Posted on 05/27/2019 7:58:31 AM PDT by artichokegrower
At 23:00 on June 22nd, 1945, the general alarm bell was sounded onboard the USS Halloran, a 289 ft. United States Evarts class destroyer escort (DE). She was sailing escort duty near the Ie Shima Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, supporting the invasion of Okinawa Island, and had been under constant aerial attack for weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at gcaptain.com ...
Well said and thanks to all.
prayers for all those upon the seas
Incredible story. Thanks for posting...
My dad spent a few years on one of those during the war
My Dad was at the Battle of Okinawa and Normandy aboard an LST as the gunner’s mate. He had his own meeting with destiny the time when there was a “hot gun” situation where the shell was jammed in the barrel. In a combat situation, it had to be taken out before it exploded and destroyed the gun — and that was the gunner’s mate’s responsibility.
At one time he pulled the shell out and it exploded right after he threw it over the side.
He also told us kids, “If you weren’t scared, you weren’t there.”
Manuel, I spent a couple years aboard the destroyer Turner Joy.
And I also remember being on a midshipman’s cruise aboard a classic GEARING class destroyer 885, the USS John R. Craig. It was a gallant ship with four boilers and four engine rooms — only 390 feet long.
And the ship could do 35 knots through the water — incredible speed for a small ship. When I was there for a summer cruise, they had the ASROC nuclear depth charge missiles onboard.
It was a great indoctrination to the Navy. We lived with the crew and it was a very exciting time. Paid a visit to Pearl Harbor, some sea stories to tell... This is before the Zumwalt era. Sailors were wearing cracker jack uniforms with their ships’ names tailored onto their upper arms at the shoulder seam.
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