July 11, 2025 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, when the USS Gregory was attacked and left sinking in the Pacific, Navy mess attendant Charles Jackson French jumped into shark-infested waters with a rope around his waist, dragging a raft full of wounded white sailors to safety for six straight hours. Bruce Wigo, former CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, shares the true story of one of WWII’s most overlooked acts of bravery by a Black serviceman.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. From General George Washington to Audie Murphy, history's
(00:31):
greatest war heroes gave everything for their country and embodied
the meaning of bravery with their incredible acts of selflessness.
Bruce Wigo is here to tell a story of an
unknown American war hero. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
In two thousand and five, I was lucky enough to
be chosen to be the new president and executive director
of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Uderdale, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And I'd always.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Been I've had a fascination with Benjamin Franklin, who himself
was a renowned swimmer during his lifetime. And one of
the first things that I did at the International Swimming
Hall of Fame was going to their rare book room,
where I found a book called The Art of Swimming
by the great seventeenth century scientist Melchzedic Thieveno, and in
Franklin's autobiography, this is the book that he used to
(01:23):
teach himself how to swim. One of the great puzzles
of history has been Benjamin Franklin, greatest research physicists and
scientist of the eighteenth century, no scientific education, no education
past the age of nine. It's been long overlooked about
(01:43):
the influence of swimming on Benjamin Franklin. Swimming as was
presented in that book is presented as physics as fluid dynamics.
And then later in life a kid with no science
education whatsoever outside of this book which taught him about
specif gravity and Archimedes principles of buoyancy in flotation, positive buoyancy,
(02:06):
negative buoyancy, and the impact of currents. And when Benjamin
Franklin becomes recognized as the greatest research scientist of the
eighteenth century for his work in electricity, three terms that
he coined that we still use today are electrical current
and positive and negative. And where did he get it from?
(02:29):
He got it from swimming, his experience of swimming.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And in the.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Introduction to that book, I read an amazing piece it's
said that in modern times, referring to sixteen ninety nine,
the greatest swimmers and divers in the world were the
Africans and Native Americans. It was for them that our
ladies owe their pearls. It's for them our merchants owe
the recovery of treasure and merchandise and anchors lost at sea.
(03:00):
So I grew up in the nineteen fifties and at
the time you didn't see many black swimmers. Most people
assumed that black people couldn't swim.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Swimming was entirely segregated in the United States.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But my very first swimming meet in the nineteen fifties
was at the Christian Street YMCA, which was formerly a
colored y. So this was we swam against a team
that was black, and the team that I was on,
the Germantown YMCA, was part of the Philadelphia Swim Directors Society,
which was the first integrated swimming.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
League in the United States.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So these formerly colored YMCAs, which were now just YMCA's,
competed against the white whis So the idea that blacks
couldn't swim and that there wasn't part of a history
was something that was foreign to me. And when I
went into the Swimming Hall of Fame after reading this book,
I said, where is this history? It doesn't seem to exist.
(03:57):
It was all about the evolution of competitive swimming, which
was something developed in Europe, and it was purely a
European sport and an Asian sport. The Japanese were great
swimmers as well. So one of my first missions at
the Swimming Hall of Fame was to rectify this absence
of black swimming history. So on the Internet, late at night,
(04:18):
when I wasn't doing the work to raise money and
save the Hall of Fame, I started doing some searches
Negro swimming, Negro drowning. I came across a reference to
a trading card number one twenty nine, and the only
description of it was Negro swimmer toes survivors. It was
(04:41):
part of a set of World War Two commemorative cards,
a sort of patriotic version of baseball cards printed by
a company out of Philadelphia, Gum, Inc.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So it came with a as you can imagine, with a.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Piece of gum, and it was kind of a bonus
to buy their gum. There wasn't any on the card
or any other reference, but on eBay I found a
number of Warpgums cards for sale, but not number one
twenty nine. So I contacted a few sellers and card collectors,
and one was kind enough to send me a scan
(05:14):
of the card which showed a picture of a black
man and shark fins out in the water and a
rope tied to a raft with a whole bunch of
wounded sailors on it. So now I had some other
keywords for my Google search, Solomon Island's USS, Gregory French
mess attendant.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And from there the story really took off.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
On ancestry dot com and on newspapers dot com.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I found the.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Service records, the enlistment records, which told more about this
man named French, the Pittsburgh Courier, which was one of
the national black newspapers at the time. I mean newspapers
were segregated. Everything was segregated in the United States at
that point in time. During the First World War, Woodrow
Wilson's segregated the Navy. Black people were no longer allowed
(06:03):
to serve as officers or even sailors. They were relegated
to service as mess men's stewards and porters in the Navy.
