Office of the Historian

893.00B/11–1545

The Navy Department to the Department of State 27

Serial 0056P21
Washington, [November 14, 1945.]

The following dispatch, dated 10 November 1945, from the Commander, Seventh Fleet,28 is paraphrased for the information of the Department of State:

“On the morning of 4 November, Captain Danton (Merchant Marine), Mr. Oko (Chief Officer), Lieutenant Mays, USNR (Gunnery Officer), Captain Taylor (Army) and Mr. Davies (Purser), all from the S.S. George R. Holmes, proceeded toward Shanhaikwan in a CNA29 Force jeep. Mr. Oko was slightly wounded while en route when Communist forces fired on the party. Gunfire ceased when the party was identified and all personnel were taken to Shan Hai Kwan, where Mr. Oko was given medical treatment. Members of the party were permitted to retain their weapons and were not molested further but the Communists retained the jeep. The party, with the exception [Page 626] of Mr. Oko, was permitted to return to Ching Wang Tao on the same day. Mr. Oko was released on 7 November 1945 and is now hospitalized in Ching Wang Tao in satisfactory condition.”

John L. McCrea
,
Rear Admiral, USN
  1. Sent from the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to the Division of Foreign Activity Correlation.↩
  2. Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid.↩
  3. Chinese National Army.↩