JOHN F. WALLING

The Life and Love Story of an Island Hero Lost at Sea

By Michael R. Harrison, NHA Chief Curator and Obed Macy Research Chair

In 2022, the NHA was fortunate to receive a series of donations related to Cmdr. John Franklin Walling, a man who grew up on Nantucket and whose promising career in the U.S. Navy was cut short during World War II. First, Commander Walling’s commissioning sword from the U.S. Naval Academy was donated by Raymond F. DuBois Jr., followed by a cache of letters and photographs from Dubois and his family. Reporting about these gifts in The Inquirer and Mirror newspaper brought a further donation of Commander Walling’s diaries from Susan Carpenter, a family friend. Together, these materials provide a poignant window into Walling’s adventure-filled life and his passionate love and devotion for Doris Annabella Helmkamp, whom he married in 1943.

John Franklin Walling (1912–1945) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the second child of Charles H. Walling (1874–1937) and Georgie L. (Smith) Walling (1878–1971). His father was a railroad clerk, and the family came to Nantucket in 1913 for Charles to take up a position with the New Bedford, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Line.

From 1916 until his retirement, he was the line’s wharf agent on the island. Walling’s mother, Georgie, worked at different times as a school teacher and as a steamboat clerk. In later life, she was involved with the Artists Association of Nantucket, the Wharf Rat Club, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. As a child, John attended the Nantucket public schools, where he consistently received top marks from his teachers. At Nantucket High School, he took part in student theatricals. In July 1926, he and four friends walked the entire

40-mile perimeter of Nantucket on the beach. In 1928, he entered Phillips Exeter Academy on a scholarship and completed his last two years of high school there. In 1931, he entered the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

John Walling was the fifth man from Nantucket to attend the Naval Academy. George William Coffin (1845–1899) matriculated to the academy in 1860 but was ordered into active service in the fall of 1863 without graduating. Seth M. Ackley (1845–1908) graduated with the class of 1866 and ended his career as a rear admiral, while Richard Mitchell (1849–1897), class of 1869, retired as a lieutenant. Marcel E. A. Gouin (1900–1960), born in Siasconset, graduated with the class of 1924 and made his career in naval aviation, retiring as a vice admiral.

Walling’s surviving diaries run from the fall of 1934 to May 1940; he kept additional volumes, but they have not yet surfaced. The books we do have trace the activities of his academy days and his early professional assignments. They are interspersed with notes on daily life, and his enjoyment of sailing, swimming, and sunbathing are evident. While his education and early naval service saw him residing in Maryland, Connecticut, California, and the Philippines, Walling returned to Nantucket when he could. In December 1935, he tells his diary, “Leave, and a small one, with Christmas day in Prov [Providence], then home, where it blew like a son of a gun for three out of four days, went traveling Friday [Dec. 27] and it was cold. Salt blue fish, salt pollock, fresh cod, and mothers apple pie & steamed pudding. Made my N.Y. connection Tuesday noon [Dec. 31] with 1 minute to spare!”

Walling graduated from the Academy in 1935 and reported to the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa as a newly commis- sioned ensign. While assigned to this ship in 1936, Walling crossed the equator for the first time. His summons to appear before King Neptune, preserved with his letters, charges him with “Imitating broken down and worn out actors” and being the proverbial “man from Nantucket,” among other satirical crimes.

In 1937, Walling studied for six months at the navy’s submarine school in New London, Connecticut. From there, he was assigned to the submarine USS S-37, stationed in the Philippines. He was attached to this boat until August 1941. In late 1941, he reported to the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire to join USS Flying Fish, then fitting out. All the while, his career steadily advanced. He was promoted to lieutenant (j.g.) in 1938 and full lieutenant in 1941.

