Page 240 - Swann Galleries - Printed & Manuscript African Americana- Sale 2308 - March 21, 2013

441 ● (MILITARY—WORLD WAR II.) HARMON LEONARD ROY . A Fighting
Ship U.S.S. Harmon, named for a fighting man. Poster, Black and white poster 22 x
28 inches; creases where folded. Washington, D.C: Bureau of Naval Personnel, (1943)
[1,000/1,500]
For extraordinary heroism whole serving aboard the U.S.S. San Francisco during action against
enemy forces in the Solomon Islands area . . . Leonard Roy Harmon ìwith disregard for his
own personal safetyî helped evacuate a number of wounded, including the executive officer.
Harmon lost his own life and was awarded a posthumous Navy Cross. Two ships were named
in his honor. The HMS Aylmer had been provisionally named USS Harmon (DE-72) but
was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion. The USS Harmon (DE-678) served
from 1943 to 1947 and remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1967; it was the first US war-
ship to be named after a black man.
442 ● (MILITARY—WORLD WAR II.) FRENCH, CHARLES JACKSON. Charles
Jackson French of the U.S. Navy towed a raft full of his shipwrecked mates to
safety . . . Small wartime calendar mounted on a large pictorial board 161⁄4 x 101⁄
4 inches
showing French swimming, the raft in tow; small archival tape repair to reverse.
Np, 1944 [600/800]
There were probably many more acts of “courage above and beyond the call of duty,” performed
by black servicemen, but the two that received any public recognition at the time were that of
Dorie Miller and Charles Jackson French—and only then because of the African American
press. Charles Jackson French, a 22 year mess assistant was on the destroyer “Gregory” off the
coast of Guadalcanal in October of 1942 when it was struck and sunk by Japanese naval gun-
fire. 24 survivors, including French had managed to get into a large life-raft. However, the
danger now was if the raft were to float ashore, they would all surely be taken prisoner or killed
by the Japanese. French volunteered to get in the shark infested waters and towed the raft for 6
to 8 hours until another U.S. naval vessel picked the men up.
441