“Nero” of Guam
16 JUNE 1944
“NERO” OF GUAM
On 21 July 1944 the USMC landed on the Marianas island of Guam–the second island in that archipelago to be retaken from the enemy. Guam was defended by 19,000 Japanese under LGEN Takeshi Takashima, but by that July date only about 9,000 remained, fighting sporadically in the island’s interior. Final securing of the island took until 10 August 1944. American casualties totaled 1435 killed and 5648 wounded, almost all were US Marines.
Earlier, on 16 June 1944, a pre-invasion bombardment was conducted, concentrating on the Japanese airfield on the Orote Peninsula. USS PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38), IDAHO (BB-42) and the cruiser HONOLULU (CL-48) launched this barrage, protected by a cluster of destroyers and destroyer escorts, including WESSON (DE-184). Aboard this latter was Electrician’s Mate First Class Charlie Sullivan. A plank owner, “Sully” served his entire WWII career aboard WESSON, by this date he had charge of the starboard motor room. Here a powerful electric motor originally designed for train locomotives–powered by a diesel engine just forward the in the starboard engine room–turned the starboard shaft. As WESSON patrolled for submarines around PENNSYLVANIA, at times less than a hundred yards distant, the cordite blasts that propelled 1600 projectiles shoreward battered the DE. WESSON’s unarmored hull afforded little protection from the incessant concussions, even below decks. Seeking refuge from the head-pounding, an off-duty Sully sheltered in the forward battery locker
Months earlier, Sullivan, whose upbringing in rural Pennsylvania included an introduction to music, had purchased a violin in Honolulu while on break from patrols. He had spent $50 on the instrument–more than a month’s salary, and being one of the few sailors on board with a key to the battery locker, he stored his fiddle there. With four other shipmates who played various instruments, “Sully” formed an impromptu band on the fantail on quiet days.
In the battery locker, he picked up his fiddle. To calm his nerves from the incessant bombardment, he began to play. “Anchors Aweigh” emanated from the locker; his shipmates heartily appreciating his performance. Then for months afterward, Sullivan’s nickname became “Nero” for fiddling while Guam was bombarded–a reference to the ancient Roman emperor who “fiddled” while Rome burned.
WESSON served throughout WWII in the Pacific, participating in the invasions of the Carolines, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. She earned a respectable seven Battle Stars. She was transferred to the Italian Navy in 1951 and was eventually scrapped in 1972.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 22 JUN 25
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Morison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol VIII New Guinea and the Marianas. Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Co., 1953, pp. 375-80.
Oral history of EM1c Charles Sullivan, taken at: PA military Museum, Boalsburg, PA, 8 March 2107.
Sweetman, Jack. American Naval History: An Illustrated Chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-Present, 3rd ed. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2002, p. 174.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: The Roman emperor Nero probably correctly played a lyre–while a portion of Rome burned (that he intentionally set ablaze to clear a location for his planned palatial estate).
WESSON remembers LTJG Morgan Wesson who was killed in action while serving as communications officer aboard USS ATLANTA (CL-51) in the Battle of the Solomons, 13 November 1942.
