All Hands Naval Bulletin - Aug 1945

8/3/2019 All Hands Naval Bulletin - Aug 1945

1/84


2/84


3/84

References made to issues of ALL HANDS prior to the June 1945issue apply to this magazine under its former name, the BureauofNaval Personnel Information Bulletin.

THE BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL lNFBRMATlON BULLETlNAUGUST 1945 NAVPERS-0 NUMBER 341

VICE ADMIRAL RANDALL JACOBS, USNThe Chief of Naval PersonnelREAR ADMIRAL WlLLlAM M. FECHTELER, USNThe Assistant Chief of Naval Personnel

TABLE OF CONTENTSPage

Operation Beachhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Building for Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Our Growing Mercy Fleet. . . . . . 8They Return t o Fight. . . . . . . . . . . . . 123d Year: Waves Number 86,000.. . . . . . 16Bomrons Over Biscay . . . . . . . . 18Af te r the War-School?. . . . . . . . . . 21Japs Do Give Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Ration Rules for Naval Personnel. . . . . . . . 28Battle Stars Listed . . . . . . . . . . . 29Along the Road t o Tokyo. . . . . . . . . . . 30Navy Dailies, Weekly Starting. . . . . 32Ne w Books in Ships' Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . 33.Coast Guard Marks 155th Year. . . . . . . . . . 34Magazine Digest 36Letters t o he Editor. . . . . . . . . 38The Month's News. . . . . . 40Decorations and Citations . . . . . . . . . . 55The Bulletin Board . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . 65What's Your Naval 1.9.1 . . . . . . . . . 69Month's Alnavs in Brief . . . . . . . 76'All Thumbs' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Fantail Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Paper Bombs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .

THIS MONTH'S COVERS0 FRONT COVER: A seaman and the Commander-in-Chi ef cha t at the crew's mess table a board t he USS Au -gusta, which carried President Truman t o Europe for t hePotsdam Conference. The sailor i s Richard Stowell, SIC,of Yonkers, N. Y. See page 47 for story and other photo-graphs [Official U. s. Navy photograph).

AT LEFT: A n ai rcraft carrier b etween war missions ridesa t anchor in a large Pacific harbor. Avengers, wit h fol dedwings are spotted forward on the big ships flight deck(Off icial U. S Navy photograph).PICTURE OF TH E MONTH (back inside cover): Rock-ets' red glare frames the Stars and Striper in assault onBalikpapan, Borneo. For details o f the ictur e tur n t opage 69 (Off icial U. S Navy photographj).I IPASS THIS COPY ALONGIT IS FOR 10JEADERS


4/84


5/84

into a bloody shambles for 24 horriblehours. At Tarawa it was the point-blank guns of pill-boxed Jap s which a tfirst made even a landing impossible.At Leyte it was t he intense a ir attack,a torrent of bombs and murderousstrafing. A t Iwo it was the blackshifting volcanic ash and again thehorror of mortars. At Okinawa it wasthe uncharted broad rock reef whichstranded the landing craft hundreds ofyards offshore.But those landings- and scoresmore-were made and beachheads es-tablished in many instances becauseBeach Battalions have never acceptedtemporary set-backs as indices of de-feat and because, in the words of oneBattalion CO , It takes just a littletraining and a l o t of gut s and imagi-nation to ru n a beach.Beach Battalions a re definitely prod-ucts of this war. Afte r Dunkirk andCrete and Corregidor, when it wasfirst determined that territory l o s t tothe Axis could be regained only bystorming the coasts of Europe and thebeaches of the Pacifics myriad islands,concepts of modern warfare und2rwentdrastic changes. Far-seeing plannersfigured they could put assault troopsashore with the aid of huge fleets ofsupport ships and an umbrella ofplanes. Landed in sufficient force, theinfantry could fight its way inland butto stay there it had to be suppliedwith food, weapons, ammunition, artil-lery and tan k support. Someone hadt o control the flow of material acrossthe beaches after they had been won.Shore parties as such are nothingnew to the Navy. In naval operationsf o r hundreds of years there often havebeen emergencies which required thedispatch of groups of men to land, per-haps to put down a small revolt, tohelp fight fires o r to give aid in timeof civilian disaster. Men needed forsuch duty were picked on the spot

BEACH SIGNAL FLAG i s planted on the shore of Tokashiki Island near Oki-nawa. This is sign t o coxswains offshor,e to give +heir landing craf) the gun.from members of the ships companyan d *ere called a shore party, theirsenior officer a beachmaster.Today the nomenclature has notchangedbut the duties are more ex-plicit-and the men are highly trainedspecialists, superb examples of theNavys ab ility to ad ap t itself to unex-pected conditions in a war where adap-tability is the key t o survival. Earlyin the present war it was found neces-sar y to use shore parties to ca rry outspecial duties, often at the request ofthe Army and particularly involvingwork in small boats. To ships cap-tains the practice was a nuisance; they

could not afford t o spare the men.Their complaints and recommendationswere forwarded to the Navy Depart-ment and it was decided that a separ-a te organization, skilled in jobs relatedto amphibious warfare, should beformed.Action reports from th e worlds bat-tlefronts were culled f o r informationon which a training program could bebased; talks were held with Army of-ficers training troops for amphibiousoperations. Out of these discussions,reports and experiences of combat vat-erans grew a carefully planned schemeof instruc tion aimed a t developing fourspecilized units, each expert in onephase of beach technique but capableof lending support to th e others ifneed be.Each man ordered to Reach Battalionduty is immediately assigncd to one ofthese f ou r classifications: Communica-tions, Hydrographic, Boat Repair orMedical, but the Battalion is dividedfnto these fou r sections only fo r train-in g purposes. When it goes into ac-tion it is broken u p in to units resemb-ling an ar my battalion-into compan-ies an d platoons. The 450 men in aBattalion are divided into three com-panies of approximately 138 men each,and each company is split into threeplatoons of roughly 46 men whose in-terlocking duties embrace every phaseof a Battali-ns job. In adJition thereare eight officers and men in companyheadquarters and 11 officers and menin battalion headquarters.Headed by a beachl-rlaster and an as-sistant, the platoons four sectionsnumber three sig?-almen and five ra-

wains mates angraphic and eight repair specialists inbot& repair. T o illustrate their dutiesin action, let us take a hypothetical as-sault-one in which the opposition isBEACHMASTER points out unloading area for hoops to Army officer. CO-ordinating incoming naval and land forces is part of he beach partys job.AUGUST 1905 3


6/84

Some minutes af ter the first assault

of medical equipment, knock-so that not all

o r shell. The beach bluejacketson the alert

The wounded ge t first attention. In-men cut down in the first waves,o r troops woundedbeach and others may be hit if the

Each medic carries battle dress-sulfadiazine ills, sulfanilamideaback-pack. With these they

Behind a brick wall, a parapet ofor a thick hedge of trees anis estab-It may consistnothing more than a row of slita man onstretcher. If they are needed, all

as well as the medics are pressedas stretcher bearers.Each casualty is given pre-operativea paperwhich, when certain sections areoff, indicates the nature of theMeari%%ile th e beachmaster and

landing craf t yet to come. They mayhave to call on the Navys underwaterdemolition teams to blow a paththrough beach obstacles or the ArmysEngineers to rip a hole through jettiesor retaining walls. They must haveproperly cleared channels throughwhich they can bring in cra ft and sendthem back out to sea for more loads.Boat repairmen, if released fromtheir stretcher-bearing duties, turntheir attention to assault craft onlyslightly damaged and return them tousefulness, marking others for futureremoval or demolition.Focal point of all Battalion opera-tions is the beachmasters commandpost, located near the high-tide markand within easy access of beach exitsand a cooperating Army CP. Throughthese CPs urgent messages for air o rsurface support may often be relayedto the support force from front-linetroops. But mostly the beachmasteris concerned with getting men andequipment ashore on the properbeaches at the proper time.Beach communications often havedecided the turn of a battle, so the bat-talions are provided with a wide var-iety of radio and signaling gear. Atwo-pound handie talkie is used fortalk between CPs, as may be a sup-plemental eight-pound, self-containedflashing light and battery case, alsoused in case of radio failure. Thesetwo, plus a two-piece frequency modu-lated radio s et fo r ocean-to-shore com-munications, are most important dur-ing the early stages of the assault.Largest piece of equipment is afour-piece radio-on which both voiceand code can be transmitted-linkingthe transports and the beach. Pow-ered by a hand generator it is used forall requests fo r assistance, informationon location of *channels through whichcraft may pass, and beaches on whichcertain equipment must be landed.Most communications officers thinkof another piece of signaling equip-

ment as most important. Its an eight-inch shutter-type searchlight with aneight-mile range and powered by aone-cylinder gasoline generator. Ra-dios may be damaged by enemy fire orsalt water pr rendered useless byenemy jamming. The lamp steps intothe gap caused by these failures.Supplementing these devices ar e th earms and flags of the signalmen whocan revert, if necessary, to the old re-liable semaphone system.This smoothly coordinated methodof operation which takes care of everyemergency as it arises did not springfull-blown from some fertile brain.Rather it is the result of long monthsof tr ial and er ro r under blood-curdling-and spilling-combat conditions.The development of the First BeachBattalion from an untried outfit to thecrack group tha t stormed the beachesof southern France in th e most nearlyperfect beach operation of the waraptly illustrates the metamorphosis ofbeach parties.The men of First Beach suddenlyfound themselves aboard a largetransport one day headed for the in-vasion of North Africa. Most of themhad never been in combat and theirequipment was as untested as the men.On 8 Nov. 1942 they somehow navi-gated the perilously churning surf offFedala and landed with the assaulttroops who quickly captured the town.The swiftly flowing an d ebbing 11-foottide and the crashing combers wreckedboats before they could get to themand often swept away valuable equip-ment. As soon a s the town was takenthe men took over a small dock insidethe breakwater and turned to work asstevedores, unloading Army equip-ment.From such an inauspicious begin-ning the First returned to the Statesfor more training. Working with theArmy at Ft. Pierce, Fla., the men be-came a better equipped outfit, foughtsham battles on the sunswept beaches

Official U. S. Coast Guard photographsIWO, Jap mortars, heavy surf and volcanic sands SIGNPOSTS set u on shore by beach party guide land-ing craft to pre-B signated spot to put troops ashore.

