It seems appropriate on Pearl Harbor Day to remember, too, a young Lucas Countyan --- Seaman 1st Class David F. Vickroy --- who died three years earlier while in service to his country in or near Shanghai on Nov. 22, 1938, and who might be considered our first loss in the great Pacific war, looming then three years in the distance.
The image of David, at left, was the best I could do --- clipped from a microfilm version of The Herald-Patriot's front page of Jan. 12, 1939. At the time of his death, David was assigned to the USS Isabel, above, photographed during the early summer of 1937 at Hankou and decked out to mark the coronation half a continent away in England of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.
We don't know the precise circumstances of his death, only that the Isabel was at or very near Shanghai during late November, 1938, when David somehow was caught up in a skirmish between Japanese and Chinese troops and killed.
Students of World War II history will remember that Japanese aggressors had invaded Manchuria during 1931 and pushed south. Full-scale warfare with China commenced during 1937 and Shanghai had fallen to the Japanese during November of that year. Considerable conflict continued in the Shanghai area, however.
The Isabel herself had an interesting history. Built at Bath, Maine, during 1917 as the 231-foot private yacht of an Ohio automobile manufacturer, she was sold before launch to the U.S. Navy and modified to serve as a patrol vessel during World War I. After the war, she was deployed to the Pacific and because of her size and remaining luxuries served as flagship for U.S. Navy Yangtze River operations in China as well as seeing service in the Philippines.
The Isabel probably looked much like this at the time of David's death, but after Pearl Harbor donned her camouflage gear and served honorably in the Pacific as a patrol and escort vessel. She was scrapped during 1946.
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David was among the 11 children of Edward H. and Bertha (Berry) Vickroy. He was 12 when his mother died of a stroke at the age of 45 at the family home in Williamson on Oct. 17, 1926, and was buried in the Chariton Cemetery. He was nearing the end of a three-year enlistment in the U.S. Navy at the time of his death.
Most Lucas Countyans learned of the young sailor's death on Dec. 1, 1938, when the following brief item was published on Page 1 of the Herald-Patriot under the headline, "Rites for Sailor in Chariton": "The body of David Vickroy, American sailor reported killed by Japanese bullets during a battle in China Nov. 23 (sic), will be returned to Chariton for burial. Vickroy was the son of Ed Vickroy of Eddyville. The family formerly lived in Chariton. Stationed on the U.S.S. Isabelle (sic), David Vickroy would have completed his term of enlistment in June, friends said."
On Dec. 22, The Herald-Patriot reported that the ship carrying Vickroy's remains home to the United States would arrive in San Diego on Jan. 3 and would be shipped by rail soon thereafter to Chariton for burial beside his mother in the Chariton Cemetery.
Funeral services were held on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at Downs Funeral Home and the following obituary was published in The Herald-Patriot of Jan. 12:
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| Find A Grave/Doris Christensen |
A military funeral service was conducted Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock for First Class Seaman David Franklin Vickroy, who was killed in Shanghai, China, on November 22, 1938, during a skirmish between Japanese and Chinese troops. The body, which was accompanied to Chariton by Ernest Carey, of San Diego, California, a United States sailor, was clothed in a sailor's uniform, and the casket was draped with a United States flag.
The Rev. Harry Secor delivered the funeral sermon at the Downs Funeral Home and the American Legion Post conducted military rites there and at the grave in the Chariton cemetery.
David Franklin Vickroy, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Vickroy, was born in Marion county, Iowa, on March 12, 1914. Most of his life was spent in Williamson and Chariton. About three years ago he enlisted in the United States Navy, and was serving on the U.S.S. Isabel when he met death Nov. 22, at the age of 24 years, 9 months and 10 days.
Surviving him are his father, Edward Vickroy, of Eddyville; four brothers and three sisters, James W. Vickroy, of Sand Coulee, Montana; Jack Vickroy, of Eddyville; Edward Vickroy, of Kirksville; Harold Vickroy, of Chariton; Mrs. Margaret Beem and Ruth Vickroy, of Cedar Rapids; and Mrs. Laura Curtis, of Lucas. His mother and two sisters preceded him in death.
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Edward H. Vickroy survived his son by less than three years. By then living in Chariton, he died of a heart attack on Aug. 27, 1941, age 63, and joined his son, David, and first wife, Bertha, in the Chariton Cemetery.
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