World War II Honoree

Byron Darnton

Hometown

Adrian, Michigan

WAR CORRESPONDENT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES. KILLED IN ACTION OCTOBER 18, 1942, WHILE COVERING THE BATTLE OF BUNA, NEW GUINEA. FOLLOWING DECISIVE DEFEATS BY THE U.S. NAVY AT THE BATTLES OF CORAL SEA AND MIDWAY, JAPAN LAUNCHED A CAMPAIGN TO GAIN CONTROL OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW GUINEA, WHICH WOULD PUT THEM IN STRIKING DISTANCE OF AUSTRALIA. JAPANESE TROOPS LANDED AT BUNA AND OTHER LOCALES ON THE NORTHEAST COAST OF NEW GUINEA’S PAPUAN PENINSULA IN JULY 1942 AND PUSHED DEFENDING AUSTRALIAN MILITIA FORCES SOUTHWARD TOWARD THE 13,000-FOOT HIGH OWEN-STANLEY MOUNTAIN RANGE IN THEIR DETERMINED EFFORT TO CAPTURE PORT MORESBY. DURING 1942 MAJOR AMERICAN GROUND FORCES WERE ASSEMBLED IN AUSTRALIA AND BY MID-SEPTEMBER 1942, THE U.S. 32ND RED ARROW DIVISION WAS REINFORCING THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENDERS OF PORT MORESBY AND TO COUNTERATTACKING JAPANESE FORCES TO THE NORTH. AS A VETERAN OF THE 32ND DIVISION DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR, HE ACCOMPANIED HIS OLD UNIT INTO ACTION AS A WAR CORRESPONDENT. BY MID-OCTOBER A COASTWISE SMALL BOAT SERVICE FOR TRANSPORTING MEN AND SUPPLIES WAS OPERATING IN THE 32ND DIVISION AREA. ON THE SECOND DAY OF THIS OPERATION, TWO LUGGERS LADEN WITH TROOPS AND MATERIAL OFF PONGANI WERE MISTAKEN FOR ENEMY BOATS AND BOMBED BY A U.S. ARMY AIR FORCE B-25 MITCHELL. HE WAS ABOARD ONE LUGGER AND KILLED IN THE ACCIDENTAL ATTACK, 7 OTHER SOLDIERS WERE KILLED OR WOUNDED AND 1 BOAT WAS SO SEVERELY DAMAGED THAT IT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM FURTHER SERVICE. AN INVESTIGATION OF THIS TRAGIC ACCIDENT LATER REVEALED THAT ARMY GROUND FORCES HAD NEGLECTED TO NOTIFY 5TH AIR FORCE ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE BOATS AND THAT THE PILOT OF THE B-25 HAD NOT TAKEN STEPS TO CORRECTLY IDENTIFY HIS TARGET BEFORE ATTACKING. HE WAS BURIED AT A NEARBY AUSTRALIAN ARMY CEMETERY IN NEW GUINEA. HIS MEMORY WAS HONORED WHEN THE LIBERTY SHIP BYRON DARNTON WAS CHRISTENED BY HIS WIDOW, MRS. ELEANOR CHOATE DARNTON AND LAUNCHED IN BALTIMORE, MARYLAND ON DECEMBER 16, 1943. THE SS BYRON DARNTON SERVED DURING THE WAR IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC AND ON THE MURMANSK RUN TO THE SOVIET UNION. ON MARCH 16, 1946 THE SHIP RAN AGROUND IN SCOTLAND DURING A STORM. IT NEVER SAILED AGAIN. HIS REMAINS WERE REPATRIATED AFTER THE WAR AT HIS WIDOW’S REQUEST AND ON JUNE 24, 1948 HE WAS REBURIED WITH MILITARY HONORS NEXT TO HIS MOTHER AND FATHER AT OAKWOOD CEMETERY IN HIS BOYHOOD HOMETOWN OF ADRIAN, MICHIGAN.