Wilmington's WW II Heroes-- Part 5: Brothers at War, USS Essex, USS Lexington, USS Rasher

Sergeant NICK FOKAKIS fought with the 63rd Infantry Regiment, 61st Division, in New Guinea and the Philippines.

His brother, Sgt. GEORGE FOKAKIS, 127th Infantry Regiment, 32nd Division, also fought there.

Aviation Radioman 2nd Class GEORGE FOWLER flew 36 missions in an SB2C Helldiver from the aircraft carrier USS Essex.  Around the Philippines, his pilot scored a direct hit on a Japanese cruiser in October 1944.

Airman Staff Sgt. DAVIS POLVOGT participated in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands attacks.  Flak struck his plane and wounded him.

CLYDE POTTER's ship, the carrier USS Lexington,  was sunk during the Battle of Coral Sea, May 1942.

Marine Tech Sgt. ALBERT HAYNES, five minutes after landing on Namur, built a communications post "over the bodies of dead Japs."

Lieutenant Cmdr. BENJAMIN ADAMS, JR., commanding the submarine USS Rasher, sank or damaged thousands of tons  of Japanese shipping.

--GreGen

Wilmington's WWII Heroes-- Part 4: Solomons, Snipers, Submarines, Pt Boats and Battleships

Wilmington, North Carolina.

In the Solomons, Sgt, L.B. HARPER, 1st Battalion, 2ns Marines, 2nd Marine Division,  noted:  "I picked off six (enemy snipers) myself."

Commander RICHARD ANDREWS, Pacific submarine skipper, sank 3,000 tons of Japanese shipping.

Lieutenant ALEX FONVIELLE, JR.  commanded patrol torpedo boats at Guadalcanal, Vela Gulf, Choiseul,  Empress Augusta Bay and Bougainville.

Lt. (jg) LLOYD MOORE, commanded a landing craft, tank (LCT) in the Aleutians and Gilberts Islands.

As tactical commander of three Southwest Pacific patrol-torpedo boats, Lt (jg) ROBERT WATERS aggressively attacked Japanese3 vessels.

Navy Flight  Surgeon WORTH SPRUNT served 25 months with carrier units.

Doctor Lieutenant  Commander CHARLES GRAHAM served on the battleship USS Indiana in combat against Truk, Saipan, Iwo Jima and the Philippines.

Lieutenant JOHN SCHILLER served in action with three ship types:  destroyer USS Gwen, battleship USS North Carolina and carrier USS Midway.

Lieutenant (jg) BILL SCHWARTZserved on the destroyer escort USS Oberrenber at New Guinea, Lingayen Gulf, Surigao  Strait and Okinawa.

Yeoman THOMAS JAMES survived the Japanese attack on Dutch Harbor, Alaska Navy Base, June 1942.

--GreGen

Wilmington's WW II Heroes-- Part 3: USS Cole, Tunisia, Saipan, Leyte, Solomons

MEDITRRANEAN THEATER

Lieutenant EDWARD  HINES, JR. was on the destroyer USS Cole in the invasion of North Africa, November 1942.

Squadron Leader Major JOHN CAREY flew in the theater for  two years in four invasions, landing behind enemy lines in Tunisia and capturing 97 Germans.

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PACIFIC THEATER

Lt. (jg) GEORGE MITCHELL, JR., serving on a LST (landing ship tank) for sixteen months during  the Saipan, Tinian, Emirau, and Green Islands Campaigns.

Seaman 2nd class ROBERT LOCKAMY saw action at Surigao Strait, Leyte, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa after also seeing Atlantic convoy protection duty.

Staff Sgt. GEORGE BROWDER , 11th Airborne Division squad leader, led the assault on  Nichols Field, Philippines, suffering two wounds.

Lieutenant CARL WELKER, with the 470th AAA Battalion defending New Guinea airfields, downed a Japanese airplane by himself.  Later, he fought at Manila with the 37th Infantry Division.

B-17 bomber crewman Tech Sgt. WILLIAM BUTLER flew more than 200  combat flights against the Solomons, Rabaul and New Guinea, 1942-1943.

--GreGen

Wilmington's World War II Heroes-- Part 2: C-B-I, U-boats, Convoys,4 Sons, LST

Captain Roddy Kidder flew P-51 fighters in the China-Burma-India Theater.

Sergeant Robert Edwards, flying out of Wilmington's Bluethenthal Field, crewed a B-24 bomber  that sank a German U-boat in 1942.