I ALL UMVS


7/84

. . . . ,__, . . . . . _ _ _,, . .-I . -.

Official U. S. Navy photograph O f f i c i a l U. S. C o a s t Guard photooraphHIT THE DIRT! Members of beach party dive for fox-hole in sands of Normandy as Nazi plane stra3es the beach. FIRST AID i s given soldiers by beach party men at Linga-yen Gulf in the invasion of Luzon. It was a rugged show.and quickly developed into a seasonedcrew. Before shoving off for theirnext assignment they were commis-sioned as an official unit, completewith CO, HQ group, etc.Surf again hampered their opera-tions when they landed near Scoglittiin Sicily. Although their equipmenthad been improved they still lackedenough t o remove broached and dam-aged craft and salvage work becamealmost impossible.After more training, this time inAfrica, and scrounging more equip-ment, the First set forth for its tough-est assignment t o date-the ruggedbattle of Salerno. Tough a s it was themen still refer to it as a smooth job.Somewhere along the line they had ac-cumulated rolling stock-bulldozers,D U K W s and jeeps. Although theywere chased off the beach three timeson the first day by rampaging Jerrytanks and gunfire and although acheckerboard pattern of mines on thebeach made every step one of poten-tial death, they worked as a BeachBattalion should.As vicious as was Salerno, Anziowas worse. F o r 77 days they lived infoxholes under constant bombing andwith the dreaded 88s pouring point-blank fire on their positions; for 77days they battled the weather whichpermitted landing operations only 50%of the time; fo r 77 days they struggledto supply the Army, which was so val-iantly trying t o break out of thebeachhead and link up with the 5th.The Italian campaign gave the Firs tthe experience and battle-conditioningit needed. When the time came forthe final amphibious operation thatwas t o spell the doom of the EuropeanAxis, they were ready for anything.The southern France operation was assmooth as any landing possibly couldbe. Principal resistance came fromunderwater mine-tipped tetrahedronsin the shallows but the First suffered-4 UGUSZ 1945

few casualties and, on the first day,converted the beach into a model ofefficiency.The miracles performed by the bat-talions of the European-African thea-ter have been duplicated, although ona somewhat smaller scale, in the Pa-cific island warfare. Their transitionfrom haphazard outfits to superblyfunctional links in the amphibiouscapture of island bases has beenachieved in much the same manner, bytria l and er ror and by experience t hatcan be gained only in battle.Up to the Leyte campaign the origi-nal Pacific landings were on a muchsmaller scale-usually in divisionalstrength-than the Atlantic o r Med as-saults. F o r that reason the beachbluejackets worked with a much looserorganization, not as a battalion bu t asa platoon, each one attached t o anAPA and headed by an officer knownas the platoon beachmaster. Over-allcommand of the beach units was dele-gated t o the Transdiv beachmasterassigned to each transpor t division.

Pacific beach parties employed onlythe equipment they could pack on theirbacks: they had no DUKWs, no trucksor bulldozers o r jeeps but they didhave their own small boats for hydro-graphic work. In the assault phasethe platoon beachmaster generallylanded in the third wave, t akin g withhim his communications group and afew medics. More medics landed inthe fourth wave but hydrographic andboat repair men remained offshorenear the traffic control vessel until or-dered in by the beachmaster.Unlike the battalions operating inEurope where they remained on shoreuntil a favorable port was capturedand able to receive supplies, the Pa-cific platoons stuck to their beachesonly as long as their transports re-mained off the beachhead. Becausethey were permanently attached t o theAPAs they had t o move along when

the ships did. To compensate for thismethod the Navy organized garrisonbattalions which moved in when theassault platoons departed and handledthe buildup of supply, later becominga part of the permanent island garri-son.As t he records show, the single-pla-toon plan worked efficiently, even insuch operations as Iwo where all beachunits were driven off the northernsands, and Tarawa where, on onebeach, the landing was delayed awhole day by enemy opposition. Butwhen it came time for the big opera-tions- eyte, Lingayen, Okinawa-where more men were to land than inany other Pacific invasion, the Navydecided to employ the tried and provedmethods of the Mediterranean.Lingayen Gulf was a rugged show.Ja p mortar fire drove the sailors offone beach. Another was long andsloping and impractical for landing.Storms ripped a t most of the beachesand added to the natural hazards andthose conceived by the Japs.

Okinawa was a dream in most re-spects because the enemy just didntseem to give a damn whether a squadof marines o r a million-man army de-barked. On one beach a wide rock reefheld u p unloading a t low tide and land-ing craft were unable to cross it andreach the sand some distance away.The beach cops ingenuity finallysolved the problem: they landed thetanks and trucks on the reef, drovethem across and ferried them the restof the way in smaller craft. The ma-rines and GIs will tell you it workedwell: most spur-of-the-moment beachpa rty ideas do.The Beach Battalions have their big-gest job ahead of them. It may beKyushu o r Honshu or Formosa or th eChina coast b ut the men, th e guns, thetanks and ammo will get ashore andstay there because of their know-how,can-do and have-done.5


8/84

U I L D I N G FOR PEACEFifty Nations Sign Son Francisco AgreementCreating Framework for a World Organization

By Lt. John A. Thomas, USNRHA T a great day this can beW n history!The speaker was President Truman.26 Ju ne 1945. Men and50 nations* had just signed

a new start onway to lasting peace-the Char terf t he United Nations.Nine weeks of conference and debateit atn Francisco. But actually the workt back long before that-to Yalta3, to Dumbarton Oaks,League of Nations t ha t followed

The League hadnt stopped war.d the United Nations? Service-

a big stake in theThe need for some solution was ob-ous. Even as the San Francisco

Casualties of more than a millionad, wounded, captured andbeen suffered by theates alone. The total mili-ry casualties of th e nations whichat some 1 4 millions dead, 45or captured. Civil-

additional millions.To get rid of thi s senseless businessof State Stettinius, nationsite. Bitter experience hasa breach of the peace any-o rer threaten the security of all na-

The name for the international or-* Argentina, A ustrali a, Belgium, Bolivia,sta Rica. Cbba, Ciechoslo;akia, Den:ominican Republic, E c u a d o r ,

e, Guatemala , Haiti, Hond uras, India,an , Iraq, Lebanon Liberia, Luxembourg,o, Net herl and & New Zealand, Nica-

Commonwealth Saudi Arabia Soviet Socialis;of South Africa, Union ofof America, Uruguay,

ganization to put an end to this wassuggested by the late President Roose-velt-The United Nations.Its purposes are five. It will seek:0 to prevent future wars.

to settle international disputes bypeaceful and ju st means.to promote world-wide progress andbetter standards of living.to promote human rights and fun-damental freedoms f o r all men andwomen, regardless of race, languageo r religion.0 t o remove the economic and socialcauses of war.

Its members are pledged t o settleth ei r disputes peacefully, t o back upthe organization in an y action it takesunder the Charter, and to refrainfrom aiding any state against whichthe United Nations are taking pre-ventive or enforcement action.To carry out these aims, the UnitedNations se t up a n international or-ganization which, on a world-widescale, had certain features familiarto any American small town: a police-man, a town meeting, a social workeran d a judge.POLICEMAN of the organization isthe Security Council, which has themain responsibility for keeping thepeace. It is both an enforcement agen-cy and an agency to help nationssettle their disputes peacefully. Ifpeaceful methods fail, the Councilmay invoke diplomatic and economicsanctions, and the use of force, byland, sea and air. The Council is madeup of five permanent members-the U.S., Great Britain, the Soviet Union,China and France-plus six othermembers elected by the General As-sembly. A majority of the Council(seven members, including all the Big5) ) is sufficient to ta ke action. Anyone of the Big 5 can veto the use offorce.TOWN MEETING is the General As-sembly-a forum fo r discussion andrecommendation, where every membernation, large or small, has a vote. Itcan discuss and make recommendationst o the Security Council; call the Coun-cils attention t o matters likely to en-danger the peace; recommend meas-ures for peaceful settlement of situa-tions likely to impair the general wel-fare. It has been called the townmeeting of the world, and the keeperof the worlds conscience. In a ny case,it will be the voice of those referredt o in the opening words of the Char-te r: We the peoples of the UnitedNations. . . .SOCIALWORKER of the organizationis the Economic and Social Council,based on a new approach to war-theidea that the security of the world de-pends largely on the security of the in-dividuals in it. It is the Councils job to

help remove the economic and socialcauses of war. Unless people have achance to live dec en tly ,yy cant expectthem to behave decently, said Assist-ant Secretary of Stat e Archibald Mac-Leish. NO provisions, said Mr. S tet-tinius, can make the world securefrom war if men and women have nosecurity in their homes and in theirjobs. To this end, the Economic andSocial Council is charged wi th promot-ing higher standar ds of living, full em-ployment, economic and social pro-gress, solutions of international eco-nomic, social and health problems, cul-tural and educational cooperation, anduniversal respect for human rightsand fundamental freedoms.JUDGE of the organization is theInternational Court of Justice, towhich may be referred any disputeswhich can be settled in conformitywith the principles of justice and in-ternational law. I ts decisions ar ebinding, and any member failing tocomply faces appropriate action bythe Security Council. The Interna -tional Court is also to play a part indeveloping and strengthening interna-tional law.In addition to these four main fea-tures, the United Nations has also aguardian and a clerk:

e The Trusteeship Council is to pro-mote the well-being of the inhabitantsof a ll dependent ter ritori es over whichthe United Nations has responsibility-territories taken from the enemy inthis war; others that were League ofNations mandates; and any othersthat may be put under this interna-tional trusteeship system by the na-tions tha t now administer them. TheUnited Nations are pledged to insurethe political, economic, social and edu-cational advancement of such peoples,and to assist them in the progressivedevelopment of their free political in-stitutions, and in developing self-gov-ernment. This includes the right t o in-dependence for those peoples who as-pire to it and are able t o exercise itsresponsibilities.o The Secretariat is the %clerk ofthe organization, the general civil ser-vice of the United Nations. A per-manent administrative group of inter-national civil servants, it is responsibleonly t o the United Nations and not toany government.

