Born: March 20, 1920 Corporal, United States Army Service# 39681674
32ND PHOTO SQUADRON, 5TH RECONNAISSANCE GROUP, TWELFTH AIR FORCE
Date of Enlistment: February 11, 1942 Home or Place of Enlistment: Jerome, Idaho Died: April 20, 1944; Place: Mediterranean Sea
Corporal John C. Pharris was a passenger aboard the S.S. Paul Hamilton (Hull Number 227), a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. On her fifth voyage the Paul Hamilton left Hampton Roads, Virginia on 2 April 1944 as part of convoy UGS 38, carrying supplies and the ground personnel of the 485th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces to Italy. On the evening of 20 April it was attacked 30 miles off the coast of Cape Bengut near Algiers in the Mediterranean Sea by 23 German Ju 88 bombers. One aerial torpedo struck the Paul Hamilton and detonated the cargo of high explosives and bombs, and the ship and crew disappeared within 30 seconds. The crew and passengers, who included 154 officers and men of the 831st Bombardment Squadron and 317 officers and men of the 32nd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron, were all lost.