Col. C.D.  Cunningham and First Sgt. Fuller Sistrunk of the National Guard 252nd Coast Artillery Battalion, protected  oil refineries on Aruba, sinking two U-boats.

Homer Webb, merchant marine, survived the sinking of the SS Esso Houston sinking n route to Montevideo, Uruguay, May 1842.

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MEDITERRANEAN 

Navy doctor James Lounsbury served in the Mediterranean convoys and later in minesweeping near Japan.

B-25 bombardier-navigator 1st Lt. James Lee flew  56 missions from Corsica.  His mother, Bessie Williams, sent four sons into the Army, including Capt.  Charles in France and Tech 5/c Ralph in England.

Jack Hart fought in North Africa and Sicily before transferring to Burma

Martin Willard served on the USS LST-1012 during the invasion of Southern France, August 1944.

--GreGen

Wilmington's World War II Veterans-- Part 1: 'Rice Paddy Navy', the 'Hump' and 'Flying Tigers'

From the  August 15, 2021, Wilmington (N.C.) Star-News " 'Bonded together forevermore':  Honoring  Wilmington's World War II heroes" by Wilbur D. Jones Jr..

Three Wilmington Navy men served withy the Sino-American Cooperative  Organization, better-known as the "Rice Paddy Navy."  They were a group of guerillas, intelligence agents and weather observers operating behind Japanese lines.

They included Yeoman 1st Class Marvin Murphy

Boatswains Mate  1st Class G.C. West

W.S. Rourk

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Captain Skinny Pennington flew C-54 cargo transports over  the "Hump" (Himalayas) along the "Aluminum Trail" (so-named because of the wreckage of crashed aircraft) into China from India.

Donald Whelpley served  18 months with the "Flying Tigers" P-40 fighter squadrons.

Of course, if you want to know anything about Wilmington, N.C., in the war, M r. Jones is the man to see.

--GreGen

Surrender of 4 German U-boats-- Part 6: Friedrich Steinhoff and What Happened to the U-boats

The commander of the U-873,  Friedrich Steinhoff, returned to his cell  at the Charles Street Jail in Boston with his face bloody and swollen.  An ONI  interrogator had ordered a big Marine to beat him up.  Steinhoff bled to death in his cell, possibly from  slashing his wrists with his broken glasses.

Ironically, he had a brother, Ernst Steinhoff, a rocket scientist.  Ernst Steinhoff also surrendered and helped the United States with its rocketry program.

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FATE OF THE GERMAN SUBMARINES

The U.S. Navy took the U-805  on several "Victory Visits" to ports on the U.S. Atlantic Coast before sinking her.

The U-1228 was sunk in 1946 and the U-873 was scrapped in 1948.

Finally, the U-234 was torpedoed in target practice off the Cape Cod Coast in 1947.

--GreGen

Surrender of 4 German U-boats-- Part 5: Poor Treatment at Hands of Americans

The Germans complained about the treatment they received at the hands of the Americans.  A subsequent investigation by the U.S. Navy confirmed  their abuse.  Navy prize crews seized the possessions of the U-boat crews and saved them as souvenirs.

They also distributed them to local boys in small boats who came up to the German subs as they were towed up the Piscataqua River.  Once in prison, the corrections officers looted and sold them.

Among those items taken:  pep pills, revolvers, canned goods, parts of German uniforms and decorations/medals.  Under the Geneva Convention,   the U.S. should have returned the prisoners' property.

After the crewmen of the U-873  were interrogated in Portsmouth,  they were taken to the Charles Street jail in Boston.  There, they awaited transfer to a prisoner-of-war camp in Mississippi.  As military officials marched them in handcuffs through the streets, crowds pelted them with garbage and insults.

--GreGen

Surrender of 4 U-boats-- Part 4: Uranium Oxide Used on 'Little Boy' Atom Bomb Found On One of Them

The two Japanese scientists aboard, however, were not alive as they had taken an overdose of sleeping rather be captured.  The Germans had buried them at sea.

The U.S. government, however, kept part of the U-234's cargo secret:  1,232 pounds of  uranium oxide that was later used in the Manhattan Project  for the Little Boy atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

German General Ulrich Kessler, assigned as the Luftwaffe liaison in Tokyo, made an impression as a typical German officer.  Tall and formal, he wore white gloves, a long gray leather greatcoat, polished leather boots and an Iron Cross around his neck.  He seemed to enjoy the publicity.

