George entered the service from Illinois
Missing in Action

USS Kearney becomes the 1st US destroyer torpedoed in World War II, while the country is still officially neutral.

USS Kearny (DD 432) (LtCdr A.L. Danis, USN) was part of the Task Unit 4.1.4, which was detached from convoy ON-24 to reinforce the escort of convoy SC-48 under attack by U-boats southwest of Iceland on 15 Oct 1941.

During the night of 16/17 October, U-568 tried to overtake convoy on its port side for several hours but each time a destroyer with two funnels, identified as of the A or D class, disturbed her approaches and finally a spread of four torpedoes was fired at the warship at 04.15 hours. The Germans observed one hit after 1 minute 39 seconds and the subsequent sinking of the destroyer after it broke in two. However, USS Kearny was not sunk by the hit on her starboard side abreast of #1 fire room but she was temporarily disabled because all power had been lost and unable to send a distress signal until 04.42 hours. The explosion killed eleven men and wounded 22 others, eight of them seriously. The crew of the destroyer managed to regain power from the after fire room and headed towards Iceland at 10 knots, escorted by USS Greer (DD 145) (LtCdr L.H. Frost, USN) and joined in the evening by USS Monssen (DD 436) (LtCdr R.N. Smoot, USN) coming from Hvalfjordur where the ships safely arrived on 19 October. After temporary repairs alongside the repair ship USS Vulcan (AR 5) she left Iceland to Boston on 25 December for permanent repairs and returned to service on 5 April 1942.

List of seamen lost on USS Kearny 17 October 1941:
George Alexander Calvert, fireman, first class, Gillespie, Ill.
Floyd Andrew Camp, ship's cook, first class, National City, Calif.
Luther Asle Curtis, water tender, first class, Wilmington, N.C.
Louis Dobnikar, water tender, second class, Cleveland, Ohio.
Herman August Gajeway, water tender, first class, Troy, N.Y.
Lloyd Dalton Lafleur, pharmacist's mate, second class, Beaumont, Tex.
Sidney Gerald Larriviere, fireman, first class, Lafayette, La.
Dwight Floyd Pyle, seaman, second class, Bainbridge, Ga.
Iral William Stoltz, fireman, first class, Spangler, Pa.
Russell Burdick Wade, fireman, third class, Houston, Ala.
Harry Tull Young, machinist's mate, second class, Reader, Ark.