Walling met Doris Annabella Helmkamp (1922–2000) in 1940 or 1941, the daughter of U.S. Navy commander Elmer F. Helmkamp and Mildred A. Helmkamp. His surviving letters to her reveal a man quickly and deeply smitten. In one written to her from Manila on letterhead from USS S-37 in 1941, he says, “Haven’t been out dancing much, cause every place there is to go only reminds me of once with you. . . . I swear I shall be very sensible when I see you, but when I see you, I know I shan’t be sensible, and that’s because / I Love you, John.” When she came to Manila on a tour of the Pacific with her parents, he wrote to her still, even while seeing her often. In a letter dated only “Sunday,” he writes, “You looked very lovely last night, and thank you for dancing with me. Truly, you dance beautifully, and I’m afraid I’m the one who does the staggering. Shall we dance again sometime?” Before she departs, he writes, “You are so lovely tonight that I must write you about it, on account I am especially in love with you, and hope you are the same. May I hope that—nay—tis perhaps foolhardy of me to suggest—but yet—that perhaps before you go I might hold your hand.” In another letter, written aboard USS Canopus en route to Shanghai, he writes, “This is a terrible condition I’m in. No matter what I’m doing, you keep popping up . . . . What a fine condition for a young man to be in.”

Unfortunately, we do not have any of Annabella’s letters to John. From what he writes, we get glimpses of her news and can see her sending snapshots and gossip. “And I certainly do want one of those pictures you had taken for the sorority, and I most emphatically don’t have too many of you, and they don’t take up too much room.”

In October 1941, Walling visited Nantucket on leave before reporting to the Portsmouth Navy Yard to join USS Flying Fish, then fitting out. He reported to Annabella that the cold, squally, overcast weather was “just the sort” he had expected. It was good to see his friends again, but he really could only think of her. “Oh, sweet, I love you so much and as I see this Island again, and all its attractive corners and quaint streets, I think of how it will be when I can show it all to you, for Nantucket is a very lovely spot, even when the wind howls!” A few days later he reports he’s been cod fishing offshore. “We go about 20 miles off the beach, bait the hooks with clams, let the line down to the bottom, and haul up 15 lb. codfish as fast as you can handle the line. Got a bushel of scallops the other day, and now my hands are all cut up from opening them—can’t take this rugged life. . . . When I’m not fishing, I go over to the Wharf Rats Club to sit in my allotted place around the pot-bellied stove and gam with all the old-timers. . . . Oh, sweet, if and when I retire, I shall spend my summers and the fall down here renting sail-boats and just a-sitting at the Wharf Rats; you can come too.”

Another letter makes clear that John had given Annabella his class ring as a token of affection. After the U.S. declared war on Japan in December 1941, he told her to keep it “cause if anything should happen, which I know won’t, I’d like you to have it anyway.”

In May 1942, the Flying Fish departed the east coast for the Pacific theater. While aboard the sub, John wrote a continuous series of letters to Annabella, which he called “this news-letter to you.” The first page begins, “27 May, 1942. At 100 feet,” and continues, “maybe some day when you drag this letter out, I can say, ‘oh, yes, that was written one day, just before_____’ and it will be sort of historical, as it were. And you will flash your blue eyes at me and murmur, ‘my hero’!” A week later Walling and the Flying Fish took part in the historic Battle of Midway.

In mid-July 1942, Walling described his boat heading back to base after nearly three months on patrol. “[N] ow all we have to do is evade a few thousand miles of air patrols, lurking enemy submarines, and our own forces, who seem to take particular glee in bopping us, and I can talk to you again, hear that throaty chesty voice I so love. Today, for the first time in more than three weeks, we’ve been on the surface during daylight, and, oh, golly, did that sun ever feel good. We get used to seeing each other by the light of electric bulbs, and quite forget what the long period out of the light will do. . . . Everything, but meat, comes from cans now, has been for weeks. Even the potatoes! And, despite all the vitamin pills we’ve taken, fresh fruit and vegetables will sure be welcome. There goes the diving alarm; must be a plane: see you later.”

John Walling was promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander in May 1943. The same month, while he was stateside between patrols, he and Annabella were married in a ceremony in Coronado, California. He undertook additional training at New London in late 1944, at which time the couple purchased a modest house outside Mystic, Connecticut. Plans for furnishing and fitting out the house, complete with sketches, fill a number of letters.

