The American Spectator

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In Memoriam

(Page 2 of 2)

The Tannenfels, also badly damaged, took off the Stier's crew as it sank and headed for home. The Stephen Hopkins had cost the German navy not only a raider but also, and perhaps almost equally importantly, a supply-ship.

As far as I can discover, the Stephen Hopkins was the only U.S. ship, naval or merchant, to sink a German surface warship in World War II. The Stier's captain reported that he had fought a "heavily armed cruiser."

FOR THE STEPHEN HOPKINS's 19 survivors, another ordeal was just beginning. The Tannenfels apparently searched for them but missed them in the rain-squalls. With little food and water in an open lifeboat, they sailed 2,200 miles to Brazil. It took 31 days. Fifteen of them survived the voyage.

Somehow, the story of the Stephen Hopkins was largely lost among the many other stories of wartime heroism.

Several other Liberty Ships were named after members of the crew, and there was a Stephen Hopkins II, but they are all broken up and forgotten now. The survivors received some awards, and a painting of Cadet O'Hara firing the gun to the end is on display at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

Captain Buck, who went down with the ship, received a posthumous Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal, one of 141 such recipients. In 1985 the Military Sea Lift Command took delivery of a 30,000-ton tanker named Paul Buck. But it does not seem enough.

I am not an expert on U.S. decorations, but it seems to me that at least the Naval personnel who originally manned the Stephen Hopkins's guns, or one to represent them, would be eligible for, and deserving of, a Medal of Honor, even if the merchant seaman were not eligible. (Hasn't the Medal of Honor has been awarded to civilians in some circumstances?)

However, as far as I can discover, none was awarded here. Is it too late for this? And if a Medal of Honor is out of the question, surely, at least, the story is worth re-telling? Could not a great film be made celebrating such valor?

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