Posted on 05/27/2022 8:12:14 AM PDT by Jacquerie
Where our Sailors Rest.
“If you ever want to sleep with a blonde again, you had better shoot down these bastards as soon as they come up” – a destroyer captain motivates his exhausted crew shortly before a kamikaze attack. The sea-battle toll for Okinawa that ended on June 21st 1945 was 36 U.S. warships sunk and 368 damaged. Almost 5,000 sailors were killed in action and another 5,000 wounded.
War naturally conjures images of courageous infantrymen. Gettysburg, Flanders Fields and not the Coral Sea or Leyte Gulf.
Too often forgotten are the heroic Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine sailors felled at sea. It’s understandable; there are no battlefield memorials, no marked graves, no poppies, no flags. Presidents and dignitaries visit Normandy and not Midway or Iron Bottom Sound. Few are the photo memoirs of engineering room slaughter-by-steam, of those who inhaled fire, of those blown overboard, of those who survived the battle only to die of burns, thirst, or sharks.
Hoses washed the remains of many off their ships. Some had proper burials. Did boot camp recruits know their Navy-issue hammocks did double duty as burial shrouds? I don’t know, but should your Memorial Day weekend find you on an Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico beach, you are graveside. Take time to say a few words of thanks.
To those who sleep in the sea.
“Russians Incoming”
The orders for our sailors and airmen in the Pacific during WWII was “Attack, Attack, Attack!”. We should’ve and should be following those orders no matter what.
The Merchant Marine got a bad rap during WW II. Some of that was because Merchant Marine crews were paid more than regular Navy sailors. So there was resentment.
However, it’s also true that during WW II the Merchant Marine suffered a higher casualty rate than any of the armed services.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/merchant-marine-worst-losses-wwii/
Bomber pilots over Europe suffered horrible loses.
In total, the 8th Air Force lost over 26,000 men. An additional 28,000 men became prisoners of war. Aircraft losses were also grim: 10, 561 planes of varying types were shot down, 4754 of those were B-17 heavy bombers. The 390th Bomb Group lost 176 of its 275 assigned aircrafts.
More Sailors died at Guadalcanal than the Marines and Army ashore.
Bomber pilots over Europe suffered horrible loses.
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Total losses both theaters 70,000 KIA
One might also remember all the thousands of Commercial Fishermen lost at sea to feed everyone.
Love that hymn.
True
My late uncle was a marine at Guadalcanal. He related his experience there, including watching his childhood buddy get killed right next to him and then getting wounded himself, recuperating, and being shipped off to Bougainville to fight there.
The surface navy is the last place I’d want to be when the shtf.
Beautiful hymn.
-Proud daughter of a 28-year Navy vet. R.I.P., Dad.
Wow. What a strong, courageous and humble generation that was. Huge respect and gratitude for your uncle and those who served with him.
My Uncle was a marine in WW2. I don’t know where he fought because he refused to ever talk about. But he was in Marine Division One.
The US has been fortunate to keep its Marine corps. It has always been ready to fight. At times the US Army was so bad... like at the beginning of Korea US troops couldn’t field strip a Garand.
Though the woke rot is setting in on the Marines too.
That’s why we needed the Abomb 🤪
RIP and God bless sailor.
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