| Residences | Occupation |
| Born in Maryland, stationed in multiple locations | Career sailor |
| Branches | Service Number |
| U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy | U.S. Navy 2581264 |
| Theater | Ship |
| Pacific | U.S.S. Shaw (DD-373) |
| Awards | Campaigns/Battles |
| Marine Good Conduct Medal, Purple Heart | Attack on Pearl Harbor |
Early Life & Family
Paul Gustavus Gosnell was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on October 24, 1911. He was the son of Charles L. (1875–1918) and Caroline M. Gosnell (née Gustavus, 1875–1955). His father, a manager for the Fenestra Steel Company, died suddenly in Baltimore on May 15, 1918, when his son was just six years old.
Gosnell was recorded on the census on January 17, 1920, living with his mother and aunt at 2237 Mondawmin Avenue in Baltimore. Gosnell graduated from Forest Park High School in 1929. According to his military paperwork, he stood five feet, nine inches tall and weighed 155 lbs., with brown hair and eyes, and was Protestant.
U.S. Marine Corps Career
Gosnell was accepted by the U.S. Marine Corps in Baltimore on January 31, 1930, and began a four-year enlistment at Parris Island, South Carolina, on February 8, 1930. Thanks to muster rolls and a summary of his Marine Corps career provided at discharge, it is possible to follow his Marine career in detail. Gosnell had a remarkably varied career, transferring between units no fewer than 15 times in six years. After completing boot camp, he transferred to the Marine Barracks in Quantico, Virginia, on June 3, 1930, and joined the 87th Company, Signal Battalion there the following day. On June 5, 1930, he began attending radio school, but on June 21, 1930, he was dispatched to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to join the American Electoral Mission in Nicaragua.
On June 22, 1930, Private Gosnell boarded the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-2) at the Naval Operating Base, Hampton Roads in Virginia. The carrier sailed for Nicaragua the following day. The United States had intervened in the civil war there in 1927, fighting with rebels and training a local national guard.
Private Gosnell arrived at Corinto on July 2, 1930, and joined the Electoral Detachment, 2nd Brigade, in Managua, Nicaragua. From August 30–November 4, 1930, he was stationed in Masaya. On November 14, 1930, he boarded the U.S.S. Hamilton (DD-141) at the port of Corinto and sailed for Norfolk Naval Yard the following morning. After arriving back in Virginia, he transferred back to the 87th Company, Signal Battalion, Marine Barracks, Quantico and resumed training at the radio school there around November 28, 1930, while assigned to the 87th Company, Signal Battalion.
On February 1, 1931, he joined 3rd Company, Signal Battalion at Quantico. Initially, he served as a messenger, but Gosnell qualified as a telephone lineman and began serving in that role on June 1, 1931. On November 20, 1931, he transferred back to the 87th Company, Signal Battalion, where he continued to serve as a telephone lineman. On December 1, 1931, the 87th Company was redesignated as the 1st Signal Company. On December 21, 1931, Private Gosnell transferred to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines at Quantico, where he served as a wire section lineman.
On January 11, 1932, Private Gosnell went on temporary duty with Company “B,” 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, aboard the U.S.S. Wyoming (AG-17). The Wyoming (formerly a battleship, now a training ship) set sail on January 15, 1932. Marine muster rolls for February–March 1932 appear to be missing, but according to a summary of Private Gosnell’s U.S. Marine Corps career, on February 27, 1932, he rejoined Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines aboard the battleship U.S.S. Arkansas (BB-33). By April 1932, the Arkansas was at Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington. The ship set sail again on April 30, 1932, making stops in San Francisco and San Pedro, California, on the way south.
On May 30, 1932, Private Gosnell joined Casual Company No. 1, Marine Corps Base, San Diego. On June 6, 1932, he transferred to the West Coast Electoral Mission Detachment, Marine Corps Barracks, Naval Operating Base, San Diego. However, on June 25, 1932, the detachment disbanded and he joined Casual Company No. 2, Marine Corps Base, San Diego. On July 11, 1932, Private Gosnell transferred to the Marine Detachment, Receiving Ship, Destroyer Base, San Diego. Later that month, on July 27, 1932, he was assigned to the 4th Marines, which protected the International Settlement in Shanghai, China. The following day, he set sail from San Diego aboard the transport U.S.S. Henderson (AP-1). He would be overseas for the next 30 months.
