USS Montgomery (DD-121) (DM-17)-- Part 4: Fort Fisher and War of 1812 Connections at Pearl Harbor at Time of Attack

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the USS Montgomery was in Middle Loch in the harbor, tied up along with the Ramsay, Gamble, Trever, Breese, Zane, Perry and Wasmuth. They were across from Ford Island where the USS Utah was at anchor.

The USS Breese (DD-122) (DM-18) was named after Captain Kidder Breese who was Porter's Fleet Captain and commander of the naval column attack on Fort Fisher.

The USS Ramsay (DD-124) (DM-16) was named for Rear Admiral Francis Ramsay.  He commanded the USS Unadilla at Fort Fisher and operations on the Cape Fear River.

The USS Wasmuth (DD-338) (DMS-15) was named for Henry Wasmuth USMC who was part of the Naval Column at Fort Fisher and carried Ensign  Robley D. (Fighting Bob) Evans to safety after he was wounded and died doing so.

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

The USS Gamble (DD-123) (DM-15) was named after Peter Gamble, killed at the Battle of Lake Champlain in the War of 1812.

The USS Perry (DD-340)  (DMS-17) was named after Oliver Hazard Perry.

So, three of the ships at Pearl Harbor had a Fort Fisher connection and two of them a War of 1812 one.

Interesting.  --GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 3: Pearl Harbor

With tensions increasing before the start of World War II, the Montgomery was reactivated and recommissioned  25 September 1939.  She trained for possible war service and completed several towing assignments on the West Coast until 3 December 1940 when she sailed to her new home port of Pearl Harbor.

She was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attack came December 7, 1941. The Montgomery and other minelayers put up a huge anti-aircraft fire and  believed to have shot down up to six enemy planes.    Within 45 minutes the ship was ready to get underway.  An hour and a half later she and the others were ordered to get underway to establish an anti-submarine patrol off the entrance to Pearl Harbor.

Lt.Cmdr. R.A. Guthrie reported that his ship received no damage or casualties, but its crew fought with "coolness during the attack and their speed in making anti-aircraft fire effective."

Continuing with his after action report:  "During attack, civilians reported two Japanese swimming around plane capsized in the water near Pearl City dock.  Ship's motor whale boat investigated and found one, the pilot, still afloat.  He was motioned to get into the boat several times, but refused to obey, instead reached inside his jacket.  At this action, CALKINS, D.F.,  Sea. 1c, USN,  shot him.  He immediately sank."

At 3:14 PM,  she dropped eight depth charges at  a sound contact three miles off the harbor entrance.  On Jan. 8 at 2 AM, she dropped four more depth charges.  No contact was made in either case.  Then from December 9 to 12 the Montgomery patrolled the  Western area, but no contacts.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 2: WW I and Interwar Years

After her shakedown cruise, the Montgomery left Hampton Roads August 25, 1918, for her first anti-submarine cruise in World War I and then alternated these and escort duty to the end o the year,  Then she took part in training and fleet maneuvers from Maine to Cuba, when she departed for duty on the West Coast.

She arrived in San Diego and  joined Destroyer Squadron 4, Pacific Fleet.  For the next three and a half years the Montgomery took part in fleet operations from Alaska to Panama.  Then she went to San Diego, was deactivated and decommissioned on 6 June 1922.

Re-designated DM-17 on 5 January 1931, the Montgomery was converted to a light minelayer and recommissioned  20 August 1931.  She then sailed to Pearl Harbor where she was based until 14 June 1937, when he went to San Diego and was decommissioned again 7 December 1937 and put in reserve.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121)-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The USS Montgomery was a Wickes-class destroyer that participated in World War I and World War II.  It was named for Rear Admiral John B. Montgomery who served in the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.

The Montgomery was built by Newport news  Shipbuilding  & Dry Dock Co. and was launched on  23 March 1918.  Mrs. Andrew Jones, a descendant of Rear Admiral Montgomery sponsored the ship.

Commissioned 26 July 1918 with Lieutenant Commander  W.R. Purnell in command.

It was reclassified as a light minelayer (DM-17) on 5 January 1931.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  314 feet 5 inches

BEAM:  31 feet 8 inches

DRAFT:  8 feet 8 inches

SPEED:  35 knots

COMPLEMENT:  113 officers and enlisted

ARMAMENT:  four 4-inch guns, two 3-inch guns, twelve 21-inch torpedo tubes, two depth charge tracks.

--GreGen

USS Montgomery (DD-121): Six Ships Named the USS Montgomery

From Wikipedia.

This month, the 2021 Paralyzed Veterans of America is featuring the current U.S. Navy warship USS Montgomery (LCS-8).  

This is the 6th ship in the American Navy to feature this name.

The first one was in the American Revolution, the second one in the War of 1812, the third one in the Civil War, the fourth one in the Spanish-American War and the fifth one in World War II.

I wrote about the first, fourth and sixth ships in my Cooter's History Thing blog.  The second one was featured in my Not So Forgotten: War of 1812 blog and the third in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog.

This would be the place for information about the fifth USS Montgomery since it served in World War II.

It's a Blog Thing, You Know.  --GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 6: Operations Around the Philippines

1944

After screening aircraft carriers during the attacks on Okinawa and Formosa,  the Gridley joined the American forces for the Philippines Campaign.  While protecting large ships off Luzon 28 October 1944, she and the destroyer USS Helm detected and sank the Japanese submarine I-51 with a series of devastating depth charge attacks.

In the following days. the Gridley fought off Japanese kamikazes and returned to Ulithi with damaged carriers Franklin and Belleau Wood  on 2 November.

1945

The Gridley was soon at sea again, clearing Ulithi 5 November with the fast  carrier task force for the Leyte operation.  She later joined a group of escort carriers and served as a bombardment and patrol ship during the landings at Lingayen Gulf  until 10 February 1945.

After stopping again at Ulithi, the Gridley escorted the battleship USS Mississippi en route to Pearl Harbor and then sailed via San Diego and the Panama Canal for New York, where she arrived 30 March 1945.  She entered New York Navy Yard  the next day for much-needed repairs and after finishing her overhaul, departed the United States 22 June 1945 and served in Europe from July 1945 to January 1946.

She was decommissioned  on 18 April 1945 and sold for scrap in August 1947.

During her service, the Gridley earned ten Battle Stars.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 5: Action in the Marianas, Battle of the Philippine Sea, Iwo Jima and Peleliu

1944

On 7 June 1944, the Gridley sailed with the  the USS Hornet  Task Force 7 to take part in the invasion of the Marianas, where the attacks were made on  Saipan, Rota and Guam.  In all these engagements the Gridley and other destroyers protected the U.S. carriers from Japanese air and submarine attack.

The Gridley was also at the pivotal  Battle of the Philippine Sea 19-20 June 1944, when four waves of Japanese  torpedo bombers and escort fighters were decimated by  fleet air and surface units.  Gridley's anti-aircraft fire and protected the carriers.  As a result of this battle, Japanese air strength virtually ceased to exist.

The ship departed Eniwetok Atoll 30 June 1940 bound with the carriers for strikes on Iwo Jima, Guam, Yap, Ulithi,  and the Volcano Islands.  She directly supported the American landings on Peleliu 15 September 1944, shooting down at least one Japanese plane.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 4: Operations in the Pacific

In the fall of 1942, the Gridley performed escort duty  in the Fijis and New Hebrides  On 13 July 1943, she  guarded high-speed transports rescuing survivors of the cruiser USS Helena.  Next, the ship was involved with the attacks on Tambatuni, New Georgia, where  she bombarded shore installations near the landing areas.

Next the Gridley  and six other destroyers destroyed Japanese landing barges at Vella Gulf 10 August then screened the carrier USS Saratoga during air operations in the Solomons until 25 August,  Then back to Pearl Harbor and San Diego where much needed repairs were made from 11 September to  26 October 1943.

Next destination were the Gilbert Islands and the attack on Makin Island.

