James A. Busey

Branch: COAST GUARD RESERVES
Service Number: 520257
Rank: Fireman 1^st Class
Assignment: USS Leopold (DE-319)

James as a toddler

James Arthur Busey was born on October 21, 1921 in Seabrook, Maryland to parents Samuel Arthur “Bubba” Busey and Zelah Catherine (Lauer) “Celie” Busey. James had a younger sister, Elizabeth "Betty" who was born in the fall of 1925. According to a 1925 directory, the Buseys were living at 1144 Fifth Street NE in Washington D.C. and the 1930 Census, shows them living at 513 G. Street Northeast in Washington D.C. 

James was a parishioner of the Saint Francis Xavier Church and attended Holy Name parochial grade school from September 1928, when he began first grade until June 1936 when he graduated eighth grade. The principal there stated he was an average to poor student.  This assessment certainly could have been a reflection of his home life. It was during this period that James’s parents had separated. A situation that must have been difficult for all parties to endure. 

Samuel was a machinist by trade and worked at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. By 1935, Samuel was living at 1930 18th Street Northwest. Celie made ends meet by working as a sales person at a local department store. 

James attended Eastern High School in Washington D.C. from September 20, 1936 until June 17, 1939; the completion of his sophomore year. It was noted by the assistant principal that his scholarship, attendance and punctuality records all were poor. It was time to leave school and move on to the work force.

1669 Fort Davis Place, SE

To By 1940, Celie, James and Betty resided at 1010 11th St. Northeast in Washington D.C. James was employed as a clerk for the Safeway grocery store at 4th and F Street Northeast from 1939 into 1940. He then picked up work as laborer for William P. Lipscomb Construction Company for a year. On December 1, 1941, James took a job as a truck driver and sheet metal helper for John A. Pierpoint, a tinning, roofing, heating and ventilation contractor. He left this job on May 8, 1942 with the intention of joining the armed forces. 

Three days later, James showed up at a recruitment office in Baltimore, Maryland to enlist in the United States Coast Guard Reserves. The recruiter was more than happy to accept him into the service but there was only one catch -- he needed to obtain parental consent to join. Returning home, James convinced his mother to sign the consent form and on May 13th was officially sworn into the Coast Guard for a 3-year period. At the time, he was residing at 1669 Fort Davis Place, Southeast in Washington D.C. with his mother and sister. According to his enlistment paperwork, Busey was 20 years, 6 months of age, stood at five foot, seven inches height and weighted in at 131 pounds. He had blue eyes, brown hair, a medium complexion. There was a one inch scar on his forehead and another on his right wrist. When asked if he was ever arrested, James answered “yes.” He claimed this happened once, when he was stopped for speeding, yet the police had no record of this. His rap sheet was squeaky clean.




Training at Manhattan Beach

Busey departed his home the next day and reported to Manhattan Beach Training Station in Brooklyn, New York.  Here, the Apprentice Seaman would spend just slightly over a month waking up at 5:30am to learn the basic skills needed to become a "Coastie.” Here is a description of what training was like there. 

"They learned how to march and salute, how to dress for inspection and keep their personal space ship-shape. They launch, row, and retrieve pulling boats from the beach. They go to the firing range to practice with small arms and heavy weapons like the 20mm and 40mm twin or quad mounts, the three-inch 50-caliber, and the five-inch 38-caliber open mount. They spend days firing at an aerial target towed up and down a beach. 

They learn how to close watertight doors, pump water from one ship’s compartment to another, how to shore up a damaged hull, how to survive a burning ship with oxygen masks, and how to abandon ship without a lifeboat. They strap into life jackets, hold their noses, grab their family jewels, and jump twenty feet into a tank of water with a fire flaring on top. They swim out of the flames, splashing water to keep their hair and eyebrows from catching fire. They practice cold-water survival. 