Walling visited his mother on Nantucket a number of times: in October and November 1941, in April, August, and September 1943, and in May, July, and September 1944. During his spring 1943 visit, he brought with him the Silver Star medal he had received for gallantry in action as diving officer on Flying Fish. He gave the medal to his mother and told her to “hide this in a bureau somewhere, Ma, and don’t tell anybody about it.” The Inquirer and Mirror reported the honor to its island readers three months later, when the government released the news. Annabella accompanied him on the August 1943 and the 1944 visits.

In all, Walling took part in three war patrols aboard Flying Fish. In 1943, he was given command of USS S-48, and in 1944 he commanded USS Marlin on a patrol in the Atlantic, during which time he was appointed to the rank of commander. Finally, he was ordered to take command of USS Snook in the Pacific, which he did on December 5, 1944.

Walling took the Snook on its eighth and ninth combat patrols of the war. The boat patrolled the Kurile region north of Japan on its eighth patrol, but attacked no enemy vessels. The boat returned to Guam after this and sailed on its next patrol on March 25, 1945. Emergency repairs brought the Snook back to port two days later, with it finally departing again on March 28. On that day, John wrote to Annabella, “Dearest Missy, A few hurried last lines again . . . . We’ve had a pleasant 24 hour stay . . . . Love you, Darlingest, love you and want you and think of you all the time. I’ve got it bad, and it’s wonderful. Thank you for marrying me. Kiss, kiss, kiss. John.”

It is unclear when Annabella, living at the couple’s house outside Mystic, would have received this letter mailed from Guam. We do know she received a telegram from the navy on May 14, 1945: “The Navy Department deeply regrets to inform you that your husband Commander John Franklin Walling USN is missing following action while in the service of his country. The department appreciates your great anxiety but details not now available and delay in receipt thereof must necessarily be expected.”

From Guam on March 28, the Snook headed to the South China Sea. Walling reported his boat’s position about 50 miles from the east coast of Hainan, China, on April 8. Orders he received over the next four days did not require acknowledgment, and he sent none. The boat was then ordered to assist in the rescue of downed British airmen on April 20, but made no reply. Due in off patrol on May 5, the Snook never arrived. The best guess of naval historians is that it was sunk by an enemy submarine, but no evidence has been found in Japanese naval records to confirm how the submarine was lost.

In August 1945, the navy publicly disclosed that the Snook was overdue from patrol and was presumed last with all hands. Annabella received a packet containing her undelivered letters to Walling: “As soon as mail is received in this office for Naval personnel who are missing in action, it is returned to sender as undeliverable,” the covering letter said. “We wish with you that war conditions had not prevented our delivering all of the enclosed letters for your husband before he was reported missing, but trust that your love and support were conveyed over and over again in the mail which did reach him.” In the fall, Annabella requested and received, a complete list of the names and addresses of the next of kin for the Snook’s entire crew, so that she could write letters of condolences. The list of parents, siblings, and widows, preserved with Walling’s letters, makes sad reading.

When John was officially declared dead in May 1946, Annabella, then residing on Rose Lane in Nantucket, received a letter from Navy Secretary Adm. James Forrestal. “I know what little solace the formal and written word can be to help meet the burden of your loss, but in spite of that knowledge, I cannot refrain from saying very simply, that I am sorry. It is hoped that you may find comfort in the thought that your husband gave his life for his country, upholding the highest traditions of the Navy.”

Annabella was a sophomore at UCLA at the time of John’s death. In October 1946, she married Cmdr. Raymond F. DuBois (1915–1992), another U.S. Navy submarine officer, and they started a family together. Commander Walling’s commissioning sword eventually passed to her son, Raymond F. DuBois Jr., and it is he who donated it to the NHA last year in a ceremony at the Wharf Rat Club in honor of his mother. John Walling’s diaries, retained by his widow, passed to a family friend, whose daughter, Susan Carpenter, discovered them after her mother’s death and has now donated them to the NHA.