On September 19, 1932, Gosnell arrived in China. Shortly thereafter, on October 1, 1932, Private Gosnell joined Company “H,” 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. Then, on December 9, 1932, he transferred to Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, where he served as a battalion telephone operator (“telephone orderly” in some 1934 muster roll entries). While serving in China, Private Gosnell extended his enlistment by two years. On August 1, 1934, he transferred to Company “F,” 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.
Private Gosnell’s assignment in China came to an end on December 16, 1934, when he was transferred to the Marine Barracks at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, California. The following day, he sailed from Shanghai aboard the U.S.S. Chaumont (AP-5). Upon arrival on January 29, 1935, he joined Guard Company No. 1 at the Marine Barracks at Mare Island. He wasn’t there long. On February 11, 1935, he boarded the Chaumont again, sailing from San Francisco three days later. On February 18, 1935, he disembarked in San Diego and joined Company “F,” 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines. Later that year, on October 5, 1935, Gosnell was transferred to the Marine Barracks at Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia. He departed San Diego aboard the U.S.S. Chaumont two days later.
On October 28, 1935, Private Gosnell joined the Barracks Detachment, Marine Barracks, Norfolk Navy Yard. On November 9, 1935, he transferred to the Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. Private Gosnell requested a furlough prior to reporting there and arrived at his new assignment on December 8, 1935.
On January 21, 1936, Private Gosnell was hospitalized at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C. He returned to duty on March 6, 1936. Private Gosnell was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps on March 23, 1936. He was awarded the Good Conduct Medal upon discharge. Effective the following day, he entered the Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve as a private 1st class assigned to Company “E,” 8th Reserve Regiment in Philadelphia. He remained as a reservist until he was discharged in order to join the U.S. Navy.
Gosnell acquired several tattoos during his military service—at least some while he was a Marine—including an eagle, Marine Corps emblem, flag, and, during his service in Shanghai, dragons.
U.S. Navy Career & Marriage
Gosnell enlisted for four years in the U.S. Navy in Baltimore on May 7, 1936. He joined the crew of the new Mahan-class destroyer U.S.S. Shaw (DD-373) in Philadelphia on February 6, 1937. The ship made a transatlantic shakedown cruise that spring.
Gosnell’s Navy career had a great deal more stability than his Marine Corps career had—he spent almost five years with the same ship. Historian Mark E. Stille offers some insight into Gosnell’s experiences aboard the Shaw:
Life on any warship is difficult, but on a destroyer it was especially hard. There was no extra room for any designed crew comfort, and the small hull of a destroyer was often lashed about in any kind of sea. […] The shared hardship, danger, and sheer excitement of destroyer crews made them close. Destroyer crews were small enough that every crewmember could know everybody else and prewar terms of service usually resulted in individuals staying on board the same ship for many years, further contributing to the sense of community. Destroyer crews saw themselves as representative of the ‘real’ Navy with their close connection to the perils of the sea and a required premium on smart seamanship.
In November 1937, Gosnell married Geraldine Theda Jackson (1917–1992) in Millbourne, Pennsylvania. Shaw remained based in Philadelphia until the end of 1938 before being ordered to the West Coast. Geraldine Gosnell moved to San Diego, where she gave birth to their son, Charles Edward Gosnell, on December 28, 1939.
As of March 31, 1939—the earliest Shaw muster roll that has been digitized—Gosnell was a gunner’s mate 3rd class. He was promoted to gunner’s mate 2nd class effective January 30, 1940. As a gunner’s mate, he would have been responsible for maintaining the ship’s armament and very likely, manning it in battle. He may have been a mount captain for one of the ship’s five 5-inch guns or assigned to the destroyer’s machine platforms. Shaw had two .50 machine guns mounted on a platform in front of the bridge and another two .50s aft.
On March 11, 1940, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Gosnell extended his enlistment by two years. He and his family were recorded on the census on April 19, 1940, living at 109 University Avenue in San Diego. The same year, according to newspaper reports, Gosnell’s wife and son moved to Wilmington, Delaware. Gosnell was promoted to gunner’s mate 1st class on August 1, 1941. The Shaw returned to San Diego for a few weeks in October 1941, and Gosnell’s wife and son reportedly visited him there for the final time. On November 1, 1941, U.S.S. Shaw sailed from San Diego to return to Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor & Aftermath
Tensions in the Pacific had been rising for years, largely due to Japanese aggression in China. In July 1941, after the Japanese seized French Indochina from the impotent Vichy regime, the U.S. cut off trade with Japan, including oil exports. Negotiations quickly reached an impasse. Japanese government leaders never seriously entertained the notion of withdrawing from East and Southeast Asia. They also expected that seizing resources from British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies would provoke an American military intervention, a dubious conclusion given that isolationist sentiments remained strong in the United States. It appears unlikely that the United States would have gone to war over Japan invading British or Dutch colonial possessions in Asia when it had not done so when Germany attacked those countries in Europe.