Aboard the ‘USS Neversail’ (a land-locked training ship) they tie knots, make rope fenders, splice rope and wire. They master the names of all the lines and make the USS Neversail ready to go to sea. They practice landing a ship at a dock and tying it up. They set the bow anchors, rig a sea anchor, and fix a scramble net over the side to pick up men in the water. And when their day is done, they gather in the mess halls to feast on a stew known as ‘frickin’ chick-a-sea.’ Finally, they survive sleepless, booze-soaked liberties in Manhattan.” 

Famed boxer Jack Dempsey was assigned as Director of Physical Education at this station on June 12. James would have been nearly finished, but it’s possible that Dempsey could have had some involvement with his basic training.  




Duluth Coast Guard Station

On June 18th, Busey’s first assignment sent him to the Hancock Life Saving Station located in Hancock, Michigan. Two days later he was transferred to the Duluth Coast Guard Station, on banks of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota. 

The shipyards in the area were vital to the war effort. They were responsible for building hundreds of vessels for the Navy, Coast Guard as well as tankers, freighters and cargo ships which hauled critical supplies overseas for the Allies. Duluth was located far inland, away from the coasts where the threat of attack from the air or sea was minimized. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Coast Guard was ordered to step up patrols near these facilities along Lake Superior.

While stationed here, James received a promotion to Seaman Second Class on August 13th and then to Seaman First Class on November 1st. One month later he was transferred to Coast Guard Station Detroit in Michigan. This facility was located at Belle Isle, a small island on the Detroit River close to the border of Canada. Their duty was to patrol the river from the western end of Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair, enforcing maritime law and to perform search and rescue operations for distressed swimmers and boaters. James assignment here was meant to be a brief one, but he remained stationed there until late May, 1943. 




Belle Island C.G. Station

By May 28th, James was transferred to serve aboard the USCG Chaparral (WAGL 178) on Lake Superior in Wisconsin. The Chaparral was a 161 foot, 405 ton commercial ferry boat originally acquired by the Coast Guard in October 1942 for use on the Great Lakes because of it’s ice-breaking capabilities. This ship was soon repurposed as a buoy tender and recommissioned by the beginning of December. Buoy tenders were used to maintain and replace navigation aids on the water ways. While working aboard the Chaparral, he was promoted to Fireman Second Class on June 14th, 1943. A fireman in this case is not an actual firefighter. They assist in the engineering department by maintaining the ship’s, engines, boilers and pumps.




USS Chaparral (WAGL-178)

James received orders on September 6, 1943 to report to the Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia for Destroyer Escort training. He departed from Wisconsin at noon on September 11th and headed back home to Washington D.C. to see his family and friends. He was granted a 10 day leave of absence before heading on to Virginia. 

On September 22, James arrived in Norfolk, where he was assigned to Destroyer Escort (DE) Crew #12 and participated in orientation training for the destroyer escort program. Destroyer escorts were ships created to protect slower moving convoys, mainly freighters and tankers, against enemy ships, aircraft and submarines. They were smaller and slower than their brethren, the destroyer, which protected the battleships and aircraft carriers. The escorts were a good fit for their purpose, primarily because they could be produced quicker and cheaper than destroyers. 




Robert L. Leopold

In mid October, the new crew boarded a passenger train bound for Texas to attend the commissioning ceremony on October 18, 1943 for their new ship, the USS Leopold (DE-319). This was an Edsall-Class Destroyer, named after Robert Lawrence Leopold. Leopold was a Navy Ensign from Louisville, Kentucky who perished aboard USS Arizona on December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor. The fabrication of this ship began on March 24, 1943 when the keel was laid down at the Consolidated Steel Corporation shipyard in Orange, Texas. 

The launching ceremony for the USS Leopold was held at the shipyard on June 12, 1943. Hundreds of locals and ship workers looked on as well as the Leopold Family, who had travelled from Louisville just to witness this event. Ms. Helen S. Leopold, the sister of the ship’s namesake was the sponsor of the vessel. She was juggling a bouquet of red roses in one hand and a full champagne bottle in the other. Worried about not being strong enough to break the ceremonial bottle on the bow, she asked an executive from the ship building firm to help her swing it. Helen said later on, "You feel that if you do it right, it will bring the ship luck. And during the war, you wanted it to do something." With assistance, she christened the ship by breaking the bottle of champagne over the bow and wished Godspeed to all of her crew as the warship drifted sideways down the slipway, creating a huge wave as it splashed down into the water. 

