DIED AT HANDS OF JAPANESE ON 2ND DAY OF WWII
Part of the plan of the Empire of Japan during World War II was to capture the island of Guam. By March of 1941, Japan was already flying photo reconnaissance over the island and by September of that year the plans for an invasion of Guam were completed. The U.S. government did not think it would be practical or possible to defend the island of Guam if the Japanese attacked it and in 1938 when the Navy asked for permission to build new fortifications on Guam the proposal was rejected.
On the morning of December 8, 1941, which was December 7 east of the International Date Line, the USS PENGUIN (AM-33), a World War I era wood minesweeper which was the largest U.S. Navy vessel located in Guam at the time, had just returned from patrol and was entering the port at Agana when word of the Pearl Harbor attack was received. PENGUIN slipped her mooring and moved outside the harbor to gain maneuvering space but within minutes Guam was attacked by Japanese bombers. In addition to striking military targets ashore the Japanese planes also attacked PENGUIN. Shooting down one attacking aircraft, the ship was bombed and strafed, and although there were no direct bomb hits on the ship, a group of bombs straddled the ship causing extensive damage. During the short battle one officer was killed and a number of the crew were injured. Soon it was obvious that PENGUIN would not survive additional Japanese attacks as she was seriously leaking so the Commanding Officer, to prevent her capture by the enemy, directed PENGUIN into deep water where valves were opened and the ship was purposely scuttled. The crew abandoned the doomed ship and paddled to shore in life rafts where they joined the meager Navy and Marine Corps forces who were attempting to defend the island. It has been recorded that U.S. forces consisted only of 153 Marines and 271 Navy personnel.
SM3 Robert Walter Ernst survived the PENGUIN sinking and as crewmen were assigned to various locations on the island, he joined five other PENGUIN survivors who were assigned to be lookouts at Dungca Recreation Beach. Early on the morning of December 10, 1941, two days after the initial air attack, a Japanese invasion force of several thousand men landed at various beaches on the island. A group of about 400 men landed at Dungca and after a very short battle, the six men at Dungca, including SM3 Ernst, became captives of the Japanese. It has been reported that the six men were all killed by being bayonetted after their capture. This was in accordance with the standard policy for Japanese soldiers to bayonet all enemy on the battlefield to make certain they were dead. Within hours all of the meager American forces on Guam were forced to surrender to the vastly superior force.
The final resting place of SM3 Ernst is not known but a memorial marker in his honor has been installed at Little Rock National Cemetery in Arkansas.
Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)