H o w will the United Nations workto prevent war? If a situation seemsdanger the peace and security of theworld, it is tackled by the SecurityCouncil, which is always in session, o rupon recommendation to the Councilby the General Assembly. If the situa-AL L HANDSI


9/84

iion can be ironed out by the use ofregional agencies (such as, in theWestern Hemisphere, the Americanrepublics), tha t is done. If there is alegal basis, it can be settled by the In-ternational Court of Justice. If thereis room for discussion, the parties maysubmit to arbitration, conciliation o rmediation. If these fail, the SecurityCouncil may use diplomatic o r eco-nomic sanctions, o r force of arms. TheCouncil is ready to use force quicklyif needed, for it is continuously in ses-sion, is in cons tant touch with the Big5s joint chiefs of staff, and can strikeswiftly with air-force contingents fol-lowed by such other armed forces asmay be necessary. All member nationspledge themselves to keep such armedcontingents available at the call of theorganization.

The vote and the veto. These provi-sion? of the Charter aroused most dis-cussion. Why the grea ter power fo rth e permanent members-the Big 5 ?Why let any one of them have a vetoover t he upe of armed force-evenagainst itself?The reasoning recognized a simplefact: these five nations-the U. S.,Great Britain, the Soviet Union, Chinaan d France-possess among them mostof the industrial and military re-sources of the world. They have tobear the primary responsibility f o rmaintaining the peace.To th e question-what if one of theBig 5 vctzes enforcement actionaga inst itself?-the answer is: if oneof these nations ever embarks upon acourse of aggression, a major war will

result, no matter what the voting pro-visions are. They must work togetherin peace-as they have proved theirability to do in war-or no Charte rcan succeed, and no world organiza-tion.Agreement and disagreement. Proofthat the nations could get togethercame at San Francisco where, despitedifferences, the area of agreement wasalways vastly wider than the area ofdisagreement. Attention natura lly wasdirected to differences between thepowers, because little time was neededon matters on which all were alreadyin agreement. Between DumbartonOaks and San Francisco, the Big 5 hadposals; others were wcrked out overagreed on 20 amendments t o the pro-the nine weeks in San Francisco.

The League of Nations failed; whyshould the United Nations succeed? Itsadvocates point out four differences:The U. S. was never in the League.The League, while a bold and hope-ful plan, was never fully used. TheUnited Nations, all agreed, must begiven a chance to work.The League lacked teeth to preventwar quickly and with overwhelmingforce. The United Nations has the

machinery to stop an internationalbandit; to stop him in time; to stophim with fleets of battleships andbombers.0 Hunger, poverty and unemploymentcan lead to wars. Unlike the League,the United Nations will be con-cerned with getting steady jobs, de-cent homes, more food and a betterlife for more people.

When all the Big 5 and a majorityof the other United Nations have rati-fied the Charter, the new world organi-zation will become official. In the U.S., this means ratification by theSenate.President Truman flew out to SanFrancisco to address the closing of th eConference, told the delegates: Youhave created a great instrument forworld peace. The world must now useit !Flying back to Washington a fewdays later, he presented the Chartert o the Senate, in a brief and simple ad-dress stated: The choice before theSenate is now clear. . . This Charterpoints down the only road to enduringpeace. There is no other. Let us nothesitate t o join hands with the peace-loving peoples of th:, earth and s ta rtdown that road. . . .The Senates Foreign RelationsCommittee rang up a 21-1 vote of ap-proval, and ratification by the Senateitself was looked for at an early datethis summer. From the re on the roadwa s open-and th e peoples of theworld, and the servicemen who foughtthe war, pinned their faith and theirhopes on safe driving by all hands.

-Char t and sketches f rom Sta te Depar tm ent7


10/84

OUR GROWING MERCY FLEETHospital Ships, First Used by Nav y in Civil War, Now ESave 9 8% of the Casualties Taken Aboard Them is not only humanitarian but it is; ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ a , ~ ~ ; g

By Dick M c C a n n , S p ( X ) l cThe bluejacket sat up in bed andgrinned into the hand mirror. He wasstudying a new artificial eye just in-serted by Navy doctors aboard theU. S. Navy hospital ship, USS Refuge.The bluejacket winked . . . blinked. winked again, this time at th enurse, as if h e were getting into prac-tice fo r shore leave. And then, with aitwinkle in his good eye, he said:Say, nurse, do you suppose thexcoul-d give me an extra eye -one thatssort of bloodshot so it can match myreal one just in case Im out celebrat-in g sometime?He make in a kidding vein, butther e i s n a certainty that,-deep down,he wasnt in dead earnest. Wounded

men have come to expect wondersaboard Navy hospital ships. The huge,modern floating hospitals of theNavys mercy fleet bring the finestmedical care known to man acrossthousands of miles of perilous watersto within sight and sound of bloodyinvasion beaches. They have helpedmake th e Medical Departments slogan :To keep as many men a t as manyguns as many days as possible, notjust a catchword but an actual ac-complishment.As a matter of record, more than98% of all casualties brought aboardour hospital ships are saved.Results like this have accentuatedth e value of hospital ships fo r dutywith the far-flung forces of our fleet.Sa?with the commissioning of six newships during April, May and June,ofthis year, our mercy fleet is beingswelled to a t o t a l of 15 hospital ships,including thre e manned by Navy crewsbut staffed by Army medical and sur-gical men. The six new ships are theuss Tranquility, the uss Haven, th euss Benevolence, the uss Repose, th euss Consolation and the uss Sanctu-ary. They are known as the Havenclass-first time in history the Navyhas had a classof hospital ships. Theyare designed to be of maximum ser-vice in forward assault areas and willfunction not only as floating hospitalsbut also as medical supply ships serv-icing advance base hospitals and war-ships.Faster and larger than any otherhospit al ships, these vessels have manynew features t o help comfort and healthe men brough t aboard, including:Complete air-conditioning through-out both hospital and crews quarters.Operating rooms located near themetacenter-the roll and pitch centerof. the ship where movement is at aminimum.Increased numbers of ladders andhoists t o speed the handling of pa-tients and stores.Optical repair room as well as abase optical repair unit.Enlarged storerooms totaling 85,000cubic feet.Increased recreational facilities. Forthe first time, two Red Cross workers

-

8 I

practical, good sense. It prevents thewill be aboard with Red Cross suppliesto assist in recreational work.This growing mercy fleet is a f a rcry from the dim days when woundedsailors were lifted from bloodied decksand tossed to the sharks-a time nomore distant tha n th e 18th century.In the words of Vice Admiral RossT. McIntire, (MC) USN, Chief of theBureau of Medicine an d Surgery :This cruelty was not prompted en-tirely by unconcern on the pa rt of theofficers, bu t by expediency-there wasnothing else to do with a sailor in 1750who became seriously ill in the mid-Atlantic o r who, far from shore, waswounded in battle . . . Adequate careof the health of naval forces was anidea t ha t developed slowly through the

spread of disease, restores men to th eservice who would otherwise be lostand it also maintains morale.Various navies experimented, fromtime t o time, with fleet hospital shipsas long ago as t h e days of Athensnaval glory. Reference has been foundin ancient history of the Athenianfleet having a hospital ship called The-rapeia in 431 BC, and the Romanswere supposed to have had one whichthey called Aesculapius. The SpanishArmada of 1588 is believed t o havehad some hospital ships of a sort be-cause historians of the time mentionphysicians and surgeons accompany-ing the expeditionary force in itsabortive attempt to invade England.The British Navy made its first knownexperiment along these lines when it

. .

Ofliclal U. S. Coast Guard pho to g ra phIN RENDEZVOUS a t sea, wounded ar e transferred to hospital ship fromtransport. Hospital ships usually app roa ch beach hea ds only in daylight hours.A l l H A h S


11/84

. . , . . . _

OPERATION is performed aboard hospital ship USS Sol-ace to remove shrapnel from soldier wounded on Okinawa.Official U. S. Navy photographs

WOUNDED MAN in Stokes stretcher is taken aboard Sol-ace through port in hull from assault craft lying alongside.sent a hospital ship with AdmiralPenns fleet on a West Indian cruisein 1654. A short while later theFrench recommended that 100-bed hos-pital ships be assigned t o the f l e e tone t o every 10 ships of the line.But hospital ships did not take theirfully recognized place until 1854 whenEngland used them in the CrimeanWar . British hospital ships brought100,000 wounded back from the BlackSea conflict inside 22 months.Our First Hospital ShipsFirst provision to include hospitalships in the U. S. Navy was made backin 1818, but nothing was done about ituntil the Civil War. A river steamerwhich the Confederates had been usingas a gunboat was captured on the Mis-sissippi by the Union Navy, which con-verted it into a hospital ship andcommissioned it on 26 Dec. 1862. Hername was Red Rover. According t ostandards of those days, she must havebeen something of a floating palace.Her designer wrote t o CommodoreFoote:. . . I wish that you could see ourhospital boat, the Red Rover. . .She isdecided to be the most complete thingof her kind that ever floated, and is inevery way a decided success . . . Theice box . . .holds 30 0 tons . . . She hasbathrooms, laundry, elevator for thesick . . . operating rooms, nine dif-ferent water closets, gauze blinds atthe windows. . . wo separate kitchensfor sick and well, a regular corps ofnurses and two water closets for everydeck.At about the same time, the ussZdaho was converted into a hospitalship and assigned to the Asiataic Sta-tion. Fo r two years she was anchoredin, of all places, Nagasaki harbor,Japan.During World War I, the Navyoperated three hospital ships calledthe Mercy, Comfort an d Solace, Atthat time, there was an old saying inAUGUST 1945

the fleet: N O mercy on the Comfort,no comfort on the Mercy, and no Solaceon either. But, actually, they per-formed meritoriously and placed fur-ther emphasis on the growing impor-tance of hospital ships. So much so,that, in 1917, the uss Relief, first shipever built from the keel up for mili-tary hospital purposes, was designedand laid down. She was launched in1919. She was the first to carry acomplete field hospital unit for land-ing with an expeditionary force or set-ting up t o aid in relief work in a civildisaster.The Seal in Sick Bay

When Managua, Nicaragua, wasleveled by an earthquake in 1931, theRelief was in Panama. The field hos-pital was taken off her, loaded ontoplanes and flown to Managua where itproved invaluable in rescuing victims.Again, in 1933, when Long Beach,Calif., had its severe tremor, the fieldhospital was set up on shore andplayed an important part in the reliefwork.Her reputation for skillful serviceis so great, Rear Admiral Lucius W.Johnson, (MC) USN, once reported,that one day a wounded seal floppedup on the gangway. She was takenaboard and her lacerations carefullysutured. I am informed that she re-turned daily at 0845 for dressing untilthe wounds were healed. . . I t was 20 years from the time theRelief was commissioned until theNavy g o t another hospital ship-theuss Solace, a heroine of Pearl Harborand the South Pacific. She had beenthe .old coastwise passenger liner, Zro-quozs. In the years that had passedbetween the time of the Reliefs com-missioning and the Solaces conversion,BuShips and BuMed had learned muchabout necessary improvements and ad-ditions to be made. As a result, theSolace featured many changes, includ-ing putting most wards above decks.

