy, Buchanan was mentioned in despatches. This is an honor equivalent to an American Bronze Star Medal. At the time though, only two gallantry decorations could be awarded posthumously, the Victoria Cross and a MiD. The other awards in the system between those two could only be given to living recipients. This means that the RNZN also bestowed their second-highest honor on the young man.

Here’s Buchanan’s Navy Cross citation:

Navy Cross
World War II
Service: Foreign
Rank: Leading Signalman
Division: HMNZS Kiwi
Action Date: January 29 & 30, 1943

Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 315 (June 1943)

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Leading Signalman Campbell H. Buchanan, Royal New Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve, for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Leading Signalman of the HMNZS KIWI, during an engagement with a Japanese submarine at Kamimbo, near Guadalcanal, on 29 and 30 January 1943. Although mortally wounded and gallantly disregarding his own serious condition, Leading Signalman Buchanan remained at his battle station, skillfully training the searchlight and illuminating the target for the guns of his ship. Dauntlessly performing his task, while the corvette attacked with depth charges, forcing the Japanese submarine to the surface and ramming it, Leading Signalman Buchanan, by his intrepid devotion to duty, aided materially in the destruction of the enemy vessel.

Category: Historical, Kiwis, Navy, Navy Cross, Valor, We Remember, WWII