Kessler spoke in fluent English with a British accent.   When asked how he felt about surrendering, he said,  "I was in the last World War.  I've been through it before.  I'll probably go through it again."

--GreGen

Surrender of 4 U-boats-- Part 3: U-873, U-1228 and U-234

A local reporter was able to get an interview with one of the German captains who was described as a "typical dyed-in-the-wool Nazi."  Lt.  Albert Finster blamed England for the war and also said that Allied bombing had  ruined his native town of Hamburg.

Two more German U-boats arrived the next day.  At 2 pm, the U-873 was towed into the harbor, followed by the U-1228.  That night, a wire service report added to the excitement saying that the USS Sutton had captured a German U-boat near Newfoundland with three high-ranking German officials and two dead Japanese scientist aboard.

On Friday, May 18, the public eagerly awaited the arrival of the fourth and biggest prize of all the U-boats.  Rumors circulated about its cargo.  The submarine was headed for Japan which was still at war,  Supposedly, it carried  personnel and materiel to help the Japanese war effort.

The U-234 arrived at Portsmouth at 7:30 am on Saturday, May 19, and was greeted by a swarm of journalists.  The high-ranking officers aboard made it a huge story.

The submarine carried a disassembled Messerschmitt Me 262 let fighter, prototypes, technical descriptions of new weapons and several senior weapons technicians.

--GreGen

Surrender of Four U-boats in May 1945-- Part 2: Arrival of the U-805

"The only thing that really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril,"  wrote British  Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

Eventually the U-boat menace off the coast of the United States subsided as the submarines were called back to patrol the waters off England and the sea routes to the Soviet Union.  Also, greatly improved anti-submarine tactics were developed.

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The 245-foot U-805 was the first to arrive.  She had surrendered in the North Atlantic and was towed to Portsmouth Harbor.  Green dye marked the spot for the rendezvous  with a tugboat carrying Navy officials and  news reporters.

Three "surly, expressionless" German officers appeared on board.  They officially surrendered at 4:25 p.m. at the mouth of the harbor.  One caption to a newspaper article read:  "Its fangs yanked out, this prize U-boat  will prey no more upon Allied  shipping in the Atlantic."

A bus took the Germans to Portsmouth Naval Prison, commonly known as "The Castle," where they were interrogated by Office of Naval intelligence officers.  They wanted technical details about jet aircraft, ballistic missiles, guided bombs and nuclear weapon technology.

Those Germans Had Sime Mighty Advanced Technology.  --GreGen

About Those Four U-boats That Surrendered at Portsmouth Navy Yard

From the New England Historical Society "The sensational surrender of four Nazi U-boats at Portsmouth Navy Yard."

Portsmouth Navy Yard is in Kittery, Maine, close to the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 

On May 15, 1945, onlookers thronged the shoreline trying to get a glimpse of a German U-boat being towed up the Piscataqua River to surrender at the Navy Yard.  Germany had surrendered May 7, 1945,  bringing World War II closer to an end.

Over the next five days, three more U-boats arrived.  Once at the yard, the submarines were studied for their technological advances and their cargos.

U-boats usually traveled in groups called Wolf Packs during the war.  In the early days against England and especially in 1942, when the U.S. entered the war, they had remarkable success.  They sank about 3,000, mostly merchant vessels.  They also killed  more than 5,000  seamen and passengers.  This was the Battle of the Atlantic.

More people died in their attacks than did at Pearl Harbor.

--GreGen

The Surrender of Four U-boats in Maine in 1945

In connection to yesterday's post about the German U-boat sailor along the Maine coast.  He must have been on one of these subnarines.

On May 7, 1945, four German U-boats that had been patrolling in the Gulf of Maine surrendered at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, the largest U.S. base on the Atlantic coast at that time.

One was kept on the Piscataqua River, and it is said that thousands of Mainers traveled many miles to come and see what had long been haunting their dreams.

Germany officially surrendered on May 7, 1945.

--GreGen

U-boats Off Maine Coast At End of the War: The Other Side

From the August 12, 2021, Bangor (Maine) Daily News "How a brief  encounter at Schoodic Point bridged both sides  of World War II" by R.J. Heller, Down East contributor.

He had a chance encounter with a man back in 1989 at this spot at Acadia  National Park, near Bar Harbor, Maine.  Sadly, he didn't get the other man's name.

