Naval Ceremony for the USS Eagle-- Part 2

This was held this past Tuesday.

The sinking occurred during the waning days of World War II, with the Germans surrendering just two weeks later, on May 7, 1945.  Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, ending the war.

*  The vessel was one of a class built by Henry Ford at the end of World War I.

**  The U-583 didn't survive the Eagle by long.  The submarine was discovered in 18 fathoms (108 feet) and depth charges and hedgehogs were dropped during a 16-hour attack.  At first, it tried to hide by lying still.  Both times it was found by sonar.

On the morning of 6 May 1945 two K-Class blimps from Lakehurst, New Jersey, the K-16 and K-58 joined the attack, locating oil slicks and marking suspected locations with smoke and dye markers.  The K-16 also attacked with 7.2-inch rocket bombs.

Numerous depth charge and hedgehog attacks from the USS Atheron and USS Moberly resulted in planking, life rafts, a chart tabletop, clothing and an officer's cap floating to the surface.

The U-853 was one of the last U-boats sunk during World War Ii and the last to be sunk in U.S. waters.

--GreGen

When Did It Become World War II (Second World War)?

From the September 1, 2018, History "Were they always called World War I and World War II?" by Elizabeth Nix.

We call it World War II in the United States.  England refers to it as the Second World War.

It is hard to pinpont exactly when the names came into use.   During World War I, of course, no one knew there was going to be a second one, so there was no reason to distinguish it.  Often, it was referred to as the Great War.

After initially calling the first one, the European War, U.S. newspapers adopted World War after the country entered the war.

The term "World War II" first appeared  in print all the way back to  February 1919, when a Manchester  Guardian article used the term, much in the same way people today refer to a World War III.  But in 1941, it was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who labeled the conflict the "Second World War."

Even so, in 1942, he asked for name submissions from the public and over the next several weeks, the War Department received 15,000 names ranging from "The War for Civilization" to "The War Against Enslavement."

However, it was World War II and The Second World War that stuck.

Now You Know.  --GreGen

The USS Montgomery (DD-121)

In January, I gave a presentation "RoadTrippin' Through History;  The Continuing Saga of the USS Montgomery" at the College of Lake County (Illinois).  I talked about six ships in the U.S. Navy by the name of USS Montgomery.  There was a ship by that name in the American Revolution, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II and the current U.S. Navy.

Right now, I am writing the presentation in my Running the Blockade:  Civil War Navy blog.

And, I am currently writing about the World War I and II destroyer USS Montgomery (DD-121). It was named after John B. Montgomery who was an officer in the War of 1812, Mexican War and Civil War.  It was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

--GreGen

Three U.S. Navy Ships Named USS West Virginia: The First (ARC-5)

From the January 27, 2023, 12 BOY (West Virginia) "From 1905 to now:  How the 3 Navy ships called 'West Virginia' served the US" by Sam Kirk.

The versions of the USS West Virginia served in both World War I and World War II and continues as a deterrent to Russian aggression in the Ukraine.

USS WEST VIRGINIA (ARC-5)  1903-1920

The first-ever USS West Virginia was an armored cruiser that was christened with a bottle of champagne and launched at Newport News, Virginia, on April 18, 1903.  It served  on fleets in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and was renamed the USS Huntington in 1916 to give the name West Virginia to a new battleship (the one at Pearl Harbor).

Under the name Huntington, the cruiser served in World War I.  After the war, it helped transport American soldiers home from Europe.  The ship served until1930 when it was stricken according to the London naval Treaty and sold.

The bell from the ship  is engraved "USS West Virginia 1905" and is in Memorial Plaza at West Virginia University.  The masthead from the USS West Virginia (BB-48) is also there.

--GreGen

USS Oklahoma-- Part 3: A Timeline of Her Service

Here is a short timeline of the career of this mighty battleship:

**  AUGUST 13, 1918:  Sailed with her sister ship, the USS Nevada to protect and escort allied convoys  in European waters until World War I was over.

**  DECEMBER 1918:  Participated as an escort to President Woodrow Wilson traveling to France to negotiate the Versailles Treaty.  On June 1919, returned to France to escort the president home.

**  1919-1926:  Part of the Atlantic Fleet for two years and then the Pacific Fleet for six years.  Participated in the Peruvian Centennial and the unveiling of  the San Martin Monument.   

