Jim Beller
Staff Writer
SNEEDVILLE Ñ In the early morning hours of July 6, 1943, the USS Helena was hit by three Japanese torpedoes, broken into three parts and sunk, losing nearly 170 of her crewmen. One of those crewmen, Seaman 1st Class General Preston Douglas, was finally laid to rest here Saturday.
The son of Walter and Bertha Douglas and brother of Regina Douglas Collins and Walter Garfield Douglas, Jr., the Newcomb, Tenn. native was listed as Missing In Action by the Navy, then "Presumed Dead" on Aug. 10, 1945.
For more than 60 years, Regina Collins wondered about the fate of her brother.
"He was missing in 1943 and they presumed him dead," said Caroline Roberts, daughter of the late Collins, known throughout Sneedville as "Miss Jean."
"Of course, Mom knew after that length of time (Douglas hadn't survived)," Roberts said. "I can remember as a little girl her wishing she knew where he was."
The Helena, a light cruiser, was part of a task force that fought Japanese destroyers off the coast of Kolombangara Island, Solomon Islands near New Guinea, in the Battle of Kula Gulf as part of the Guadalcanal campaign.
In June 2006, a resident of Ranongga Island, Solomon Islands, notified U.S. officials that he exhumed human remains and Douglas' dog tag that he found eroding out of the ground near a trail by his village, some 50 miles from where the Helena had sunk.
"His remains were taken to the military's Hawaii forensics lab," said Albert "Buddy" Campbell,American Legion Commander, Post 183. Using dental records, circumstantial evidence and mitochondrial DNA, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) scientists and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory identified the remains as those of the missing Tennessee sailor.
"They first took my DNA then they took Mom's DNA to make sure," said Roberts. "And they were definitely a match."
Sadly, by the time of the confirmation, Miss Jean had developed Alzheimer's and was not cognizant of her brother's discovery.
"Growing up, I remember her speaking of him often. She told us stories about him and how proud she was of him and her other brother," Roberts said. "They were both in the Navy. It would have meant so much to her knowing they had found him. But she had Alzheimer's and by the time we had the news, she just couldn't understand."
Miss Jean passed away in November, the last living family member who knew Douglas. What's known of his story was told Saturday during funeral services at McNeil Funeral Home Chapel in Sneedville.
Born July 26, 1922, Douglas enlisted in the Navy at age 19, just 10 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, where ironically, the USS Helena had suffered engine room and boiler room damage from a Japanese torpedo. He took basic training in San Diego, Calif. before being deployed to the South Seas.
"I donÕt know how he lived," Hancock County Mayor Greg Marion said. "I donÕt know if he worked on his parents' farm before he left to answer his countryÕs call for men, I donÕt know if he had a girlfriend that he sent letters to. He probably did. There is so much we donÕt know about him. But I know he watched the same sunsets from his Jellico home that we watched, played and hunted in the shadows of the same mountains along the Tennessee/Kentucky border that we did, and watched the same sunsets we did. Today he is home. He will be buried next to the loving sister who wondered about him so often."
Douglas died just two weeks' shy of his 21st birthday.
Campbell said islanders hid American soldiers, living and dead. "There were Japanese all over," Campbell said. "They buried these people so the Japanese couldn't find them because if the Japanese knew there were dead there, they knew there would be living soldiers there, as well."
Survivors include nephews and wives, Denny and Sue Douglas, Marvin and Gail Douglas, Bob and Katie Douglas, all of Sneedville, Eddie and Debbie Douglas and Bill and Mary Lynn Douglas, all of Mooresburg; niece and husband, Carolyn and Charles Roberts of Sneedville, several great-nieces and nephews, and great great-nieces and nephews and other extended family members.
"It's really been a miracle to think they could find him after all these years," said nephew Denny Douglas.
Following services, Seaman 1st Class General Preston Douglas was laid to rest next to his sister in the Gallahon Cemetery north of town with full military honors, including a 21-gun salute, the highest honor bestowed at a military funeral, and the playing of Taps.
Veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the current Iraq War, in full military dress, stood at attention throughout the ceremony.
"Today is a very proud day," Denny Douglas said. "He is getting the honors he deserves. The family finally gets some closure."
Douglas said he thinks the timing of his uncle's discovery and Miss Jean's death may not be coincidental.
"Mom passed away in November of '07," he said. "It was about the time we were for sure he was coming home. I kind of wondered if maybe if she knew and decided it was time to go home with him."
The Rogersville Review
ÊProudly Serving Hawkins County, Tennessee Since 1885
© 2008 East Tennessee Network