 The Leopold escort was 306 feet in length, 36 feet-seven inches wide and had a displacement of 1,253 tons. At 12 knots, her range was 10,800 nautical miles. This ship carried an impressive array of weaponry with cannons, torpedo tub and depth charges. It was also fitted with a state-of-the-art radar, sonar capable of detecting U-boats from up to a distance of 4000 yards, and a high-frequency direction finding (HF/DF or “huff duff”) equipment that was used to locate enemy submarines by listening to their radio transmissions. Leopold held a crew of 199, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Kenneth C. Phillips.   




Launching of USS Leopold

While moored at port, Leopold was loaded up with fuel, supplies and some ammunition and set off down the Sabine River on October 21st for some initial maneuvering trials and structural test firing of the guns. The next day, the ship arrived in Galveston, Texas and put into a dry dock for 6 days to repair a chronic steering engine problem encountered while on the maiden voyage. Once re-floated, the Leopold got underway for New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving on October 30. Here, the hull was degaussed (reduction of magnetic signature), they performed additional navigational tests, and re-stocked the ammunition. 




By November 7th, USS Leopold departed the Mississippi River delta and sailed on to Bermuda along with sister ship, USS Kirkpatrick (DE-318) to perform a shakedown cruise with the young and inexperienced crew. This process allowed all equipment, weapons and procedures to be thoroughly tested, making sure everything and everyone was in satisfactory condition before being pressed into duty. They completed these sea trials on December 9th and headed to the Navy yard in Charleston, South Carolina to make any necessary repairs, re-calibrate equipment, and refuel the ship. By December 21st, they returned to Norfolk where they resumed training and re-stocked the ship with provisions and additional ammunition.  




The USS Leopold departed from the Chesapeake Bay for it’s first mission on Christmas Eve 1943 as part of Task Force 61 (TF-61). They were to escort a convoy (UGS-28) of over 100 ships to Egypt and Morocco. The job of the destroyer escorts was to protect the convoy by flanking the ships, staying alert at all times watching and listening or “screening” for signs of U-boats. These German submarines had been decimating allied vessels crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The escorts would also round up any “stragglers” that lagged behind the rest of the convoy. During this mission, Leopold was directed on the evening of December 30th to go to the rear of the formation to search for a seaman from Ship #34 of the convoy reported lost overboard. After searching the area for 45 minutes without success, they returned to their screening position. 




On New Years Day 1944, James was promoted to Fireman First Class (F1c). The only other news for that day was a refueling from the tanker USS Chepachet (AO-78) and a lieutenant who missed the Leopold when it departed Norfolk. He managed to catch a ride aboard the Chepachet and reunited with his crew during the refueling process.




Casablanca Convoy

Task Force 61 arrived at the Straits of Gibraltar on the morning of January 10th where the British Royal Navy took over escort duties for the convoy. The Leopold headed for Casablanca for a few days of liberty, but only half of the crew was allowed to go ashore at a time. This limitation was due to alleged reports of Italian frogmen who were attempting to plant explosives on allied warships. On January 13th, the task force resumed duty by screening the waters surrounding the Straits of Gibraltar to prevent enemy submarines from entering the Mediterranean. After two days of anti-submarine screening, Leopold returned to Gibraltar Harbor where a third of the crew were now granted liberty. New orders were received for an escort detail heading back to the United States. The ship was refueled and received 10 tons of fresh water prior to departing Gibraltar by the afternoon of January 16th.  