**  The Oklahoma became one of the first warships to have bunks instead of hammocks.

**  1927-1929:  Modernized in Philadelphia, then rejoined the Scouting Fleet.

--GreGen

Some More on Julius Ellsberry

From Wikipedia.

JULIUS ELLSBERRY  (August22, 1921-December 7, 1941)

He was the first Alabamian killed in World War II.  He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and graduated from Parker High School in 1938.

Enlisted in the Navy in  1940 and was serving on the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37) when the attack came.  He and 413 other crewmen died.

The Birmingham World called him the "Crispus Attucks of World War II."  

Birmingham's black community raised over $300,000 in war bond purchases towards the completion of a B-24 Liberator named "The Spirit of Ellsberry."

His body was returned to his family in September 1948 and was laid to rest with full military honors at New Grove Hill Cemetery in Birmingham.

Birmingham's Ellsberry Park was dedicated in his honor in 1979.

A marker to him is also in Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham.  The park is named for fellow Navy sailor and Birmingham resident  Kelly Ingram, the first American killed in World War I when his ship the destroyer USS Cassin was sunk by a German U-boat on October 15, 1917.

--GreGen

What Happened to the Surplus Planes After the War-- Part 3: Why the Drive to Get Rid of Them

Both the American aviation industry and the  postwar Air Force had an interest in seeing  the planes scrapped as soon as possible.

The Air Force especially had an interest as they had seen  the hobbling effect of  WW I surplus planes had on the growth of the Army Air Service.  The next war would not be fought with B-17s or even B-24s.  New airplanes were on the horizon and existing planes would be a roadblock to their acquisition.

Plus, aluminum ingots recovered from scrapped aircraft constituted an alloy not necessarily appropriate to returning to aviation construction.  For example, a B-24 Liberator contained 13,000 pounds of aluminum.  Scrapping and melting was  estimated to recover 65% to 70% of the tonnage.

Navy aircraft scrapping in the fall of 1945 involved the manual separation of differing metals.  At Naval Air Station Jacksonville in Florida, about five warplanes were salvaged daily.  The costly metal separation task was done largely by prisoners of war in 1945.  With their expected return to their countries expected to happen in 1946,  the profitability of  of te Jacksonville salvage operation  was in question.

--GreGen

The Japanese Battleship Kongo-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

The Kongo was named for Mt. Kongo and built originally as a battle cruiser in England but was transformed into a battleship.

It was commissioned in 1913 and during World War I, patrolled off the coast of China during World War I.

It underwent two major reconstructions beginning in 1929 and was stationed off the Chinese coast again during the Second  Sino-Japanese War.

It fought in many engagements in World War II, covering the  Japanese amphibious landings  in British Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies in 1942 before engaging American forces at the Battle of Midway and during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

Throughout 1943 she primarily remained in the Truk Lagoon in the Caroline Islands, Kure Naval Base (near Hiroshima), Sasebo Naval Base (near Nagasaki) and Lingga Roads.  She deployed several times in response to American aircraft carrier raids at island bases across the Pacific

The Kongo also participated in the  Battle of the Philippine Sea and  the Battle of Leyte Gulf  in 1944, engaging and sinking American ships in the latter.  It was torpedoes and sunk by the American submarine USS Sealion while in the Formosa Strait on November  21, 1944, becoming the only Japanese battleship sunk by a submarine during the war.

--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

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

Monument Placed By Nazis Sits Quietly in Tennessee Cemetery-- Part 1

From May 25, 2018, Courthouse News Service by Daniel Jackson.

This would seem to be an oddity in these days of rage against statues and monuments.  

There's little indication from looking at it that a pillar in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee was erected by representatives of Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II.

It bears no swastika and though the inscription is in German, there is no mention of the Third Reich

Members of Nazi Germany's diplomatic mission to the United States quietly installed the pillar in 1935, to memorialize German prisoners of war who died in America during World War I.

Strange to have these prisoners buried in a national cemetery dedicated to American military.

How Did This Come To Be?  --GreGen

German Prisoners Buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery

From Wikipedia.

Along with over 50,000 internments for American military at this cemetery, there  are graves of German prisoners who died both during World War I (78) and World War II (108).  After the war, the German government paid to have other POWs disinterred from Hot Springs National Cemetery and moved to Chattanooga.

There is a German World War I monument on the grounds of the cemetery.

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

From the Chattanooga National Cemetery site.

