Honor Pages

Billy Carter Semones

July 3, 1936 - November 2, 1964

In 1964, Billy Carter Semones was a 28 year old Navy petty officer serving aboard the USS HENRY CLAY (SSBN 625), one of the Navy's new atomic-powered ballistic missile submarines, and one of the nation's ultimate weapons during the Cold War.

The Henry Clay was in distress on November 2, 1964: a severe storm off the Atlantic coast of Spain was causing 30-foot waves while the sub was operating on the surface in preparation for another several months patrol underwater.

A hatch cover was loose; its banging was interfering with the Henry Clay's forward sonar array, a critical navigation and ranging system.

Meanwhile, a Soviet trawler equipped with spy equipment was lurking nearby trying to record a "sound signature" of the sub in order to track its movements.

Billy Semones strapped on a life vest and headed onto the deck of the sub to lock down the hatch cover. As the high waves crashed onto the rolling deck, Billy was trying to secure his safety line when he was suddenly swept overboard by a wave.

Although crewmen from the HENRY CLAY braved diving into the cold water to try and rescue Billy, nearly drowning in the huge waves, his body was never recovered.

Due to Cold War security concerns at the time, the Navy only told Billy's family that he had died accidentally during a minor repair job. His parents, Rosalyn and George Semones of Woodford County, Kentucky, were devasted by Billy's death and never really got over it.

Rosalyn died in 1985 and George died in 2002, neither knowing that their son was actually a war hero.

Billy had joined the Navy in 1955, requesting duty on submarines. A few years later, he introduced his younger sister Betty Sue to one of his shipmates from the submarine Amberjack, Ronald "Whit" Whitaker.

Whit and Betty married in 1960 and eventually moved into the Semones family home in Woodford County, Kentucky. 45 years after Billy's death, Betty Sue was never expecting to know any details of Billy's death.

But in the summer of 2009, Betty Sue received a letter sent by one of Billy's shipmates on the HENRY CLAY. Andy Wheeler had found Billy's father's home address on the internet, and addressed the letter to George Semones, not knowing that George was deceased. Had Betty Sue and her husband Ronald "Whit" Whitaker not been living in the Semones family home, the letter might have been lost forever.

Wheeler, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, wrote in the letter that he and some of Billy's other shipmates were planning to honor Billy with a plaque at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C. After a phone call from Betty Sue, Wheeler started putting her in touch with others who had served with Billy.

She learned of one shipmate, Charlie Young, who lived in nearby Lexington, Kentucky. And she finally heard Billy's heroic story - the loose hatch cover, the storm, the Soviet trawler, and other details of how Billy was lost.Young said that Billy Semones' effort to close the loose hatch that day was essential to the Henry Clay's safety. Billy was well liked by his shipmates, and Young claims that "losing Billy was the worst thing that happened to us."

Betty Sue joined some of those shipmates in early November 2009 for ceremonies at the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., as they finally placed a plaque on the commemorative wall honoring the man they lost so long ago.

While Betty Sue Semones Whitaker is glad to finally know the truth about Billy's death, she thinks it's just as important that his shipmates are finally able to talk about the story. "They probably needed this memorial service more than we did. They had a rough time."

(from an article published in the Lexington Herald-Leader (KY) on Veterans Day, November 11, 2009)

Billy Carter Semones - Shipmate Profile