Shipfitter 2nd Class John P. Reitmeyer
United States Navy (1929-1933 * 1942)

John Paul Reitmeyer was born on July 18, 1909, the fourth of ten children of Rose and August Reitmeyer. He had six brothers, Harry, Frederick, Vincent, Leo, Gilbert and Ralph, and three sisters, Frances, Rita and Jean. The Reitmeyer family lived at 1829 Woodward Avenue, then moved to 516 Bellaire Avenue in 1930.

John attended Resurrection Elementary and graduated from South Hills High School in 1927. He took a job working with his grandfather at Moorehead-Reitmeyer Electric Motor Repair Shop in Oakdale, where he was employed for two years.

In December 1929, John enlisted in the United States Navy. During his four year tour of duty, he took flying lessons, but never qualified as a Navy pilot. After his enlistment ended in 1933, John returned to Pittsburgh and the family's new home on Bellaire Avenue.

He went back to work with his grandfather for a short time, then moved on to the sheet metal trade. John became an ironworker, employed at the Dravo Corporation's shipbuilding yard on Neville Island. He also spent time with the Heyl-Patterson Construction Company, doing metal work at facilities throughout the state.

The Dravo Corporation shipbuilding yard on Neville Island.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, John re-enlisted in the Navy on January 6, 1942 and was rated as a Shipfitter 2nd Class, assigned to the USS Juneau (CL-52), a new ship moored at the Brooklyn Naval Yard.

A naval Shipfitter's duties include fabricating, assembling and erecting all structural parts of a ship. They were the skilled mechanics who kept a ship at sea structurally sound. In battle, they were called upon to perform whatever tasks necessary to keep their ship seaworthy.

Before leaving for the war, John commented to family members that it was his duty to go back to sea on this recently commissioned ship because so many of the sailors were so young, and had never before been on a ship, let alone out to sea. He felt strongly that his experience was needed on the USS Juneau.

The USS Juneau was a light cruiser commissioned in February 1942. After a quick shakedown cruise and blockade duty near Martinique, the ship docked in New York to make alterations. John was able to return home on leave to visit with the Reitmeyer family in Brookline. His youngest brother Ralph recalls, "That was in July of 1942."

Once his leave was up, Ralph remembers taking his brother to the Pennsylvania Railroad Station on Grant Street, in downtown Pittsburgh, for the trip back to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Ralph had only recently earned his driver's license.

"John was always kidding me about my poor driving," Ralph says. "I was a nervous wreck."

"He boarded the train and that was the last time I saw him."

Shipfitter 2nd Class John Reitmeyer rejoined the Juneau in New York in late-July 1942. The ship was performing patrol and escort duties at the time. On August 22, the Juneau departed for the South Pacific. There, the ship would support United States operations at Guadalcanal, seeing action in two of the major naval engagements that contributed to the American victory at Guadalcanal, which halted Japanese expansion towards Australia and turned the tide of battle in favor of the Allies.

Shipfitter 2nd Class John Reitmeyer (back right) and shipmates on the USS Juneau.

After stopping briefly at the Tonga Islands and New Caledonia, she rendezvoused on September 10 with Task Force 18 under the command of Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, flying his flag on the aircraft carrier Wasp.

The following day, Task Force 17, which included the carrier Hornet, combined with Admiral Noyes' unit to form Task Force 61, whose mission was to ferry fighter aircraft to Guadalcanal. On September 15, Wasp took three torpedo hits from the Japanese submarine I-19. With fires raging out of control, the carrier was sunk. The Juneau and screen destroyers rescued 1,910 survivors of Wasp and returned them to Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, on September 16. The next day, the Juneau rejoined Task Force 17.

In October 1942, operating with the Hornet group, Task Force 17 and the USS Juneau participated in the Buin-Faisi-Tonolai Raid and in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. Then, in November, the ship was present at the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

The Light Cruiser USS Juneau (CL-52) in 1942.

On November 13, 1942, a Japanese task force, including several warships escorting a troop convoy, approached Guadalcanal. This was a major attempt by the Japanese to reinforce their island garrison and launch an offensive operation to clear the island of the Americans.

As the Japanese ships neared Guadalcanal, they were met by Rear Admiral Daniel J. Callaghan's relatively small Landing Support Group, which included the USS Juneau. At 01:48 the two forces met and began to exchange fire. A fierce battle ensued.

A painting that depicts the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal from the viewpoint of the soldiers on the island.

The USS Juneau was hit by a torpedo and began to list. The ship was forced to withdraw. By morning, the Japanese force had been beaten back, and their reinforcement effort halted. This was a major turning point in the battle of Guadalcanal.

Listing severely, the USS Juneau, along with two other damaged cruisers, began the journey to Australia for repairs. At 11:00 on the morning of November 13, the USS Juneau was hit by two torpedoes from the Japanese submarine, I-26. The ship broke in two and sunk in a mere twenty seconds.

John Reitmeyer was below decks and did not survive the sinking. In a sad irony, another Brookliner, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Robert F. McCann was also aboard the Juneau when it sunk and was among those that perished on the fateful day.

Over 100 sailors escaped the doomed ship, only to languish for days in the water. News of the sinking was not reported due to the tenuous situation at that time during the Battle of Guadalcanal. The admiralty did not want to risk allowing the Japanese to know the extent of the damages to the fleet. When rescue aircraft arrived, eight days later, only ten survivors remained. In all, 687 young men perished as a result of the sinking of the USS Juneau, including the five Sullivan Brothers.

The Pittsburgh Press, on January 24, 1943, reported that John P. Reitmeyer was listed as Missing in Action. Any hopes of John's survival were dashed when news came back from of the ten survivors. Also, Ralph Reitmeyer, an Electrician's Mate on the USS Picking, heard from eyewitnesses of his brother's sudden and tragic fate. One of the four Blue Service Stars on the window of the Reitmeyer home on Bellaire Avenue was replaced by a Gold Star.

Shipfitter 2nd Class John P. Reitmeyer, along with Gunners Mate 2nd Class Robert F. McCann, of Brookline are both memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, located in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Metro Manila. They were the first two local casualties of the World War that would eventually claim forty-one sons from the neighborhood. Two other fallen Brookliners, both lost at sea, Frank P. Dornetto and Clarence R. Copeland, are also listed on the Tablets of the Missing in Manila.

In 1987, a memorial to the USS Juneau was erected near the docks in Juneau, Alaska. The bronze tablets were later moved to the USS Juneau Memorial Center, located in Kearny, New Jersey, and rededicated on November 14, 2013. The Memorial Center is in the old Federal Shipbuilding Company, the same building that laid the keel for the ship back in 1940.

On March 20, 2018, explorers located the wreck of the USS Juneau 2.6 miles below the ocean surface off the Soloman Islands. Click here to view video footage of the discovery.

NOTE: The Reitmeyer family has quite a storied legacy of military tradition. It began with John Reitmeyer in 1929 and has continued through three generations until today. Click here to read about the amazing service record and sacrifice of this remarkable Brookline family.

* Written by Clint Burton: May 24, 2012 - Updated April 14, 2018 *

The Brookline War Memorial

Listed below are many of the sons of Brookline who gave their
lives to preserve freedom and contain aggression during
World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
General George S. Patton
 

World War I (1917-1919)

The World War I Memorial - Washington D.C.

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World War II (1941-1945)

The World War II Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Korean War (1950-1953)

Korean War Memorial - Washington D.C.

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Vietnam War (1965-1973)

Vietnam War Memorial - Washington D.C.

The Brookline Monument - The Cannon

<Brookline War Memorial> <> <Brookline History>