Frederick Obrecht Peake was born July 16, 1921, the son of Boone and Della Greenwell Peake. He was named for Abbot Frederick M. Dunne and Abbot Edmund Obrecht of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Nelson County, KY.
Fred grew up in New Haven, KY and was a very well-liked and devout young man. I was told by Dick Peake that my father, Howard Peake, thought “the sun rose and set on Fred”, though I never heard my father mention him. He graduated from St. Catherine High School in 1939, and about a year later he enlisted in the US Navy. His brother, Hubert C. “Joe” Peake, also served in the Armed forces in the Pacific Theatre. His youngest brother, Dick, also served in the US Navy years later.
Both Fred and Hubert were stationed in Hawaii when the Japanese fleet attacked Pearl Harbor. Fred was aboard the USS Maryland during the attack. Soon afterward, Fred was transferred to the USS Atlanta, a light cruiser, and served as a Gunner’s Mate, 3rd Class.
During the savage and often confusing battle of Savo Straights off Guadalcanal, The USS Atlanta was hit by both Japanese and friendly fire. Fred was mortally wounded, and died from his wounds the next day, November 13, 1942.
Helen Howard Peake had told me that he died from a blast concussion, and that there were no marks on his body, but a shipmate, Cleon Burrows, an eyewitness who served with Fred aboard the USS Atlanta, wrote a letter to Joseph Richard Peake, describing Fred’s death in a different way.
“Fred was burned when the barrels of turret 3 were hit and blew up a can of powder he had just put in the loading tray. Our sick boy had been destroyed and there was little the doctors could do for him except keep him on morphine. We were dead in the water but still afloat. I met him on deck the next morning. He asked me for a cigarette. I lit one and held it for him. He too one puff and shook his head and walked on. That was the last I say of him.”
Fred died and was buried on a nearby island. He was the first person from St. Catherine’s Parish to be killed in the war. A man from the Nelson County area saw his headstone on the island, and knowing of the two abbots from Gethsemani named Frederick and Obrecht, inquired about the name when he came home. The monks sent him to Fred’s mother and he told her of the grave and its location. His remains were later reinterred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 11, 1949. His gravesite location is Plot: B, Grave: 12.
Frederick Obrecht Peake, Gunner’s Mate Third Class was awarded the Purple Heart for military merit and for wounds received in action resulting in his death November 14, 1942. Fred was my father’s favorite uncle. Helen Howard Peake said that Howard thought Fred “hung the moon.”
In the Family Records section, you can find man family letters, U.S. Navy documents, newspaper clippings and photos detailing Fred’s service, his last days, and the events following his tragic, yet heroic, death.