Lt Cdr Warren Stringer was a gunnery officer on the USS Gambier Bay when it was sunk by the Japanese in the Battle for Leyte Gulf. Here are some details about the rescue.

The Gambier Bay sank at 0907 on 25 October 1944 in the Battle off Samar part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. After an hour’s delay in getting approval for a search and rescue operation for survivors of the battle from Admiral Kinkaid, Commander Seventh Fleet, a 7-ship task force consisting of PC-623 (the task force flagship), PC-1119, LCIs 34, 71, 337, 340, and 341) was formed at 1600 on 25 October. Under the command of Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, the task force departed at 0400 on 26 October for the battle area 125 miles away. Note: PC-623 was a submarine chaser (http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/010623.htm), as was PC-1119. LCIs were Landing Craft Infantry (Large) (http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150034.htm). The survivors might not have been rescued had it not been for Lt. Allison M. Levy, the officer of the deck of the flagship PC-623, who disobeyed the ship’s commander, Lt. Cdr. James Baker, 3 times after having spotted red, white and green signal flares at 2220 on October 26 off to port and deviated from Baker’s commanded course. Baker changed his mind after his eyes became accustomed to the dark and he, too, saw the flares. (This information comes from “The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.”) Between 0030 and 0345 on 27 October, the 7 ships rescued 1,153 survivors of the escort carrier Gambier Bay (CVE-73), the destroyer USS Hoel (DD-533), the destroyer USS Johnston (DD-557), and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413). However, James Hornfischer, the naval historian and author of “The Last Stand…,” indicates that the one hour delay cost the lives of 116 men that died at sea prior to rescue. At 2000 on 27 October, 58 hours 53 minutes after the Gambier Bay sank, Lt. JG Warren Stringer, USNR, was one of 5 officers and 98 enlisted men from the Gambier Bay, as well as 18 men from the USS Johnston, that were picked up by LCI-340. Warnie’s written recollections to Tony Potochniak (an Aviation Machinist Mate from the Gambier Bay who was quoted in “The Last Stand…” and the historian of the VC-10 Composite Squadron aboard the Gambier Bay and a founder of the ship's association) are that he was pulled aboard after about 41 hours, but the details of the search and rescue are taken from the pages of the book, "MacArthur's Amphibious Navy," written by Admiral Daniel E. Barbey, and the report quotes activities hour by hour. This report is available online at http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/15/150337sr.htm. Warnie admitted he was one of many who suffered what he called mental derangement due to injury, stress, dehydration, and exposure. Starting at 0645 on 28 October, the survivors were transferred to hospital ships LST-266 and LST-464.

A quote directly from the book "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D. Hornfischer :

“After postwar interviews with Japanese commanders were completed by the US Strategic Bombing Survey and by the historian Samuel Eliot Morison and his staff, and after the accounts of Admirals Ugaki, Koyanagi, and others were published, Japanese voices were seldom heard in the history books. In 1984 Hank Pyzdrowski, the VC-10 Avenger pilot and executive director of the Gambier Bay’s Heritage Foundation, received a letter with a Japanese postmark. ‘Dear Sirs,’ it began, ‘I have the honor to write the Men of the Gambier Bay as the ex-Commanding Officer of the Tone, heavy cruiser of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who fought against bravest shipmates of the Gambier Bay in the United States Navy, off Samar Island in the morning of October 25, 1944. “The correspondent, Capt. Haruo Mayuzumi, in neat cursive script blocked off on graph paper, recited his naval curriculum vitae, then, rather than discuss the battle from a personal standpoint, launched into a technical discussion of Japanese naval gunnery. It seemed strange, a chilly disquisition that would warm only a gunner’s mate’s heart: after explaining, complete with charts, graphs, and diagrams, how the caps of Japanese shells were engineered to break away so as to maximize their killing effect while traveling under water, he wrote, ‘I am very grateful when I read ‘The Men of Gambier Bay’ [by Edwin P. Hoyt] and knew some effect of 8” 91-AP of my ship.’ “But Mayazumi was more than a technician. He showed flashes of mercy and humanity too. He recalled that while firing on the sinking Gambier Bay, ‘my fire control officer did never direct his gun fire to the spot in which many men were waiting to come down by Jacob’s ladders. My young midshipman ….. was whole-heartedly sending fire to the outside of the engine room. Suddenly many crew and passengers gathered near life boats near engine room. I immediately ordered “Ceasefire.” The midshipman soon ordered to aim [at] the forecastle where no person could be seen….. I saw you brave men, under gunfire and the flame, calmly waited the turn to go down by Jacob’s ladders….. I now eagerly pray good luck to all brave men of the Gambier Bay.’”

Warren Stringer (1917)