The WWII Story of a Black Man Who Rescued White Sailors by Swimming 6 Hours in Shark-Infested Waters
January 10, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Bruce Wigo—the former CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame—is here to share a story of an unknown American WWII hero.
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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 la Uderdale, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And I'd always.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Been a fad 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 Melchesedic 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.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
The age of nine.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's been long overlooked about 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 specific gravity and Archimedes
principles of buoyancy in flotation, positive buoyancy, negative buoyancy, and
(02:08):
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? He got it
(02:29):
from swimming, his experience of swimming.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And in the.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Segregated in the United States. 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 whys. 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?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
It doesn't seem to exist.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So on the.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Internet, late at night, 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.
(04:41):
It was 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. So
it came with a as you can imagine, with a
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
(05:04):
number of warp Gums 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 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
(05:25):
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. I
found the 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,
(05:58):
Woodrow Wilson's segregated the Navy. Black people were no longer
allowed 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
(06:20):
were heroes, all the way up until the First World War,
when Woodrow Wilson segregated the Navy. The story first came
to light when Robert n Adrian.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A young ensign who was on the S S.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
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 a wounded seamen 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 Wuigo 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. Here are our American stories. We bring you
inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories
(07:37):
from a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
But we can't do it without you. Our stories are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love our stories in America like we do,
please go to our American Stories dot com and click
the donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help
us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
(07:57):
Stories dot Com and we continue with our American stories.
Let's pick up where we left off with the story
of Charles Jackson French, the twenty two year old mess
(08:18):
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 raft away from shore. He stripped off his
clothes and asked for help to tie a rope around
his waist so he could tothe 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. It came
in May of 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. And then in
(10:22):
two thousand and nine I came across 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
(10:44):
had trouble discerning. It was anger, frustration, and tears. 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. So I'm reading this
is not my parody. When we was picked up and
the hurt onines was taken to be worked on, we
was taken to the rest camp with the others. I
(11:06):
heard they came up with some of that wild RACI
you colored boy mess. I was told you got to
go over there with them colored boys to stay.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And then some of them white boys. What was on
the raft?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And other sailors from the Gregory's crew said he ain't
going nowhere. He's 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. The boy who did all the talking was
either from Alabama or Georgia, according to French. So for
(11:43):
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.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Leave him alone.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
We got other folks to help them. Crackers retreated and
tuck their 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
(12:23):
coursed down his cheeks, and all the author could get
from him was then white boy stood up for me. French,
according to friends residing in San Diego, was claimed by alcoholism.
From close questioning of friends, it would appear that he
returned from the Pacific War stressed out from seeing too
much death and destruction.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So in telling this story, I first published.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
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 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
(13:07):
were unrecognized, and they picked up on the story and
they started doing their own research, and they came across
the family of Ensign Robert Adrian, who was the first
one to tell the story.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Good If the Broking story of Fable Edison, Robert M. Patria,
survivor of the US destroyer Gregory Sonnection of Canal.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
And there were newspaper articles about Adrian going on NBC
radio telling the story of how this.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
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 rap are grateful to mess with him
in French for his brave action off Latina. And we
have the credit to the finest traditions 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.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So in the.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
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 and
interviews in any event, Contacting the Mickness, contacting Judy Decker,
the daughter of Captain Adrian, and other family members, found
(14:34):
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, taking French art.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Escaping Fries middle, Yeah, we are we here. We can
just keep right.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
French, So a really incredible feet of bravery.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
French described later that you know, he felt the fish
under the water, the sharks, but 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 Rescue Training Base, and they award him
the Navy Cross. You know, seventy five years after his
Orck event.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And Charles Jackson French, I have to believe, is one
of the most inspiring stories of all.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
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 eaten
(17:29):
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 is
(17:50):
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 la Uderdale, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
And I'd always.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Been a fad 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 Melchesedic 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.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
The age of nine.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's been long overlooked about 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 specific gravity and Archimedes
principles of buoyancy in flotation, positive buoyancy, negative buoyancy, and
(02:08):
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? He got it
(02:29):
from swimming, his experience of swimming.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
And in the.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
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.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Segregated in the United States. 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 whys. 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?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
It doesn't seem to exist.
Speaker 2 (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.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
So on the.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Internet, late at night, 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.
(04:41):
It was 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. So
it came with a as you can imagine, with a
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
(05:04):
number of warp Gums 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 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
(05:25):
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. I
found the 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,
(05:58):
Woodrow Wilson's segregated the Navy. Black people were no longer
allowed 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
(06:20):
were heroes, all the way up until the First World War,
when Woodrow Wilson segregated the Navy. The story first came
to light when Robert n Adrian.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
A young ensign who was on the S S.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
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 a wounded seamen 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 Wuigo 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. Here are our American stories. We bring you
inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories
(07:37):
from a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
But we can't do it without you. Our stories are
free to listen to, but they're not free to make.
If you love our stories in America like we do,
please go to our American Stories dot com and click
the donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help
us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
(07:57):
Stories dot Com and we continue with our American stories.
Let's pick up where we left off with the story
of Charles Jackson French, the twenty two year old mess
(08:18):
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 raft away from shore. He stripped off his
clothes and asked for help to tie a rope around
his waist so he could tothe 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. It came
in May of 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. And then in
(10:22):
two thousand and nine I came across 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
(10:44):
had trouble discerning. It was anger, frustration, and tears. 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. So I'm reading this
is not my parody. When we was picked up and
the hurt onines was taken to be worked on, we
was taken to the rest camp with the others. I
(11:06):
heard they came up with some of that wild RACI
you colored boy mess. I was told you got to
go over there with them colored boys to stay.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
And then some of them white boys. What was on
the raft?
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And other sailors from the Gregory's crew said he ain't
going nowhere. He's 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. The boy who did all the talking was
either from Alabama or Georgia, according to French. So for
(11:43):
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.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Leave him alone.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
We got other folks to help them. Crackers retreated and
tuck their 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
(12:23):
coursed down his cheeks, and all the author could get
from him was then white boy stood up for me. French,
according to friends residing in San Diego, was claimed by alcoholism.
From close questioning of friends, it would appear that he
returned from the Pacific War stressed out from seeing too
much death and destruction.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
So in telling this story, I first published.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
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 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
(13:07):
were unrecognized, and they picked up on the story and
they started doing their own research, and they came across
the family of Ensign Robert Adrian, who was the first
one to tell the story.
Speaker 4 (13:19):
Good If the Broking story of Fable Edison, Robert M. Patria,
survivor of the US destroyer Gregory Sonnection of Canal.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
And there were newspaper articles about Adrian going on NBC
radio telling the story of how this.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
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 rap are grateful to mess with him
in French for his brave action off Latina. And we
have the credit to the finest traditions 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.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So in the.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
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 and
interviews in any event, Contacting the Mickness, contacting Judy Decker,
the daughter of Captain Adrian, and other family members, found
(14:34):
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, taking French art.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
Escaping Fries middle, Yeah, we are we here. We can
just keep right.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
French, So a really incredible feet of bravery.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
French described later that you know, he felt the fish
under the water, the sharks, but 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 Rescue Training Base, and they award him
the Navy Cross. You know, seventy five years after his
Orck event.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
And Charles Jackson French, I have to believe, is one
of the most inspiring stories of all.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
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 eaten
(17:29):
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 is
(17:50):
told by Bruce Wigo. Here on our American Stories
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