After a long voyage from San Francisco, the soldiers aboard the SS President Coolidge finally spotted their destination — the lush jungle island of Espiritu Santo. It was Oct. 26, 1942 — the middle of World War II — and the luxury cruise liner turned military transport ship was headed to dock at one of the major supply bases in the South Pacific.
Tragically, the ship never made it to the harbor. Its captain unknowingly steered the vessel into a minefield meant to protect the U.S.-controlled island from Japanese submarines. By the time he received a Morse code message telling them to stop, it was too late. The ship hit one mine and then another, killing a Merchant Marine fireman named Robert Reid, who was working in the engine room. Hoping to save the other 5,000 souls on board, the captain, Henry Nelson, decided to beach the vessel on the nearby coral reef. Then he ordered everyone to abandon the ship.
Capt. Elwood J. Euart was ready to evacuate. But the officer, who was in charge of the enlisted men’s dining hall, began to worry that one of his men might have been trapped in the freezer. He also wondered if anyone had helped the men in the ship’s infirmary escape. Euart turned around and headed deeper into the sinking ship.
All her life, Franciscan Sister Lucia Treanor heard the story of Euart’s daring rescue mission from her family. Euart was her mother’s favorite cousin.
Sister Lucia lives with her fellow Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist at St. Philip’s Convent in Falls Church and teaches writing at The Catholic University of America in Washington. She recently told Euart’s story in a book titled, “Elwood: The Story of a Catholic World War II Hero.”
Euart was born Jan. 28, 1914, the second of seven children in a Catholic Rhode Island family. He graduated from Pawtucket Senior High School during the Great Depression and worked for a few years before attending Rhode Island State College. There he was part of a fraternity, the track team and ROTC. In 1938, a catastrophic hurricane hit Rhode Island, causing major devastation and killing 600 people. Euart and his fraternity brothers, among other survivors, pitched in together to recover bodies and to clean up debris.
In 1939, Euart graduated with a degree in science and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. Two years later, he was commissioned in the National Guard, and his unit was called to serve quickly. The next year, he was aboard the President Coolidge.
During the trans-Pacific journey, Euart became friends with the regimental chaplain, Father John P. Mahoney. He arranged to have the mess hall cleared each afternoon so Father Mahoney could celebrate Mass, which Euart attended daily. As the ship was sinking, Father Mahoney headed to the brig to make sure the man imprisoned there was freed when he ran into Euart on his way to the infirmary. At that point, the hulking ship was nearly tipped on its side, making walking difficult. When Euart finally entered the infirmary, he found six men there, only one of whom was strong enough to walk.
Undeterred, Euart pulled one of the men onto his back and promised to return for the others. As he made his way through the ship, three men in the deck above him came to his aid, lowering a rope down to pull the sick man up to safety. Again and again, Euart returned to the sickbay, until only one man was left. The boat’s tilt was even more extreme now, and Euart tied himself to the rail to create a taut rope that the last man used to haul himself up, until his fellow soldiers could pull him the rest of the way to safety.
But the rope that saved the sick men trapped Euart. The knot was too tight to undo and he had lost his knife somewhere along the way. Despite warnings from the rescue boat bobbing next to the sinking ship, the men stayed with Euart, desperate to find a way to free him. Before they could, the ship slid off the reef and plunged into the sea.
The three men — Capt. Warren K. Covill, Warrant Officer Robert Moshimer and Lt. Ward MacDonald — were pulled under the water but managed to swim to safety. Euart never appeared. A somber crowd watching from shore gradually realized that the 28-year-old was gone.
Sister Lucia didn’t get to know Euart, though as a baby he held her at her baptism. But still she remembers her mother’s deep sorrow at his untimely death. After his burial, Sister Lucia was inspired to interview his living contemporaries and to write the book telling his story. In many ways, Euart was unexceptional, said Sister Lucia. But he had exceptional character. “He was such a good example of the Christian young man,” she said. “It’s remarkable the number of people all over the world who celebrated his heroism.”
For decades, Euart remained with the sunken ship. Years later, in 1948, a search team deemed the recovery of his body too dangerously deep to attempt. But the shipwreck lured many curious divers over the years. In 2012, Rex Moli, an employee of Santo Dive Tours, had been diving for 16 years when he found Euart’s bones, still wearing dog tags bearing his name. Three years later, his body was recovered and after definitively confirming Euart’s identity, his remains were flown to Rhode Island. A Mass of Christian burial was offered with full military honors at St. Maria Goretti Church in Pawtucket. He was buried in St. Francis Cemetery next to his parents.
In her book, Sister Lucia includes the letter Father Mahoney sent to Euart’s parents after his death. It explains how Euart died, but more notably it captures his legacy.
“When we were ordered to abandon the ship, your son was on deck and could have easily, and with honor, slid down the ropes to safety,” said the chaplain. “But with that courage and love which is more than human, he went below to make certain that his boys were safely getting off the ship.
“His body is still with the ship, but his immortal soul is with God. Captain Euart completed his service to his country, and today he is in God’s heavenly army. And what a rank he must have been welcomed by him who set us the example in giving his life that others might live.”