They were now heading west-bound as one of 16 destroyer escorts to protect a convoy of 108 merchant ships (GUS-27). The return voyage was plagued with problems. This was  mostly due to miserable weather, particularly the strong headwinds and cold, rough seas. The escorts were constantly leaving their positions to look for convoy stragglers who were blown out of position and couldn’t keep up. The waves reached 40 to 65 foot tall and battered the Leopold relentlessly. Someone in the crew nicknamed the ship “Leapin’ Leo.” During this time, the morale was said to be poor. Nelson “Sparky” Nersasian, a gunner aboard the Leopold wrote in journal, “All hands in bad mood. Fights springing up from all quarters. . . . Chow lousy. Weather cold.”

USS Poole (DE-151)

The convoy finally arrived at New York on the late evening of February 4th and the Leopold was anchored at the New York Navy Yard. The next morning it was placed in dry dock to have voyage repairs and alterations completed.  James was granted a furlough while the ship was being fixed. He made his way back to Washington D.C. for a few days before returning to New York. On the 15th, Leopold was re-floated, resupplied and by evening, was underway to New London, Connecticut for anti-submarine warfare and P.T. Boat exercises along with USS Poole (DE-151) and USS Kirkpatrick (DE-318). After a few days training off the coast Montauk, New York with US Navy sub, USS Bonita (SS-165), the destroyer escorts moved up to Casco Bay, Maine for weapons practice. Leopold, Poole, Kirkpatrick returned to New York Navy Yard on February 27th to await their next assignment.  




USS Peterson (DE-152)

On the morning of March 1st, USS Leopold received Operation Order #1-44, an escort detail that included USS Poole, USS Kirkpatrick, USS Joyce (DE-317), USS Harveson (DE-316), and USS Peterson (DE-152).  Each of these warships was constructed in Orange, Texas at the same time as the Leopold and fully staffed by Coast Guardsmen.

They were part of Escort Division 22, Task Group 21.5, protecting a small convoy of 27 ships (CU-16) across the Atlantic Ocean to Londonderry, North Ireland. The first paragraph of the orders warned, “Enemy submarines are very active in areas through which [the] convoy will travel. And attacks can be expected at any time. . . . The utmost vigilance must be exercised.” The group readied and departed from New York harbor at 1pm. The voyage was a pretty uneventful one for a week. But the convoy then entered an area nicknamed, "Torpedo Junction." This was where the dreaded U-boats were known to sit and wait to ambush passing ships. On the 8th, USS Leopold reported an HF/DF (Huff Duff) intercept 100 miles away from their position. This indicated that an enemy submarine was along the path of the convoy. The commander ordered a course alteration to steer clear of the vicinity.




USS Kirkpatrick (DE-318)

On March 9, 1944, USS Leopold was ordered to switch positions in the formation with USS Kirkpatrick as the Leopold was the only escort vessel equipped with a HF/DF device to listen for submarine radio transmissions. Kirkpatrick was on far starboard (right-hand) side of the escorts; the side in which the U-boat was detected the day prior. Everyone was on edge, fearing a possible sub attack.  General quarters was called several times throughout the day to keep the crew prepared for action. In the afternoon, an order was given to personnel of the Leopold not engaged in critical operations of the ship to assemble on the fantail to watch a film that reviewed abandon-ship procedures. That evening, the convoy was located approximately 400 miles due south of Iceland. The sea had a moderate westerly swell. There were some patchy, heavy clouds in an otherwise partly overcast sky. The air temperature was a cold and damp 44 degrees Fahrenheit with moderate winds and the water temperature was reported to be a roughly the same as the surface air.  




USS Harveson (DE-316)

Leopold picked up a target on the surface radar at 7:50pm closing within 4 miles of their position. They reported the contact to the commander of the convoy escort and left station to go intercept this contact at flanking speed. Personnel were immediately ordered to general quarters.  

It was a beehive of activity throughout the ship. Men scrambled to their battle stations. Down in the engine room, Busey and his fellow firemen were busy making sure that all of the propulsion and steering systems were functioning properly as the warship steamed on to meet its target.

Seven minutes later, USS Joyce was dispatched to assist Leopold with the investigation. At 7:58pm, Leopold fired two star flares to illuminate the area. The Executive Officer, Pete Cone was stationed up on Leo's flying bridge when he spotted something in the distance. "Submarine, dead ahead!" A spotlight was trained on the object. Sure enough, it was a German U-boat moving right across the front of the ship, about one thousand yards out.