In 1944 she was involved in the offensive operations in the Marshall Islands acting as a screening ship for the Saratoga again.  The islands of Wotje and Eniwetok and then to the New Hebrides and on to the developing  New Guinea offensive.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 3: Back and Fort, Pearl Harbor and Alaska

The Gridley was built at Boston Navy yard and fitted out there before cruising in the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean.  Then back to the east coast and then back to the west coast again in 1939, where she became the flagship of destroyer Division 11.

In April 1940, the ships of Division 11 moved to Hawaii and operated in those waters.

The Gridley left Pearl Harbor on November 28, 1941, as part of the anti-submarine screen for the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise out to Wake Island and then were going back to Pearl Harbor and approaching it  on the morning of December 7 when they heard the base was under attack.

The Gridley entered the harbor the next day to protect against further attacks.

During the next five months, she was involved with escorting transports and repair ships to and from Pearl Harbor and areas in the South Pacific.  In June 1942, the Gridley operated in Alaskan waters and participated in the bombardment of Kiska 7 August 1942.

While there, she served as the flagship of noted destroyerman  Commander Frederick Moosbrugger.

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 2: General Characteristics

LAUNCHED:    1 December 1936

COMMISSIONED:   24 June 1937

DECOMMISSIONED:   18 April 1946

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GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

LENGTH:  340 feet 10 inches

BEAM:  35 feet 10 inches

DRAFT:   12 feet 9 inches

SPEED:  38.5 knots

COMPLEMENT:  158

ARMAMENT:

four 5-inch guns, four .50 caliber machine guns, sixteen 21-inch torpedo tubes

--GreGen

USS Gridley (DD-380)-- Part 1: The Gridley Class of Destroyers

The USS Gridley (DDG-101) was the featured current U.S. warship for the month of October 2021.  It is the fourth Navy ship named for Charles Vernon Gridley (of the "You may fire when ready, Gridley" fame).

The first USS Gridley was a Wickes-class destroyer (DD-92) launched in 1918 and decommissioned  in 1922.  I wrote about that one in November's Cooter's History Thing blog.  The USS Gridley (DD-380) was the second ship to bear the name.  I will write about it here since it fought in World War II.

The USS Gridley (DD-380) was the lead ship of her class of destroyers.  There were just four destroyers in her class.  The other three:

USS Craven (DD-382)  1937-1946  (Named after Tunis Craven USN, killed at Battle of Mobile Bay)

USS McCall  (DD-400)  1938-1945  (Named after Edward McCall who fought in the War of 1812)

USS Maury  (DD-401) 1938-1945  (Named after Matthey Maury, USN and CSN)

--GreGen

Pennsylvania Military Museum Creating New Mounts for USS Pennsylvania Guns

From the November 12, 2021, WJAC 6 NBC News by Gary Sinderson.

Staff at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg have given an update on the project to build new mounts for the pair of the battleship USS Pennsylvania's 14-inch cannons.

The guns are huge, each weighing in at close to 70 tons.  When it first sailed over 100 years ago (1916), it was one of the largest warships in the world.  It did not see action in WW I, but did see a lot in WW II and was damaged at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked.

It was finally sunk after being involved with nuclear testing during Operation Crossroads in 1948.  Two of its 14-inch main guns were removed during a 1945 overhaul and were found in storage in 2009 and transported to the museum.

The guns are not damaged, but need a new concrete mount.  This is expected to happen at some point next year.

--GreGen

80 Years On,the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 6: The Burial of Frank R, Carbiness, USMC

A picture accompanied the article of the burial of  Pfc Frank  R. Carbiness, USMC, at the USS Arizona Memorial.

As National Park Service historian Daniel Martinez salutes,  Jerry Carbiness hands the remains of his father to divers t be interred  inside the USS Arizona, Friday, December 23, 2011, in Honolulu.

Pfc. Carbiness, whom was aboard the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked, narrowly  avoided getting hit by  machine gun fire, and luckily his only injury was  from friction burns suffered when he slid down a ladder while rushing to get off the ship.

Carbiness died in 2002, and is the second Marine to be interred within the USS Arizona.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 5: A Marine Rejoins His Shipmates on the USS Arizona After His Death

Survivors of the USS Arizona have their stories too.

One of those is that of Marine Pfc Frank R. Cabiness.

He was one of the Arizona's  337 survivors and went on to survive the war and live a long life.

He died at age 83 in 2003.

As a crew member of the Arizona, he was at his battle station manning a machine gun when he was forced to abandon the burning ship.

His family said that he wanted his remains placed in the stricken vessel to be with his shipmates when he died.

And, so he was.

Four Navy divers placed the urn containing his ashes in Turret 4 in the aft part of the USS Arizona, which lies about 15 feet below the water.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 4: The Story of Stephen Pepe of the USS Oklahoma

While Eugene Marchand was watching the attack unfold from the hospital, another sailor in the harbor was doing all he could to save his shipmates on the USS Oklahoma.

His name was Stephen Pepe.

He was a water tender/fireman on that ship, responsible for stoking the boilers to keep the ship moving.

His niece, Terry Kovaks, 90,  remembers him as a big man with a big heart.

Then in 2018, she learned that he was coming home for internment after his remains were unidentified after recovery from the stricken ship.  But Terry and her daughter  Barbara Kovaks gave DNA which led to his identification.

Stephen Pepe did not live to tell his story, but the Kovaks received a packet of information from the Navy including a story from one of Stephen's shipmates on the Oklahoma, Finch Stowell.  His widow, Lida, had told a reporter what he had told her about that day.

It said that Pepe had put himself in danger to save his buddies and paid the ultimate price.

When the ship was hit by all the torpedoes and began to capsize, it began filling up with water.  Finch Stowell was outside a porthole and pulling men to safety.  Unfortunately, Pepe was too big to fit through it, but he didn't try to find another way out, but stayed by the porthole and pushed the men out.

--GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Pearl Harbor Stories-- Part 3: Eugene Marchand, Survivor

Some of the 40 Pearl Harbor survivors have told their stories.  Others may not have.  It is a personal decision and often a hard one.

Horror is hard to repeat.

This was the case with Eugene Marchand, one of the survivors no longer with us.    A few years before his death, with the 60th anniversary approaching, he told in an interview with the Sun Chronicle that for many years after the war he could not bring himself to buy anything made in Japan.

At the time, he was a carpenter's mate  first class  on the destroyer USS Cassin, in drydock.  It was hit by bombs.  He wasn't on board at the time, but in a naval hospital recovering from appendicitis.

He watched the attack from the hospital roof and what he was seeing defied any description.  He could see the chaos in front of him and hear the hundreds of wounded below him in pain and agony.

--GreGen

It Was 80 Years Ago-- Part 2: The Attack on Pearl Harbor

It was 80 years ago that the United States was suddenly attacked at Pearl Harbor.

In commemoration of it, this blog will be about the event this whole week.  I will also write about it in six of my other seven blogs.

Judging from the number of alerts I have been getting on Yahoo this past week, it is not something that has been forgotten.  This I am extremely happy about.

I was born ten years after the attack in 1951.

And, I worry that the younger generations will forget about it or not have the opportunity to learn about it.

Anyway, this is my small attempt to avoid this happening.

The GreGen I use as a sign off is short for Greatest Generation.  Though I am not a member of it, I sure respect them for all that they did.  Living through both the Great depression and then World War II.  That was something.

Not Forgetting Whatsoever.  --GreGen

80 Years On, the Told and Untold Stories of Pearl Harbor-- Part 1

The December 4, 2021, Sun Sentinel  by George W. Rhodes.

"It's 80 years on and they're almost gone."

According to a National Park Service news release earlier this month,  150  veterans of World War II, including 40 who were there at Pearl Harbor that day in 1941, will be attending the annual day of remembrance in Pearl Harbor tomorrow.

If not 100 years old, Pearl Harbor survivors are near it.  Those who were 20 years old back then are now 100.  Some were younger, some older.

Those 40 sure have some stories to tell about that day and some have told them.