Regardless, if the Japanese were to strike the Americans, it had to be soon. The Japanese economy (and military) would grind to a halt without oil within two years. Furthermore, the U.S. Navy was spread thin with operations in two oceans and was still suffering from the effects of limited budgets due to post-World War I isolationism and the Great Depression. The Japanese would bring six aircraft carriers to attack Pearl Harbor. By the fall of 1941, the United States had seven aircraft carriers, of which only three were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. However, in 1940, Congress had passed legislation authorizing the construction of 1,325,000 tons of new warships, including 200,000 tons of aircraft carriers. Even a fraction of those ships reaching completion would have tipped the balance of power in the Pacific against the Japanese.
Just as the Japanese had overestimated American willingness to go to war to defend the British or Dutch colonies, they underestimated the depth of American fury in response to a surprise attack on U.S. territory. Pearl Harbor and the string of Allied defeats that followed did not cause the United States to sue for peace. Instead, it led a previously ambivalent American public to commit to achieving total victory over Japan.
On December 3, 1941, with the Japanese fleet already en route to Hawaii, Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell mailed Christmas cards and presents to his family. Despite the outbreak of war, the cards made it to Delaware by December 25. The presents—including a toy destroyer for his son—arrived in February 1942.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, Shaw was undergoing repairs in the floating drydock designated YFD-2. Shaw was extremely vulnerable to air attack. In dry dock, there was no possibility to evade any attacks and destroyer’s armament was inadequate for air defense. The .50 machine guns simply did not have the range or stopping power to shoot down a Japanese aircraft before it could release its ordnance. The main Japanese objective was to destroy the Pacific Fleet’s capital ships. During the first wave, Japanese torpedo and level bombers attacked the American battleships, while dive bombers targeted nearby airfields. Shaw initially remained unscathed.
The 78 Japanese dive bombers in the second wave, equipped with 250 kg (551 lb.) ordinary (semi-armor-piercing) bombs, had orders to attack American ships. Osamu Tagaya wrote that “IJN [Imperial Japanese Navy] doctrine held that the 250 kg payload of the dive bombers was ineffective against battleship armour. Target priorities […] therefore, were aircraft carriers first, then cruisers and, lastly, battleships or other warships of opportunity.”
Mark E. Stille wrote that due to cloud cover, smoke, and American antiaircraft fire, only about 15 of 78 bombs struck their targets. He added that “In addition to poor accuracy, the dive-bomber pilots were guilty of poor target selection”—only about 20% attacked the cruisers that were their primary objective, given the absence of American carriers that morning.
Osamu Tagaya wrote that about an hour and a half into the raid, Shaw came under attack by an Aichi D3A1 Type 99 dive bomber (later referred to the Allies as a “Val”):
The leader of Soryu’s second chutai […] hit the starboard side of Pennsylvania’s boat deck, while the No 2 aeroplane of FPO 1/c [Flying Petty Officer, 1st Class] Takashi Yamada (pilot) and FPO 1/c Kazuyoshi Fujita (observer/commander) struck the destroyer USS Shaw (DD-373) in Floating Drydock No. 2.
Then, two more dive bombers, these from the Akagi, attacked the Shaw:
The three Type 99s of the second shotai, led by Lt Shohei Yamada (FPO 1/c Yoshiyake Nozaka as observer), unable to line up properly on [the battleship] Pennsylvania, released their bombs instead on Shaw in Floating Drydock No. 2. They reported uncertain results, their view obscured by smoke, but at least two of their bombs found their mark.
Stille wrote that “As many as eight Akagi dive-bombers attacked [Shaw] at 0912hrs.” Regardless of which carriers’ aircraft were responsible, a U.S.S. Shaw damage report written the following month described the impacts:
(a) First two penetrated following decks: Machine Gun platform, gun shelter platform, forecastle and main decks, exploding, it is believed in the crew’s mess room.
(b) The third apparently passed through the bridge platform, chart house deck and forecastle deck, exploding in the wardroom pantry.
