Hoover, John Horsford

HOOVER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 5/19/2010 at 09:54:23

The Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa)

JOHN HOOVER IS REPORTED MISSING IN MANILLA BAY AREA

The hard hand of war struck again at Grinnell today when Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Hoover received word that their son, John Horsford Hoover, is missing in the Manilla area. John held the rank of pharmacist's mate second class. His four year term of enlistment would have expired May 3. His duties took him into base hospitals and it is presumed that he was on Corregidor when it surrendered, so there is every reason to hope that he is a prisoner of war.

The text of the telegram received by Mr. and Mrs. Hoover follows:

The Navy Department exceedingly regrets to advise you that your son, John Horsford Hoover, Phar. Mate 2nd Class, U.S.N., was performing his duty in the service of his country in the Manilla Bay area when that station capitulated. He will be carried on the records of the Navy Department as missing pending further information. No report of his death or injury has been received and he may be a prisoner of war. It will probably be several months before definite official information can be expected concering his status. Sincere sympathy is extended to you in your anxiety and you are assured that any report received will be communicated to you promptly.
Rear Admiral Randall Jones,
Chief of Naval Personnel"
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ON TORPEDOED SHIP

JOHN HOOVER

Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class

The U.S. Navy officially announced, Saturday that John Hoover, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Hoover of this city had lost his life when a Japanese freighter on which he with other American prisoners was being transported from the Philippine Islands to Japan was torpedoed off the coast of China, Oct. 24, 1944, by an American submarine. John was captured at the Cavite naval base hospital in December of 1941. The detailed story appeared in Monday's Herald-Register.