Largely forgotten because it was overshadowed by the so-called D-Day invasion at Normandy, the Allies launched Operation Dragoon into Southern France in August 1944. Designed to apply added pressure on the German army and to provide badly needed logistical points of entry into what the Nazis had named Festung Europa (Fortress Europe), the operation was supplemented by a diversionary attack on the port city of La Ciotat by a small flotilla comprising one destroyer (the USS Endicott [DD-495]), two British gunboats (Aphis and Scarab), and 17 PT boats.
Commanded by Lieutenant Commander John Duncan Bulkeley, the Endicott’s CO, the flotilla moved in to close range and engaged defending shore batteries, sank a German merchant ship in the harbor, and bombarded the city. When two German corvettes appeared and attacked the Aphis and the Scarab, the British gunboats soon began taking the worst of it and were compelled to withdraw. Despite having just one operable gun because of mechanical malfunctions, Bulkeley ordered his destroyer to move in and engage the Germans at close range. Opening fire on the corvettes at 1,500 yards, the Endicott succeeded in drawing fire away from the British vessels. One of the German ships scored a direct hit on the charging destroyer, which fortunately did not detonate, but did kill an American sailor and tear a gaping hole. Dueling with the two German ships at close range with her single gun for nearly an hour, the Endicott eventually prevailed, sinking both enemy vessels and then harvesting 169 German POWs from the water while continuing to engage targets ashore.
Bulkeley received the Silver Star for his actions that day. The accompanying citation credits him with “aggressive leadership, cool and intrepid action” while pressing “his attack with great skill and courage in delivering accurate and vigorous gunfire against the enemy.”
Lieutenant Commander Bulkeley added the award to an already impressive array:
- A Legion of Merit he had received just a few months earlier “for exceptionally meritorious conduct . . . in command of motor torpedo boat squadrons . . . during the invasion of Normandy.”
- A Navy Cross and two Distinguished Service Crosses for multiple acts of heroism (too numerous to detail here) while commanding PT boats in the Philippines early in the war.
- His first Silver Star, for a “retrograde maneuver involving General Douglas MacArthur”—the successful evacuation of the famed general from Corregidor, through enemy-infested waters and across 600 miles of open seas in a PT boat.
Bulkeley is often incorrectly credited with receiving his Medal of Honor for that feat, but the citation for the nation’s highest award does not mention it, instead crediting him with “extraordinary heroism, distinguished service, and conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron THREE . . . damaging or destroying a notable number of Japanese enemy planes, surface combatant and merchant ships, and in dispersing landing parties and land-based enemy forces during four months and eight days of operation without benefit of repairs, overhaul, or maintenance facilities for his squadron . . . believed to be without precedent in this type of warfare.”
After a career that included service in the Korean War and command of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, he was retained by the Navy well beyond normal retirement age to head the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV), a key element in the Navy’s quest for Fleet readiness. He retired in 1988 after 55 years of service.
When a reporter once asked why he had taken on the two German ships at La Ciotat with his outgunned destroyer, Bulkeley responded, “What else could I do? You engage, you fight, you win. That is the reputation of our Navy, then and in the future.”