Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 57

Reuben James: Sailor, Ship, Song O f all forms of media, none are so personal, so personalized, or so perva sive, as music. Personal in that everyone finds his or her own meaning for the words and melody. Personalized in that we all use music for different things. Per vasive in that music can be used by all other media forms as a means of expres sion, o f setting a mood, or of communicating feelings, attitudes and beliefs. In short, music is an almost transnational form of communication that can both bridge gaps and build walls. From the earliest days of the republic to the present, music and songs such as “Yankee Doodle,” “Rally ‘round the Flag,” and even “I’ll Be a Cranky Old Yank in My Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with My Honolulu Mama Doing the Beat-O, Beat-O, Flat on My Seat-0 Blues,” have, at some level, been used to inspire troops, rally citizenry and tell the story of battles fought and won. Everyone remembers the patriotic standards, and perhaps some can even remember the battles by which they were inspired. Other songs may not be “patri otic” in the traditional sense, but still tell stories of bravery and duty, war and combat. For example, one song that comes to mind is Johnny Horton’s 1960 hit, “Sink the Bismarck.” But one song in particular is in a very peculiar position: most people seem to know the words to the song, many can hum the tune, and some can remember the event sung about. But, oddly enough, few people are able to link the event, the words and the melody. That event was the sinking of the U.S.S. Reuben James (DD-245) on Oct. 31,1941. The song was written by Woody Guthrie during World War II, and then repopularized by the Kingston Trio in the 1960s. The melody, taken from an old Civil War song that was rejuvenated by the Carter family, and then borrowed by Guthrie, was “Wildwood Flower.” The Battle for the North Atlantic Even before the United States officially entered World War II in Decem ber 1941, the U.S. Navy was engaged in a shooting war with Germany. In fact, as far back as November 1939, Congress had repealed the Neutrality Act and allowed war materials to be supplied on a “cash and carry” basis (Roskill, 612), and there had been numerous encounters between German and American forces : —On November 8,1940, the S.S. City ofRayville struck a mine and was sunk. —On April 10,1941, the U.S.S Niblack dropped depth charges on a U-boat.