"It sure looks different from here," he said.  He had been on a German U-boat near the end of the War in Europe and viewing this spot from out at sea.  Heller asked him when the last time was that he had been there.  The reply was 1945.

He was a 20-year-old on a submarine off Maine's coast in this general vicinity.  He laughed, saying:  "They  really never told us much, where we were or even where we were going, but I know it was somewhere out there."

The mission constantly changed from day to day, he recalled.  He remembered maneuvers set and suddenly altered.  The boat's course constantly changed.  "We weren't even sure sometimes what day it was," he said with a smile.

Sure Wish He Had Gotten the Man's Name.  --GreGen

Fighter Pilot Honored 76 Years After Death, Robert M. Leety-- Part 3:

Robert Leety's father had written his son about 340 letters while he was overseas.  Some of those came back marked "Deceased."

Sally Leety  Hunter, Robert's sister, recalled the day she learned about his death when she was 11 years old.  "I had the only temper tantrum in my life that day,"  she said.  Not long before his death, he had bought Sally a doll in France.  She brought the doll to the cemetery for Saturday's service.

Her family hung a Gold Star flag (meaning they had lost a son in service) on the door after they got the news.

Though Leety's body is buried in France, his family is starting to get some closure.  In 2016, one of Robert Leety's nephews contacted a French man named  Pierre Lindauer, who owned the property where the plane crashed.

Niece Sally Leety Stevens and her husband traveled to the Lorrain American Cemetery in 2017 to see her uncle's grave site.  While there, they met Mr. Lindauer, who had recovered Robert's flight wings from the crash site during the war.  he returned them to Leety's family, along with a piece of the plane Leety had been flying.

Quite a Ceremony.  --GreGen

Fighter Pilot Honored 76 Years After Death, Robert M. Leety-- Part 2

Continued from August 5.

After 175   combat hours and 75 missions, Robert Leety had the chance to return to the States, but didn't.    "He knew his odds of survival were not great, but he wanted to finish what he had started when he first enlisted in the U.S. Army  Air Forces back in March of 1943," said  a niece.  "He wanted to help the Allies defeat the Axis powers and create a peaceful post-war world."

He wouldn't live to see that.

On March 15, 1945, as he returned from a mission, he was shot down in France, near the German border.

He was 20 years old.

His remains were buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, France.

Back in the United States, two weeks after his death,  his family received a telegram  informing them their son was missing in action.  Three weeks after that, they received news of his death.

--GreGen

Mothers of World War II Flag Found

August 5, 2021, Platt County Journal-Republican by Steve Hoffman.

The local Monticello American Legion was cleaning out closets when they came across evidence of a little-known World War II organization.  It was the flag of the Mothers of World War Ii, Unit 4, Illinois according to the wording on the flag.

It is a relatively ornate, linen flag featuring light colored lettering on  a bright red field, with a red, white and blue shield in the middle.  Gold tassels still trail from the edges.

After some research, it was determined that their primary goal was to retrieve some of the dead of that war.  They helped bring the body of  Robert Meece back to the United States and get him interred in Cerro Gordo.  He had been killed in the European Theater on July 30, 1944.

Founded in February 1943 it appears that the local unit existed for about ten years before fading away or being disbanded.  During the time it existed, they volunteered for war efforts and to help veterans on their return.   

Their projects included  donations of dollars and items to veterans  hospitals as well as sending clothing, toilet articles and food to service men still overseas.  Donations were also made to Kirby Hospital, the DeWitt-Piatt  County Health Council and the Red Cross.

I'd Never Heard of Them. --GreGen

Let's Not Forget Sunday's 'Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive' in McHenry, Illinois

In 2010, Congress voted unanimously  to observe the second Sunday in August, which coincides with the day President Truman announced that World War II was over as National  Spirit of '45 Day as a thank you to the Greatest Generation, which is rapidly passing away.

Sadly, this is not observed in most towns in the United States, but McHenry, Illinois, has one of the biggest ones in Veterans Park and that is exactly where I will be tomorrow, right after Parish Fest in Johnsburg, Illinois.

There are U.S. flags all over the place and many World War II veterans and now Korean War veterans, each one is acknowledged.  Then, there is a Big Band playing at the gazebo as well as the release of doves and the surround taps (which always gets me).

Last year, because of the virus, it was not held in the park, but there were smaller ceremonies held at local McHenry cemeteries where new flagpoles were dedicated and Old Glory flapped briskly in the breeze.

