"Interesting story - hope it is true" Topic

We love heartwarming war stories as much as anyone, but some of them get so unrealistically cute that, like an episode of VeggieTales, they end up circling back to "slightly creepy." A prime example is the case of the U.S. serviceman in the South Pacific who was saved not once but twice by his mother … while she was all the way back home in Ohio.
During World War II, Elgin Staples was a crewman on the USS Astoria. While off the coast of Guadalcanal during the summer of 1942, Staples finished his shift and took a nap, only to be awakened by the sound of his cruiser being killed. But, before the ship under his feet ceased to exist and he fell into the water, Staples had time to strap on a handy life belt, which allowed him to stay afloat long enough to be rescued by another U.S. ship.
Unfortunately, his second ride wasn't in much better shape than the first, and it too ended up sinking -- once more, the young man's life was saved by his lucky life belt. Upon taking a closer look at the belt, Staples noticed that, like him, it hailed from Akron, Ohio, so he decided to keep it as a souvenir.

After the war, Staples returned home to tell his family about his crazy adventures. When his mom (perhaps hoping to upstage him) mentioned that she too did her part for the war effort by working at a local Firestone plant, Staples told her the belt had been manufactured there. However, they went from "Aw, what are the odds?" to complete stunned silence when the mother looked over the belt to find her inspector's number on it. She had personally inspected, approved, and stamped the reliable device that saved her boy's life. Twice.

Cool story. Not likely though. USS Astoria Was sunk at the battle of Savo Island. He would have been picked up by one of the DDs and none, except Jarvis, were sunk. But Jarvis picked up no survivors and, when sunk, had no survivors.

You can Google the story and find many versions, including Staples's own account ( link ) and his obit ( link ). The different takes are interesting: straight-forward sailor's story, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, the power of a mother's love, the hand of God . . .

The story as presented by the OP isn't quite, true, though.

The OP's account implies that the ship that picked up Staples was also sunk, because of the juxtaposition of "rescued by another U.S. ship" and "his second ride . . . ended up sinking."

The confusion stems from the fact that Staples was wounded and blown into the water when the number one 8-inch gun turret on the Astoria exploded. Within hours he was picked up by a destroyer and returned to the Astoria, which was badly damaged but still afloat. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of her crew, shortly thereafter the ship rolled and went under, and Staples found himself in the water again. His life belt couldn't be inflated a second time, but another sailor helped keep him afloat until they were rescued.

Further muddying the waters is Staples's obit, which states: "Signalman Staples was then stationed on the USS Enterprise which was in turn sunk during the cataclysmic Battle of Midway." No, the Big E wasn't sunk at Midway. Heavily damaged, yes, but she didn't sink. And the battle of Midway was hardly "cataclysmic" for the US. In fact, it's usually cited (with some dissenting opinions) as the turning point of the War in the Pacific.

So, yes, the mother's life belt saved her boy's life the first time. But the second time, the belt couldn't be inflated, so she didn't really have a hand in that one. Unless she also inspected the belt worn by the sailor who helped keep Staples afloat the second time. Spooky!

[Paul Harvey voice]: "And now you know . . . the REST of the story. Good DAY."

The obit's take on Savo Island is off too. The US fleet lost more than those two ships, along with an Australian cruiser. They didn't leave behind a rear guard, they retreated after getting defeated at Savo Island.

The more I know about news stories, the more I find reporters getting their facts wrong.

Still, a great story.

To be fair to the newspaper, obits are almost always written by the family, not the newspaper. They're rarely even edited anymore, other than running spellcheck – not enough staff to "waste" on it.

I once knew a man who (claimed he) was on the Gambier Bay when it was sunk. He was rescued and the ship he was on was then sunk and he was rescued again. No idea if this was the truth but he joined the USAF after the war…

Interesting story.
jpattern2, thanks for the clarifications. If I may nitpick, the Big E came out of Midway unscathed altogether.

Good catch, foxbat. Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, not Midway. As punishment, I'll just have to go back and re-read some of my WWII books. Darn.