The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Sunday, February 2, 2020
Pearl Harbor Survivor James Blakely Turns 100
January 11, 2020, New York Daily News "Celebrating Brooklyn WW II veteran's 100 years of courage, honor and determination" by Denis Hamel.
James Blakely survived the Japanese bombs and torpedoes at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, on the USS St. Louis and has recently turned 100. "I remember them poor nurses at Pearl, oh, boy, running to get back into the hospital and those Japanese planes swooping down and firing the machine guns at them...."
His relatives threw him a party in honor of it in Brooklyn.
After Pearl Harbor, he was at the battles in Guam, Guadalcanal and at New Zealand.
He pulled on his USS St. Louis hat and said his secret to long life was the good Lord. "I also never touched alcohol or tobacco," he said. "I can't say I never touched a pretty girl. That was my vice. In fact, I was raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, which was not a good place for a person of color. One day a white guy went out of his way to step on my shoe. So I stepped back on his.
"That didn't go over big in Arkansas so my grandfather, who had served in WW I told me to join the Navy before they strung me up."
So, James Blakely joined the segregated U.S. Navy and was assigned to the mess aboard the USS St. Louis where where he was when the attack came.
It Is Always Great to Write About a Living Pearl Harbor Survivor. --GreGen
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Deaths in 2014: Richard Bolt, RNZAF
RICHARD BOLT Royal New Zealand Air Force officer. Born 1923, died 27 July 2014.
Second World War bomber pilot and senior RNZAF officer in the postwar years until 1980. His father was the pioneer New Zealand aviator George Bolt.
During the war, he served with the Pathfinder Force and flew Lancaster bombers.
Received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945.
--GreGen
Second World War bomber pilot and senior RNZAF officer in the postwar years until 1980. His father was the pioneer New Zealand aviator George Bolt.
During the war, he served with the Pathfinder Force and flew Lancaster bombers.
Received the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1945.
--GreGen
Thursday, October 9, 2014
New Zealand Hero Died in 2012
From the May 20, 2012 stuff.co.nz "Kiwi WWII hero dies" by Max Lambert.
Phil Lamason, a New Zealand bomber pilot saved a large group of Allied airmen from going to Buchenwald Concentration Camp died May 19, 2012, at the age of 93.
He was the senior officer of 168 Allied airmen and in August 1944 risked his life to get word to the Luftwaffe after finding out the Gestapo had ordered them executed.
On October 19th, Luftwaffe officers arrived and demanded the Allied men's release and took took them to Sagan, a regular POW camp.
The majority of the Allied airmen had been shot down in France and were trying to escape in civilian clothes which the Gestapo considered as spying.
Of the 168 men: 2 were from New Zealand, 9 Australians, 29 Canadians, 47 British and 81 Americans. Two of them died of sickness.
--GreGen
Phil Lamason, a New Zealand bomber pilot saved a large group of Allied airmen from going to Buchenwald Concentration Camp died May 19, 2012, at the age of 93.
He was the senior officer of 168 Allied airmen and in August 1944 risked his life to get word to the Luftwaffe after finding out the Gestapo had ordered them executed.
On October 19th, Luftwaffe officers arrived and demanded the Allied men's release and took took them to Sagan, a regular POW camp.
The majority of the Allied airmen had been shot down in France and were trying to escape in civilian clothes which the Gestapo considered as spying.
Of the 168 men: 2 were from New Zealand, 9 Australians, 29 Canadians, 47 British and 81 Americans. Two of them died of sickness.
--GreGen
Friday, February 8, 2013
New Zealand Ship Sunk By Japanese Found: MV Limerick
From the Feb. 6, 2013, New Zealand 3 News.
The wreckage of the New Zealand-owned MV Limerick was found off Australia, some 70 years after it sank. It was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off the coast of northern New South Wales. When it was sunk, on Anzac Day 1943, it was in a wartime convoy traveling from Sydney to Brisbane.
It didn't sink until the next day and all but 70 of its crew were saved. It was one of the largest vessels sunk by the Japanese off Australia's east coast during their 1942-1943 offensive and was located by local fishermen.
The 140-metre ship was built in the UK in 1925 and at the time of its sinking belonged to the Union Steam Ship Co. in New Zealand. It is protected under the provisions of the Historic Shipwreck Act.
Always Good to Find a Lost Shipwreck. That's History. --GreGen
The wreckage of the New Zealand-owned MV Limerick was found off Australia, some 70 years after it sank. It was sunk by a Japanese torpedo off the coast of northern New South Wales. When it was sunk, on Anzac Day 1943, it was in a wartime convoy traveling from Sydney to Brisbane.
It didn't sink until the next day and all but 70 of its crew were saved. It was one of the largest vessels sunk by the Japanese off Australia's east coast during their 1942-1943 offensive and was located by local fishermen.