--GreGen

'Dog Tag Man' on Biak-- Part 2: Fred W. O'Connor's Dog Tag

For decades, Mr. Wakum and others have combed the Biak battlefields and nearby islands, recovering weapons, munitions and bones of soldiers.

Mr. Wakum says he has found the dog tags of 30 Americans and wears some around his neck.  He sold others years ago to help pay for his brother's education and now regrets doing so.

There is a photo accompanying the article of the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor, who survived the war, but lost it on the island.

Last year, the U.S. and Indonesian governments  agreed to establish a joint operation to find and repatriate the remains of American soldiers lost in action across the vast archipelago which is Indonesia.  Biak is a heavily forested island about he size of Maui that lies off the northwest coast of New Guinea.

He and a cousin recently explored an area of coral outcroppings where American soldiers had camped during the battle and that is where they found the dog tag of Fred W. O'Connor of Schenectady, New York.  Soldiers losing their dog tags was fairly common.

The O'Connor family was notified and quite astounded by the news.  Mr. O'Connor served in the infantry in Papua, New Guinea and the Southern Philippines campaigns and participated in major assaults without ever being wounded.

He died in California in 2004 at age 83.

--GreGen

'Dog Tag Man' on the Island of Biak, Indonesia-- Part 1

Until a few weeks ago, I don't think I'd ever heard of the battle that took place here.  However, it was one of the battles the destroyer USS Russell (DD-414) took part in and there was an article in a recent World War II magazine on it.

It was part of the Western New Guinea Campaign.

From the December 2, 2021, New York Times  " 'Call Me Dog Tag Man':  Pacific island is full of relics and human remains" by Dera Menra Sijabat and  Richard C. Paddock.'

On a remote coral island in Indonesia, a history lover who keeps a collection of old bombs in his living room scours the jungle for war relics -- and sometimes finds human bones, too.

"People call me  Dog Tag Man," said Alberth Wakum, who hopes one day to open a museum showcasing his discoveries.  "I preserve evidence of history and keep it from perishing."

The island of Biak, where Mr. Wakum, 58, has spent nearly his entire life, was the scene of a fierce battle in World War II as General MacArthur campaigned to wrest the western Pacific from Japanese forces.  There were thousands of casualties on both sides.

The remains of about 150 American soldiers who died there have never been found.  They are among the 1,900 American service members believed to have been killed  in Indonesia over the course of the war whose remains have never been found.

--GreGen

British Woman Captures German Aviator on Home Soil

From the November26, 2021, Daily Mail (UK)  "Story of Yorkshire woman who was the first to capture a German airman on home soil" by Harry Howard.

When farmer's wife  Evelyn Cardwell spotted a German aviator parachuting down after his Junkers  88 was shot down by a RAF Hurricane fighter plane, she marched toward him and ordered him to put his hands up.

When the story broke in July 1940,  she was awarded an MBE by King George VI for her bravery.

And, she was unarmed.  She walked right up to him, pointed at the pistol on his hip and ordered him to give it up.  He smile wryly and handed it to her and she marched him along the road until the police arrived.

His Junkers 88's pilot had been killed, but the other three crew members survived and parachuted down.

I imagine since he knew he was on British soil further efforts to escape or defend himself would have been useless.

A Brave Woman Nonetheless.  --GreGen

Most Decorated U.S. Warships of WW II-- Part 2: The Rest of Them

These were the ones with fewer than the USS Russell (DD-414)

USS Sauffley  (DD-465)    16

USS Taylor  (DD-468)    15

USS Thresher   (SS-200)   15

USS North Carolina   (BB-55)    15   Hey, that's my ship!!

USS Morris   (DD-417)   15

USS Fletcher   (DD-445)   15

USS Narwhal  (SS-167)   15

--GreGen

Most Decorated U.S. Warships in World War II-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

In the last post, I mentioned that the USS Russell (DD-414) received one of the most Battle Stars of any U.S. warship during World War II.  I got to wondering what the numbers were of those receiving more and Wikipedia was good enough to answer that question for me.

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VESSEL      BATTLE STARS

USS Enterprise (CV-6)   20

USS San Diego  (CL-53)   18

USS San Francisco  (CA-38)   17

USS O'Bannon   (DD-450)   17

USS  USS New Orleans   (CA-32)   17

USS Minneapolis   (CA-36)    17

USS  USS Maury   (DD-401)   16

USS Nicholas  (DD-449)   16

USS  Buchanan   (DD-484)    16

USS Portland  (CA-33)   16

USS Russell  (DD-414)  16

--GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 5: Okinawa and End of the War

On 27 January 1945, the Russell sailed north again arriving off Nasugbu Bay in the Philippines and covered the minesweepers  as they cleared approach channels then fired on enemy positions.  Relieve4d late in the afternoon, she returned to Lingayen Gulf and then to Leyte, Bew Guinea and the Solomons.

On 15 February she was at Guadalcanal and rejoined the 5th Fleet for Operation Iceberg, the Okinawa Invasion.  On April 1 she arrived off the invasion beaches and commenced  screening until  May 28 when she got underway for the United States for a much-needed yard overhaul.

Still undergoing the overhaul in Seattle, Washington, when the war ended.  Then on November 15, the Russell was decommissioned and struck from the Navy List thirteen days later.  In September 1947, she was sold for scrap to the National Metal and Steel Corporation, Terminal Island, Los Angeles.

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During the war, the USS Russell received  16 Battle Stars, making her one of the most decorated U.S. ships of the war.

--GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 4: Still Busy

On 13 October 1944, the USS Russell sailed to the Philippines with TF-78 and on October 20 patrolled off Alabat Point, while troops landed  and continued operations around the Philippines before returning to New Guinea and escorting reinforcements from there to the Philippines in November and December.

On 28 December, she departed  Aitape for the invasion of Luzon and then steamed to Mindoro Strait.  Two days later, she joined three other destroyers in forming an interceptor force to destroy Japanese ships sortieing out of Manila Bay.  At 2230, the Japanese destroyer  Hinoki was discovered and fire opened on it.

The Japanese ship sank in twenty minutes.  The Russell was ordered to pick up survivors and several were seen in the water, but refused assistance.

After that, the Russell patrolled, illuminated, bombarded and fought off kamikazes for nine days.  From 18-23 January, she escorted damaged vessels to Leyte.

--GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 3: A Very Busy Destroyer Indeed

Continuing with action in the Pacific.  These were some of the Russell's actions:

1943

Betio, Tarawa

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1944

Wotje

Kwajalein

Escort work along the New Guinea coast

Wakde

Padaido Islands

Biak

Toem

Noemfoor

Morotai

One Really Busy Tincan.  --GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 2: Battle of Coral Sea and Guadalcanal

The USS Russell (DD-414) was commissioned two months before World War II in Europe began and cruised in the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea doing Neutrality Patrol before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

It was then ordered to the Pacific Ocean and then was involved in screening reinforcements to Samoa.  By the time she arrived the Japanese had taken over that part of the Pacific.  After that, the Russell was involved in several actions and screen two different aircraft carriers.

Next, it was in the Battle of the Coral Sea and screened the sinking carrier USS Lexington.    Next, the ship was involved in the Guadalcanal Campaign and then the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands and rescued men from the sinking carrier Hornet.

After that, the Russell screened convoys to Guadalcanal and  Tulagi and then did the same for the carrier USS Enterprise.  By July 1943, the Russell was overhauled at Mare Island and then involved in the attack on the Aleutian Islands.

--GreGen

USS Russell (DD-414)-- Part 1: A Sims-Class Destroyer

From Wikipedia.

I have been writing about the USS Russell (DDG-59) in my Cooter's History Thing blog.  This ship is serving at present in the U.S. Navy and is a guided missile destroyer.  It was named after a Civil War naval officer, John Henry Russell, Dr. and the 16th Commandant of the USMC, John Russell, Jr..

I wrote about John Russell of the Civil War in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy  blog earlier this month and am writing about the Russell who was Marine Corps Commandant in my Cooter's History Thing blog.