Previous to this, starting back in the Civil War, where
twenty five percent of the Union Navy were African Americans,
and they were officers and sailors, and some of them
were heroes, all the way up until the First World War,
(06:24):
when Woodrow Wilson segregated the Navy. The story first came
to light when Robert n Adrian, a young ensign who
was on the S S. Gregory, told a reporter from
the Associated Press about how a powerful twenty two year
old negro mess attendant named French swam through shark infested
waters towing to safety a raft loaded of wounded seamen
(06:47):
from the USS Gregory, a destroyer that had been sunk
by Japanese naval gunfire near Guadalcanal.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you've been listening to Bruce Wigo tell the story
of well a whole lot of things, first his journey
into swimming and ultimately to the Swimming Hall of Fame,
and then to a story about Charles Jackson French. When
we come back, more of this story, the story of
(07:16):
an unknown hero in World War II. Here on our
American stories, liehbib here, and I'm inviting you to help
our American story celebrate this country's two hundred and fiftieth
(07:36):
birthday only a short time away. If you want to
help inspire countless others to love America like we do
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told ear to millions for years to come. Please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to Alamericanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot, any amount helps. Go
(07:56):
to Alamericanstories dot com and give, and we continue with
our American Stories. Let's pick up where we left off
with the story of Charles Jackson French, a twenty two
(08:18):
year old mess attendant who was on the US S
Gregory when it was sunk by the Japanese near Guadalcanal.
Here again is Bruce Wigo, the former CEO of the
International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Ensign Adrian was the only one on the bridge to
survive and floated over into the water as the ship
sank below him. He heard voices and found a life
raft filled with twenty four wounded men. Adrian, though superficially wounded,
was able to hang on. According to the press reports,
he knew that if they floated to shore, we'd be
(08:54):
taken as prisoners of war, and then French volunteered to
swim the wrath away from shore. He stripped off his
clothes and asked for help to tie a rope around
his waist so he could toe them to safety. Adrian
told him it was impossible that he would only be
giving himself up to the sharks, and French responded that
he wasn't afraid. He was a powerful swimmer, and he
(09:17):
swam all night six to eight hours until they were
eventually rescued by a landing craft. After the story appeared
in the papers, Adrian repeated it on a national radio program,
and Gum printed the card, and the world began to
learn more about the heroic efforts of Charles Jackson French.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Through military records, it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Was recognized that he was actually a twenty three year
old orphan from Foreman, Arkansas, who had moved to Omaha,
Nebraska to live with his sister, and he enlisted in
the Navy in nineteen thirty seven. The trading card described
him as a human tugboat, and he received a warm
welcome and a royal welcome from citizens of all races
in Omaha, Nebraska. After the story came out and a
(10:00):
high decoration was assured, finally it was issued.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It came in May of.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Nineteen forty three, in the form of a letter of
commendation from Admiral William Halsey, then commander of the Southern Fleet.
The survivors felt that he deserved a higher tribute, possibly
a Congressional medal of honor, at least the Silver Star
and Navy Cross.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And then in two thousand and nine I came across.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
A book Black Men in Blue Water, written by Chester Wright,
and in there was an interview with Charles Jackson French,
who told his story. And I'm reading from directly from
the book. So after he told her the story of
rescuing all these then he changed from laughter to what
the author had trouble discerning. It was anger, frustration, and tears.
(10:48):
On questioning him after waiting a minute or two, French
responded in more subdued, angry voice, and I'll use the
language that was directly from the book.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So I'm reading this is not my parody.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
When we was picked up and the hurt ones was
taken to be worked on, we was taken to the
rest camp with the others. I heard they came up
with some of that wild race. You colored boy mess.