The 140-metre ship was built in the UK in 1925 and at the time of its sinking belonged to the Union Steam Ship Co. in New Zealand. It is protected under the provisions of the Historic Shipwreck Act.
Always Good to Find a Lost Shipwreck. That's History. --GreGen
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
New Zealand and U. S. Were Planning a Tsunami Weapon
From the Dec. 31, 2012, News.com.au by AFP.
A new book discusses a joint United States-New Zealand project launched in June 1944. A US Naval officers had noticed that blasting operations to clear coral reefs sometimes produced a huge wave.
A test was carried out north of Auckland led scientists to believe that a series of ten massive blasts offshore could produce a ten-metre tsunami capable of inundating a small coastal city.
The project was shelved in early 1945 despite success on some small-scale tests.
Of interest, back in the Civil War, Union General Benjamin Butler proposed a similar plan to destroy the Confederate Fort Fisher guarding an approach to Wilmington, NC. A Union ship was loaded with gunpowder, run into shore near the fort and exploded. Butler thought the concussion would knock the sand fort down. It didn't.
Waves Over You. --GreGen
A new book discusses a joint United States-New Zealand project launched in June 1944. A US Naval officers had noticed that blasting operations to clear coral reefs sometimes produced a huge wave.
A test was carried out north of Auckland led scientists to believe that a series of ten massive blasts offshore could produce a ten-metre tsunami capable of inundating a small coastal city.
The project was shelved in early 1945 despite success on some small-scale tests.
Of interest, back in the Civil War, Union General Benjamin Butler proposed a similar plan to destroy the Confederate Fort Fisher guarding an approach to Wilmington, NC. A Union ship was loaded with gunpowder, run into shore near the fort and exploded. Butler thought the concussion would knock the sand fort down. It didn't.
Waves Over You. --GreGen
New Zealand World War II Battery to Remain
From the December 31, 2012, Nelson (NZ) by Tracy Neal.
The only surviving World War II structure in Nelson is in danger of being gone due to collapse down The Cliffs above Rocks Road.
During the war, this was a Gun Battery Observation Post. It weighs 60 tons and was built in 1943 as part of the Cliffs Coastal Battery.
Australia and New Zealand were particularly vulnerable to attack from the Japanese.
It Is Good To Save Old Stuff. --GreGen
The only surviving World War II structure in Nelson is in danger of being gone due to collapse down The Cliffs above Rocks Road.
During the war, this was a Gun Battery Observation Post. It weighs 60 tons and was built in 1943 as part of the Cliffs Coastal Battery.
Australia and New Zealand were particularly vulnerable to attack from the Japanese.
It Is Good To Save Old Stuff. --GreGen
Monday, January 2, 2012
The Sinking of the RMS Niagara
From Feb. 11, 2011, Suite 101.com.
The 13,000 ton trans-Pacific luxury liner Niagara served New Zealand starting in 1913 after its 1912 launch. At first, it was called the "Titanic of the Pacific" but after that ship sank, was renamed the "Queen of the Pacific."
On June 19, 1940, just out of Auckland, New Zealand, it struck a German mine off Northland Coast. All 349 passengers and crew got off safely, but a very valuable cargo went down with the ship.
The German raider Orion had laid 228 mines in the Outer Hauraki Gulf on the approaches to Auckland. The ship began sinking immediately.
Down with the ship went 205 boxes, each with two ingots of gold, worth $2,500,000.
A little too late, minesweepers moved into the channel and started clearing the mines.
The ship rests 400 feet deep. Efforts to get the gold started right away, and the superstructure was blasted away in October to get at it. A total of 555 ingots were removed and in 1953, another 30 ingots were recovered. That leaves five for all you treasure hunters.
Go for the Gold. --GreGen
The 13,000 ton trans-Pacific luxury liner Niagara served New Zealand starting in 1913 after its 1912 launch. At first, it was called the "Titanic of the Pacific" but after that ship sank, was renamed the "Queen of the Pacific."
On June 19, 1940, just out of Auckland, New Zealand, it struck a German mine off Northland Coast. All 349 passengers and crew got off safely, but a very valuable cargo went down with the ship.
The German raider Orion had laid 228 mines in the Outer Hauraki Gulf on the approaches to Auckland. The ship began sinking immediately.
Down with the ship went 205 boxes, each with two ingots of gold, worth $2,500,000.
A little too late, minesweepers moved into the channel and started clearing the mines.
The ship rests 400 feet deep. Efforts to get the gold started right away, and the superstructure was blasted away in October to get at it. A total of 555 ingots were removed and in 1953, another 30 ingots were recovered. That leaves five for all you treasure hunters.
Go for the Gold. --GreGen
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