But, there was an earlier USS Russell (DD-414) which fought in World War II and was one of the most decorated of all U.S. warships during it.

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

The USS Russell (DD-414) was a World War II Sims-class destroyer named after  Rear Admiral John Henry Russell who fought in the Mexican War and the Civil War.

General Characteristics:

348 feet long

36 foot beam

35 knots speed

Crew  192

Armament

Five 5-inch guns

Four .50 caliber machine guns

Eight 21-inch torpedo tubes

Two  depth charge racks

--GreGen

New Exhibit at WW II Museum-- Part 3: Lt. Fox and Rep. Rankin 'It's a Wrong Method to Settle a Dispute'

Another thumbnail sketch is about  Lt. Anne G. Fox who was chief nurse at the Army Nurse Corps at Hickam Field during the Pearl Harbor attack.  She was the first woman to receive a Purple Heart for her actions that day.  She was, however, not wounded, but back them being injured in the line of duty was not the only qualification for the decoration.

When criteria for the honor was changed, Fox was awarded the Bronze Star for her heroism on December 7, 1941.  She died in 1987 at age 93.

While Fox and Miller are in the display for bravery during the action, another person is in it who was not at Pearl Harbor during the attack.  She is U.S. Representative Jeannette Rankin.  She was in Washington, D.C..  A Republican from Montana, she was the only House member to vote against the declaration of war that FDR asked for.

"As a woman, I can't go to war," she said, "and I refuse to send anyone else."

Two days later, she voted "present" when Congress declared war against Germany and Italy.

Of course, this was the end of her political career and she knew it but had no regrets.  "If you're against war, you're against war, regardless of what happens.  It's a wrong method to settle a dispute."

She died in 1973 at the age of 92.

--GreGen

New Exhibit at National World War II Museum on Pearl Harbor 80th Anniversary-- Part 2

The story about Elvis Presley and the USS Arizona Memorial is a relatively light-hearted story  in contrast to the rest of the new Pearl Harbor exhibit at the museum which is called "Infamy:  Pearl Harbor Remembered" which has its official opening on November 16 and will be on view until June 7 at the museum's Joe W. and Dorothy D. Brown Special Exhibit Gallery.

Visitors can see a 20-inch steel fragment from the USS Arizona, which shares a glass case with a chunk of wood from the USS Oklahoma.  In a frame on a nearby wall is the flag that was raised on the USS St. Louis when the Japanese raid began.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" became a rallying cry for the United States afterwards and there are several propaganda posters in the exhibit on this theme.

Also in the exhibit, there are thumbnail sketches of people involved in the attack in what President Roosevelt called "The Day of Infamy."

One was Doris "Dorie" Miller, a Navy  mess attendant aboard the battleship USS West Virginia.  Even though he had never had training, he took over one of those guns and shot down two Japanese plan.  A machine gun similar to the one he manned  is also on display.

For this action, Miller became the first black person to receive the Navy Cross, which is one step below the Medal of Honor.  Sadly, Doris was killed in November 1943 in the South Pacific when he was just 24.

--GreGen

What Did Elvis Presley Have to Do with the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor?

From the November 15, 2021, New Orleans Times-Picayune "Pearl Harbor exhibit features artifacts, stories, shrapnel... and Elvis" by John Pope.

In observance of the upcoming 80th anniversary of the attack on  Pearl Harbor, the National World War II Museum will have an exhibit on it featuring fragments of ships that were destroyed in it, stories of heroic men and women and, Elvis Presley.

Elvis Presley was not stationed there when the attack came (he was just six years old), but he did play a part in raising money to build the USS Arizona Memorial.

By early 1861,  Congress had approved the monument but not the money to pay for it.  Elvis Presley was in Hawaii shooting the movie "Blue Hawaii" and his manager, Col. Tom Parker came up with the idea of staging a concert to raise the money.

The museum has a poster from the concert showing Elvis in a gold lame suit with tickets costing from $3 to $10 apiece (the equivalent of $26.47 and $88.24 today).  Also on the bill were Minnie Pearl of the Grand Ole Opry, the Jordanaires, and Presley's drummer D.J. Fontana and guitarist Scotty Moore.

The concert raised about $54,000 (nearly $477,000 in today's money), but was still about $150,000 short.  U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a World War II veteran, got Congress to approve the rest.

--GreGen

Ten Important WW II Sites to See-- Part 2

6.  IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS   England  (Five museums throughout the country)

7.  MEMORIAL TO THE MURDERED JEWS OF EUROPE  Berlin, Germany

8.  NAGASAKI AND HIROSHIMA   Japan

9.  YAD VASHEM   Israel    Dedicated to the Holocaust

10.  KRANJI WAR MEMORIAL    Singapore

Go to the site to read more about each of these.

--GreGen

Ten Important WW II Sites to See-- Part 1

From the November 12, 2021, Fodor's Travel  "10 important World War II sites that all travelers should experience" by Apeksha Bhateja.

I will just be listing them.  For pictures and more information go to the site:

1.  ANNE FRANK HOUSE  Amsterdam, Netherlands

2.  AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU STATE MUSEUM  Oswiecim, Poland  The concentration camp.

3.  BRITISH NORMANDY MEMORIAL  Normandy, France

4.  THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM   New Orleans, Louisiana

5.  USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL  Oahu, Hawaii

--GreGen

In Honor of Veterans Day; USS Oklahoma Identified and Will Be Buried at Patchogue on Dec. 7:

Today is Veterans Day.  And there can be no way of honoring the day than the identification of a veteran's remains MIA all these years.

The 11th post on this blog on the 11th day.

From the November 10, 2021, Greater Long Island.com (New York)  "Navy sailor killed at Pearl Harbor to be buried at Patchogue on Dec. 7 after 80 years" by Ana  Borruto.

U.S. Navy Fireman  3rd Class Kenneth L. Jayne was identified  on April 16, 2016, by the defense  POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) after being missing all those years since Pearl Harbor.

There will be a burial event at  Cedar Grove Cemetery on December 4.

He was born in Patchogue on August 15, 1915 and entered the Navy at age 26, serving on the USS Oklahoma.

Jayne and 428 crewmembers died that day.

A Big Thank You to the Government for Identifying These Men.  --GreGen

Marine Corps Turns 246: Role in World War II

And still as mean as ever.

Happy birthday USMC!!

During World War II, Marines performed a central role in the Battle of the Pacific, along with the U.S. Army.  

The Battles of Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Guam,  Tinian, Cape Gloucester, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa saw fierce fighting between the Marines and  the Imperial Japanese Army.

Some 600,000 Americans served in the Marines during the war.

The Battle of Iwo Jima, which began on February  19, 1945, was arguably the most famous Marine engagement of the war.  The Japanese had learned lessons from their defeats during the Marianas Campaign and prepared many fortified  positions on the island, including pillboxes and a huge network of tunnels.

They put up a fierce resistance, but American forces reached the top of  Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945.  The mission was accomplished with high losses of 26,000 Americans and 22,000 Japanese.

--GreGen

McFarland American Legion Post Honors Its 8 World War II Veterans

From the November 7, 2021, WMTV 15 NBC News by Gretchen Gerlach.

The McFarland, Wisconsin, American Legion Post 534 honored its eight remaining World War II veterans this past weekend.  Organizers say that it is a chance to thank and recognize them as heroes while there is still time.

The U.S. Department of veterans Affairs estimates that only  1.5% of the 16 million Americans who served in the war are still alive. today.  So, it is not often that you have a chance to get eight of them together, in uniform, in the same room.

A full house  of family and friends were present to recognize the following service members:

John "Jack" Fitzgerald, US Navy, (1943-45)

Glen E. Hanusa US Navy,  (1942-46)

Virgil A. Houff, US Navy, (1943-46)

Marjorie Marshman, US Marines, (1943-46)

John S. Ong, US Army (1946-49)

John L. Reed US Navy (1944-46)

Walter R. Whitehorse, US Navy  (1942-45)

Congratulations Veterans.  --GreGen

At 103, Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Breaks His Own World Record As 'The World's Oldest Conductor'

From the November 7, 2021, North Escambia.com  (Florida).

