|
Posted on 02/27/2004 4:34:22 AM PST by snippy_about_it
|
|
 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
|
| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
|
 Nunquam Non Paratus: Never Unprepared by Randolph J. Hils "Nunquam Non Paratus" the Latin translates to "Never Unprepared." Nunquam Non Paratus was the motto of the 440th Troop Carrier Group of the 9th Troop Carrier Command of the 9th Air Force in WWII. It was a standard to live up to, a call to arms of unarmed warriors. The 440th Troop Carrier Group was tested time and again over the battlefields of Europe in WWII. The group participated in the invasions of Normandy, Southern France, and Holland; the battles for Mortain, Bastogne, and finally OPERATION VARSITY, the Rhine Crossing. In between the major campaigns the group fielded hundreds of other missions to dirt strips, too many to remember. Many had no name, only the official number designations dotting the map of Europe. The first test was the D-Day, Normandy, June 6, 1944 mission code-named OPERATION NEPTUNE. For the 440th, the path to Normandy was a long one. The Troop Carrier Group was formed on July 1, 1943 and the following eleven months were dedicated to learning and practicing a specialized form of combat flying, the delivery and re-supply of airborne troops by parachute and glider behind enemy lines. It was called airborne assault, "vertical envelopment" or the third dimension of warfare, regarded by many to have been the most important development of tactics in the 20th Century. To America, struggling to gear up for war, it was a new tactic, the troop carrier and their airborne comrades pioneered the development in an evolutionary series of missions that would forever prove its worth.  A troop carrier pilot's specialized training, low level "contour" combat flying, towing gliders, and dropping airborne warriors set them apart from the Air Transport Command who operated the same type aircraft but whose mission was primarily freight and passenger transport outside the combat zone. The distinctive training in the airborne arts of accurately dropping paratroopers, supplies, towing gliders by twos and retrieving them in flight took months of intensive training for pilots and crews. A new and lethal weapon was being forged. The troop carrier crews do not seem to have been envied in their missions by their fellow 9th Air Force fighter or bomber crews. Their missions were predominantly flown in the twin engine Douglas C-47 Skytrain, the military adaptation of the DC-3 airliner. Having no cabin pressurization or oxygen systems in an era of primitive weather forecasting, the troop carrier pilots had to learn quickly how to gauge and fly in weather. Restricted in altitude they didn't have the luxury of being able to get above the weather and flew through, often underneath the storm. The C-47's lacked the standard features of other tactical aircraft, self-sealing fuel tanks, armor plating or defensive weapons.  The missions were executed at altitudes and speeds considered suicidal by other combat pilots. Generally the troop carrier would execute their attack at 700 feet at night and 500 feet by day, at speeds between 100 and 125 miles per hour. Alternative targeting, common to bombing missions when targets were too overcast to strike, were not an option in airborne doctrine. The airborne troop carrier strike missions, flown over or into enemy positions made them easy targets for small arms and anti-aircraft fire from the ground. P-47 Thunderbolts would attempt to clear the path ahead by silencing the enemy anti-aircraft guns. In the air, if unprotected by covering fighters they were easy prey for enemy fighters. Conversely what the C-47 lacked it, made up in some measure on these missions by its supremely rugged durability. Often horrendously shot up and damaged planes would straggle in after a mission landing more or less safely.  Battle damage to "Sweet Phyllis" serial # 42-100937, 98th Squadron, 440th TCG. OPERATION MARKET GARDEN, the invasion of Holland, September 1944. Pilot, Amos E. Waage, Co-pilot, David De Cou, Crew Chief Wilfred G. Schumn. A 37MM shell explodes in the navigator's compartment. Mission completed, two wounded paratroopers returned to England. Photo from 440th TCG Association archive. The bulk of initial training took place at the giant Airborne and Troop Carrier training base at Alliance, Nebraska through the summer and fall of 1943. Stateside training for the 440th TCG culminated in weeks of combined exercises with the 17th and 82nd Airborne in North Carolina in January of 1944. Pilots, crews and planes were pushed to their absolute limits on night missions fatigue rose and the flying was dangerous as many near misses were recorded. The group departed for an arduous overseas flight to England that would take in total, eighty some hours of flying time, over several days, often at night and through weather to avoid detection. The group took the southern Atlantic route through the Caribbean to South America across to Ascension Island in the middle of the Atlantic, then on to Africa before the final destination, England.  