More USS Oklahoma "Unknowns" Come Home

It is so great seeing these brave sailors and Marines who were entombed when the battleship USS Oklahoma capsized being identified through DNA and now coming home.

Here is a partial list of them:

WILLARD ALDRIDGE, Seaman 1st class, from Kansas.  To be buried at Highland Cemetery, Ashland, Kansas.  Born August 26, 1921.

QUENTIN J. GIFFORD,  Radioman 2nd class,  Declared officially Lost In Action in February 1942.  Funeral held at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.  He is the 4th Minnesotan to be identified from the Oklahoma.  There will be a 5th one later this year.

HOWARD W. BEAN,  Radioman 3rd class.  From Everett, Massachusetts.  Buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Thank You U.S. Government.  --GreGen

Trucks From Distant Cities Helping Haul the Peas

From the July 4, 2018, MidWeek  "Looking Back."

1943, 75 Years Ago.

"Observation along the highway disclosed that many truckers are making extra money hauling peas for the California Packing Company.

"The need of trucks is almost as great as that for man-power, and machines are seen here from cities a long distance from DeKalb."

Wartime Shortages.  --GreGen

DeKalb Township Honors Those Serving in 1943

From the July 4, 2018, MidWeek (DeKalb County, Illinois)  "Looking Back."

1943, 75 Years Ago.

Since the dedication of the DeKalb Township Honor Roll and the unveiling of the beautiful new board which was erected to honor those from the township which are in service, many more names have been received.

"Every effort was made to secure all the names before the Honor Roll was unveiled but through various misunderstanding some failed to call in the names and a number are not on this board at the present time."

Honoring Those Who Serve.  --GreGen

"Last Man Standing" Honors the Whiskey Pact-- Part 2:

Fred Spencer poured a shot of Crown Royal into a bucket of sand in honor of his deceased comrades.  As the name of each was read off, he pored another shot into the bucket.

Mr. Spencer was just 16 when he enlisted in the Army.  Her needed the permission of his parents to join the National Guard.  Just two years later he was under Japanese fire in New Guinea.  He was hit by a Japanese sniper with a shot that went through his right lung and exited his shoulder blade.

He survived but fifteen members of his unit didn't.  However, he spent a year in the hospital.

When Wheeler Bowman, 97, died in April, Mr. Spencer became "The Last Man Standing."

There is still a Company C in the 126th Infantry Regiment.

--GreGen

"Last Man Standing" Honors Whiskey Pact-- Part 1

From the July 3, 2018, CBS  "Last survivor of World War II unit finishes its whiskey pact."

Fred Spencer, 93, was honored July 1 in Kalamazoo as "The Last Man Standing" from a group that hailed from Kalamazoo during the war when he was presented with a bottle of whiskey.

The 126th Infantry Regiment was largely composed of men from Southwest Michigan.  And the members of Mr. Spencer's Company C were made up of 94 men from Kalamazoo County.

All of them were under the age of 20 when they left Kalamazoo for training in 1940.

They made the whiskey promise nearly 80 years ago and it was carried out on Sunday.

--GreGen

When Did Independence Day Become a Federal Holiday?

The other day, I went into our local bank and did some transactions.  They always have a question up on a board and I like to guess the answer.  The question was, "In what year did the 4th of July become a federal holiday?"

Answer possibilities:  1776, 1870, 1938, 1941

I thought and thought.

Hard question.

I thought perhaps 1870, but, maybe not   That was about the time we were getting into Decoration Day, now memorial Day.

I knew it wasn't 1776.

That left 1938 and 1941.  A real hard call.

In 1870, it became a federal highway, but unpaid.  In 1941 it became a federal holiday with federal emplyees being paid.

So, the answer was 1941, just before we went to war.

--GreGen

The Odyssey of the Utah Man and Ploesti-- Part 4: Many Awards

Steward was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his role in the bombing, one of more than 30 bombing raids during his five years of active duty in the Air Force.

Other military awards he holds are the Silver Star and five awards of the Air medal.  He was also awarded the coveted "Bronze Minute Man" awarded by the Utah National Guard after serving more than 30 years in the Air Force Reserve.

His full story of the Ploesti, Romania, bombing is told in the television documentary "Wing and a Prayer."