The explosions started fires so intense that Shaw’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander W. Glenn Jones, wrote in his damage report—incorrectly—that the bombs were “Apparently liquid incendiary – estimated 200–300 lb.” Jones offered an alternative—and probably accurate—theory in his report: “While it was thought that liquid-filled incendiary bombs were used, it may well be that the explosion ruptured the forward fuel tanks, igniting the oil and throwing blazing oil all through that section of the ship and down into the dock.”
Around 0930 hours, approximately 20 minutes after the bombs struck and mere minutes after the crew was ordered to abandon ship, the fires detonated Shaw’s forward magazine in a massive explosion, destroying the ship’s bow. Shaw suffered 24 dead and at least 19 wounded in the attack, according to a report of changes compiled on December 11, 1941.
In a letter to Gosnell’s aunt, Margaretha L. Gustavus, dated January 15, 1942, Lieutenant Commander Jones, Shaw’s commanding officer, wrote:
I wish you to know that Gosnell, as I called him, was one of my best men in whom I reposed every trust and confidence. If he met his death that day, I can assure you that he did so bravely at his post of duty. I grieve with you.
According to an article printed in the Wilmington Morning News on May 5, 1942, Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell “was killed while manning an anti-aircraft gun” aboard the Shaw. A similar account appeared in Journal-Every Evening. If accurate, it would suggest that he was killed at the forward .50 machine gun platform. However, it is uncertain where the newspapers obtained that information and it may simply have been conjecture, perhaps based on his rate and his commanding officer’s assertion that Gosnell died at his post.
The floating drydock YFD-2 was severely damaged and partially sunk in the attack. Once the dock was raised, workers installed a temporary bow to the Shaw, allowing her to sail to Mare Island. Remarkably, Shaw was fitted with a new bow and ready to return to action in less than nine months. In the meantime, both Soryu and Akagi were sunk during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Shaw served in the Pacific for the rest of World War II, primarily escorting convoys. The destroyer also performed shore bombardment during amphibious operations at Cape Gloucester, Guam, and in the Philippines.
Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell was buried as an unknown (X-59) at Halawa Naval Cemetery (Plot B, Grave 558) on January 9, 1942. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart on October 13, 1943. On November 5, 1947, his body was examined at the Central Identification Laboratory. His body was positively identified, in large part based on dental records, and reinterred the following day. A memo dated December 3, 1947, stated that Gosnell had been identified, pending confirmation from a board of review. The board approved the identification on January 13, 1948.
On March 24, 1948, Rear Admiral C. A. Swanson wrote a letter to Gosnell’s widow, Geraldine, regarding the investigation. One week later, she wrote accepting the identification. In a letter dated March 31, 1948, she requested his body remain in Hawaii. However, because Geraldine had remarried (to Oswald Lee O’Neal in Wilmington on August 30, 1942), she was no longer considered Gosnell’s next of kin, and Gosnell’s mother requested that her son’s body be repatriated. On April 1, 1949, Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell’s body began a long journey home, sailing aboard the U.S.A.T. Sinnett to the San Francisco Port of Embarkation and then across country to the New York Port of Embarkation by rail. Escorted by a sailor, the casket was transported on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad from Jersey City to Mount Royal Station in Baltimore, arriving on May 10, 1949, at 12:38 p.m. During Gosnell’s funeral the following day, personnel from the Maryland Military District provided military honors. The flag used in the ceremony was presented to Gosnell’s son. Gosnell was buried at Baltimore National Cemetery.
A Family Tradition
Journal-Every Evening reported on May 5, 1942, that Gosnell’s widow had inquired about having her son attend the U.S. Naval Academy after he grew up, stating that Geraldine
Has the assurance of high ranking officers of the Navy that they will give her their unlimited support in securing the appointment for her son.
And when Charles Edward “Skipper” Gosnell enters Annapolis, he will fulfill a wish his father had made a few months before he died in action.
The article added poignantly:
Today, fighting back tears, and while her son was pushing a toy destroyer around the room—one of the last gifts sent to him by his father—Mrs. Gosnell said,
“Wherever his father is, it will make his heart glad to know that Skipper is going to make the grade and coming out of the Naval Academy an ensign.”
An article printed in Journal-Every Evening on November 2, 1943, stated: “Conscious already of a family Navy tradition, the boy insists on wearing his sailor suit, and whenever ‘Skipper’ sees a Navy man in uniform in the neighborhood he salutes and is considerably offended if the salute is not returned.”
