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The SACO "What-the-Hell" Pennant
This patch from World War II includes the SACO "What-the-Hell?" pennant. The American SACO commander during the war, Milton Miles, created the pennant in 1934 when he was a lieutenant and Executive Officer on the navy destroyer U.S.S. Wickes (DD-75) in the Pacific Ocean.
Occasionally during tight maneuvers, one of the ships in the fleet would do something unexpected. During such instances, Miles wanted to send a pennant up the mast saying "What the Hell?" so Miles asked his wife Billy (Wilma) to create such a pennant without using obscenities. Billy suggested using characters like exclamation points, saying that's what newspaper writers did when they wanted to use an obscenity in print. Soon afterwards, she created a pennant that included question marks and exclamation points.
Miles enjoyed using the pennant for the next several years in light-hearted situations. However, in 1939, two years before the U.S. entered World War II, the pennant proved to be useful in a potentially serious situation with the Japanese navy.
Miles was skipper of the American navy destroyer, John D. Edwards, that August, patrolling the coast of China. He was ordered to Hainan Island, off the southeastern coast of China, where the Japanese navy was threatening a coastal village, including American missionaries. When Miles arrived at Hainan, he saw several large Japanese naval ships bombarding the village. The Japanese flagship hoisted a flag that warned the American destroyer to leave, which put Miles in a quandary, since his orders were to protect the American missionaries in the village. Miles considered the situation, then he decided to ignore the Japanese threats and hoisted a pennant of his own: his "What-the-Hell?" pennant.
Upon seeing the American destroyer hoisting a pennant, the Japanese halted their bombardment, giving Miles time to nestle his destroyer between the Japanese navy ships and the village. The Japanese commander was puzzled about the pennant since it wasn't in any of his code books, but he decided to err on the side of caution and backed the Japanese fleet away from the village. Milton Miles went ashore that afternoon, gathered up the missionaries, and departed the following morning. The Japanese navy, meanwhile, sat offshore, still wondering about the meaning of the curious pennant.
Throughout World War II, Milton Miles' "What-the-Hell?" pennant was the unofficial emblem of SACO and was hoisted at SACO's many camps throughout China.
Above left: The SACO "What-the-Hell" pennant. Above right: Milton Miles first hoisted the pennant as a joke in 1934 on his ship, the destroyer U.S.S. Wickes (DD-75).
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