Posted on 12/28/2006 9:33:44 AM PST by neverdem
FOR Americans under a certain age, Gerald Ford is best remembered for his contribution to Bartlett’s — “Our long national nightmare is over” — or, more likely, for the comedian Chevy Chase’s stumbling, bumbling impersonations of him on “Saturday Night Live.” But there’s a different label we can attach to this former president, one that has been overlooked for 62 years: war hero.
In 1944, Lt. j.g. Jerry Ford — a lawyer from Grand Rapids, Mich., blond and broad-shouldered, with the lantern jaw of a young Johnny Weissmuller — was a 31-year-old gunnery officer on the aircraft carrier Monterey. The Monterey was a member of Adm. William Halsey’s Third Fleet, and in mid-December, Lieutenant Ford was sailing off the Philippines as Admiral Halsey’s ships provided air cover for the second phase of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s “I shall return” Philippine invasions.
The Monterey had earned more than half a dozen battle stars for actions in World War II; during the battle of Leyte Gulf, Lieutenant Ford, in charge of a 40-millimeter antiaircraft gun crew on the fantail deck, had watched as a torpedo narrowly missed the Monterey and tore out the hull of the nearby Australian cruiser Canberra. Two months later, in the early morning hours of Dec. 18, the Japanese were the least of the Monterey’s worries, as it found itself trapped in a vicious Pacific cyclone later designated Typhoon Cobra.
Lieutenant Ford had served as the Monterey’s officer of the deck on the ship’s midnight-to-4-a.m. watch, and had witnessed the lashing rains and 60-knot winds whip the ocean into waves that resembled liquid mountain ranges. The waves reeled in from starboard, gigantic sets of dark water that appeared to defy gravity, cresting at 40 to 70 feet. In his 18 months at sea, Lieutenant Ford had never seen waves...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
AS a sidelight to this story I thought Halsey was cut alot of slack in his career. His behavior in the two typhoon incidents and the Leyte would have gotten any other admiral short of Nimitz sacked.
I am coming to believe that great commanders require three things. Great staff officers, good luck, and a superb public relations staff to issue communiques.
Spruance and Mitscher were superb but didn't given a damn the cameras or newspapers.
Thank you, Chevy Chase. You did the bidding of the MSM at the time and made a caricature of our President. You were well rewarded by a successful TV and movie career - all initially built on fame from making a laughingstock of the President, by perpetuating a false image of Gerald Ford as a bumbling fool.
It ended in 1981.
Good catch! I didn't see that. Yep, that can't be USS Independence in 1944. It must be mislabled on this site: http://www.cvl-22.com/pics2.html
(third row down - last picture.)
I believe most Essex-class carriers had catapaults by the end of WWII.
http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/photolibrary/index.php?cat=1292
In drawing up the preliminary design for USS Essex (CV-9), particular attention was directed at the size of both her flight and hangar decks. Aircraft design had come a long way from the comparatively light planes used in carriers during the 1930s. Flight decks now required more takeoff space for the heavier fighters and bombers being developed. Most of the first-line carriers of the pre-war years were equipped with flush deck catapults, but owing to the speed and size of these ships very little catapulting was done?except for experimental purposes.
With the advent of war, airplane weights began to go up as armor and armament got heavier; crew size aboard the planes also increased. By the war?s end in 1945, catapult launchings would become more common under these circumstances with some carrier commanding officers reporting that as much as 40% of launchings were effected by the ships? catapults.
Frank Sutton "Sgt. Carter" of Gomer Pyle-- 19 amphibious landings in the Pacific theatre.
So its just the name, Canberra, that is unlucky...
Yes, All Essex class carriers had hydraulic catapults during WW II. Six early members of the class also had hanger deck level catapults (Yorktown, Intrepid, Hornet, Franklin, Bunker Hill and Wasp). These were determined to be not particularly useful and omitted in others of the class.
Thanks to Peanut Boy.
Agreed. See my #18.
Yes, sorry. I usually try to read the whole post to avoid things like that.
My cousin told me ships as yours made extreme noise duing one of the storms he was in. apparently after dropping off waves.
This line from the NYT says a lot about the man President Ford was. May he rest in peace.
Hell yes. Rest in peace Mr. President.
It wasn't just Chevy Chase. Every chance the media got they got they blinded Pres. Ford with the Kleig? lights and then he'd (understandably) end up tripping over some cable taped to the floor, threshhold, hatch opening, etc.
There were probably months of footage of him not stumbling or tripping or bumping his head on the cutting room floor.
(Future President ) Gerald Ford, Second from right front row...
Note Catapults 
USS Monterey
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