Two years ago, Pearl Harbor survivor Frank Emond  set a Guinness World Record as "World's Oldest Conductor."  Saturday night, he broke his record leading the U.S. Air Force Band's Airmen of Note playing Glen Miller's "In the Mood."

He was wearing a Hawaiian print shirt with a Pearl Harbor Survivor patch.

Originally from Rhode Island, Emond enlisted in the Navy in 1938 as a musician.  He played the French horn for the ship's band and even got to perform at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.

He was on the stern of the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) preparing to play the morning colors on his French horn when the Japanese attack came on December 7, 1941.  He went into action, evacuating the dead and wounded.

--GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor to Speak at Las Positas College, Michael Ganitch, 101- Part 2: One of the Oldest and Last-Survivors

 As one of the oldest and last-surviving Pearl Harbor veterans, Ganitch said he's often sought to speak at schools and veterans organizations.  Prior to the pandemic, he said he spoke between 30 and 35 times a year.

"I talk to everyone who wants to listen to me but mainly schools because kids are the future of this country, so I like to talk to kids.  They're paying attention and they're listening," Ganitch said.

Ganitch said that shifting from live to virtual speaking was an adjustment for him, but he doesn't mind as long as he gets his message out to people.

To his knowledge, Ganitch says there are only about 40 Pearl Harbor survivors still living and the youngest he knows of is just 97.  However, he said that he has found out over the years that not every Pearl Harbor survivor joined a veterans organization so there could be more survivors that he doesn't know about.

During his speaking engagement at the college, Michael Ganitch  is set to share his full story of his experience at Pearl Harbor as well as his Navy career before and after the event.

The event is free, but registration is required.

A Salute to Mr. Ganitch.  --GreGen

Pearl Harbor Survivor to Speak at Las Positas College's Veterans Day Event-- Part 1: Michael 'Mickey' Ganitch, 101

From the November 3, 2021, Pleasanton Weekly (California) by Cierra Vine. 

U.S. Navy veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Michael "Mickey" Ganitch will take the virtual stage at Las Positas College's Veterans Day seminar his coming Thursday.

Ganitch, 101, was stationed on the battleship USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) in Pearl Harbor that fateful day.  he was just 22 years-old at the time and a member of the ship's football team.  He was getting ready to play a scrimmage against another ship's team.

"I didn't have time to change clothes or nothing," Ganitch said, adding that he was well-protected during the attack because of all his football padding.

Ganitch said that his ship was  dry docked that morning because it needed some maintenance work on the propellers, which meant that they were not at their usual dock on the base.

"The first attack did not hit us because they knew where  all the ships were at they knew the names of the ships,  they knew everything but we were not in our usual place," Ganitch said.

He continued that his ship was spotted during the second attack and hit with a 500-pound bomb that exploded two decks below him and shook him but didn't injure him.  "If it had exploded on contact, I wouldn't be here."

--GreGen

USS Batfish Moving to a Permanent Location in Muscogee

From the November 4, 2021,  Tulsa, Oklahoma Channel 6by Amelia Mugavero.

The USS Batfish submarine will be getting a new home in Muscogee in the next several years.  It and its War Park have been in town since the 1970s.

Now the three and a half-million pound ship are being moved over the next two years to the Three Forks Harbor.  This is perfect timing as the lease on the land expires in two years, plus the Port of Muscogee is expanding and needs  the land.  Also, the museum was already planning to refloat it after  the 2019 flood moved the ship a few feet.

When moved, the Batfish will have to go downriver three miles which is no east task as the Corps of Engineers will have to raise the river three feet to get the Batfish into the river.  (It is on dry land when it is not flooded.)

The cost of all this is not known, but estimates can range as high as $3 million.

Details and timing are still being worked out, but the City Council has already approved a $200,000  study to figure out the best way to do this.

So, If You're in Muscogee in the Next Several Years and See a Famous WW II Submarine Going Down the River, You'll Know Why.  --GreGen

Edward Everette Talbert U.S. Navy Sailor from USS Oklahoma Identified

From the November 3, 2021, 11 ABC WTVD (North Carolina)  "NC sailor in Pearl Harbor attack finally accounted for."

After 80 years, a North Carolina sailor is finally coming home.

Navy Seaman 1st Class Edward Everette Talbot was one of 429 crewmen who died on the USS Oklahoma that day in 1941 when it capsized after being hit multiple times by torpedoes.

He will be buried March 26, 2022, in his hometown of Albemarle, North Carolina.

--GreGen

Pfc. Walter L. Colllier, USMC, One of the USS Oklahoma's Unknowns Is Identified

From the November 3, 2021, 7 ABC Eyewitness News  "Remains from Pearl Harbor attack identified as Burbank Marine" by AP.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has announced that the remains of Marine Pfc. Walter L. Collier have been identified.  He was on board the USS Oklahoma that day in 1941.  His remains were identified in May.

He was from Burbank, California.

He will be buried December 8, 2021, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

Earlier this year, the remains of a Navy sailor were identified as Petty Officer 1st Class  Charles E. Hudson of Stockton.

--GreGen

A Hero's Return Home, Francis Wiemerslage-- Part 5: Buried Next to His Mother Who Never Gave Up Hope

From there, a procession led by the Chicago, Elmwood Park and River Grove police departments was followed by the hearse containing Francis Wiemerslage's remains, with the Patriot Guard Riders and Rolling Thunder members following close behind on their flag-draped motorcycles.

During the 13-mile drive from Midway to the Elms Funeral Home in Elmwood Park, many cars pulled over and pedestrians stopped to stand and salute.

Once at the funeral home, Wiemerslage's casket was brought inside by members of the American Legion and Rolling Thunder.

Wiemerslage's niece Karen Hansen said thinking about the efforts of many that resulted in her uncle's returning home was overwhelming and wonderful and she hoped it would give hope to the thousands of families who haven't received closure about a missing loved one who served in World War II.

A funeral Mass is scheduled for October 23 at St. Crypian Church, then Wiemerslage will be buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in the same crypt as his brother's remains, and next to his mother Vivian, the woman who never gave up hope that her son somewhere survived.

Quite the Story.  --GreGen

A Hero's Return Home-- Part 4: Francis Wiemerslage

It wasn't until 2019 when the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) assisted by archaeology students from Western Carolina University did another search of the area and fund more material which was sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska for scientific analysis.

On August 24, 2021, 76 years after being shot down over Germany, Wiemerslage's remains were positively identified using DNA analysis.

Since Wiemerslage has now been identified, a rosette will be placed next to his name on the Tablet of the Missing at the cemetery in Belgium to indicate that he has been accounted for.

On Friday, Wiemerslage's remains arrived on a Southwest Airlines flight.  At the airport, Midway Airport Fire and Rescue created an arc of water cannons that the plane passed under once it landed.  Then, befo any passengers exited the plane, members of the U.S. Army Honor Guard received Wiemerslage's remains.

--GreGen

A Hero's Return Home-- Francis Wiemerslage: Part 3: His Mother Held Out Hope

In 1950, worsening diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union, who controlled that part of Germany at the time, and the United States, prevented American Graves Registration Command  (AGRC) from investigating Sgt. Wiemerslage's remains further.  

Three years later, two German citizens conducted another search of the area on the behalf of AGRC.  They fund some bones, including a jaw with teeth and part of aa wallet with the initials "FW."  In March 1954, the remains were interred, to be held until the recovery of additional remains could be found.

Over the years. Wiemerslage's mother exchanged many letters with the mothers of the other six killed in the March 2, 1945, mission over Dresden.  She never gave up hope that her son might have survived.

Dresden was especially heavily bombed in four raids between February13 and 15, 1945, when over 1200 heavy British and American bombers dropped  more than 3,900 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs on the city.    Three more U.S. Army Air Force raids occurred  after that, with two of them on March 2, when Wiemerslage's plane was shot down.