I was told you got to go over there with
them colored boys to stay, and then some of them
white boys what was on the raft, and other sailors
from the Gregory's crew said, he ain't going nowhere. He's
(11:22):
a member of the Gregory's crew, and he damned well
will stay right here with the rest of us. Anybody
who tries to take him anywhere had been ready to
get a beating and be ready to go to general quarters,
meaning ready to fight with all of us.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
The boy who did all the talking was either from
Alabama or Georgia, according to French.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So for near on five minutes there was a standoff
us covered with oil and grime in our hair and
all of our clothes, and dirt in our eyes, and
then clean Master of arms folks. We must have looked
like wild men anyway, one of them, the Master at Arms,
said them fools mean it, Leave him alone. We got
other folks to help them. Crackers retreated and tuck their
(12:05):
tails and left. The conversation with Charles Jackson French occurred
shortly after the Korean War. The author Chester White attempted
to probe the cause for such intense emotion concerning the
incident that happened years before. French's shoulders shook tears coursed
down his cheeks and all the author could get from
(12:26):
him was then white boys stood up for me. French,
according to friends residing in San Diego, was claimed by alcoholism.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
From close questioning of.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Friends, it would appear that he returned from the Pacific
War stressed out from seeing too much death and destruction.
So in telling this story, I first published it on
Swimming World magazine, and I believe swim Swam the two
big internets on there. And then I get an email
from a couple who were retired Navy. One was a
(12:57):
Navy seal and one was Chief Petty Officer Kevin and
Kim mcnam who read the article and they had been
wanting to do recognize war heroes that maybe were unrecognized,
and they picked up on the.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Story and they started doing their own research.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And they came across the family of Ensign Robert Adrian,
who was the first one to tell the story good the.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Rolling story of nabel edson Robert M Andrea, survivor of
the US destroyer Gregory s a connection off Guadalcanal.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
And there were newspaper articles about Adrian going on NBC
radio telling the story of how this Negro seaman who's
he only knew the name was mess Man French.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And now I'm standing here beside me in the studio
with then some Bob Adrian of Ontario, Oregon. Adrian, yours
was certainly an unusual rescue. Yes, it was a pretty
lucky break. And I can assure you that all the
men on that raft are grateful to Messican and French
for his brave action off Vladikan Aladdin. All we have
(14:00):
the credit to the finest prositions of the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So the Mickness contacted the family of Robert Adrian, who
had himself, over the years, been doing his best to
get French recognized for what he had done. So in
the newspaper articles that I found French had been recommended
for a higher honor, the Navy Cross or the Congressional
Medal of Honor by Captain Adrian on these NBC broadcasts
(14:25):
and interviews in any event, Contacting the mckness contacting Judy Decker,
the daughter of Captain Adrian, and other family members, found
that there was a record that was given to Captain
Adrian after his broadcast where he told the story of
French and they re enacted a dramatization of the events
that led to the sinking of the Gregory.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, do you realize a chance or taking French escaping
just help my middle to avoid Yeah, we are, but
(15:15):
here I say, you can just keep keep right now.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
We have the bridge were booming, so a really incredible
feet of bravery. French described later that you know, he
felt the fish under the water, the sharks, but uh,
you know, they didn't like him.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Apparently they didn't like black meat. It's kind of French's response.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
And French also described that he'd rather be eaten by
a shark than by tortured by the Japanese.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
So this story starts to take wings.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
The Olympic Trials in twenty twenty one were held in Omaha, Nebraska,
Charles Jackson, French's hometown.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
So reporter Steve Lewin.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
From the Omaha Journal Andrew Osaki from the television station
in Omaha picked up on this and created a little
mini documentaries on wk E T and wrote about it extensively.
And a guy by the name Malcolm Nance, I guess
an author, forwarded the story on to Congressman Don Bacon
of Omaha, and he picks up the idea and says, Geez,
(16:27):
we ought to do something about it and came up
with the idea of naming a post office after Charles
Jackson French in Omaha, Nebraska, in the area where Charles
Jackson French lived at the time. And at the deadline
for this, Senator Ben Sass signs onto the bill.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And so the bill passes.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
They're going to name the post office, but the Navy
at this point also picks up and names the rescue
training pool at the Navy base in San Diego, the
Charles Jackson French Rescued Training Base and the award of
the Navy Cross.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know, seventy five years after his oric event.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And Charles Jackson French, I have to believe, is one
of the most inspiring stories of.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
All and a terrific job on the production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler. And the special thanks to
Bruce Wigo for sharing the story of an unknown American
war hero now known to you and well. I love
what he says about the risk he was taking bringing
his men away from the Japanese shorelines. I'd rather be
(17:29):
eaten by a shark than tortured by the Japanese. And
of course those white boys stood up for me, Charles
Jackson French said, And of course, seventy five years later,
Charles Jackson French gets the Navy Cross, something he deserved
right from the beginning. The story of Charles Jackson French
(17:50):
is told by Bruce Wigo here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
To search for the Our American Stories podcast, go to
the iHeartRadio app, to Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get
your podcasts. From General George Washington to Audie Murphy, history's
(00:31):
greatest war heroes gave everything for their country and embodied
the meaning of bravery with their incredible acts of selflessness.