--GreGen

The Odyssey of Utah Man and Ploesti-- Part 3: Bullet-Riddled

Walter Stewart's plane was so seriously damaged and leaking fuel that he was going to belly land  it.

But then his other crewmen discovered they had bombs still aboard that had gotten hung up in the bomb bay. They pried those loose and dropped them over open areas before continuing the flight home, expecting to run out of fuel at any moment.

He then nursed his four engine B-24, bullet-riddled and perilously low on fuel, back across Yugoslavia and over the Mediterranean to its home base in Libya, landing safely after 1,200 miles and 14 hours in the air.

--GreGen

The Odyssey Of Utah Man and Ploesti-- Part 2: We'd Sing "God Bless America"

The commander saw the target and made a 90-degree turn.  But then both the commander and his right wingman were shot down, leaving Stewart to lead the bombers behind him to the target.

The bombers flew 50 feet off the ground to devastate three of the five refineries, which seriously hurt Germany's war effort.  The victory did not come without sacrifice, however.  Of the 154 bombers that crossed the target area, 54 were shot down.

Years later, Stewart still remembered the event with absolute clarity.  "When we hit a target we would all sing 'God Bless America', he said, adding, 'We really sang it that day."

He also remembered how emotions ran from excitement to extreme fear during the operation.  "We were scared to death, but you really don't let that bother you," he recalled.

--GreGen

The Odyssey of Utah Man and Ploesti-- Part 1: The 31st Mission

From the 2018 Paralyzed Veterans of America calendar.

In the scene, the exhausted crew of the B-24 Liberator Utah man, has returned to their base near Benghazi, Libya, on August 1, 1943, after bombing the great oil refineries around Ploesti, Romania.  The pilot, 1st Lt. Walter Stewart, is describing his mission experience to Major Ramsay D. Potts, who had returned earlier that day.

Stewart had already flown his required 25 missions and could have returned home, but he decided to stay to carry out his 31st mission.  he was appointed deputy leader as the group of bombers approached Ploesti.  With few ground features, the target was difficult to pick out and radio silence was mandatory.

Then, one of his crewmen spotted the refineries "at 9 o'clock."

It's On.  --GreGen

USS Emmons (DD-457/DMS-22)-- Part 2: Stationed in the European Theater

The USS Emmons was launched 23 August 1941 at the Bath Iron Works Corporation at Bath, Maine.  Commissioned 5 December 1941 (two days before Pearl Harbor, most likely the newest ship in the Navy at the time of the attack).

It's captain was Lt.Commander T,C. Ragan.  It spent the first part of the war as a destroyer, before being refitted and reclassified DMS-22 on 15 November 1944.

It reported to Norfolk 31 January 1842 and had its shakedown cruise.  It patrolled the New England waters.  In April it escorted the aircraft carrier USS Ranger across the Atlantic Ocean.

Summer 1942 found the Emmons patrolling out of Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and escorting troopships from Boston to Halifax.  It was then stationed in England and did escorting from Scapa Flow, Ireland and the Soviet Union.

--GreGen

USS Emmons (DD-457) (DMS-22)-- Part 1: Named for a Civil War Officer

Continued from June 21, 2018.

From Wikipedia.

2,050 tons, 348.4 feet long, 36 foot beam, 35 knots, 208 crew, four 5-inch guns, 12 anti-aircraft guns, torpedo tubes, six depth charge projectors, 2 depth charge racks.

Gleaves-class destroyer named for Rear Admiral George F. Emmons (1811-1884).  Served in the Mexican War and the Civil War.

There will be a USS Emmons Association 2018 reunion September 20-23 in Saratoga, New York.

--GreGen

Peshtigo Firestorm-- Part 6: Firebombing Japan

From Facts and Detals "Fire Bombing Attacks on Tokyo and Japan in World War II.

The U.S. Army carefully studied the Peshtigo Firestorm in Wisconsin in 1871 before they commenced firebombing of Axis cities in Germany.

During the spring and summer of 1945, the U.S. Army Air Force destroyed nearly every major Japanese city.  Early raids were daytime and high altitude with many bombs missing their targets.Later these changed to low-level, night-time raids that used hundreds of B-29 bombers that dropped bombs with napalm and other incendiary chemicals.

