Rear Admiral Wreford Goss Chapple

   Another name for Wreford was Moon Chapple.¹⁴⁷

  General Notes:

^136,150

  Noted events in his life were:

• Census: age 11, birth MT 1909, 10 Jan 1920, Billings, Yellowstone, Montana, USA. ¹⁴⁵

• Military Service: sinking ship on west coast of Luzon, Dec 1941. ¹⁵¹

• Military Service: patrolling the Verde Island Passage, Mindanao, 12 Dec 1941. ¹⁵² S-38 (SS-143), Commander Chapple fired a torpedo at a Japanese ship and believed the vessel sank, however records did not substantiate a Japanese ship in the area or confirm a sinking. Commanders were questioning the reliability of Mark XIV torpedoes.

• Military Service: patrolling Lingayen Gulf, 22 Dec 1941. ¹⁵³ S-38 (Chapple) entered Lingayen Gulf to attack Japanese landing forces. At a range of 1,000 yards Chapple fired four torpedoes at a transport. The torpedoes failed to explode and an escort charged over the diving S-38, but depth charges were not deployed.
After the destroyer moved on Chapple discovered numerous ships and fired at a transport after setting his torpedoes at 9 feet. The torpedoes hit and sank the large freighter, Hayo Maru. Chapple dived to wait out the barrage of depth charges. Spending most of the day submerged on the bottom Chapple discovered they were stuck in the mud. As soon as the boat was dislodged, Chapple withdrew from the harbor and at night surfaced to recharge the batteries and air the submarine. The next morning Chapple sighted another group of transports. While getting in position to fire the torpedoes, S-38 was bombed by a Japanese plane and forced to dive to 180 feet.
The same evening Chapple surfaced, but immediately a hydrogen-gas explosion occurred in the after battery compartment. As soon three injured crewmen were tended for and repairs made S-38 headed out of the Gulf. Dec 24^th on orders from Manila, S-38 withdrew from the Lingayen Gulf area.

• Military Service: assigned Commander of the Permit (SS-178), Jan 1942. ¹⁵⁴

• Military Award: Navy Cross, 27 Feb 1942. ¹⁵⁵ Billings Man Gets Navy Cross
Lieutenant Chapple of Billings was among seven submarine commanders who Friday were awarded Navy Crosses for especially meritorious conduct. A native of Billings, Lieut. Wreford Goss Chapple was appointed to the naval academy from Montana in 1926.

• Military Service: assisting General MacArthur, 13 Mar 1942, Corregidor, , Samar, Philippines. ¹⁵⁶ Permit was dispatched from patrol off Surabaya to assist General MacArthur on Corregidor. En route Chapple learned that the General had left Corregidor in four PT boats and Chapple was ordered to proceed to a "small island west of Panay." Arriving at the island on March 13^th Chapple learned MacArthur had departed for Mindanao. A disabled PT boat and 15 man crew had been abandoned, so Chapple sank the PT boat and took the crew to Corregidor. Chapple was then ordered to transport seven men from the PT boat and forty code breakers to Australia. The passengers and crew totaled 111. Despite the over-crowded conditions, Chapple was ordered to assume an offensive patrol in the vicinity of Marinduque Island. Chapple was quite worried about the possibility of the code-breakers being captured by the Japanese if Permit should be disabled or abandoned, but did as he was ordered.
Encountering three destroyers while on patrol, Chapple was forced to dive and remain submerged for 22 ½ hours. On April 7 ^th, after a 23 day voyage, Permit reached Australia. Chapple received an upbraiding for not protesting the order to carry 111 persons.

• Military Service: patrolling out of Fremantle, Apr-Aug 1942, Fremantle, , Western Australia, Australia. ¹⁵⁷ During this period Chapple in Permit patrolled in the area of Surabaya and Makassar Strait. Permit failed to intercept two tankers and ran aground on DeBril Bank. The next patrol in Davao Gulf ended with Permit's overhaul at Pearl Harbor.

• Military Service: patrolling out of Pearl Harbor after overhaul, Apr-Aug 1943, Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. ¹⁵⁸ After Permit was overhauled Chapple went on a patrols to Empire and Truk. Neither patrol produced any results.

• Military Service: patrolling the Sea of Japan, 4 Jul 1943. ¹⁵⁹ Permit and three other boats, Plunger, Lapon, Nawhol entered the Sea of Japan. Running in shallow uncharted waters Chapple "hit bottom and damaged his sonar head." Waiting for the other boats to get in position, Chapple's men suffered from "food poisoning or water contamination." About a week later the same situation re-occurred, but no cause was ever determined.
Unable to wait any longer Chapple torpedoed a freighter. He also torpedoed two more freighters in another convoy. One sank.
When Chapple surfaced the Permit was hit by a wave and was "pooped." Ocean water flooded the boat. Chapple's emergency procedures saved Permit, but the SJ radar was out of commission. Without the radar Chapple was unable to score any more hits.
On the surface Chapple fired on a small vessel believed to be a Japanese patrol vessel. The vessel was a Russian fishing trawler. In the battle several women were wounded and a man was killed. Since the trawler was sinking Chapple brought the survivors on board and delivered them to Dutch Harbor. Chapple got another up-braiding for the attack which might have "exposed the secret of the penetration of the Sea of Japan."
Chapple and Oliver Kirk stepped down as commanders after returning to port. This was Chapple's eighth war patrol. He was sent to "new construction."

• Military Service: involved in invasion of Layte, 20 Oct 1944. ¹⁶⁰ During the U.S. invasion of Leyte (Oct 20, 1944), Chapple in Bream (SS-243) was deployed with a dozen submarines to monitor and attack Japanese ships in their assigned areas. Bream was placed between Manila and the Palawan Passage.
On Oct 23, Chapple fired six torpedoes and badly damaged the Japanese cruiser Aoba.

• Military Service: patrolling the Lingayen Gulf, 30 Oct 1944-10 Nov 1944. ¹⁶¹ Oct 30, 1944 Chapple trailing another convoy fired six torpedoes hitting a transport.
Nov 3, 1944 working in a four boat wolf pack in the area of Lingayen Gulf, Bream fired four torpedoes which produced a hit. Later the wolf pack re-joined Chapple and sank the Kagu Maru.
Nov 5, 1944 the wolf pack fired 23 torpedoes at and damaged the heavy cruiser, Kumano. Later the Kumano was sighted under tow and was finally laid to rest by U.S. planes.
Returning to Fremantle, Chapple was ordered to transfer parts to Ben Oakley in Growler. No contact was made with Growler after Nov 8^th. Chapple arrived at the rendezvous point on Nov 10^th. After circling the area for 24 hours for his friend Oakley, Chapple was ordered back to Fremantle.

• Cemetery: US Naval Academy Columbarium, May 1991, Annapolis, Anne Arundel, Maryland, USA. ¹⁵⁰

Wreford married Grace Haimovitch, daughter of David Haimovitch and Bertha Gensburger.¹⁴⁷ (Grace Haimovitch was born on 22 Feb 1909 in Shanghai, , Shanghai, China ¹⁵⁰ and died on 28 Nov 1984.)

Wreford next married Living