She was commissioned on 9 Aug.1941 and sailed almost immediately forPearl Harbor. And thats where shewas when the Ja ps struck on 7 Decem-ber. Miraculously, she escaped dam-age and was able to do incrediblyvaliant and valuable rescue work thatdark day. Since then, this game oldgirl of the Pacific has ministered too u r wounded at many watery battle-grounds. She was in the Coral Seawhen the great naval-air battle wasfought and won there, and she stoodoff Guadalcanals embattled beachesduring the first U. S. offensive actionof the Pacific War on that strategicisland.Saved 7,484 Out of 7,500

With justifiable pride, her seniormedical officer, Capt. Melville J. Aston,(MC) USN, reported:During the eight months period ofgreatest activity, the Solace, steamedover 50,000 miles and carried out 20major evacuation missions. Of 10,000patients received on board since theattack on Pearl Harbor, approximately7,500 were wa r casualties. The num-ber of deaths in this group was 1 6 ;13 were surgical, 3 medical.Personnel of the Solace and otherhospital ships are called upon t o domany jobs apart from their medicalwork, such as providing ice cream andother delicacies for battle-weary crewsof small combat vessels. Lt. j j g )Hilda W. Combes, (NC) USN, writingof her first year on the Solace, says:Hardly would a destroyer arrive inthe same port, than some of i ts crewwould appear with a bucket for ourspecial strawberry o r maple-walnut icecream.And the bakery of a U. S. Navyhospital ship provided manna fromheaven for the starving civilians ofbomb-blasted Italian ports after Mus-solinis fall. The bakers worked over-time turning out loaves and loaves.When the U. S. entered the war, the

9


12/84

USS TRANQUILLITY is the first of new Haven class hos-al ships, converted from Maritime CommissionC-4 hulls.

Official U. S. Navy photographsLABORATORY i s a busy place on a hospital ship. It sequipment i s complete, comparable to best shore labs.and the Relief were our onlyl ships with the fleet. However,

uss Bountiful, uss Sa-and uss Refuge. A sixth,e uss Rescue, joined the fleet earlyauxiliary vessel.Th e Samaritan was at Iwo Jimathe Navy James Forrestal. Upon

t o the States, Secretarystal told a pres s conference:On D-plus-1-day, I went aboard thewhere Navy surgeons andth e day and

Iw o to H a w a i iAssisting the Samayitan and othertal ships a t Iwo, the Secretaryo u r trans-This was important, he added,it facilitatedier handling of the woundede. Tha t is to say, by havingn one ship available the smallat they could go to. By the time Ia substantial

a t Aieat Pear l Harbor. These were mostlyen set on the hospital ships a t Iwo

f t he injur y and treatment onf each cast. These pa-I believe, flown toIt is a truly remarkable stepWhile LST s were pressed into emer-

it wast Iwo that LST(H)s made theirt-landing ship, tank , hospital.

This, in the words of a Navy doctor,was in reality a floating emergencyward. Said thi s doctor:The LSTs lay close inshore, andacted as screens for the casualtiesbrought from the beach. As boatloadsof casualties came alongside, Navydoctors and pharmacists mates classi-fied the cases aboard, tagging eachwith a priority on medical attention.Serious cases were swung aboard theLSTs by a crane lowered through ahatch t o the tank deck, where theywere prepared for th e operating room.The operating rooms were located inthe former troop quarters on theport, side. Operating teams were usingthree tables and an assembly linetechnique to keep patients moving.Post-operative cases were cared forforward in the tank deck, until trans-ported to hosp$al ships lying in thetransport area.In some cases, the ambulances fromshore evacuation stations can ridedirectly into the tank deck, through.the bow doors. Stre tchers bear ing thewounded can be immediately removedand rested on litter brackets whichare secured to the bulkheads the fulllength of the tank deck.Ne w Hosp it al Ships

Of course, these LST(H) emer-gency wards cannot compare in com-fort and completeness with the sixnew hospital ships. These la tte r shipsoriginally were built as U. S. Mari-time Commission C-4 hulls by the SunShipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. ofChester, Pa. They are ful l conversions.They have a displacement of 15,000tons. Their speed is 17% knots withcruising radius of about 12,000 miles.Hospital beds are provided for 802patients-742 enlisted men an d 60officers. I n an emergency, of course,the capacity can be increased by sev-eral hundred. In contrast, the olderhospital ships accommodate from 45 0to 760 patients each.

For ships company, there are ac-commodations for 58 officers, 30 nursesand two female Red Cross workers,24 chief petty officers, 230 crewmenand 238 h o s p i t a 1 corpsmen. Thenurses country is self-contained,with separate mess. For the corpsmen,181 berths ar e on the second deck and57 on the main deck for night detail.The hospital consists of two mainoperating rooms, fracture operatingrooms, plaster room, apparatus room,anesthesia room, clinical laboratory,dispensary, dental clinic, dental pros-thetic laboratory, radiographic room,endoscopic room, eye-ear-nose-throatclinic and eye-ear-nose-throat opera-ting room.All medical rooms and wards arearranged so that there is access be-tween them without going into theweather.The typical ward consists of twotiers of berths, which may also beused a s single berths. Wider th anusual ship berths, ward berths aredetachable so that a patient may behandled if necessary without takinghim from his berth. Fo r furth er con-venience of movement, the berths ar eaccessible from both sides.At each berth, there is a portablecomfort o r utility light, which n ot onlyis available to the patient for readingbut also may be used by doctors,nurses and corpsmen for examining athroat, applying a dressing, etc.Rapid Handl ing of W o u n d e dEverything possible has been pro-vided in these ships for the rapidhandling of wounded from shore toship, from boat to ship and from shipto shore. There are four elevators:two passenger, of the self-levelingtype, each with a 3,000-pound capa-city, and two freight. Patients onlitters ma y be taken aboard by single,double o r multiple litter hoists fromsmall cra ft by using hoisting ge ar a t10 stations-five on each side of theship. Provision is made for double-

ALL HANDS


13/84

Ofl icial U. S. Navy photographNIGHT AND DA Y hospital ships are clearly marked in ac-cordance with Geneva Convention so enemy wont attack.

Official U. S. M a r i n e Corps photograpnJAP SUICIDE plane hi t the USS Comfort off Okinawa de-spite her Red Cross markings, killed 29 and wounded 33.

type W e b davits on each side for-ward so that power boats may be un-loaded at the rail or on deck.The food - service plan has beenadapted from successful hospital com-missaries. Bed patients food comesup from the galley to the main deckby food elevator and is distributed toward diet pantries for service on in-dividual trays. Vacuum food contain-

ers for solid and liquid foods areprovided, with ingenious hand trucksfo r transporting them. The diet pan-tries are equipped with electricallyheated tables and heated cabinets.Ambulatory patients will be served inthe mess hall. Special diets will beprepared in a special diet kitchenunder supervision of a nurse dietician.A sharp freeze compartment of

ARMYS HOSPITAL-SHIP FLEETThe Army, too , has a hospitalfleet. By the end of summer it willtotal 29 vessels, in cl u d in g threemanned by Navy crews but staffedwith Army medical personnel underArmy command. The others aremanned by civilian crews of theU. S. merchant marine in the em-ploy of the Army TransportationCorps.The Army uses hospital ships pri-marily for evacuation of wounded,although for limited periods they

may become emergency hospitals.F o r instance, during the invasion ofsouthern France 12 of them lay offthe coast and served as emergencyhospitals until orders sent them,laden with casualties, to hospitals inNorth Africa and England. Simi-larly, Army hospital ships stood offthe beachheads of Anzio, Salernoand Sicily.Many of the Army ships are alsoused in shuttle service. They lie atanchor off an invasion beach takingon casualties and, when loaded, de-bark for a port of safety where hos-pital facilities are available on land.After unloading, they head back forthe -ba ttle scene to go through i t allagain.The USAHS Seminole has been oneof t he busiest in this shuttle service.In 10 months time in the Mediter-

ranean, she transported 10,000 pa-tients from battle beaches to rear-echelon hospitals. She made fourtrips in five days between Anzio andNaples. On one of these tr ip s it wasnecessary t o sail without a full loadbecause the Germans were shellingthe harbor.Flagship of the Army fleet isthe USAHS Acadia. She participatedin or stood by for every invasion inthe European theater-North Africa,Sicily, Italy, Normandy and southernFrance. At North Africa, she wasa troop transport; at the others, ahospital ship.Most of the Army hospital shipsright now ar e transporting woundedmen from Europe t o the U. S. Whenthat job is done, many of them willbe shifted t o the Pacific.Largest and fastest of the Armyshospital fleet is the Frances Y .Slanger, the former Italian luxuryliner Saturnia, only recently takenover for hospital duties. With twicethe capacity of the previous largesthospital ship, the Slanger has facili-

ties for 1,776 patients including 89wards, three operating rooms andfacilities for recreational activitiesby ambulatory patients. She alsohas a chapel, library and readingroom.AUGUST 1945

1,000 cubic feet has been included inthe refr igerator co mp ar tm en t forquick-frozen foods. Two milk emulsi-fiers-mechanical cows-each with40-gallon-an-hour capacity have beeninstalled. Ice cream capacity and stor-age have been increased to a pointadequate for frequent serving.Recreational facilities are greaterthan ever. Each bed or berth in thewards ha s ea r phones o r pillow phoneshooked into a five-channel entertain-ment broadcast system which will pro-vide long-wave and short-wave radioprograms, picked up by a master re-ceiving set, and phonographic music.The wide, open bridge deck will beavailable for movies, shows, decksports and sun bathing. The maindeck lobbies, fore and aft, are fittedwith chairs and tables to serve aslounges. A patients lib ra ry is pro-vided on the main deck off the lobby.Two Navy chaplains and two RedCross workers ar e aboard.Immune to Attack-?