In addition to Civil War veterans, there are 78 German German prisoners of war from World War I buried at Chattanooga.  Pursuant to provisions included in the peace treaty between the United States and Germany at the end of World War I, the German government sought the location and status of Germans who died while  detained in the United States.

An investigation conducted by the War Department found that the largest number of German POWs was interred at Chattanooga.  For a short time, thought was given to  removing all other German  internments to Chattanooga.

In the end, however, the German government decided that only 23  remains from the Hot Springs National Cemetery  should be reinterred here.  The German government  assumed the cost of disinterment and transportation to Chattanooga, and erected a monument  in 1935 to commemorate their POWs.

--GreGen

Chattanooga National Cemetery-- Part 2: Notable Internments

Notable Internments:

8 bodies of the Famed Andrews' Raiders from the Civil War, including James J. Andrews, the leader of the raid.

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

3, now 4, Medal of Honor recipients:

Master Sgt.  Ray E. Duke from the Korean War

Corporal Desmond Doss, World War II.  The first conscientious objector.  The 2016 movie "Hacksaw Ridge" was about his life.

Private  William F. Zion, Boxer Rebellion

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

Two Union generals from the Civil War:

William P. Sanders

Timothy Robbins Stanley

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

186  foreign prisoners from World War I and World War II

One Canadian soldier from World War I

--GreGen

Chattanooga National Cemetery

From Wikipedia.

Charles H. Coolidge, one of the country's remaining two World War II Medal of Honor recipients died recently and was buried at the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee.  I'd never heard of it and wondered if their were any famous people buried there.

As of 2014, it had over 50,000 internments.

It was established in 1863 by the order of General George Henry Thomas after the Civil ar battles of Chattanooga as a place to bury dead Union soldiers.  It became Chattanooga National Cemetery in 1867 and by 1870, had more than 12,000 internments, most of them unknown.  Many were reinterred from other Civil War battlefields, including 1,500 from he Battle of Chickamauga.

During World War I, 78 German prisoners and World War II, 108 German prisoners  who died in captivity were buried there.

--  GreGen

Dunn NC's Favorite Son, General William C. Lee, 'Father of the Airborne'

From the Feb. 4, 2021, Chowan (NC) Herald ""Week in NC history."

On February 5, 1844m William C. Lee, the "Father of the Airborne" suffered a heart attack which ended his military career. 

Born in Dunn in 1895, Lee volunteered  for the United States Army in World War I.  After the war, he remained in the Army and, in 1939, was assigned  to the Chief of the Army's office in Washington, D.C..  There, he became part of a maverick group of officers advocating for the development of an airborne army infantry force.

The Army authorized  the development of a test platoon of paratroopers, and placed Lee in charge.  When the Army raised two airborne divisions, Lee received command of the 101st.  He oversaw its development and training and was instrumental in getting airborne and glider operations going at Camp Mackall and Laurinburg-Maxton Army Base.

The inclusion of the airborne divisions in the Normandy Invasion in June 1944 was a direct result of Lee's work.    Unfortunately, because of the heart attack, he wasn't able to participate in the attack. However, the members of the Screaming Eagle 101st Airborne were ordered to yell the name "Bill Lee" as they jumped out of their transports above France in the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, D-Day.

Lee died in 1948 and is buried in Dunn.

--GreGen

Marvin Kornegay of the USS Texas at D-Day-- Part 2

This bombardment continued for the rest of the day, during which a total of 441 shells were fired at the Germans.

Perhaps the best representation of the Texas' power on June 6, 1944, occurred six hours into the invasion when Allied infantry were stopped and forced to cover  by sniper and machine gun fire.  Recognizing the  defense being exhibited around Exit D-1, the Texas moved to within 5,000 yards of the shore.  Accompanied by a few destroyers, she unleashed her main guns on the Germans and "completely demolished all structures in the Exit, reducing them to rubble."

Today, it is a museum ship near Houston, Texas, and the only dreadnaught left in the world.  For four decades she sailed the globe and fought in some of the most important battles of World War II.  She was the most powerful and most complex weapon the world had ever seen when she was commissioned.  For a brief time, in all the world, she had no rival.

--GreGen

Ten Little Known Facts About WW II-- Part 2: Tsars, Missing Nazi Uranium, a Volcano and the French Bretons

Remember, if you want to know more, go to the ListVerse site.