Commander Phillips ordered the guns to open fire and to continue flanking speed. "Prepare to ram." Leopold's guns let loose on the target but did not manage to score a direct hit. Sparky Nersasian recalled, “We look up and there is a sub in front of us . . . everybody’s yelling, ‘Get those bastards. Kill them! Kill them!’ The sub is going across us right to left on top of the water."

USS Joyce (DE-317)

The submarine spotted by the Leopold was the U-255, helmed by Oberleutnant zur See (Lieutenant at sea) Erich Harms. His ship had been the contact detected by the Leopold only one day prior. As the U-boat was diving to evade attack, they launched a newly developed T5 “Gnat” acoustic torpedo. It was designed to home in on sound waves created by a ship’s propeller. Once launched from the U-255, this projectile circled around and found the Leopold, striking the hull low in her port side. 

At first, the men thought the ship was hit by an artillery round from the submarine. Commander Phillips called for a damage report. The explosion had knocked out all electric power. He sent someone to find the damage control officer. The Leopold had also come to a nearly dead stop. Weird. There was a peculiar roll of the warship along with the waves. It was noted that the center of Leo was beginning to sag. Silence was broken only by the sounds of shearing metal and shouting crew members. Something had gone seriously wrong. 

The damage control officer reported to the commander with bad news. The German torpedo struck the ship in the most-forward of her three engineering spaces. The backbone of the Leopold is broken and there is a hole in the port side from frames fifty-eight to seventy-five. The hole extends ten or fifteen feet aft nearly to the bulkhead between the forward engineering space B-1 that houses two of the diesels and the middle engineering space B-2. The cavity goes from below the waterline up through the main deck and includes damage to the superstructure. There is a smaller hole on the starboard side. With the hull skin and at least seventeen frames compromised, the ship is in danger of breaking in half along the expansion joint between the ship’s mast and exhaust stack. A watertight door has been blown open allowing water to start flooding the aft end of the ship. This  report confirmed that James Busey was most likely killed instantly as his station was in the engineering space, where the torpedo blasted into the ship. 

The bow and stern of the Leopold began lifting up out of the water with the front portion twisting to starboard, leaning more with each roll of the waves. “The ship is in two pieces, just held together by the deck,” Sparky Nersasian said. “Everything was sliding toward the center of the ship. Cut in half just like you measured it. Down we went.”




U-255

The men scrambled to escape the sinking vessel as the order to abandon ship as given. Some were trapped in the wreckage and had no chance of escape. Those who were not, were confronted with only a handful of small safety rafts and safety nets, an inflatable oval ring with netting instead of a solid bottom. The fact was that there were simply not enough of these to accommodate the entire crew. Their only other option was jumping into the frigid sea. A group of the men including Commander Phillips braved it out by staying on board until another escort ship arrived to rescue them. 

Huge waves were building and pushing the life rafts back towards hulk of the sinking ship. As the stern of the ship rose and fell, the men struggled to avoid being sucked under or cut up by the exposed propellers. The angry seas began toppling over some of the life rafts and knocking men back out into the ocean. 

USS Joyce responded to the area to assist with rescue operations but once arriving had to evade incoming torpedoes on two occasions, thought to be from either the U-255 or a second submarine. The Commander of the Joyce announced to the men of the Leopold, "We are dodging torpedoes! God bless you! We will be back!" This delayed any effort of rescuing survivors for several hours.

It was more recently discovered that the torpedoes were actually believed to be from the USS Leopold. They were armed and once fully immersed in water while the ship was sinking had automatically launched from their tubes. They skimmed through the water, narrowly missing the Joyce as they were trying to rescue the crew of the stricken ship.  

Some of the Leopold’s crew managed to ride it out by clinging onto the fantail of the ship as it slowly sunk. Many of them, however, had jumped and swam helplessly in the frigid water, trying to keep moving in order fend off shock. The life vests supplied to the men could actually more deadly than if they had no flotation device at all. If one had the vest positioned low around the waist, once inflated it would make the wearer top heavy and drown him with little chance to recover. There was also nothing to keep them warm. After a short time in the water, limbs would go numb, making motion impossible. 