Bruce Wigo is here to tell a story of an
unknown American war hero. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
In two thousand and five, I was lucky enough to
be chosen to be the new president and executive director
of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Uderdale, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And I'd always.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Been I've had a fascination with Benjamin Franklin, who himself
was a renowned swimmer during his lifetime. And one of
the first things that I did at the International Swimming
Hall of Fame was going to their rare book room,
where I found a book called The Art of Swimming
by the great seventeenth century scientist Melchzedic Thieveno, and in
Franklin's autobiography, this is the book that he used to
(01:23):
teach himself how to swim. One of the great puzzles
of history has been Benjamin Franklin, greatest research physicists and
scientist of the eighteenth century, no scientific education, no education
past the age of nine. It's been long overlooked about
(01:43):
the influence of swimming on Benjamin Franklin. Swimming as was
presented in that book is presented as physics as fluid dynamics.
And then later in life a kid with no science
education whatsoever outside of this book which taught him about
specif gravity and Archimedes principles of buoyancy in flotation, positive buoyancy,
(02:06):
negative buoyancy, and the impact of currents. And when Benjamin
Franklin becomes recognized as the greatest research scientist of the
eighteenth century for his work in electricity, three terms that
he coined that we still use today are electrical current
and positive and negative. And where did he get it from?
(02:29):
He got it from swimming, his experience of swimming.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And in the.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Introduction to that book, I read an amazing piece it's
said that in modern times, referring to sixteen ninety nine,
the greatest swimmers and divers in the world were the
Africans and Native Americans. It was for them that our
ladies owe their pearls. It's for them our merchants owe
the recovery of treasure and merchandise and anchors lost at sea.
(03:00):
So I grew up in the nineteen fifties and at
the time you didn't see many black swimmers. Most people
assumed that black people couldn't swim.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Swimming was entirely segregated in the United States.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
But my very first swimming meet in the nineteen fifties
was at the Christian Street YMCA, which was formerly a
colored y. So this was we swam against a team
that was black, and the team that I was on,
the Germantown YMCA, was part of the Philadelphia Swim Directors Society,
which was the first integrated swimming.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
League in the United States.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
So these formerly colored YMCAs, which were now just YMCA's,
competed against the white whis So the idea that blacks
couldn't swim and that there wasn't part of a history
was something that was foreign to me. And when I
went into the Swimming Hall of Fame after reading this book,
I said, where is this history? It doesn't seem to exist.
(03:57):
It was all about the evolution of competitive swimming, which
was something developed in Europe, and it was purely a
European sport and an Asian sport. The Japanese were great
swimmers as well. So one of my first missions at
the Swimming Hall of Fame was to rectify this absence
of black swimming history. So on the Internet, late at night,
(04:18):
when I wasn't doing the work to raise money and
save the Hall of Fame, I started doing some searches
Negro swimming, Negro drowning. I came across a reference to
a trading card number one twenty nine, and the only
description of it was Negro swimmer toes survivors. It was
(04:41):
part of a set of World War Two commemorative cards,
a sort of patriotic version of baseball cards printed by
a company out of Philadelphia, Gum, Inc.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So it came with a as you can imagine, with a.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Piece of gum, and it was kind of a bonus
to buy their gum. There wasn't any on the card
or any other reference, but on eBay I found a
number of Warpgums cards for sale, but not number one
twenty nine. So I contacted a few sellers and card collectors,
and one was kind enough to send me a scan
(05:14):
of the card which showed a picture of a black
man and shark fins out in the water and a
rope tied to a raft with a whole bunch of
wounded sailors on it. So now I had some other
keywords for my Google search, Solomon Island's USS, Gregory French
mess attendant.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And from there the story really took off.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
On ancestry dot com and on newspapers dot com.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I found the.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Service records, the enlistment records, which told more about this
man named French, the Pittsburgh Courier, which was one of
the national black newspapers at the time. I mean newspapers
were segregated. Everything was segregated in the United States at
that point in time. During the First World War, Woodrow
Wilson's segregated the Navy. Black people were no longer allowed
(06:03):
to serve as officers or even sailors. They were relegated
to service as mess men's stewards and porters in the Navy.