"Our grandmother Vivian [Francis' mother] never gave up hope that miraculously he had survived.  [She hoped] that maybe he bumped his head and had amnesia and was living with another family under a different name.  She would set a place-setting up for him every Thanksgiving hoping that he would walk through the door," Phil Wiemerslage said.

--GreGen

A Hero's Return Home-- Part 2: Sgt. Francis Wiemerslage

On Friday, five members of the Wiemerslage family were met at Midway Airport by members of the River Grove American Legion, Rolling Thunder and the Patriot Guard Riders and the U.S. Army Honor Guard.

Francis, called Frankie by his family, had a sister and two brothers.  His brother Roland passed away in 2019 at the age of 84 and searched for his brother most of his life and gave a DNA sample  to assist in recovery efforts shortly before he died.

One of his last words to his family before he died was "Don't forget about Frankie."

After the war, the American Graves Registration Command was in charge of recovering remains of fallen service members in Europe.  Between 1947 and 1948, the remains of all the airmen who died in the B-17 crash, except for Wiemerslage were found and identified.

Because there was no evidence that he was a prisoner of war, a finding of death was issued a year after the crash.  His name is recorded on the Tablets of the Missing at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Hombourg, Belgium, along with the others still missing from World War II.

GreGen

A Hero's Return Home: Sgt. Francis Wiemerslage Comes Home, 76 Years Later

From the October 18, 2021, Chicago Sun-Times by Bob Chiarito.

Remains of WW II gunner from River Grove who was shot down over Germany brought back.

Seventy-six years after being killed in World War II, the remains of U.S. Army Air Force Sgt. Francis Wiemerslage returned home Friday.

He was a native of suburban River Grove and a 20-year-old ball turret gunner on a B-17G Flying Fortress bomber during a mission over Dresden, Germany, on March 2, 1945, when his plane was shot down by enemy fighters.

Two of the nine crew members parachuted from the aircraft before it exploded in mid-air and crashed near Zullsdor, Germany.  The six others killed were found and identified by 1949, but Wiemerslage remained unaccounted for until August, when his remains were confirmed.

Welcome Home.  --GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Sailor Identified: Lester P. Delles

From the June 1, 2021, DPAA.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Navy Electrician's Mate  3rd Class Lester P. Delles, 21, of St. Charles, Illinois, killed during World War II was accounted for on February 12, 2021.

He was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor when the attack came.  This resulted in the deaths of 429, including Delles.

He was buried October 23, 2021, in Sutter Creek, California. 

--GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Sailor Identified: Jesus Garcia

From the October 6, 2021 California News Times

Navy Steward's Mate  2nd Class, Jesus Garcia was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego in a morning ceremony.

He was from Guam and only 21 years of age when he died December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor while on board the USS Oklahoma.

The majority of his family still lives in Guam, but he has relatives in San Diego.

His remains were identified through the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

--GreGen

Japanese Ships Sunk During WW II Resurface at Iwo Jima

 Just in time for Halloween, you think?

From October 21, 2021 WION.

Two dozen Japanese ships sunk near the island of Iwo Jima during the war have been raised from the ocean floor due to seismic activity at Mount Suribachi, one of Japan's most dangerous volcanoes.

The 24 Japanese transport vessels were captured by U.S. forces and moved to the western side of the island and sunk to make up for the absence of a port on the island.

The seabed in that area has started rising due to the seismic activity causing them to sit on volcanic ash.

The island today has no inhabitants, but the Japanese military has a presence there.  It was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.  During the battle, the U.S. lost 7,000 soldiers while the Japanese lost 20,000.  This is where that iconic photograph of Marines raising the flag was taken.

The island was of significant importance to the U.S. as it was thought that it could be used as a Navy base for the invasion of Japan.

Like, Boo!!  --GreGen

USS Oklahoma Sailor Billy Turner Identified

From the October 10, 2021, Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma)  "Missing sailor's remains identified after 80 years:  Carter County's first WW II casualty went down with the USS Oklahoma" by Drew Butler.

Nineteen-year-old Carter County resident Seaman 1st Class Billy Turner was serving aboard the USS Oklahoma that day in Pearl Harbor and died, listed as being missing in action for 80 years.

His remains were officially  accounted for on October 1 by the Defense  POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

He was born November  18, 1922, in Memphis, Tennessee,  and moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma,  with his family in 1926.  Inducted into the U.S. Navy in Oklahoma City on January 4, 1940, he was sent to San Diego for training.  On December 7, 1941, he was stationed aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor.

There are no known relatives of him still living in Ardmore, but Turner Street is named after him and the mural adjoining the Ardmoreite  building depicts the USS Oklahoma in his honor.

The article did not say where he will be reburied.

--GreGen

USS Oklahoma Sailor James O. McDonald from Levelland Accounted For

From the October 20, 2021, KBCD 11 News .

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that U.S. Navy Fireman 1st Class James O. McDonald, 25, of Levelland, Texas, killed during World War II was accounted for on December 22, 2020.

He was on the battleship USS Oklahoma, moored at Ford Island in Pearl Harbor when it sustained several torpedo hits and capsized on December 7, 1941.

He will be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on January 19, 2022.

--GreGen

Octavius Mabine, USS Oklahoma Unknown, Is Identified

From the October 20, 2021, ABC 7 News "Octavius Mabine, Navy sailor from Virginia lost on December 7, 1941, has been identified" by Don Parker.

A U.S. Navy sailor from Virginia who was killed along with 428 others when the USS Oklahoma went down in Pearl Harbor has been identified according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting  Agency (DPAA).

Navy Mess Attendant Octavius Mabine, 21, of Portsmouth, Virginia, died when his ship capsized after being hit by multiple torpedoes while moored next to Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.

Both he and the previous post's Rodger Butts were from Portsmouth, Virginia, and worked in the ship's mess.

He will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date.

It is so wonderful to be having these brave men identified.  Thanks DPAA.

--GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Unknown Identified: Rodger Butts

From the October 19, 2021, Channel 12 NBC, Portsmouth, Virginia.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) has announced  that a Virginia sailor from Virginia, Navy Ship's Cook 1st Class Rodger Butts, 47,  of Portsmouth, Virginia, has been identified.

He was serving on the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor when it was attacked December 7, 1941.

He will be buried in Newtown, Pennsylvania at a future date.

Both he and the USS Oklahoma sailor I will write about next, Octavius Mabine, were from Portsmouth, Virginia and both had jobs in the ship's kitchen.

--GreGen

Another USS Oklahoma Unknown Identified: Charles L. Saunders

October 8, 2021, CBS Dallas-Fort Worth,

The Defense  POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced Friday October 8 that  the remains of Navy Seaman 2nd Class Charles L. Saunders, 18, of Winnie, Texas,  was accounted for on February 11, 2021.

He was on board the battleship USS Oklahoma which was moored at Ford's Island , Pearl Harbor, when the attack came December 7, 1941.

He will be buried December 7, 2021, in his hometown.

--GreGen

USS North Carolina-- Part 8: Making It Local and Not Your Grandparents' Battleship

There is another irony in the Battleship, with all its focus on  history, they have to keep a constant eye on the future.

One situation Terry Bragg wants to address is increasing local visits to the ship.  Some locals act almost as if they don't know the ship is there.  Bragg says they hear all the time from locals that they haven't visited the ship in 20 or 30 years.    "It shouldn't just be people from Ohio who are enjoying (it)."

Sixty percent of the ship's visitors come from more than four hours away from Wilmington.

Bragg says one of his goals  is "to awaken the Wilmington community to this great resource for service and  education, and this wonderful attraction right here in your backyard."

Mentioning a $2 million renovation that was done to the Battleship's  visitors' center, Bragg said:  "You  don't really know the Battleship if you haven't been here in the last five years.  We're not the Battleship of your grandparents and your parents.