Men in the safety nets didn’t fare any better. They got tangled up in the netting and drowned. If you were lucky enough to be in a life raft, you were at least out mostly out of the water and had something to keep afloat. The survivors would punch each other in the face to keep awake. If one fell asleep, they were most certainly done for. Hypothermia is how most of the Leopold’s crew perished. 

By morning of March 10th, the stern of the Leopold had already sunk, but a portion of the bow was still afloat. The Joyce was ordered to stay in the vicinity to pick up any possible survivors and to sink any wreckage of the Leopold as it would become a danger to later passing ships; particularly at night. The Joyce brought aboard the survivors, recovered 3 bodies, sunk the wreckage of the Leopold using gunfire and depth charges. At the completion of this depressing task, they set off to rejoin to the convoy. USS Joyce made it to Londonderry the next day and dropped the survivors off at a hospital. 

Out of 199 men aboard the USS Leopold, only 28 men survived this attack. There was not a single officer among them. Tragically, the body of Fireman First Class Busey was never recovered and believed to have gone down with the ship. Perhaps though, he was one of the lucky ones. He didn't have to face the torture of freezing to death. His life had come to an end suddenly and quickly.

The sinking of the USS Leopold represents the second largest loss of life aboard a US Coast Guard ship in its history, the single largest loss of life in the combat history of the US Coast Guard, and the first destroyer escort lost in World War II.

 7 of the USS Leopold Survivors

James’s mother, Zelah would receive a letter dated March 29, 1944 from U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral R.R. Waesche:

“My dear Mrs. Busey:  It is a source of profound regret to me that your son, James Arthur Busey, Fireman, first class, USCGR, lost his life in action against the enemies of his countermand I wish to express my deepest sympathy to you and members of your family in your great loss. There is little I can say to lessen your grief, but it is my earnest hope that the knowledge that your son gave his life in the performance of his duty may in some measure comfort you in your sad hour.” 

She would later receive James’s Purple Heart (awarded September 27, 1944), his final pay and WWII campaign medals from the Coast Guard. James Arthur Busey was survived by both parents and his sister, Betty.

James Busey’s Purple Heart




134 Second Avenue

The only reference to Mount Ephraim, New Jersey about James’s life was that his father, Samuel was living at 134 Second Avenue at the time of his son’s death. Samuel was employed as a machinist for the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard. An interesting detail about this situation is that the monument at the veterans triangle on Davis Avenue is inscribed with the name “Busey Samuel A.” instead of James. These mistakes were common as the memorial was purchased and dedicated several year after the war. James A. Busey's name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge England.

James Busey's name on Tablets of the Missing in Cambridge, England

At the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut you can find a tribute to the men of the Leopold on a plaque in the memorial chapel. There is also a memorial stone in the garden behind the chapel. 

More recently, the Cost Guard Enlisted Memorial is slated to be dedicated this spring at the Training Center in Cape May. It will be inscribed with over 1500 names of men and women who perished while serving with the Coast Guard. Among these names, James and the crew of the Leopold will be represented. For more information about this, check out http://www.cgemf.org. 


 If you wish to view a documentary made about the USS Joyce and the sinking of the USS Leopold, please visit:  https://vimeo.com/37318074. Also, a must-read book about the sinking of the Leopold is called “Never to Return” by Robert Nersasian and Randall Puffer. This offers a first hand account of life aboard the Leopold as told by a survivor and his family. The quoted passages in this story were taken from this book.  

Here is a final poignant statement from USS Leopold survivor, Nelson “Sparky” Nersasian:




“Now that I think about it, I wonder, what was it all about? What’s the sense? They killed two hundred [sic] of my friends. And my gun was responsible for maybe killing some mother’s son, some woman’s husband, sweetheart. Just human beings.”







May their sacrifice never forgotten.