USS Partridge

Pat, Lloyd Beal died on the Prescott and was buried at sea.

My uncle, Nicholas Grande of Philadelphia ( note the correct spelling ) went down with the USS Partridge.
He remained in the heart and mind of his late mother and his six sisters. Our family would certainly welcome any information on our uncle.

As we approach the 65th anniversary of the sinking of the Partridge, I join I know with everyone here in a silent prayer of thanks to all of the men of the Partridge for their service and the freedom they earned for all of us. To those young men lost in the channel so many years ago – Eternal rest grant unto them oh Lord and may perpetual light shine upon them.

My wife is the niece of the late Paul E. Ayers, one the Partridge’s officers. He died in December 1984 of heart disease; he had worked for many years for General Electric in Connecticut and had returned to his home town of Gambier OH when he retired. Mr Ayers had the dubious distinction of having two ships sink under him: he was aboard USS Redwing when it was sunk by a mine in the Mediterranean in 1943.

He had a left leg that had been badly injured in one of his sinkings and was several inches shorter than the right leg. I believe that he was the man referred to in the newspaper account by Robert Miller of the United Press of the Partridge’s loss (posted on this site) as “…an unrecognizable figure…dragging a useless and dangling left leg…” Mr Ayers would never talk about his wartime experiences in any detail but my late mother in law, his sister, knew a few things about it, including the names of his ships.

Amazing what can be found on the Internet! Your site is a real service and an honor to these heroes of a previous generation.

My Uncle was Charles Doyle who was KIA aboard the Partridge. I have just found this website when I became inteested in researching his death as I came across some old papers I found that contained a letter from Lt. James White confirming my uncles death to my Grandmother. He had been manning a gun on board and was last seen leaving the ship just before it sunk.
This is truly an interesting find. Thanks for keeping this event and ship alive.

My Father, Willam F. G. Clements, survived the sinking and he said he was in various English hospitals for 13+ months recovering from steam burns.

He also said he spent his survivor leave with my Mother in New London CT then was shipped to the Pacific.

After the war he Skippered an LST on Kawajalein Atoll as one of the “Travelling 600″ Chiefs on contiuous TDA until he was given a slot at the Seabee School. His billets included: Port Hueneme, Adak, started Cubi Point NAS, Fort Mifflin NASD, Midway, finisished Cubi Point NAS, Fallon NAS then retired in Port Hueneme as a CWO3 in 1961.

He was then employed as a Police Officer then Director of Parks and Recreation for the City for many years until becoming a Professor at Ventura City College and fully retired in 1976 after a quadruple bypass.

He was a fairly happy but private man who liked to travel, camp, fish, and toss back a few and who didn’t speak much about the war especially the sinking.

He died in 2005 and is survived by his former wife Elizabeth Wallace Clements (Okanogan WA), widow Jaimie Clements (Pahrump NV), and children: Patrick Clements (Seattle WA), Kathleen Beynun (Boise ID), Timothy Clements (Seattle WA), me Michael (Redwood City CA) and many grandchildren and greatgrand children.

I would really appreciate any information about my Father if any of the survivors or others would be so kind to share.

Respectfully Yours,

Michael Clements

I am the nephew of Donald Jaeger KIA and am named after him. Anyone with direct or indirect knowledge of him please relate to me: Don Riker, 423-902-7312

Mendello… Joseph and Angelo. My uncle and my father…