After graduating from Salesianum High School in 1957, Charles Gosnell initially began training as an electrician but entered the U.S. Naval Academy two years later. After graduating in 1963, he served on active duty during the Vietnam War. He switched to the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1972, eventually reaching the grade of captain. Upon leaving active duty, he returned to Delaware. He and his wife raised three sons. Captain Gosnell died on December 7, 2003, aged 63.
One of Captain Gosnell’s sons, Paul Gregory Gosnell, also graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 and became a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, retiring as a lieutenant colonel.
Notes
The First Delawarean Killed During World War II?
Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell has traditionally been described as one of the first two Delawareans killed during World War II, all in the attack on Pearl Harbor. That distinction, however, depends largely on how Delawarean is defined. The claim is based on the fact that Gosnell’s wife and son lived in Delaware while he was stationed in Hawaii, making Delaware his permanent residence at the time of his death. There is no indication that Gosnell ever lived in Delaware himself. His headstone at Baltimore National Cemetery lists his state of residence as Maryland. Indeed, he grew up there and entered the service there.
Movements
According to a May 5, 1942, Journal-Every Evening article, “Early in 1940, Gosnell was again transferred to the Philadelphia Navy Yard and his family returned to this city [Wilmington, Delaware]. Shortly after the Christmas holidays in 1940, which he spent here, his ship was sent back to the Pacific Coast.”
Muster rolls give no indication that Gosnell ever left the Shaw from 1937–1941. Those rolls also indicate that the destroyer moved to Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1940, not Philadelphia. Apparently, Gosnell’s wife and son left San Diego for Wilmington when his ship moved to Pearl Harbor.
Japanese Aircraft Organization
Osamu Tagaya’s book uses Japanese organizational terms chutai (中隊) and shotai (小隊). Literally medium unit, chutai is often translated as company (when it pertains to an army unit) or squadron (air unit). Shotai (small unit) typically is translated as platoon (army) or section (air). The number of aircraft in these units apparently varied based on the unit type and phase of the war. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the dive bomber units that attacked Pearl Harbor had nine D3As in each chutai and three in each shotai.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Lieutenant Colonel Paul Gregory Gosnell and his wife, Kim Gosnell, for providing photos and documents that were invaluable in telling Gunner’s Mate 1st Class Gosnell’s story.
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“Three Women Seek Naval Reserve Post.” Wilmington Morning News, June 12, 1942. Pg. 30. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85479047/gosnell-widow/
United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4301025_00185
United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6224/images/4606954_00347
United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-00448-00720
“Widow of War Hero Stricken.” Journal-Every Evening, February 20, 1943. Pg. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85479796/geraldine-oneal-hospitalized/
“Wilmington Man Killed in Attack on Pearl Harbor.” Wilmington Morning News, May 5, 1942. Pg. 1 and 6. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85483927/gosnell-kia/ and https://www.newspapers.com/clip/85484069/gosnell-kia-pg-2/
Last updated on October 12, 2021
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Delaware's World War II Fallen 
I recently found an article written in the Sunday News Journal dated 2/17/85. The article was about Iwo Jima and those Delawareans who lost their lives on the island. Would you have any interest in a copy? The article was included with many items related to my father’s service in the USMC. He was wounded on Iwo Jima in early March 1945. Wayne Meluney (302) 258-5277
On Tue, Oct 5, 2021 at 9:05 PM Delaware’s World War II Fallen wrote:
> Lowell Silverman posted: ” Paul G. Gosnell (Courtesy of Paul Gregory > Gosnell and Kim Gosnell) ResidencesOccupationBorn in Maryland, stationed in > multiple locationsCareer sailorBranchesService NumberU.S. Marine Corps, > U.S. NavyU.S. Navy 2581264TheaterUnitPacificU.S.S. Shaw (DD-3″ >
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“Excellent Blog: LEST WE FORGET; Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, a humble and a contrite heart; Lord God of Hosts be with us yet, LEST WE FORGET, LEST WE FORGET!!!” Poem by Rudyard Kipling. “At the going down of the SUN, and in the MORNING; WE WILL REMEMBER THEM, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM!!!” You are NOT FORGOTTEN U.S. Naval Hero…Yours Aye-with LOVE-GRATITUDE-CONCERN…Brian CANUCK Murza…Killick Vison, W.W.II Naval Researcher-Published Author, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.
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