AMERICAN BATTLE MONUMENTS COMMISSION

Ralph Charles Bubb

Ship's Cook, Third Class, U.S. Navy

02435833

USS JUNEAU

Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: November 13, 1942
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines

Awards: Purple Heart

SHIP'S CLERK THIRD CLASS RALPH C. BUBB was born in June 21, 1918 in Pennsylvania to Clyde A. and Elizabeth Bubb. His father worked as a bus driver. An only child, Ralph Bubb grew up in Lindenwold, on the Blackwood-Clementon Road. He attended the Garden lake and Lindenwold public schools. The mention of Clementon in the news article below is a result of the newspaper reporting his postal address, as his home was serviced by the Clementon NJ post office at the time.

Ralph Bubb had enlisted in the Navy in 1935. He was discharged in San Francisco CA on December 1, 1941. He arrived home on December 5. Two days later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The ship Ralph Bubb had served on was sunk.

Ralph Bubb wanted to re-enlist immediately, but his parents pleaded with him to stay home for a month or two. On December 29th, he was to report for work at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. He got as fart as the front gate, turned about, and came home.

"I can't stand feeling like a slacker", he told his parents upon arriving home. He re-enlisted the next day.

He was killed when the USS Juneau was sunk on November 13, 1942 in action of Guadalcanal. The loss of the Juneau is famous as this the ship where the five Sullivan brothers were serving together on when all were killed in action.

Mr. and Mrs. Bubb received a letter, from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox,
which read in part:

Ralph Bubb is memorialized on the Lindenwold War Memorial, where unfortunately his name has been misspelled as Ralph Budd, and in Berlin Cemetery in Berlin NJ, at the final resting place of his parents.

COURIER-POST, CAMDEN N. J., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1943

CLEMENTON SAILOR IS REPORTED LOST

     Official Navy announcement yesterday listed Ralph C. Bubb, 24, of Clementon, a cook, among 107 names in the most recent roster of casualties.
          Bubb was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Bubb, of Blackwood Road, Clementon, and was a member of the crew of the cruiser Juneau which was lost in action last November.
          Bubb served more than six years in the Navy. He trained at Newport RI, and served on several trips to England and South America, His enlistment expired while at sea before America entered the war and he continued in service.