WW II Wrecks Off NC's Coast-- Part 4: How Many Shipwrecks in the Graveyard of the Atlantic

One of the biggest mysteries of the Graveyard of the  Atlantic is just how many  shipwrecks it holds.  Some experts say 5,000 and others say it is more like 2,000.

Bo matter the number,  the wrecks collectively tell an important story about the United States

"You can throw a rock and hit a shipwreck off North Carolina,"  said Tane Casserley.    "We really have the story of America's rise  as a super power off the coast."

That story includes German U-boats coming to North Carolina, where they sank unarmed merchant ships.  Of the 1,700 men lost in the Battle of the Atlantic, about 1,200 were U.S. merchant marines.

The merchant ships they preyed upon will be a key component of the proposed marine sanctuary expansion, says Casserley, who is resource protection and permit coordinator for the sanctuary.

--GreGen

World War II Wrecks Off NC's Outer Banks-- Part 3: Even Two WW I Ships

"Off the coast of North Carolina lies the remains of a forgotten  World War II battlefield that serves as the final resting place of  nearly 1,700 men lost during the Battle of the Atlantic,"  NOAA reports in its proposal.  "In just three years, from 1942 to 1945, 90 ships were lost off  North Carolina alone as a result of this action. of 78 merchant  tankers and freighters, eight Allied warships and  four German U-boats resting on the seabed."

The thirteen ships visited by the team recently included two with ties to World War I, Light Vessel 71 and Merak, and six  from World War II:  the Portland, F.W. Abrams,  Kesehena,  Kasandra Louloudis, City of Atlanta and San Delfino.

In the case of the City of Atlanta,  43 of the 46 people aboard died, while 28 of 50 on the San Delfino perished.

--GreGen

Important Dates WW II, Sept. 15 &17: Nuremburg Laws, Battle of Britain, Poland, Operation Market Garden

SEPTEMBER 15

**  1935:  The Nuremburg Laws deprived German Jews of their citizenship and made the swastika the official symbol of Nazi Germany.

**  1940:  During the Battle of Britain the tide turned as the Luftwaffe sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force.

SEPTEMBER 17

**  1939:  The Soviet Union invaded Poland, more than two weeks after Germany launched its assault on that country.

**  1944:  Allied paratroopers launched Operation Market Garden, landing behind German lines in the Netherlands.

The Allies, however, encountered fierce German resistance.

--GreGen

Important Dates in WW II, September 12: Sudeten, RMS Laconia, Freeing Mussolini and Germany First Time

The last several days there have been quite a few dates associated with the war in the Chicago Tribune's "This Date" lists.

ON SEPTEMBER 12

**  1938:  Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.

**  1942:  During WW II, a German U-boat off West Africa torpedoed the RMS Laconia, which was carrying Italian prisoners of war, British soldiers and civilians.

It's estimated that more than 1,600 people died while some 1,100 survived after the ship sank.  The German crew, joined by other U-boats, began rescue operations.

**  1943:  German paratroopers extracted Benito Mussolini from the hotel where he was being held by the Italian government.

**  1944:  U.S. Army troops entered Germany for the first time.

--GreGen

World War II Wrecks Off NC's Outer Banks-- Part 2:

Continued from September 9, 2021.

Thirteen wrecks were located by the tam over seven days this past July.  However, a 14th wreck, the Brewster, was not found at its expected position, seven miles south of Cape Hatteras.  Maybe the data on its position is incorrect or maybe it's still there, buried under the sand.

Collecting data about the shipwrecks is the latest step in a proposal to expand the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary beyond the single Civil War wreck.  The sanctuary was created to protect the ironclad USS Monitor, but historians note that there are also internationally significant wrecks in the area from World War I and World War II.

A specific list of wrecks being considered for the expanded sanctuary has not been released, but the proposed  expansion "would constitute the largest area designated as a World War II battlefield anywhere in the United States, NOAA says.

--GreGen

Interviews with First Responders Tells Story of 9/11-- Part 3: Ladder 118

Steven Mosiello rejected other officers; suggestions to go home.  He had to be there when his boss' body was recovered.  Then he went to deliver the terrible news to Chief Ganci's widow.

