Harvey John Senne is one of eleven United States Navy sailors who disappeared following the sinking of the USS Worden on January 12, 1943.
Background[]
Harvey John Senne was born on March 25, 1920 in Rolling Green Township, Minnesota to Mr. and Mrs. Wm. H. Senne. On December 19, 1941, he enlisted in the United States Navy from Minneapolis, Minnesota and he was reported to be living in Fairmont, Minnesota. He received training at the Great Lakes Training Station in Illinois and Camp Andrews, Hawaii. He was assigned a Seaman, First Class, to the USS Worden.
Senne participated in several battles in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, including the Coral Sea Battle, the Battle of Solomon Islands, and the Battle of the Midway.
Disappearance[]
During the Aleutian Islands Campaign, a strong current swept the destroyer USS Worden onto a pinnacle that tore into a hull beneath the engine room and caused a complete loss of power. The destroyer then broached and began breaking up in the surf that an evacuation was ordered. The crew of the Worden, who were just dispatched from the South Pacific via California, were inexperienced and received little, if any, artic training. Most had stripped to their underwear before diving in the Bering Sea because they mistakenly thought their navy pea coats and pants would cause them to drown. In reality, the sailors in the water drowned or succumbed to hypothermia without shirts and pants.
However, most of the crew of the USS Worden survived and were picked up by the USS Dewey (DD-349) and the USS Arthur Middleton (APA-25). Fourteen of the sailors, including Senne, were killed, but only three were recovered and identified.
Aftermath[]
After his death, Senne was awarded the Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal and memorialized at the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Two months after accident, the partial remains of a sailor washed up on Amchitka Island. Although the remains were presumed to be one of the still-missing eleven, the remains were never identified and were subsequently buried in Plot Section K #30 in Sitka National Cemetery in Sitka, Alaska.
Harvey John Senne remains among the over 72,000 Americans who remain unaccounted for in World War II. The DPAA has listed his case as being under Active Pursuit.