7.  TSAR BORIS III OF BULGARIA DIED

But the question is, who killed him?   Tsar Boris III had done a lot for Bulgaria, rebuilding it after World War I.  He kept his country neutral during WW II.  But, he died in 1943, apparently poisoned.  

6.  MISSING NAZI URANIUM

The Nazis were getting close to harnessing nuclear energy.  But, no one today knows exactly what happened to several hundred Nazi uranium cubes.

5.  THE US AIR FORCE VS. AN UNDEFEATABLE ANCIENT ENEMY

And that ancient foe was none other than Mt. Vesuvius.  The Allies occupied the region around it in mid-March 1944, when it erupted again.

4.  BRETON SEPARATISTS WERE NAZI COLLABORATORS AND RESISTANCE FIGHTERS

From the French region called Brittany near where D-Day took place.

--GreGen

10 Odd Jobs of World War II-- Part 3: Field Artillery Sound recorder and Airplane Woodworker

9.  FIELD ARTILLERY SOUND RECORDER

Until the development of radar, sound ranging was one the most effective ways to locate enemy artillery, mortars and rockets.  The process was first developed in World War I, and then continued being used through the Korean War.

From a forward operating post, a field artillery  sound recorder would monitor  an oscillograph and recorder connected to several microphones.  When the sound of an enemy gun would reach a microphone, the information would be recorded on sound film and the data from several microphones could be analyzed to locate an enemy gun.

The technology is still in use today by many countries, which often use  sound ranging in concert with radar.

10.  AIRPLANE WOODWORKER

Although wood was largely phased out and replace by tubular steel in airplane construction by the time World War II started, there was still a need for airplane woodworkers to repair and maintain existing aircraft-- especially gliders and some training aircraft.

Wooden gliders like the Waco CG-41--  the most widely used American troop/cargo glider of the war--  played critical parts in the action.  The CG-4A was first used in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943.  They most commonly flew airborne troops into battle, most famously on the D-Day assault on France on June 6, 1944 and in Operation Market Garden in September  1944.

They were also used  in the China-Burma-India Theater.

--GreGen

 

Lt. John Fox, Black Medal of Honor Recipient

Last week I wrote in my Civil War II: The Continuing War on the Confederacy blog that one person thinks one of the Army bases named after a Confederate should be renamed for this man.  I'd never heard of him so looked him up in good ol' Wikipedia, and would have to say he would be a worthy person to name the base after in his honor.

From Wikipedia.

JOHN R. FOX  (May 18, 1915-December 26, 1944)

United States Army 1st lieutenant  who was killed in action after calling in artillery fire on the enemy during World War II.  In 1997, he was awarded the nation's  highest military decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor,, for his actions on December 26, 1944, in the vicinity of Sommocolonia, Italy.

Fox and six other Blacks who served during World War II were awarded the Medal of Honor by President Clinton on January 13, 1997,  in a ceremony at the White House.  The seven recipients were the first and only Black Americans  to be awarded the Medal of Honor  for World War II service.

This is considering that 25 Blacks received the Medal of Honor in the Civil War (including one at Fort Fisher).  Eighteen received the medal during the Indian Wars, six during the Spanish-American War and two during World War I.

Personally, i would like to see recommendations for the Medal of Honor opened again for deserving Blacks from World War II.

How So Few Blacks Were Awarded Medals of Honor Just Doesn't Sound Right.  --GreGen

1940 Olympics Cancelled in Japan Because of World War II

 The Olympics scheduled for this summer in Tokyo look like they will be put off until next year because of you-know-what.  This will not be the first time the Olympics have been cancelled or put off.  It also happened in 1916, 1940 and 1944 when they were altogether cancelled.

I wrote about the 1916 one during World War I in my Cooter's History Thing blog.

From the March 22, 2020, Chicago Tribune "Olympics:  Groundswell builds" by Eddie Pells, AP.

1940 SUMMER OLYMPICS

In an era when the selected nation go the option of hosting both the Summer and Winter Games in the same year, Japan was a surprising choice as the first non-Western country to be awarded the Olympics.

Tokyo was to be the summer host, with Sapporo getting the winter version.

Again, war got in the way.  After World War II began in September 1939  with Germany's invasion of Poland, the Olympics were cancelled altogether.

Tokyo would eventually get the chance to host the Summer Games in 1964 -- still the first Asian city to receive the honor -- while Sapporo landed the 1972 Winter Games.

--GreGen