So, Show Them You Care.  Come On Out Tomorrow.

--GreGen

4002nd Post to This Blog (and 10th Year)

This is the 4002nd post to this blog which started in 2012, during the 70th anniversary of World War II.

Pearl Harbor has always been a subject of fascination for me and since it was also a major anniversary I broke this blog off from my Cooter's History Thing blog since I was already doing a whole lot of posts about Pearl Harbor and World War II on it anyway.

Growing up, I have to admit that I just took World War II veterans for granted as it seemed that all of my mom and dad's friends served in the military or home front.

My dad was too young, born in 1928 to serve and my mother was born in 1930.  She helped out at the Goldsboro, North Carolina USO.  My Uncle Delbert served with the 101st Airborne and was at the Battle of the Bulge.

The signoff GreGen stands for Greatest Generation.  They surely were.

--GreGen

Fighter Pilot Honored 76 Years After Death, Robert M. Leety-- Part 1

From the August 5, 2021, Trib Live (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) "World War II Army pilot  memorialized 76 years after being killed in action" by Julia Felton.

Seventy-six years after 1st Lt. Robert M. Leety was killed, , his family dedicated a stone in his honor at Mt. Royal Cemetery in Shaler on Saturday.

Robert Leety was born and raised in Glenshaw, Pa.,  and graduated from Shaler High School in 1942, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1943.  After about a year of training, he was shipped  overseas, first to England, then to France.

He was a fighter pilot flying P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts.  The day after Christmas, 1944, he was promoted to first lieutenant.

During his time in Europe, he  racked up 175 combat hours in more than 75 missions., including the Normandy invasions and the Battle of the Bulge.   Because he had flown so many missions, he was given the opportunity to return home and assume a military role in the States.

But, he chose to continue flying.

--GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Unknown to Come Home: Russell Roach

From August 3, 2021, News 5 ABC Cleveland  "Ohio Navy vet  who died aboard the USS Oklahoma during the attack on Pearl Harbor coming home for burial" by Canryn Justice.

Seaman 1st Class  Russell Roach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on January  27, 1924, but his hometown was Zanesville, Ohio.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in  1940 at the age of 16 and was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma when the attack came.

Only 35 of the 429 mem who lost their lives that day were originally identified and the remainder were buried  in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in 1950 as "Unknowns."

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor Dick Higgins' 100th Birthday and William White's 106th

From the July 24, 2021, KTVZ.

Dick Higgins is also a COVID 19 survivor.  They had a vehicle drive-by in his honor.

He survived growing up in the Dust Bowl as well as Pearl Harbor and then the virus.

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California Honors 106-year old Veteran WRAL

Major William White, USMC, is one of the longest-living WW II veterans and the community of Stockton honored his 106th birthday Saturday with a parade.  Norn in 1915, he joined the military in 1934.  His daughters say veterans affairs informs them  that their father is one of the three-longest-living WW II veterans.

Happy Birthdays.  --GreGen

Paid Parking Proposed for USS Arizona Memorial

From the July30, 2021, Honolulu Star Advertiser by William Cole.

The National Park Service said today  that it wants public feedback  on a proposal to implement paid public parking at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial to support deferred upkeep and maintenance on the USS Arizona Memorial as well as park sites on Ford Island including the USS Utah and USS Oklahoma Memorials.

The $7 a day parking fee would be managed by the park service.  This would start in 2023.  Admission to the USS Arizona visitor center and Memorial remains free,

Sounds like a good plan to me to bring in much-needed funds.

A new $56 million Pearl Harbor Visitor Center was dedicated in 2010 on the 69th anniversary of the attack.

--GreGen

USS Oklahoma Unknown Returns Home to Iowa: John Mark Mulick, Jr.

Same source as previous post.

When Elma, Iowa,  native John Mark Mulick, Jr.  enlisted in the Navy in 1940, he had to get his father, John Mulick, Sr.  to sign up for him because he was only 20 at the time.  (Not sure this is correct.)

He badly wanted to serve his country in some way.  He got his chance in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the USS Oklahoma as a hospital apprentice , first class.  But his service was brief as he died on that ship.  He was one of the ship's 429 crew members who died on December 7, 1941.

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In June of this year, U.S. Navy Fireman  1st Class Leo Keninger, a native of Ackley, Iowa,  was given a burial in his hometown after his remains from the USS Oklahoma were also identified.

--GreGen