Thomas Vallebuona and other exhausted fire chiefs took a break to phone home.  Some learned that there had been two other hijackings.  One hit the Pentagon, the other crashed short of the terrorists' target when the passengers rushed the cockpit.

Other first responders left to shower and rest before returning to work at the tragic site.

But Ladder 118 didn't return to its Brooklyn quarters.  Its crew were killed when the South Tower collapsed.

Ordinarily, their replacements would erase the firehouse's assignment board and sign in.  Instead  there, to this day, are the chalk-scrawled names:

Lt. Robert Regan

Leon Smith

Vernon Cherry

Scott Davidson

Peter Vega

Joey Agnello

Interviews With First Responders Told the Story-- Part 2: Last Communication with the Chief

Every September 11, I take a time out on my blogs to write about the events of that day back in 2001.

Superiors in the fire department decided that the first priority was to evacuate civilians.  That, of course, meant going into the towers.

Peter Ganci Jr., the chief of the department, rushed to the scene, told his assistant to find two ladder companies, and went inside to size up the situation.

"O.K., Chief, I have the trucks coming," Steven Mosiello recounted radioing his boss.   "I'll be there in a couple minutes.  The next thing, the second tower came down.  I'm calling, 'Chief Ganci:  Car 3A to Car 3, Car 3, Car 3' -- he never answered."

Firefighter Joseph Moela recalled:  "You heard guys -- firemen, chiefs, lieutenants, I don't know who -- yelling conflicting reports, some saying, 'Get the hell out of the tower.  get out of Tower 1.'  You know, Tower 2 fell."

Interviews With 9/11 First Responders Told the Story-- Part 1: Engine 7

From the Sept. 10, 2021, Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman.

Fortunately the survivors of that day can speak for those they lost thanks to interviews made by the New York Fire Department shortly after 9/11.

Here are some of those excerpts:

Firefighter Thomas Spinard of Engine 7 stationed at a firehouse on Duane Street in lower Manhattan, began the day responding to a box alarm that proved false.

"As we were at the box, a plane passes us overhead real low,"  he said.  "You could hear it; you could feel it.  We turned around, and it just impacted the building, building one.  With that, everybody got on the rig.  We started driving."

American Airlines Flight 11 with its passengers and crew had been hijacked by al-Qaida terrorists after taking off from Boston.  At 8:46 a.m., it struck the 110-story north tower of the World Trade Center.

Engine 7 found a hydrant and started pumping water on the building.

"While we were still in the middle of the street, another plane comes in, makes a big circle, comes around from like the Statue of Liberty direction, and hits (Tower) 2," Spinard recalled.

Dazed by the impact and blinded by a cloud of debris and smoke, Engine 7's crew scattered.  Regaining their composure, they regrouped and resumed pumping water on the fire.

World War II Wrecks Off North Carolina's Outer Banks-- Part 1: Some Can Move

From the September 6, 2021, Independent Tribune "Shipwrecks can go 'missing' off Outer Banks.  Here's why NOAA team went hunting for 13" by Mark Price of the Charlotte Observer.

They call it the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" off the coast of North Carolina. Ships sink, but do they stay where they sank?  That's what a team set off to see recently.

The fact is, historic shipwrecks can move and appear to go missing at times.

With this in mind, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sent an expedition to check on the status of 13 known shipwrecks, most of which were tied with acts of war.  This is also part of a proposed expansion of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary.

Currents and storms off Cape Hatteras sometimes cover and uncover shipwrecks, even move them.

Among the best-known examples of a shipwreck "moving" off the North Carolina coast took place in 2011 when a shipwreck known as the Spar (a former Coast Guard ship sunk as an artificial reef) was moved about 200 feet by Hurricane Irene.

--GreGen

Fort Fisher Celebrates Its Lesser-Known WW II History

From the September 4, 2021, WWAY 3 ABC/CBS News by Matthew Huddleston.

Fort Fisher is celebrating the 80th anniversary of World War II training exercises that took place at the Civil War fort.  They began in 1941 when Fort Fisher trained anti-aircraft batteries.  To commemorate this, activities for all ages were held this past Saturday.