Supposedly, hospital ships are im-mune from attack. They ar e alwayspainted white with a wide green bandpainted around the hull and large RedCrosses marking them for easy iden-tification. At night, they ar e fullylighted. All th is was decided upon a tthe Hague Convention of 1907 whenthe immunity of hospital ships wasagreed to by representatives of manynations. However, in both World WarI and World War 11, hospital shipshave been hit.In addition to the hospital fleet, theNavy has three ships, the USS Pink-ney, uss Rixey, and uss Tryon, whichare classed as hospital transports. Ac-tually combat ships, they are fitted toevaeuate wounded from battle zonesto rea r echelon hospitals. They arearmed, painted with war paint andhave no immunity from a ttack but likethe hosaital shim they play a vitalrole sa vh g Ameiican lives.7 7


14/84


15/84

O f f i c i a l U. S. Navy photoerapnsTICONDEROGA steams on, unruffled by Kamikazes near miss off Luzon. Lafer, off Formosa, two Japs scored hits.THEY RETURN TO FIGHTless shipyard workers have wroughtOur Ships Come Back t o Hunt Down Enemy Again miracles patching up these heroichulks in record time.Though Some Kamikaze Planes Inflict Wounds For instance, the Sara toga , whichhad suffered seven direct hits bv sui-

Navy gunners cant always hang upshut-outs . . . and, sometimes, a Japsuicide plane slips through to score.Up t o 1 8 July, a total of 19 U. S.Navy ships had been announced asstruck by the honorable-ancestor-here-we-come pilots, and five had been an-nounced as sunk.In sizing up this toll, also con-sider (a) the vast number of tar get sthat our huge fleets offer as they con-duct history-making amphibious opera-tions and (b) the mounting number ofenemy planes that are shot down.And, of course, when a Kamikaze hitsthe deck, hes done for, but in mostcases the stricken ship is back in theline, blazing away, before very long.

Notable among these scarred vete-rans who have licked their woundsand gone back to lick the enemy againare the rejuvenated old battlewagonsuSS N e v a d a and uss Cal i forn ia , theproud Essex-class carriers uss Ticon-deroga and uss B u n k e r Hill , . themighty Big Ben F r a n k l i n , the ven-erable lady S a r a t o g a , and the lightcruiser Nashv i l l e .Soon t o be back to fight anotherday are such gallant little warriorsas the destroyers N e w c o m b , L a f f e y ,L e u t x e , H a d l e y , E v a n s and others.Unwavering, unwearying crewshave done the impossible as theybattled blazes and nursed their limp-ing ships back to safe ports; and tire-

cide planes and bombs off Okikawa,was repaired in less than two monthsat Puget Sound Navy Yard-althoughshe was the most extensively damagedvessel that yard ever received (ALLHANDS,July 1945, p. 42 . ) Bremer-tons civilian Navy devoted 155,000man-days to repair the Ticonderogawith breathless speed. Before shereached the drydocks, her major re-pair jobs already were under way.Such swift work has not been theexception, but the rule.Damaging of the Ticonderoga,Nevada , C a l i forn ia , New comb andLeu txe were all revealed last monthwithin a space of 2 2 days, but theyhad been struck months apa rt and theinformation withheld for security.

DD WILLIAM D. PORTER goes down by stern while small rescue ship stands by. She sank three hours after attack.


16/84

The California was struck 9 Janu-a ry during the pre-invasion shellingof Lingayen Gulf installations; theTiconderoga 21 Janu ary during the 3dFleets operations off Formosa; theNevada 27 March off Okinawa; theNewcomb 6 April off Ie Shima; andthe Bunker Hill 11May ne ar Okinawa.The fights fo r survivaI by the Ti-conderoga and the Bunker Hill werealmost identical as the courage oftheir crews was matched only by thebrilliant seamanship of their officers.Just one minute after noon on 21January, while her planes were lash-ing out at enemy installations onFormosa, the Ticonderoga was at-tacked by a single-engine Jap planeth at zoomed out of the sun, through acloud bank and onto the flight deck.The bomb penetrated and explodedbetween the galle ry and hangar decks.


17/84

Ofl ic ia l U. Sc Navy photogt. . I I . I r . .I c .. L . I . . . . . . . . , ,. fMINUTES AFTER ATTAC" '

Firefighting parties had the flames under control, however, and gunners stood by to repulse other enemy attacbeached at Pearl Harbor through Attu,Normandy, southern France and IwoJima. She had been straddled 27times by German shore batteries dur-ing t he bombardment of Cherbourgwhich led to that port's fal l to Ameri-can forces soon after D-day, but hadcome through unscathed.But, jus t before daylight a t 062@on27 March, as the N e v a d a was prepar-ing t o obliterate enemy installationsbefore the invasion of Okinawa, aformation of Jap planes attacked.The Nevada ' s antiaircraft gunners,old hands at this, splashed two. Buta Val sneaked through the hazy light,headed for the open bridge. Lightmachine-gun slugs ripped his rig htwing off, diverted his course from theheavy superstructure and he hit themain deck af t near a main batteryturr et. Resulting fires were extin-guished by damage-control parties inthree minutes, but 11 had been killedand 49 wounded and considerable dam-age had been done. By 1030, however,she was back in the firing line.

On 5 April, a Jap coastal batteEyunwisely chose to reveal her positionand shoot it out with the old sea dog.The Jap gunners had the benefit ofhaving r an ge4 on the ship most ofthe day and they got in the firstAUOUST 194s

punches. They fired about 24 shells.Nineteen missed from 10 to 1,500yards. But five scored, killing twoand wounding 16 . The engagementlasted only 16 minutes, but in thattime the Nevada belched 71 roundsfrom the 14-inch main battery alone.When the smoke cleared, the targetar ea resembled a blasted quarry.At Lingayen Gulf, the Cali fornia 'sgunners g o t the first Kamikaze andseemingly had t he second one. Shewas hit and appeared to be skimmingover the ship, doomed to hit the w ate rharmlessly. Bu t she banked suddenly,roared in upside down and crashedagainst a tower. The fires were ex-tingushed in 12 minutes.The Cali fornia made temporary un-derway repairs and continued her as-signments a t Lingayen. Only whenher chores had been completed did shehead back for repair at Puget Sound.Gunners of the Newconzb had out-shot numberless suicide pilots at Min-doro, Lingayen Gulf and a t Okinawaon earlie r occasions. But on 6 Apriloff Ie Shima, seven Kamikazers at-tacked within two hours and, althoughthree were shot down, four hit. Theseventh g o t a double-it skiddedacross the literally disemboweledN e w c o m b and crashed head on into

the ste rn of the uss Leutxe, which :come alongside t o help fight her f iA total of 175 casualties were Ifered on the two DDs. AboardN e w c o m b , 17 were killed, 54 wounand 20 missing. The Lezltze hadkilled, 68 wounded and 14 missin$Only the heroic efforts of the Ncomb's crew-who fought with tlhair aflame and their clothes buroff-kept the destroyer afloat andabled the less-damaged Leutxe t oher to an advanced repair base.Sometimes, of course, no mahow hard nor how heroically a cmay fight their ship is doomed.. Swas the case with the uss Wzllaan;P or ter , struck by a Kamikaze onJune off Okinawa.The wound was inflicted atwaterline on the starboard nearaf ter engine room. Within seco?the engine room and other compments were flooded, and the !listed heavily to starboard.nearly three hours, the crew foLto save her, but the Porter cnntinto settle deeper into the water. Thcter deck was awash when the last 1finally abandoned ship. No lifelost aboard the P o r t e r and herwounded were being treated abcthe hospital ship Relief before sur


18/84


19/84


20/84

BOMRONS OVER BISCAYFive Navy Liberator Squadrons Knocked Out 14 SubsDuring Campaign to Sweep U-Boats from Atlantic

I N the gray light of the Englishwinter dawn the ponderous white-bellied Liberators waddled down therunway and lifted slowly into the sky.Out over the rocky Devonshire coastand the choppy waters of the Channelthey streaked south toward the Bayof Biscay, hunt ing grounds of theenemys undersea fleet.Over the Bay the crews suddenlybecame alert, shaking off the drowsi-ness induced by their early rising andthe constant drone of t he fou r engines.Waist gunners stared a t the fa int lineof the horizon almost imperceptiblyseparating the gray of the sky fromthe gray of th e sea. Bow and crownturrets whined and twisted, their twin.50-caliber guns seeming to search forevery dot in the air that would meana Ju-88 o r any change on the surfacetha t might indicate a U-boat.This day the search was more in-tense. One of the big boats had failedto re turn from the nights patrol.From the northern shores of Spain tothe Brittany coast, shuttling back and

forth only 100 or so feet above thechoppy waters, they watched fo r al ife raft or a cluster of small yellowpatches; a drifting wisp of smoke o r awhite-starred wing.Twelve, fourteen grueling hoursla te r the. big planes circled the baseand wearily settled down on the flarepath. One by one they came to reston the hardstands. Only one had news.Somewhere on the vast Bay thecrew had sighted two oil slicks in thepatrol a rea of the nights missing Lib.One patch was small, the other large.On the official reports the plane andcrew were listed as missing in actionbut that was not their only epitaph.To Coastal Command headquarterswent the one phrase for which theyhad worked so long and arduously:Probably destroyed enemy submarine.Such was the perilous job of fiveNavy patrol bombing squadrons com-prising Fleet Air Wing 7, now backin the States. Front-line fighters inthe Battle of the Atlantic, they struckat the very hear t of Germanys U-boat

campaign, hunting the enemy in hisown waters before he could reachAllied convoy lanes with his destruc-tive torpedoes, and sinking 14 of theundersea raiders.When Hitlers legions stormed downthrough the Low Countries and intoFrance in the spring of 1940 they notonly wanted to defeat and drive fromthe Continent the British and Alliedarmies but, on Hitlers orders, theywanted to secure for Admiral KarlDoenitz, then chief of Nazi untersee-booten, adequate bases from whichto launch a submarine offensive ofunprecedented magnitude. When theNazi armies finally halted they haddriven all the way to the Spanishborder on the Atlant ic c o a s t ofFrance. I t was there, in the Biscayports of Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire,La Pallice and Bordeaux, that thegreat sub pens with their massiveroofs and complex underground repair,and supply depots were built and f romthere that the U-boats sallied forthon their missions of destruction.With outmoded Swordfish, Whitleys,Wellingtons and even early FlyingForts, Coastal Command of the RAFopened a blockade while what bombers

