Veteran Spotlight
S1c John Franklin Knott
Buried at Sea
John Franklin Knott was born in Thurmont on April 24, 1913, to parents Charles and Sarah C. Knott. He had a brother, Raymond H. Knott, and a sister, Katherine C Knott. John Franklin Knott was the youngest of the siblings.
During or before 1940, Knott married Mary Elizabeth Knott. The Knotts had two children: Franklin Elmer Knott and Samuel Eugene Knott.
Knott was 27 when he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940. He stated at that time that his employer was Joseph W. Fry, East Main Street, Thurmont, and his physical description was given as having been five feet eleven inches in height, weighing 150 pounds, with brown eyes and brown hair, and a light-brown complexion.
Knott was summoned in January 1944, along with 73 other Frederick County “selectees” (13 of whom were from Thurmont) to report to the re-induction physical examination in Baltimore, according to the January 31, 1944, The (Frederick) News.
Knott had officially entered the U.S. Navy on March 6, 1944. The (Frederick) News reported on March 6 that “Five registrants from local Draft Board Two left this morning to enter the Navy, having been accepted at pre-induction examination held some time ago.” Knott’s name appeared along with the names of the four others heading for the Navy, but Knott was the only inductee from Thurmont.
The inductees were then ordered to report to the Navy Recruiting Station in Baltimore.
Seaman 1st Class (S1c) Knott was assigned to duty on the USS Haynsworth on June 22, 1944, the ship being a destroyer that had been built by the Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. (Kearny, New Jersey), launched on April 15, 1944, and commissioned into service on June 22, denoting that Knott was assigned to the ship beginning with its maiden voyage.
From June 1944 through March 1945, Seaman 1st Class Knott’s service aboard the USS Haynsworth was routine, as well as could be in a time of war, based on the information provided by uboat.net.
From July 1944 through September 1944, Knott and his fellow sailors were engaged in a “shakedown” cruise for the battlefield, which took them from New York to the Caribbean, and back.
During virtually the entire month of September 1944, the USS Haynsworth was assigned to be part of the escort for the British troop transport Queen Eliabeth, which at one point had Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard.
On September 27, 1944, the USS Haynsworth departed for Pearl Harbor, having arrived at that destination on October 20. From October through March 1945, the ship was deployed on various assignments, generally in the Ulithi Atoll area in the South Pacific.
However, the USS Haynsworth was about to find itself and its crew engaged in one of the most important combined forces battles of World War II: the Battle of Okinawa, which took place approximately 350 miles from the Japanese mainland. The Battle of Okinawa has been described as the “bloodiest and fiercest of the Pacific War.”
The USS Haynsworth was engaged in supporting the Okinawa Campaign on April 6, when the ship was hit by a Japanese kamikaze aircraft, resulting in 7 men killed and 14 wounded. One of those sailors who had been killed was Seaman 1st Class Knott.
According to an article in the April 19, 1945, issue of The (Frederick) News, Knott’s wife did not learn of his death until she was contacted via a telegram on April 18 by Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Navy Personnel, who had informed her that her husband “was killed in the service of his country,” and, “It is assumed that burial was made at sea near the location of his death.”
Knott was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
Knott’s name is listed on the Honolulu Memorial, which lists members of the military who remain missing in action. He is further honored with a memorial tablet located within the Wellers Cemetery in Thurmont, although the name of his ship was misspelled.
S1c John Franklin Knott
USS Haynsworth