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm-- Part 5: The Japan Firebombins

Tokyo and sixty other Japanese cities were firebombed by the United States during the war.  despite how deadly they were, the wasn't much American criticism at the time because most felt "they  had it coming" after Pearl Harbor.

E. Bartlett Kerr's book "Flames Over Tokyo:  The U.S. Army Air Force's Incendiary Campaign Against Japan 1944-1945" discusses the origins, development, planning and implementation of this campaign.

There are also other books that discuss it.

On November 7, 1941, General George C. Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, instructed his aides to develop contingency plans for "general incendiary attacks to burn up the wood and paper structures of the densely populated Japanese cities."

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm-- Part 4: Dresden

Using information from the Peshtigo Firestorm, Allied bombing had become very proficient at creating firestorms in their attacks.  They knew of the right combination of wind, fuel and incendiary devises as well as drought conditions.

They applied it to the attack on Dresden, Germany.  Over 1,000 Allied planes dropped 3.900 tons of bombs and incendiary devices.  Over 1,600 acres of the city centre were destroyed and civilian deaths were put at between 22,700 and 25,000, though many sources say many more died.

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm of 1871-- Part 3: Operation Gomorrah

In Europe, Allied airstrikes at Dresden and Hamburg were carefully planned to turn into incendiary firestorms

Indeed, the destruction at Hamburg was code named "Operation Gomorrah."  Hamburg, because of its industry, shipyards, U-boat pens and oil refineries, made it a major target for Allied attacks all throughout the war.  But the last week of July 1943 Operation Gomorrah created one of the largest firestorms of the war.

Some 42,600 civilians were killed and 37,00 wounded by Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Force and virtually destroyed most of the city.

It had not rained for some time and everything was very dry.  The concentrated bombing created a vortex and a super-heated air which created a 460 meter tornado of fire.

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm, 1971-- Part 2: The Peshtigo Paradigm

I have been writing about the Peshtigo Firestorm's relationship to the Civil War in my Saw the Elephant: Civil War Blog this past month.  Occurring in 1871, there were many Civil War veterans involved in it.

But, this calamity was studied for use in World War II.

"Those responsible for planning the U.S. tactics in World War II would seek to understand how to create firestorm conditions using the information gathered from Peshtigo and other studies.

Peshtigo was not only the first documented firestorm but it was the only firestorm to destroy seventeen towns, and when Chicago is included in the Peshtigo Paradigm, the only firestorm to destroy towns, forests and a major American city."

--GreGen

The Peshtigo Firestorm of 1871-- Part 1 To Create An Air Attack

From the "Firestorm At Peshtigo" book by Denise Gess and William Lutz.

I finished reading this book about a huge fire at Peshtigo, Wisconsin, on October 8, 1871, that killed between 1,500 and 2,500 people.  Peshtigo is near Green Bay.  It is largely unknown, though, although ranked as one of the biggest United States natural disasters (see Cooter's History Log for today) because it took place the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, which killed considerably fewer people.

The Peshtigo Firestorm came up again as World War II loomed.  In 1941, the U.S. military began gathering as much information about Peshtigo as they could to "determine how to create the most devastating incendiary attacks on enemy cities possible."

--GreGen

Looking for the USS Emmons-- Part 2: Five Kamikazes Hit It Almost Simultaneously

Four kamikazes missed the Emmons by mere yards and then, almost simultaneously, five crashed into the ship's bridge and main deck.  The Emmons soon was engulfed in flames.

It remained afloat, though, and was deliberately sunk by U.S. forces  April 7 to prevent capture.

The ship sits 40 meters deep.

Now, a Japanese team has extensively mapped the wreck using 3-D imaging.  They found the ship still had four unexploded depth charges and next to it is an engine, likely from one of the kamikazes that so damaged the ship.

Interesting That a Japanese Team Would Be Doing This.  --GreGen

Looking for the USS Emmons-- Part 1: Battle of Okinawa

From the June 14, 2018, Laboratory Equipment "Advanced 3-D Seafloor Imaging of World War II Destroyer sunk off Okinawa" by Seth Augenstein.

The USS Emmons was a 350-foot minesweeper rushed into service in World War II.  On April 6, 1945, in the Battle of Okinawa, the USS Rodman was under an intense kamikaze attack.  The Emmons took position near it to provide anti-aircraft fire.

It shot Japanese six planes down.

But, the ship's luck soon ran out.

--GreGen