Previous to this, starting back in the Civil War, where
twenty five percent of the Union Navy were African Americans,
and they were officers and sailors, and some of them
were heroes, all the way up until the First World War,
(06:24):
when Woodrow Wilson segregated the Navy. The story first came
to light when Robert n Adrian, a young ensign who
was on the S S. Gregory, told a reporter from
the Associated Press about how a powerful twenty two year
old negro mess attendant named French swam through shark infested
waters towing to safety a raft loaded of wounded seamen
(06:47):
from the USS Gregory, a destroyer that had been sunk
by Japanese naval gunfire near Guadalcanal.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you've been listening to Bruce Wigo tell the story
of well a whole lot of things, first his journey
into swimming and ultimately to the Swimming Hall of Fame,
and then to a story about Charles Jackson French. When
we come back, more of this story, the story of
(07:16):
an unknown hero in World War II. Here on our
American stories, liehbib here, and I'm inviting you to help
our American story celebrate this country's two hundred and fiftieth
(07:36):
birthday only a short time away. If you want to
help inspire countless others to love America like we do
and want to help us bring the inspiring and important
stories told ear to millions for years to come. Please
consider making a tax deductible donation to our American Stories.
Go to Alamericanstories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot, any amount helps. Go
(07:56):
to Alamericanstories dot com and give, and we continue with
our American Stories. Let's pick up where we left off
with the story of Charles Jackson French, a twenty two
(08:18):
year old mess attendant who was on the US S
Gregory when it was sunk by the Japanese near Guadalcanal.
Here again is Bruce Wigo, the former CEO of the
International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Ensign Adrian was the only one on the bridge to
survive and floated over into the water as the ship
sank below him. He heard voices and found a life
raft filled with twenty four wounded men. Adrian, though superficially wounded,
was able to hang on. According to the press reports,
he knew that if they floated to shore, we'd be
(08:54):
taken as prisoners of war, and then French volunteered to
swim the wrath away from shore. He stripped off his
clothes and asked for help to tie a rope around
his waist so he could toe them to safety. Adrian
told him it was impossible that he would only be
giving himself up to the sharks, and French responded that
he wasn't afraid. He was a powerful swimmer, and he
(09:17):
swam all night six to eight hours until they were
eventually rescued by a landing craft. After the story appeared
in the papers, Adrian repeated it on a national radio program,
and Gum printed the card, and the world began to
learn more about the heroic efforts of Charles Jackson French.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Through military records, it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Was recognized that he was actually a twenty three year
old orphan from Foreman, Arkansas, who had moved to Omaha,
Nebraska to live with his sister, and he enlisted in
the Navy in nineteen thirty seven. The trading card described
him as a human tugboat, and he received a warm
welcome and a royal welcome from citizens of all races
in Omaha, Nebraska. After the story came out and a
(10:00):
high decoration was assured, finally it was issued.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
It came in May of.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Nineteen forty three, in the form of a letter of
commendation from Admiral William Halsey, then commander of the Southern Fleet.
The survivors felt that he deserved a higher tribute, possibly
a Congressional medal of honor, at least the Silver Star
and Navy Cross.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And then in two thousand and nine I came across.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
A book Black Men in Blue Water, written by Chester Wright,
and in there was an interview with Charles Jackson French,
who told his story. And I'm reading from directly from
the book. So after he told her the story of
rescuing all these then he changed from laughter to what
the author had trouble discerning. It was anger, frustration, and tears.
(10:48):
On questioning him after waiting a minute or two, French
responded in more subdued, angry voice, and I'll use the
language that was directly from the book.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
So I'm reading this is not my parody.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
When we was picked up and the hurt ones was
taken to be worked on, we was taken to the
rest camp with the others. I heard they came up
with some of that wild race. You colored boy mess.
I was told you got to go over there with
them colored boys to stay, and then some of them
white boys what was on the raft, and other sailors
from the Gregory's crew said, he ain't going nowhere. He's
(11:22):
a member of the Gregory's crew, and he damned well
will stay right here with the rest of us. Anybody
who tries to take him anywhere had been ready to
get a beating and be ready to go to general quarters,
meaning ready to fight with all of us.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
The boy who did all the talking was either from
Alabama or Georgia, according to French.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
So for near on five minutes there was a standoff
us covered with oil and grime in our hair and
all of our clothes, and dirt in our eyes, and
then clean Master of arms folks. We must have looked
like wild men anyway, one of them, the Master at Arms,
said them fools mean it, Leave him alone. We got
other folks to help them. Crackers retreated and tuck their
(12:05):
tails and left. The conversation with Charles Jackson French occurred
shortly after the Korean War. The author Chester White attempted
to probe the cause for such intense emotion concerning the
incident that happened years before. French's shoulders shook tears coursed
down his cheeks and all the author could get from
(12:26):
him was then white boys stood up for me. French,
according to friends residing in San Diego, was claimed by alcoholism.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
From close questioning of.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Friends, it would appear that he returned from the Pacific
War stressed out from seeing too much death and destruction.