According to organizers, there was a steady turnout all day for the free activities that included reenactors in period clothing and uniforms.

Events coordinator Si Lawrence says many people are not aware of the role the fort played during the war, though most know about its role in the Civil War.

He said the event was canceled last year due to COVID, but it is normally held in September to honor the WW II history.

--GreGen

Barber Brothers Finally Home After Nearly 80 Years-- Part 2: Three Died on USS Oklahoma December 7, 1941

About 10 years ago, the government started identifying the remains using modern forensics such as DNA and have had much success.  The majority of the Oklahoma's Unknown are now known, including Malcom, Leroy and Randolph Barber.

The Barber brothers began arriving one at a time at Milwaukee this past Tuesday to Thursday.  On each occasion, six Navy sailors carried each flag-draped coffin from the plane to the hearse.  They were then conveyed to the Cline and Hanson Funeral Home in New London, Wisconsin, where they will be cremated and their urns placed at a gravesite that's sat empty all these years.

Nearly 80 years later, the Barber brothers will finally be home.

They will be buried with full military honors on September 11, 2021,  at Most Precious  Blood Cemetery in New London.

I wrote about the three brothers back in June when their identification was released.  There is a picture of the three Barber brothers to the right of this post.

The grief that poor family must have experienced losing not one but three sons at the same time is unimaginable,

--GreGen

Barber Brothers Finally Home After Nearly 80 Years. Died on USS Oklahoma December 7, 1941-- Part 1

From September 2, 2021, 2 First Alert (Wisconsin) WBAY "Barber brothers back home in New London nearly 80 Years after Pearl Harbor Attack" by Jeff Alexander.

New London, Wisconsin.

December 7, 1941, has haunted this community ever since that day in 1941.

"Even as a kid growing up we heard the story of what happened with the Oklahoma  being sunk at Pearl Harbor and the three brothers being on it at the time, and the whole town, it was twenty years before I was born, but I know it was a major event in the city," recalls Kevin Rusch, owner of Cline & Hanson Funeral Home.

Navy sailors Malcom,  Leroy and Randolph Barber died that day along with 426 other members of the battleship USS Oklahoma's crew.  Shortly before December 7, their father had written a letter to the U.S. Navy saying he was  uncomfortable about his three sons all being on the same ship and asked that they be put on different ships.

The request, sadly, was too late, but it changed Navy policy forever.  No longer are brothers allowed to serve on the same ship.

It took the Navy a long time to get the Oklahoma upright and by the time they did, and could start recovering the bodies, there wasn't much left to identify the dead.  They were buried in Hawaii as "Unknowns".

--GreGen

Wilmington's WW II Heroes-- Part 6: 'The Greatest Adventure of Their Young Lives'

Ensign LEON STEIN, USS LST-703, saw action at Balikpapau. Borneo, and  in the Philippines landings.

First Lieutenant JOHN KELLY, late of Company I, 120th Infantry Regiment, wrote from Okinawa:  "We are really giving the yellow devils a fit.  Hope to be on Front Street again."

First Lieutenant LEON ANDREWS, late of the 252nd Coast Artillery, led a tank battalion on Okinawa.

His brother, 1st Lt. JAMES ANDREWS, fought in New Guinea and Luzon.

And so, they went to war, and came home.

"During squadron reunions when they gather to fight the Burma campaign once again,"  P-38 pilot BILLY BROADFOOT's 459th Fighter Squadron history book reads, "they realize that they, particularly the pilots, were bonded together forevermore during the greatest adventure of their young lives."

At this 76th anniversary of the war's end, Wilmington admires their greatest adventures.  We forever thank them.

Wilmington native, author, military author and retired Navy captain WILBUR JONES grew up here during World War II.  UNC Wilmington presented him with its Distinguished Citizen  Award for 2021 for his history preservation efforts and  support or UNC-W.

What this man has done for the history of Wilmington during World War II is amazing.

--GreGen

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.

***************************

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.

*********************************** 

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

********************************

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.

******************************

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