In Memory of
Machinist’s Mate
Harold Erwin Schauer
Roscoe, South Dakota
Edmunds County

April 13, 1922 – January 30, 1943
Solomon Islands, Pacific

Harold Erwin Schauer was born to Andreas and Katharine Sandmeier Schauer on April 13, 1922, in Roscoe, South Dakota. He had two brothers: Andrew and Rudolph, and eight sisters: Esther, Beatha, Olivia, Ann, Christina, Rose, Martha, and Lydia. Harold went to rural schools in Edmunds County, and attended Roscoe Public School. He worked with the C.C.C. Camp in Custer County.

Harold was anxious to join the navy so he lied about his age. He enlisted when he was seventeen years old, on September 18, 1940, at Omaha, Nebraska. He was trained at Great Lakes, Illinois, and assigned to the USS Idaho. On December 6, 1940, Machinist’s Mate Schauer transferred to the USS Chicago.

In a two-day battle near the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, the USS Chicago was severely damaged by the Japanese with aerial torpedoes. The Chicago had been a member of a task force patrolling south of Guadalcanal when 24 Japanese torpedo planes attacked in two waves an hour after sunset on January 29. The next day, while being towed to a base, the Chicago was attacked by thirteen enemy torpedoes, which sunk her. A survivor of the attack later told machinist’s Mate Schauer’s parents about the details of his death. When the ship was hit, he was on the bottom deck. After the men on the upper deck opened the hatch to the bottom of the ship, they saw water, and some bodies floating. The men on top quickly closed the hatch to keep the ship from sinking faster, and that is how Machinist’s Mate Harold Erwin Schauer died.

Machinist’s Mate Harold Erwin Schauer was buried at sea in the Pacific Ocean. A memorial head stone was created at Morningside Cemetery in Roscoe, South Dakota. He was issued the Purple Heart.

He is currently survived by three of his sisters: Christina Stern, Aberdeen, South Dakota; Esther Fetzer, Richland, Washington; and Beatha Diegel, Dearborn, Michigan. His niece, Dodie Ernst, of Black Hawk, South Dakota, writes:

Since he was the youngest in the family, he was everyone’s favorite. His older sisters thought the world of him. He was always happy and kind to everyone. Harold was my favorite uncle, he called me little Blondie and my sister little Blackie. He also called us the rascals.

Trevor C. Nickels, 7th grade, Stanley County Middle School, Fort Pierre, South Dakota, February 25, 2002, respectfully submitted this entry. Dodie Ernst, Black Hawk, South Dakota, and Sheila Schauer, Rapid City, South Dakota, nieces of Harold, and Herb and Helen Schauer, of Aberdeen, South Dakota, provided information for this entry.

View more history for Post 259 in Roscoe, South Dakota