So in telling this story, I first published it on
Swimming World magazine, and I believe swim Swam the two
big internets on there. And then I get an email
from a couple who were retired Navy. One was a
(12:57):
Navy seal and one was Chief Petty Officer Kevin and
Kim mcnam who read the article and they had been
wanting to do recognize war heroes that maybe were unrecognized,
and they picked up on the.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Story and they started doing their own research.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And they came across the family of Ensign Robert Adrian,
who was the first one to tell the story good the.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Rolling story of nabel edson Robert M Andrea, survivor of
the US destroyer Gregory s a connection off Guadalcanal.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
And there were newspaper articles about Adrian going on NBC
radio telling the story of how this Negro seaman who's
he only knew the name was mess Man French.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
And now I'm standing here beside me in the studio
with then some Bob Adrian of Ontario, Oregon. Adrian, yours
was certainly an unusual rescue. Yes, it was a pretty
lucky break. And I can assure you that all the
men on that raft are grateful to Messican and French
for his brave action off Vladikan Aladdin. All we have
(14:00):
the credit to the finest prositions of the Navy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
So the Mickness contacted the family of Robert Adrian, who
had himself, over the years, been doing his best to
get French recognized for what he had done. So in
the newspaper articles that I found French had been recommended
for a higher honor, the Navy Cross or the Congressional
Medal of Honor by Captain Adrian on these NBC broadcasts
(14:25):
and interviews in any event, Contacting the mckness contacting Judy Decker,
the daughter of Captain Adrian, and other family members, found
that there was a record that was given to Captain
Adrian after his broadcast where he told the story of
French and they re enacted a dramatization of the events
that led to the sinking of the Gregory.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
Yeah, do you realize a chance or taking French escaping
just help my middle to avoid Yeah, we are, but
(15:15):
here I say, you can just keep keep right now.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
We have the bridge were booming, so a really incredible
feet of bravery. French described later that you know, he
felt the fish under the water, the sharks, but uh,
you know, they didn't like him.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Apparently they didn't like black meat. It's kind of French's response.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
And French also described that he'd rather be eaten by
a shark than by tortured by the Japanese.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
So this story starts to take wings.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
The Olympic Trials in twenty twenty one were held in Omaha, Nebraska,
Charles Jackson, French's hometown.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
So reporter Steve Lewin.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
From the Omaha Journal Andrew Osaki from the television station
in Omaha picked up on this and created a little
mini documentaries on wk E T and wrote about it extensively.
And a guy by the name Malcolm Nance, I guess
an author, forwarded the story on to Congressman Don Bacon
of Omaha, and he picks up the idea and says, Geez,
(16:27):
we ought to do something about it and came up
with the idea of naming a post office after Charles
Jackson French in Omaha, Nebraska, in the area where Charles
Jackson French lived at the time. And at the deadline
for this, Senator Ben Sass signs onto the bill.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And so the bill passes.
Speaker 5 (16:44):
They're going to name the post office, but the Navy
at this point also picks up and names the rescue
training pool at the Navy base in San Diego, the
Charles Jackson French Rescued Training Base and the award of
the Navy Cross.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
You know, seventy five years after his oric event.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And Charles Jackson French, I have to believe, is one
of the most inspiring stories of.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
All and a terrific job on the production and storytelling
by our own Greg Hangler. And the special thanks to
Bruce Wigo for sharing the story of an unknown American
war hero now known to you and well. I love
what he says about the risk he was taking bringing
his men away from the Japanese shorelines. I'd rather be
(17:29):
eaten by a shark than tortured by the Japanese. And
of course those white boys stood up for me, Charles
Jackson French said, And of course, seventy five years later,
Charles Jackson French gets the Navy Cross, something he deserved
right from the beginning. The story of Charles Jackson French
(17:50):
is told by Bruce Wigo here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.