NAVY LIBERATOR takes on gas at i t s base in England (below) as crewmen ready it for a Bay of Biscay sub-hunt.Official U. S. Navy photoorapn


21/84

Offic ia l U. S. Navy p l io to~rap l iBACK FROM BISCAY roars the four-engined sub-buster, winging over the checkerboard landscape of rural England.

on afte r arr iving in England in theer of 1942 Americas 8th Airtle. Then three veteran Navy-103,105 an d 110-relievedThey knew the task before them aschild knows its alphabet. They hadit by rote, flying from basesd South Atlantic. Some of th e pilots200 missions-10, 12, 18at a stretch, with the roar ofir mem-f antisubmarine pa-Even without bombs you can keepTheir first patrols were similar to

aa few weeks the mentheir re turn from the Bay. Un-at rather than a rarity.Action came quicker than the flyingts expected. Two planes dis-er Biscay in the first weekThen Lt. Ja mes A.

USNR, later killed on aran into a formationf six Ju-88s over the Bay. The ven-ngined fight-s were roaming the skies a s escortsr outbound subs. Lt. Alexanders88 and dam-s, the first decorations for naval

UGUST 194s

Still the Navy airmen had not asyet met the enemy for which theywere searching-U-boats. Earl y onemorning four Navy Libs were outover the Bay on routine patrol. Oneof them sighted a submarine runningon the surface, charging its batteries.In response to an urgent call for as-sistance the other Libs sped to thescene followed by other Coastal Com-mand aircraft. The German sub washarried above and below the surfacefrom 0400 until dusk when it wasfinally destroyed. A final assessmentgave a Czech-manned Liberator 50%of the kill, an RAF Wellington 10%and the remaining 40% t o the Navy.F o r Navy men accustomed to thebest service food in the world, andthe smooth efficiency and cleanlinessof seaside bases, the United Kingdomproved tough on the ground. Althoughtheir arrival had been expected noprovisions had been made for opera-tin g the base Navy style. An RA Fregimentthe base defense force-dished out Spam and brussels sprouts.Military police, ordnance and supplycompanies were U. S. Army detach-ments. Other RAF units were incharge of maintenance of runways,hangars, roads and living sites. Onlyaloft did. the men feel at home.There was enough business in theair to keep them occupied. Along withtheir Biscay patrols the Liberatorsdrew additional duty out over the West-ern Approaches to the United King-dom. Vast men-and-equipment-ladenconvoys, spreading over hundreds ofsquare miles of the Atlantic, had tobe protected from the U-boats whichmanaged to sneak out of Biscay. Fa st

blockade runners from Japan tried todash into Biscay ports a t night. Itwas a busy, mostly monotonous life.Not until December 1943 was vari-ety to be introduced into the Navyscombat diet. Lone-wolfing ou t overthe Bay one day, Lt. Stuart D. Johns-ton, USNR, sighted 10 German destroy-ers, apparently operating as escortsfo r U-boats. The Lib flashed a mes-sage to Coastal Command headquar-ters and, within a few minutes, depthcharges were removed from bombbays of planes hundreds of miles awayin England and replaced with contacthigh-explosive bombs. In seven min-utes one Navy squadron had 10 planesairborne and heading for the DDs.Other Libs roared out to join theattack. Two British cruisers and the irescorting destroyers raced down theChannel. Through curta ins of heavyflak the Libs ran in at zero altitude,broadside to the enemy, scoring sev-eral straddles and near misses andstrafing the decks with machine-gunfire. All the Libs came back, one with100 flak holes in wing surfaces andfuselage. The battl e ended in thesinking of four of the Nazi craft bythe British cruisers. Glasaow andEnterprise.Eventually the Lib squadrons hadtheir own base. Dunkeswell, the fieldfrom which they had been flying, wasformally turned over t o them by theBritish and, other than remainingunder Coastal Command operationalcontrol, they developed it accordingto American methods. Later , as theBiscay battle grew hotter and theneed f or protecting shipping shuttlingback and forth across the Channel to

. 19


22/84

R CREWMEN relax in Nissen hut quarters. Libertiese,frequent, but they were at hom,e only in their planes.

PRE-TAKEOFF briefing as to weather, convoys and signsof enemy i s given Biscay flyers by intelligence officer.

ant, two more squadrons-107 and2-were added to the Navys forced another base, Upottery-a milee Yanks.Squadron 107 came with a hot rep-

as Patrol Squadron 83December 1941 and using Catalinahad operated fromit changed to Lib-ino fight with the other squad-7. Its final count of

16 damaged.Veteran of the European Theater,1 0 3 once flew from New-it served its last 21evonshire. Even duringit got twoOriginally known as Patrol Squcd-

ron 31 , flying Catalinas from theCaribbean to Newfoundland, Bomron105 sighted and attacked 1 0 enemysubmarines and destroyed two of themduring its period based in England.Another veteran of the Biscay pa-trols was Squadron 110. During 21months operating from the UnitedKingdom its planes attacked 23 U-boats and even af te r V-E day it scoreda victory. Lt. Fred L. Schaum, USNR,a 110 pilot, accepted the surrender ofU-249 and brought it into port, thefirst enemy submarine t o give up af terthe cessation of hostilities.Last of th e five squadrons to arri vein England was 112, an anti-U-boatoutfit that had kept watch over theeastern Atlantic an d S tra its of Gib-raltar to close the Mediterannean tothe enemy underwater boats. Ear lyin 1945 it shifted. to Up9ttery andfrom there participated in the de-struction of another submarine.Throughout their long, gruelingwatch the five squadrons were some-

wh at depleted by enemy action. Re-placements arrived from the States tofill in the gaps and enable Fairwing -7 to car ry on. Some of the planes justdisappeared. Others fell prey to thechangeable weather. Still others. wereshot down by heavy U-boat flak orthe guns of the German fighters. Butmost of them took thei r toll beforethey were lost.And so it will continue in the Pa-cific. Some of the squadrons are t obe decommissioned. Pilots, navigatorsand gunners are to be retrained fornew type of work. They may flysearch Privateers o r heavies based inthe Ryukyus o r the Philippines andtheir ta rgets may be small freightersinstead of surfaced submarines. Buttheir long experience as air-bornewarriors will stand them in good stead-their rigorous, courage-demandingexperiences in the Atlantic will makethem that much more formidableagainst the dwindling sea power ofthe Japs.

O f f i c i a l U. S. Na v y photographAND CO-PILOT, their faces lighted by instru- MISSION COMPLETED, plane commander, captain andLib into the murky English sky. navigator tell observations and action to intelligence.ALL UANVSI


23/84

AFTER THE WAR-SCHOOL?Here Are Answers to Questions on How Uncle SamWill Help Eligible Veterans Get More Education

Letters to ALL H A N D Sfrom navalpersonnel in all parts of the world in-dicate that the educational provisionsare among the most widely discussedbenefits of the GI Bill of Rights (Ser-vicemens Readjustment Act of 1944).Couched in highly technical phrasesat some points, this Bill has been thesubject of much misstatement andmisinterpretation.From the many l etters received, ALLH A N D S has chosen a representativelist of questions covering practicallyevery phase of the educational pro-visions of the bill.Through these provisions, the GIBill now provides the necessary ex-pense and subsistence allowances t oenable eligible veterans t o continuetheir education or t o take courses oftraining t o prepare them f o r employ-ment or a profession.Which brings up the first question:0 WHO is eligible?

Any person who has been in activeservice on o r after 1 6 Sept. 1940 andprior to the termination of the waris eligible, provided he is released o rdischarged u n d e r conditions otherthan dishonorable and that his ser-vice was for 90 days or more. Personswith less than 90 days service areeligible if they were discharged for anactual service-incurred disability.0 Are Waves, Spars, nurses andmembers of the Marine CorpsWomens Reserve eligible?All members of the armed services,regardless of rank, rate o r branch,are eligible if they meet the condi-tions above.0 Wha t kind of education or train-ing can you g et under the GI Bill?

You can attend any educational o rtraining institution approved by theVeterans Administration. You can got o a scientific, professional, businesso r technical school o r college. You cang o to grammar school o r high school.You can train for a vocation in a spe-cialized vocational school o r take ap-prentice training on-the-job t o learn atrade. You can take refresher o rtrai ning courses t o brush up on thingsyou may have got rusty on. The rangeof choice is almost unlimited.oCan I veteran make his ownchoice of a school or is he re-stricted t o a certain district, suchas his home state?

A veteran can go to school any-where h e pleases so long as the schoolis one recognized by the Veterans Ad-ministration, and all reputable schoolsand institutions of recognized stand-ing are likelv t o be approved. (How-ever, the Veterans Administration willmake no t u i t i o n payments to busi-nesses o r other establishments fur-AUOUST 0995

nishing apprentice training on-the-job. You can get the monthly sub-sastence allowance, though; see laterquestions on this.)o Are schools and universities inforeign countries included?

