Perryville VFW post named for two fallen sailors

The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Perryville is named after two sailors who lost their lives in World War II from Perry County, Missouri.

Paul Martin Fischer, according to information from the Bicentennial History of Perry County by the Perry County Historical Society, served on the SS Coamo, which was destroyed by a German submarine in December 1942. Melvin H. Walter served on the USS Grunion submarine which was sunk by Japanese forces Aug. 1, 1942.

All tolled, 46 casualties were reported from WWII in Perry County. Fischer and Walter were the first.

Fischer, a seaman first class, aboard the SS Coamo, died in action near Ireland while en route to New York. According to the U.S. Navy Memorial, the loss of the ship "was the greatest loss of a merchant crew of any U.S. Flag merchant vessel during WWII. The ship was originally an American Steam passenger ship that was turned into a U.S. Army transport. It was sunk by a torpedo Dec. 2, 1942. The torpedo struck under the bridge of the boat and sunk the ship in about five minutes. Fischer was one of 122 crewmen, 37 armed guards and 16 U.S. Army passengers on board. None of the 186 people on board survived.

The USS Grunion, according to National Park Service, was a "Gato-class" submarine, a name derived from a species of small catshark. The Grunion was originally stationed in Connecticut before heading to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal. According to the U.S. government, the submarine saved 16 survivors on a lifeboat following a German attack. The crew delivered the desperate survivors to a Naval Base in Panama, before heading to Pearl Harbor. From there, the Grunion (named after a California silverside fish) was assigned war patrol to the Aleutian Islands. On July 10, 1942, the Grunion reported it had been attacked by an enemy destroyer, fired three torpedoes and missed. Later reports said the submarine sank two destroyers and damaged a third. Twenty days later, the Grunion issued its last transmission to Dutch Harbor Submarine Base. The submarine and sailors had been ordered to return to Dutch Harbor, but were never seen again. The Grunion was later found off the coast of Alaska, about 3,200 feet underwater. It's believed that the Grunion was sunk by the Japanese cargo ship, Kano Maru, after multiple torpedo failures from the Grunion.

Melvin WalterCourtesy Perry County (Missouri) Historical Society

Melvin WalterCourtesy Perry County (Missouri) Historical Society