Richard J. Hennington
Petty Officer Second Class, U.S. Navy

Richard J. Hennington was born in 1910 in Brooklyn, NY. His birth name was Elwood, but he used his father's name, Richard and was called "Dick" by the family. He was the oldest of seven children and only one sister is still living (2014). Richard was married to Hazel and his last place of residence was East Boston, MA.

Hennington was serving as a Ship's Cook Petty Officer 2nd Class on the light cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on 12 and 13 November 1942. At 0148 on 13 November, Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan's relatively small Landing Support Group engaged the enemy. The Japanese force consisted of two battleships, one light cruiser, and nine destroyers.

Because of bad weather and confused communications, the battle occurred in near pitch darkness and at almost point-blank range as the ships of the two sides became intermingled. During the melee, Juneau was struck on the port side by a torpedo causing a severe list, and necessitating withdrawal. Before noon on 13 November, Juneau, along with two other cruisers damaged in the battle — Helena and San Francisco — headed toward Espiritu Santo for repairs. Juneau was steaming on one screw, keeping station 800 yards off the starboard quarter of the likewise severely damaged San Francisco. She was down 12 feet by the bow, but able to maintain 13 knots.

A few minutes after 1100, two torpedoes were launched from the Japanese submarine I-26. These were intended for San Francisco, but both passed ahead of her. One struck Juneau in the same place that had been hit during the battle. There was a great explosion; Juneau broke in two and disappeared in just 20 seconds. Fearing more attacks from I-26, and wrongly assuming from the massive explosion that there were no survivors, Helena and San Francisco departed without attempting to rescue any survivors. But, in fact more than 100 sailors had survived the sinking of Juneau. They were left to fend for themselves in the open ocean for eight days before rescue aircraft belatedly arrived. While awaiting rescue, all but 10 died from the elements and shark attacks.

In total, 687 men, including SC2 Hennington and the five Sullivan brothers, were killed in action as a result of her sinking.

Memorialization

The name Richard J. Hennington is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital, Philippines.

His name is also inscribed on a memorial to USS Juneau, placed along the cruise ship docks in Juneau, Alaska. (See photo.)