Yes; Veterans Administration hasgranted permission for eligible vet-erans t o attend recognized schools anduniversities in any part of the world.Tuition, expenses and subsistence willbe paid just as if you were attendinga school in the U. S.Q For HOW LONG a period may aveteran attend school?

This point seems to have caused asmuch confusion as any. I t gets a littleclearer if you tackle it step by step.(a) EVERY eligible veteran is en-titled to a t l eas t one year of fr ee edu-cation o r training.(b) Ever y eligible veteran whoseeducation o r training has been im-peded, delaved, interrupted o r inter-fered with by reason of entrance intothe armed services is entitled to ad-di t ional education or training (beyondtka t first year) equal t o the timespent in active service on and after1 6 Sept. 1940 and prior to the termi-nation of the war.(c) Any Derson whose age uponentering the service (see next item)was not over 25 is au tomat ica l ly pre-sumed to have had his education in-terrupted. (For purposes of the bill,

you are over 25 the day after your25th birthday.)(d) Your age of entry into serviceis figured one of two ways: (1 ) ifyou entered service o n or a f t e r 1 6Sept. 1940, i t is your age on the dayyou entered; (2) if you entered ser-vice before 1 6 Sept. 1940, it is yourage as of 1 6 Sept. 1940.(e) A ddi t iona l t ra in ing beyond thefirst year is dependent upon yourcompleting your work satisfactorilyaccording to the st andards of the in-stitution you attend.(f) M a x i m u m t r a i n i n g allowed inany case is a total of four years(note liberal definition of year onopposite page).0 What kind of service does NOTcount in determining eligibilityeither for the f irst year of tralin-in g or fo r additional training?

In computing your active service,the GI Bill says you cannot count anytime spent in education or trainingunder the Army specialized trainingprogram (ASTP) or the Navy collegetraining program IF the course was acontinuation of your civilian courseAND wa s pursued t o completion; alsonot t o be counted is time spent as acadet o r midshipman at one of theservice academies. (I f you were anarchitect but took up medical trainingin the Navy college program, the timewould therefore be counted. Similarly,if you studied medicine in civilian life,went on studying it in the Navy, butwere transferred to something else be-fore finishing your course, the timewould also count.)

P h o t o g r a p h fr o m V e t e r a n s A d m i n i s t r a t i o nGEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY class includes several veterans study-ing under the GI Bill. What college he goes to i s the veterans own choice.21


24/84


25/84


26/84

P A P E RLeaflet Raids on JapsHit Their Will t o FightSING LE piece of paper doesntA make much of a bomb. A singledrop of water doesnt make much ofa dcnt in a rock, either. Rut a con-

stant drip of water will cut a rock intwo. And the millions of leaflets weare dropping over Japanese territoryar e cutting into the rock of stubbornJ a p resistance-cutting down thenumber of J ap s against us.Navy carrier-based planes and theArmys Superfor ts a re dropping mil-lions of these paper bombs alongwith explosive and incendiary bomb;over the Jap homeland and his tli-minishing island holdings. The lcaf-lets arent intended to kill; hut hyconstant suggestion, infiltration, repe-tition they rat away at a daps w i l lto die for the Son of the Sun.Part of a comprehensive campaignby the Psychological Warfare Sectionof CincPac-CincPO A . the leaflets aredropped In quantitie s that reach500,000 to 1,000,000 a day. In ap-pearance they resemble the gailycolored labels on those packages, ofpaper-covered firecrackers we used topet. Various appeals ar e used, hutthcy all add up to one idea: Yoiirfight is hopeless; give up the futilestruggle while you can.The leaflets-parts of five of themappear as illustrationc with this ar-ticle-make two broad at tacks on thedaps self-confidence and patriotism.First, they emphasize our cuperiormilitary might; second, they show the.Tap fighting man that hei being solddown the river by ruthless and self-ish leaders.Leaflets Stress Our Power

THE DANGER IS NOT PASSED, th is leaflet told civilians on an invaded Jap island.American forces already have landed . . . and have made excellent progress. Mo st of thecivilians who stayed i n the pa th of the onrushing army were killed because of thei r ownfoolishness . . . Shells and bombs cannot tell the difference between soldiers and civilians. . . The American forces have absolutely no intention of shooting at you.One message particularly intendedf o r the soldier is heavily illustratedwith drawinqs of a powerful fleet andai r force. The text is in terms andevents he will recognize:You have already felt the powerof our Navy during the bombardmentbut you have had only a brief ex-perience with American power. Moreshim, more planes, and more sup.plies a re on th e way-Your navy, too,has been driveh off and dares notoppose us. Your resistance is futile.Lay down your arms. . . .After the surrender of Nazi Ger-many. millions of leaflets carriedPresident Trumans warning that allthe Allied might was now beingshifted to the Pacific.But just in case the Nip soldierthinks-as his wa r lords would havehim-that a religious fighting spiritcan win over ships and tanks, anotherleaflet asks: D O you believe spiritalone can win the war ? If SO , whydo you complain of sho rtages ofweapons, build air-raid shelters and

armor your tanks? If spirit alonecan win. whv were vou pushed back-AN AM ER IC AN OF FICER was speaking t o two Japanese soldiers who came over to theAmerican forces on Guam, says the text on the back of th is leaflet. The two soldiersexpressed their thanks for the excellent treatment they had received: . .W e were af ra idto come over to you. W e thought you would k i l l US. W e came only when there was no morehope. Dont wait until our fierce artillery fire and bombs crush you beyond all hope . &om the CoaSt?Truth Hits Jap Morale

Dur ing the batt le of Okinawa TeSi-dents of the isiand received a brightly24 ALL HANDS


27/84

an ai r force had sufferedsses on every operation. If

That land-based and carrier-at-r a shambles? That Honshu isa week by largeof giant planes? How doat this verye a s many Americanf th is island a sThe Jap soldier is constantly re-

His officers and the deceitfulleaders, he is told, have failedt o fu rt he r their personal am-

to SurrenderOne leaflet points out that Occiden-

ced t o surrender and t hat this willContinuing on this theme, one mes-

a violation of the tradi-r y in the future.Paralleling the efforts to remove thestigma of sur render, ma ny leafletspicture by word and photographs thegood treatment Americans give cap-ured soldiers and civilians.Although these leaflets are pouringdown on the Japanese day by day, itis still too early to judge the effec-tiveness of the "paper bombs."However, this much was observedon Okinawa, where specific appeals to

get out of the battle areas, were ad-dressed t o civilians: most old people,women and children complied.Also, now, for the first time in thelong Pacific battle, Nip soldiers arecoming forward in numbers to sur-render (see photographs on next twopages). Previously an isolated Japmight give up, but rarely would agroup surrender together. Now, eventh at has happened-on Okinawa, onLuzon, on Guam. On one island re-cently a Jap doctor and 57 corpsmencame forward voluntarily.It may well be that the Nip is tak-ing heed of the caption he read on ablack and yellow leaflet that one dayfluttered at his feet:"KUMO ni KAKEHASHI."The literal translation of this is:"Don't rest your ladder against acloud." What it really means is:Brother, why don't you smarten up!AUGUST 1945

"NOW THAT AM ER IC AN FORCES are invading your island, your l ives are in danger," thetex t o f this one points out. "Beaches wi ll be bo mbe d and shelled in order t o weaken theJapanese Army and prepare for American troo p landings. However, bombs drop ped fro mplanes and shells from battleships may lan d anywhere. Civilians who remai n in coastal areaswill be destroyed . f you value your lives, follow these instructions . . I'

"SINCE DECEMBER 8, 1941, the United States has built more than 33,000,000 tons ofshipping," i s the message in this leaflet. "You who ar e on this island know how litt le ship-pi ng Japa n has. Since Decembe r 8, 1941, th e United States has built more than 171,000. planes. Yo u do no t have even enough planes t o protect you here . ome over to us."

"RECENTLY Rear Admira l Wal ter Hennecke, the Ge rman naval commander i n Normandy,was'captured b y Amer ican t roops . . . n W o r ld W a r I, Admiral Hennecke was in Britishhands tw o years,'' says th e text. "Yet, hi s record in both wars i s excellent. W e n o t e . . .the dif ference between Admi ral Hennecke's conduct and that o f Admira l Nag umo whocommitted suicide at Saipan. Of what value i s suicide when it leaves a man without sons?"25


28/84

Official U. S . Marine Corps photograph2OME ON IN, FELLOWS-the treatment i s fine, a Japaptured on Guam tell his die-hard comrades over loudpeaker, refuting Tokyo line that Yanks torture prisoners.


29/84

I ..-.-.--. - . -H e an d others were taken when their ship was sunk by sub.Official U .S. Navy photograph


30/84

RATION RULES FOR NAVAL PERSONNELProcedw res Sw mmarisedOn Gasoline, Shoes, FoodFor Those Long at SeaBecause most of the food, trans-

o rinto effect. This is especially tru eat sea o ras fo r long periods. Knowledgesome of these rul es can save timeit becomes neces-

o r from Navy cus-. The following brief summ ary

In general. Naval personnel are sub-o Office of Price Admin istra tion

travel. In the case of official

F o r m R-593, will beDriving while O:L leave. Naval per-

t o an automobileoff o r each day of leave upa maximum of 30 gallons. In orderobtain this gasoline it is necessary

(OPA Form4) fo r the automobile to'be used.Special cofivalescent rattom. *Naval

or injury acquired on ac-t o apply t o localt o cover travel to and from homeresort o r other place of recupera-

f t ransporta tion would mate-y aid in recovery. Lea er sd certification of cogniza calat time ofOficial travel. To obtain gasoline

o r change - of - station, whereOPA local boards but instead to93. These forms may be obtained

s issued. The issu ing officer isthe Acknowledgment of Delivery

forms including the name an d rank ofthe recipient and the make and li-cense number of the automobile t o bedriven. These forms ar e non-transfe r-able and must be used only by theperson t o whom issued.Temporary additional duty. In thecase of temporary additional duty, theauthority to trave l by p rivate automo-

bile must be granted by BuPers or bycommands authorized by BuPers to is-sue travel orders and must be con-tained in a separate paragraph in thebody of the orders. Exception to thisrule is made in the case of personnelreturni ng from duty afloat o r overseasin which such authorization may begranted by endorsement on the ordersby the commandant of the naval dis-trict to which such person returns..Change-of-station. In all cases ofpermanent change of station, author-ity to travel by private automobilemay be granted by endorsement on theapplicant's orders by the officer au-thorized to deliver such orders. Bow-ever personnel ordered to a newstation. for a short period of tempo-rary duty t o be followed by duty afloato r overseas ar e warned t hat no provi-sion is made either by OPA regula-tions o r Navy procedures f o r returningautomobiles t o place of regular resi-dence.