Looks like to me that the USS North Carolina could not be in anyone else's better care than she is with Capt. Bragg.  And, as I say in the picture of the USS North Carolina at the top of the blog, my favorite warship ever built.

A Big Fan.  --GreGen

USS North Carolina-- Part 7: Development?

As we look to the future, it is possible that the USS North Carolina might have some more neighbors on the west bank of the Cape Fear River.  Developers have been eying this land for years, and most recently this month.

Terry Bragg points out that the Battleship was named  a National Historic Landmark in 1986, which gives it certain protections.

"You couldn't put up a Walmart next to the Battleship," for example, or  do "anything that could encumber our historical significance," Bragg said.

Bragg says he has met with several developers over the years who were interested in building on the west side of the river by the Battleship, but the costs they would sustain for building in a flood plain, infrastructure, lack of sewer and water and meeting federal guidelines were just too cost prohibitive.

One project Bragg sees as having possibility is the development of a park on Eagles Island by the ship.

--GreGen

Battleship USS North Carolina-- Part 6: 'Living With Water'

Their solution to the climate change situation, according to Bragg. is to make access to the ship sustainable into the future is a project called "Living With Water."

The first phase of the $4 to $5 million project, which Bragg said is currently funded to about $2.3 million, involves raising the level of the current parking lot and creating  a "constructed wetlands," or so-called "living shoreline" around it that can better handle the effects of climate change.

And the timeline for the project is estimated to be around 2023, with a second phase  centered on the often-flooded Battleship Park slated for 2024.

"We can deal with climate change," Bragg said, by using  this "cutting edge technology (of living shorelines) that has not been used  that much locally.

--GreGen

Battleship USS North Carolina-- Part 5: Climate Change Now a Big Problem Because of Flooding

During a ceremony that attracted media from around the state, a cofferdam that allowed work to be done on the USS North Carolina was flooded and the battleship floated once again.

Next up  are meetings with contractors to discuss $1 million in repairs, funded by Hurricane Florence recovery funds, to the ship's main mast where the steel is deteriorating.

"Now that  the ship itself has been stabilized," Bragg said, "the big wolf on our doorstep  is climate change."

At this point, according to Bragg, the Battleship site, which includes a park, parking lot and a road to the facility, sees some kind of flooding three out of five days a year, increasingly caused by  high tides on the Cape Fear River.  This not only causes damage to he infrastructure used to operate the Battleship and its surrounding site, but also  forces closures and delayed openings.

Some well-known  attractions in North Carolina, most famously like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, have been physically moved in order to deal with threats from encroaching water.

But, Bragg says the Battleship isn't going anywhere.

"The Battleship will never be moved.  People don't realize how big it is," said Terry Bragg, and getting it under the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, which was built in  1967, after the Battleship was already in place (1961), would be nearly impossible.

"We have a suitable site, even though the Cape Fear River is not the Cape Fear River of 60 years ago."

--GreGen

USS North Carolina-- Part 4: Repair It or Scrap It

The day-to-day operations of the Battleship,  however, from the salaries of the twenty-five full-time staffers to IT support, insurance and more is "100% receipts funded," Bragg said.  "Everything is paid for by funds made at the battleship" from entry fees, gift shop sales, event rentals and more.

Not long after Bragg started his tenure, the battleship would face a major challenge.

"When I got there, there were many  compartments (on the ship) that were flooded," according to Bragg.

Then, the head admiral of the U.S. Navy in charge of ship inspections and repair "sent me a letter saying the Battleship North Carolina either needs to be repaired or scrapped in accordance with the donation contract" with the state of North Carolina.

From that point on, he said, his main goal, along with enhancing  both the Battleship's staff and the quality of educational displays and programs, was "to fix the Battleship."

This past June, the $14 million repair project was completed.  Featuring a walkway that goes around the entire ship, it involved literally  cutting and replacing  parts of the Battleship's steel hull that had deteriorated over the years.  (In the gift shop, you can buy knives and other steel products made from parts of the Battleship's hull that were replaced.)

--GreGen

USS North Carolina-- Part 3: Serves Three Functions for the Wilmington Area

From the start, the "Showboat" of World War II, as she was called, was in Wilmington to impact tourism, especially after the city's #1 industry , the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, left.  It also came to serve as a World War II memorial and a floating museum.

It has continued to serve all three of those functions for sixty years, said retired Navy Captain Terry Bragg, who has been executive director  of the Battleship North Carolina since 2009.

As Wilmington's number one tourist attraction (other than arguably the nearby beaches), the battleship is also one of the most popular tourist attractions in eastern North Carolina.

"Our numbers are so much bigger than anybody else's,"  Bragg said.   "We're still maintaining our obligation as the economic engine of the area."

One thing people don't understand, Bragg said, is that  the Battleship is  "technically  an enterprise of the state" overseen by the USS North Carolina Battleship Commission, which was established in 1960.

The state has "an obligation to the U.S. Navy to maintain the ship, according to Bragg, and the state can appropriate money for repairs when needed, which has happened in recent years.

--GreGen

USS North Carolina Celebrates 60th Anniversary in Wilmington-- Part 2: It's History

But even as the battleship exists today as a celebration of U.S history, it is now a part of Wilmington's history itself, and it is positioning itself to be a part of the city's future for decades to come.

The story of how the USS North Carolina came to Wilmington in the first place is an epic onto itself.

It involves then-governor  Terry Sanford, the North Carolina legend, the first president of the renowned Wilmington Azalea Festival Hugh  Morton, nickel-and-dime donations of hundreds of thousands of  school children including me and my brother) from across the state.  

Then, there was Wilmington's own James S. "Jimmy" Craig, who got the idea to bring  the USS North Carolina back to its name-sake state after getting the idea after Texas bought its name-sake USS Texas to Houston in the 1940s.

--GreGen

Battleship North Carolina Marks Its 60th Anniversary

From the October 2, 2021, Wilmington (NC) Star-News by John Staton.

It has now been sixty years since the famed battleship USS North Carolina arrived at her permanent home of Wilmington, North Carolina.

It arrived October 2, 1961, before over 100,000 onlookers and moored across from Wilmington on the west bank of the Cape Fear River.

It was dedicated on April 29, 1962, as a memorial to the more than 10,000 North Carolinians who died fighting in World War II.  For the past sixty years, the 728-foot decommissioned  Navy vessel has not only been  a vital part of the downtown Wilmington skyline, but also its economy, attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year, including more than 200,000 since October 1 of last year.  (Not too bad in these days of the pandemic.) 

--GreGen

Service to Remember 828 British POWs Who Died on the Lisbon Maru When It Was Sunk

From the October 3, 2021, Lichfield (UK) Live "Service to remember  British prisoners of war who died  after Japanese ship was torpedoed during Second World War."

The service was held at the National  Memorial Arboretum commemorating the 828 British prisoners who died when the Japanese ship Lisbon Maru was sunk.  It was being used as a troop ship at the time and was carrying Japanese troops as well as 1,816 British POWs  when it was torpedoed by an American submarine on October  1, 1942.

The hatches were battened down on the cargo holds where the prisoners were kept.  When the men were able to break out just before it sank 24 hours later, they were fired on by the Japanese troops still on board the ship.

As the ship went down, some were rescued by Chinese fishermen, but 828 died from gunshot wounds and drowning.

As well as descendants of those men aboard the ship, veterans and representatives will be attending the ceremony.

A Tragedy.  --GreGen

USS Oklahoma Sailor from LaClede Comes Home: George Merton Gooch

From the October 1, 2021, Linn County Leader (Missouri) "Laclede native  coming home decades after death at Pearl Harbor" by Angie Talken.

Laclede native George Merton Gooch, Petty Officer 3rd Class, died December 7, 1941, on board the battleship USS Oklahoma.  His remains have finally been identified and he will be buried October 9 in his home town of Laclede, Missouri.

He was born April 23, 1919, to Linn  and Hulda Mae Gooch in Purdin, Missouri, and was a 1939 graduate of Laclede High School.  In 1939, he joined the U.S. Navy.