Home-to-work-driving. Navy per-sonnel assigned to shore duty in theUnited S tates and not quartered a ttheir station may apply t o local OPAboards for supplemental rations tocover driving between residence andpost of duty if a car-sharing plan hasbeen organized or if alternate meansof transportation are not available.

Miscellaneous driving. Naval per-sonnel may also apply to local boards

tion for transportation by privateautomobile. In the case of necessarychange-of-residence driving due t ochange of duty and where the trave lorders involved lack authorization fortransportation by private automobile,application may also be made t o localboards. In like manner, persons dis-charged from the naval service mayapply to local boards for rations toret urn home.Shoes

In general. Naval personnel maypurchase shoes from commercial shoestores by using coupons from OPARation Book Three, when they havethem, or by using shoe-purchase cer-tificates (Forms OPA R-1705-B) ob-tained from naval custodians.Clothing and small stores. No rationcoupons are required for shoes pur-chased from clothing and small stores

or from Army Quartermaster stores.Ship's service stores and post ex-changes. Ship's service stores ashoreand Army o r Marine Corps post ex-changes operate under rationing in th esame manner as commercial shoe deal-

ers and coupons or certificates are re-quired.Issuance of shoe certificates. Navalpersonnel who need shoes which theyexpect t o buy from commercial shoedealers may get the shoe certificateswhich they need from authorized navalcustodians. There is no inflexible ruleas t o the number of pairs of shoeswhich an individual may have, pro-vided he in fact needs them.Discharged personnel. Personnel al-ready discharged may not receive shoecertificates from naval custodians butinstead should, if they do not have aWar Ration Book Three, apply totheir local OPA board for reissue ofBook Three. The reissued Book Threewill contain two valid shoe stamps.Food

War Ration Book Four. Personnelare eligible to obtain War Ration BookFour or other ration currency withwhich t o acquire rationed foods fromtheir local board if they will reside inthe United States for a period of 60days o r more and are not subsistedo r authorized to be subsisted in a gen-eral mess and do not eat 14 o r moremeals a week at a general mess, o r-qanized mess o r other mess wherethe rationed foods used are acquiredby the use of ration checks issued bythe armed services.Special f ood rations. Personnel whodo not have and are hot eligible to re-ceive food ration books may obtaintemporary rations of rationed foodfrom a local board in three cases:(1) if they are on leave o r furloughfor a consecutive period of 72 hours o rmore and will eat at least one mealduring that time a t home o r at thehomes of relatives o r friends, o r(2) even though they ar e not onleave or furlough, they will eat atleast nine meals a month a t home ora t the homes of relatives or friends, or(3) they are temporarily in theUnited States and will eat a t leastnine meals a month at home o r at thehomes of relatives or friends. Appli-cations for temporary rations shouldbe made on S&A Form 570, which willbe filled out at the direction of thecommanding officer. If th is form isused, either the serviceman o r his hostmay present the application; other-wise, the serviceman must apply to thelocal board and explain the reason forhis failure t o have the application onS&A form 570.Navy personnel who are eligible t oreceive food ration books may applyt o the local board for additional ra-tion currency if their health requiresmore rationed foods than can be ob-tained with the books. The applicationmust contain a doctor's statementshowing why additional food is needed,the amount, and why unrationed foodscannot be substituted.Discharged Personnel

Persons discharged from the navalservice and not possessing OPA rationbooks may apply to OPA local boardsfor reissue of Book Three which con-tains shoe stamps and Book Fourwhich contains coupons for meats,sugar, butter and processed foods.

, ALL HANOS


31/84

NEW LIST OF BATTLE-STAR OPERATIONSA revised list of operations and en-gagements for which stars may beworn on area service ribbons has beenissued by Cominch. The new list(NDB, 30 June, 45-712) follows:

Asiatic-Pacific AreaPEA RL HARBOR-MIDWAY ( 7 Dec. 1941)WAKE ISLAN-D (8-23 Dec. 1 9 4 1 )PH lLI PPI NE ISLANDS OPERATIONIncluding concurrent Asiatic Fleetoperations (8 Dec. 1941-6 May 1942)NETHERLANDS EAST 1NDIES EN-GAGEM ENTS" (23 Jan.-27 Feb. 1942)Makassar Strait (23-24 Jan. 1942)Badoeng Strait (19-20 Feb. 1942)Ja va Se a ( 2 7 Feb. 19


32/84

ACONG TU ROAQ

t to be Tiedhen the uss Franklin was hit byJap suicide plane, the uss Hickoxt o rescue some sur-

k by fire. The destroyer alsoor forced t oAmong the men in the whale-

USNR,Irvin g Levine, S lc , both of Brook-They spied a man swimming ina line.Here, they shouted, tie yourselfthis line and well haul you in,!Im no sailor, growled the man inwater. Im a marine-and IThen, after a thoughtful pause, the. . . 2

Up FrontThe three Seabees volunteered toa bulldozer ashore on Okinawasa gas dump revetmentewhere up a t the front. They hit

assault waves. Ear l R. Leytham,USNR, was a t the wheel, whileUSNR, andUSNR, trudgedngside, their carbines a t theready.

M P tiredly waved them inland.Just head that way, mates, heSo they kept heading inland. AndAnd kept getting waved. Aft er they had gone quite a ways,t o aThere werent an y MPs around,

le. In fact, there werent anyat all. Ju st trees.The three Seabees wondered a bitt o keep going.What the hell, he bawled breath-Were supposed t o dig a gas, Leytham answered. WereI$ somewhere. . .

Front! yiped the marine. Upnear the front ! Why you idiots (Ed.Note: O r words to that effect.) youjust passed the last advance scoutingparties about 20 0 yards back!Mutual Admiration Society

Heres what flyers think of sa ilors. . and vice versa:Shot down off Ahami Shima, 1st Lt.Junie Lohan, USMCR,was picked up bya light warship. He was drying outin the wardroom over a cup of jamokewhen genera l quar ters sounded. Heskipped topside and found the ladssomewhat engaged in beating of f J a psuicide planes. Trying to ea rn hisroom and board, Lohan went to thebridge and helped out on identificationuntil the tiny ship was mortallywounded by four suicide hits. Into alanding craft piled crew survivors, Lt.Lohan with them.When they all had reached eventualsafety, you couldnt get the Marineflyer t o talk about anything exceptthe bravery of the sailors with whomhe had worked side by side in thosewild minutes aboard the ill-fated res-

cue ship. He was most impressed bythe way they stayed a t their gunmounts in the face of attack afterattack.They didnt even duck, he saidwith awed admiration. They jus tkept on firing. Boy, theyve got moreguts than I have!But, on the other hand . . .Off Okinawa, an underwater explo-sion blew the PGM 18 four feet outof the water and she sank withinthree minutes.As survivors struggled dazedly inthe water, combat air patrol flyersdipped low over them and droppedtheir own lifejackets and a rubber

life boat into the surf. Aided by thismanna-like life-saving equipment, thesurvivors m an ap d t n stav afloat until- - - - - - ~picked up by minesweepers.Imagine that, said Lt. Cyril Bay-ly, USNR, Clearwater. Fla.. the PGMsskipper, after he had been picked up.Imagine those fellows dropping thatequipment t o us when they didntknow how soon they might be need-ing it desperately themselves. M m ,thats guts! I never saw such sheerguts!Among M y Souvenirs .. .

On night picket duty off the en-trance t o Nakagusuku Wan-nowBucl;ner Bay-on Okinawas ea stcoast, the crew of L C I ( G ) 82 spied anenemy Kate afloat on the water. Theplane sank quickly in their blast ofgunfire. Then they turned their at-tention t o a life raft bearing threecrewmen from the J ap bomber. Thegunboat skipper, Lt. ( j z ) TheodoreArnow, USNR, of the Bronx, N. Y.,hoped to capture them, but one pulleaa hand grenade and all three werekilled.The riddled ra f t was hauled aboardthe little gunboat as a souvenir.It was, however, destined for morethan just a dusty resting place onsome mantlepiece. Minutes aft er thegunboat had sunk the plane, an enemysuicide boat bore down at high speedand hit the U. S. craft just forwardof the conning tower. Holes were tornin he r side and deck; fires were startedin two fuel tanks; and the craft listeddangerously. Lt. Arnow ordered theship abandoned.The executive officer, Lt. (jg) Shel-don A. Briggs, USNR, of Cambridge,Mass., helped wounded men over theside and then, looking about for some-thing t o help keep him afloat, spottedthe Jap raft. He snatched it up fromthe deck, bulged it under his arm toform an air pocket and jumped in.He was followed by Lt. Arnow andRaymond R. Haut, Slc, USNR, of WestView, Pa., and the three of them,lending a hand at the same time toone of the wounded men, Alonzo Car-me1 Vigil, Slc, USNR, of Bueyeros,N. M., who had been lowered over theside in a life jacket, clung to thesouvenir raft for 20 minutes untilrescued.

ALL UAIYDS


33/84

-The high trees, Lt. Flint quicklyand rightly figured, prevented success-ful low-level bombing or strafing at-tacks on the Jap craft, and the chanceof wasting a bomb from high leveldidn't seem worthwhile. Yet theMariner pilot didn't want to let thecraft go unscathed.For a moment, he pursed his lipsand knitted his brows in thoupht . . .then, his decision made, he dipped hiswings, wheeled his plane and set thehuge flying boat down on the calmseas. Taxiing back and forth, muchthe same as a bombarding warship,Lt. Flint let his aircrew gunners goto work.In no time at all, the plane's ma-chine-gun fire sank both the barge andthe tug. Eas y victor in this strang

Documents

All Hands Naval Bulletin - Aug 1945