His remains were identified using family DNA.

Welcome Home.  --GreGen

USS Oklahoma Sailor from Detroit Comes Home: Irvin Franklin Rice

From the September 30, 2021, Fox 2 Detroit "Detroit Navy vet lost at sea in Pearl Harbor has remains id'd with DNA, will be laid to rest" by Amy Lange and David Komer.

Irvin Franklin Rice was 22 years old and a radioman 3rd class when he met his death aboard the USS Oklahoma in Pearl Harbor.  His remains were recently identified through DNA.

The funeral service will be held at Roseland Park Cemetery in Berkley on Saturday afternoon.  This is where his parents had placed a headstone years ago reading "Lost in Action at Pearl Harbor."

Many veterans organizations will be on hand as well as an escort by the Patriot Guard.

The procession will leave the funeral home in Livonia and go up I-275 to I-696 to Woodward Avenue.  Plans are being made for spectators to line this thoroughfare waving flags all the way.

He will be laid to rest with full military honors.

--GreGen

Tarawa Marine Identified and Reburied: Pfc. Royal L. Waltz

From the September 29, 2021, Santa Maria (California) Times "Hanford Marine killed in World War II laid to rest with honors" by Donald A Promnitz.

He was found eight years ago on the tiny Pacific island of Betio in the Battle of Tarawa.

The ceremony took place at the church of his youth, the First Methodist Church, and he was buried among family at Grangeville Cemetery.

He was born in Hanford in 1923 and grew up there until his family moved to Cambria in 1940.  He joined the Marines in the summer of 1941 and was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked.  He  went on to serve in the Pacific Theater and was at the American first offensive at Guadalcanal in 1942.

After a short rest, he was part of the Marine attack on the island of Betio in the Battle of Tarawa which was ought primarily to capture a strategic Japanese airfield.  It was an intense battle in which  over 1,000 Americans were killed in a 76-hour period of time.  

Many of the Americans drowned before they could even reach the beach.  According to former Marine SGM Justin LeHew,  witnesses confirmed that  Waltz was able to reach the shore before being mortally wounded on November 20, 1943, the first day of the landing.

LeHew serves as the chief operating officer for History Flight, a non-profit group dedicated to finding, identifying and bringing home fallen military personnel.  They found Waltz's remains in 2013 during n excavation and six years later they were able to positively able to identify his remains.

This group has found and identified many of the USMC unknowns on Betio.

He was buried with full military honors.

Bringing the Boys Home.  --GreGen

Remains of 2nd Lt. Ernest N. Vienneau to Be Buried in Maine-- Part 2

His remains were not recovered until June 20 Defense POW/MIA  Accounting Agency, working with Lone Wolf Productions  to film underwater  excavation of a B-24 Liberator plan wreck off Vis Island.

Enough evidence was collected during a dive for recovery of Vienneu's B-17.  His remains were recovered in the fall of 020 and identified through evidence on April16, 2021.

Funeral service will be  on October 9, 2021 and will be performed by Lamson Funeral Home of Lincoln.

--GreGen

Remains of 2nd Lt. Ernest N. Vienneau to Be Returned Home to Maine

From the September 28, 2021, News Center Maine "Remains of Millinocket man, World War II vet,  to be buried in Millinocket Cemetery" by Beth Brogan.

The remains of Ernest N. Vienneau will be buried in Millinocket on October 9, this year.

U.S. Army Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Ernest N. Vienneau was a pilot assigned to the 240th  Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force, based in Amendola, Italy.

On November 6, 1944, when Vienneau was 25, he was co-piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber over Maribor, Yugoslavia,  now Slovenia, when it came under heavy fire and he was hit in the head by a piece of flak that penetrated the cockpit.

While he was being treated  for the injury, his co-pilot attempted to fly the damaged B-17 back to base, but was forced to ditch off the coast of Vis Island, Croatia.

Ten crew members survived, but Vienneu's body was not recovered.

--GreGen

WW II Veteran Celebrates 103rd Birthday: Technical Sgt. Raymond Kenney

From the August 28, 2021,  Fox 23 News  Tulsa, Oklahoma.

World War II Veteran Technical Sergeant  Raymond Kenney celebrated his 103rd birthday at the Tulsa VFW on Saturday.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, he was working at  the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut.  He immediately wanted to enlist, but couldn't because he was working  in a defense plant.  he told his employer that he wanted to be a Marine and that he would train a replacement if they would release him to serve.

Kenney joined the Marine Corps on August 20, 1942, and shipped off to Parris Island, South Carolina,  for boot camp.  While there, he was asked if he had any flight training, which he had,  so he was shipped off to flight training school and awarded his Naval Aviator Wings.

He was then ordered to Cherry Point, North Carolina, to join MAG (Marine Air Group) 35 of the 2nd Marine  Aircraft Wing.

He flew both  the Douglas SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas) Dive-bombers and  the F4U3 Corsairs.

After the Japanese surrender, he served with the occupation forces of Japan until April 22, 1946, when he returned home.

--GreGen

WW II Veteran Kathleen Hilbrandt Laid to Rest with Military Honors. She Was a Member of the WASPs

From the August 18, 2021,  Tap Into Rahway (New Jersey).

Her funeral was delayed a year because of COVID, but arrangements were made for August 14, 2021.

Kathleen "Kay" Ann Hilbrandt (1924-2020) during World War II was one  of only 1,074 women to take part in the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program  Though, serving in non-combat positions,  these female pilots offered indispensable assistance on behalf of the war effort by  ferrying planes from factories to bases and flight-testing aircraft.  This freed up men to fly in combat areas.

According to the National Women's History Museum, they were, "the first women to fly for the U.S. military, paving the way for women to serve equally in the U.S. Air Force."

Hilbrandt had cultivated a love of flying from a young age.  Raised in Garwood, she began taking fly lessons right out of high school.  In 1943, she was working for Eastern Aircraft, a division of  General Motors, becoming one of the first female  mechanics for the TBM Avenger torpe4do bomber.

By the time she was 19, she already had 85 flight hours and was immediately accepted into the WASPs, and stationed at Eagle Pass Army Air Field in Texas during the war,

After the war, she returned home and became a flight instructor from 1945-1948.    She also assisted veterans, instructing them under the G.I. Bill of Rights and helped them earn private and commercial  pilot licenses.

--GreGen

Veteran Turns 100 in Mississippi: Talmage Byrd

From the September13, 2021, AP News  "Mississippi World War II veteran celebrates 100th birthday."

Talmage Byrd of Vancleave was born in 1921 and joined the U.S. Navy when he was 20  years old, saying he was influenced by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

His first post was near the Aleutian Islands, then he  was moved to Astoria, Oregon, where he repaired battle damaged ships.  In the 1950s, he was stationed in Guam.

His military service inspired generations of his family to serve their country.  His son, Larry Byrd, joined the  Air Force in 1965, serving more than twenty years servicing aircraft like B-52s before retiring in 1986.  His grandson,  Chris Rowell,  served in  the Army beginning in 2007 and was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, for 13 months.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Byrd.

--GreGen

WW II Shipwrecks OFF NC's Coast-- Part 5: Many Are War Graves

"Each wreck (story) has two parts:  There's the wreck itself on the bottom,  and the history of what it went through to end up on the bottom." Tane Casserley said.  "Most  of these wreck are war graves.  People died on these (ships)  going down in horrible ways.  Some of the vessels lost up to twenty guys that went down in burning flames and drowned."

In the case of the freighter Portland, which ran aground  in 1943, the July 2021 expedition marked the first time investigators have visited the site.

Another visit is planned for the summer of 2022, in partnership with the heritage-presentation group known as Diving  with a Purpose.  A member of that group was a volunteer in the July expedition according to officials.

Side scan data was collected at  each of the 13  wrecks during the  expedition.  The new sonar imaging  will provide a better  idea of what remains of the  wrecks on the sea floor, officials said.

--GreGen

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

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