The 440th TCG was one of several that, having completed training in the states, was moved to England for staging and further training for the inevitable invasion of Europe. Lt. General Lewis Brereton commanding the 9th Air Force and General James Gavin of the 82nd Airborne Division made a joint decision to hold a number of the new troop carrier groups in the southern U.S. over the winter of 1943 and 44. They recognized that weather in the South was far more conducive for training than the limited British weather. In England the 440th was joined by, other troop carrier groups from the Mediterranean Theater as well as other new groups who arrived from the states. Mediterranean units had seen combat in North. Africa, Italy and Sicily, together the groups would constitute the 9th Troop Carrier Command of the 9th Air Force. Col. Frank X. Krebs commanded the 440th. Krebs was a regular Army Air Force officer whose flying career began in 1929. When Krebs joined the Group at its formation he had logged over 3700 hours as a pilot. Time and again on tough missions Krebs' experience would serve the group well and make a measurable difference between success and disaster.  Maj. Howard Cannon, co-pilot, Col. Robert L. Wolverton, CO, 3rd Bn., 506th PIR, and Col. Frank X. Krebs, pilot, 440th CO, prior to boarding the "STOY HORA", # 292717 on June 5, 1944. Mission, OPERATION NEPTUNE, the Normandy Invasion. Courtesy of Christine Krebs Goyer Supplanting Krebs' leadership and experience were a cadre of former airline captains that were sprinkled throughout the troop carrier training and combat commands. It was a natural progression for the Army Air Force Reserve pilots employed by the airlines to be called on to help form, train and lead in troop carrier in that they had long experience flying the DC-3, the civilian version of the C-47. Troop Carrier units benefited from the experience they bought with them in the form of advanced weather flying, something the AAF did not put into standard practice until mid 1943. The airline captains were arguably the best and most experienced twin engine pilots in the country when the war began. In a 1995 letter, Krebs wrote of the value of these men in his command.  The Commanders: L-R Lt. Col. Bascome L. Neal, 98th Squadron, Lt. Col. Jack S. Southard, 97th Squadron, Col. Frank X. Krebs, CO, 440th Troop Carrier Group Lt. Col. george M. Johnson, Jr., 96th Squadron, Lt. Col Irving G. Anderson, 95th Squadron As the English winter fought to keep it's grip in the early months of 1944 the 440th began another series of exercises with airborne units in England that culminated in OPERATION EAGLE the final full scale dress rehearsal for the airborne assault on Normandy. June 4, 1944 came and went with the postponement of the invasion because of the weather. At Exeter, their base in southwest England the aircrews of the 440th waited along with the paratroopers for the orders to launch the mission. For the pilots and crews briefings were held, aerial reconnaissance photos were studied closely as ground crews worked overtime to prepare the planes for the mission. The paratroopers of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne and elements of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion were sequestered in closely guarded compounds on the base. Finally, June 5th they received the orders to proceed to their planes, the mission was on. The waiting and long months of training were over. In the waning daylight hours of the long days of British Double Summer Time paratroopers began loading aboard the 440th Troop Carrier Group planes at Exeter.  Col. Robert L. Wolverton, CO and the Headquarters stick of the 3rd Battalion, 506th PIR prepare to board the "STOY HORA", aircraft # 292717 on the evening of June 5, 1944, Exeter, England. The plane is lead ship, chalk #1 of the 440th Troop Carrier Group, piloted by Col. Frank X. Krebs, 440th TCG Commanding Officer. Boarding Krebs' aircraft along with the 3rd Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Robert L. Wolverton and his headquarters stick was, Ward Smith a "News of the World" War Correspondent who would record the mission in his news article, "I Saw Them Jump to Destiny." Another notable group boarding one of the 440th planes was the Filthy 13, an elite demolitions and sabotage squad. The legendary Filthy 13 are thought to be the inspiration for E.M. Nathanson's novel and movie, The Dirty Dozen.  Cpl. Joseph Oleskiewicz of the "Filthy 13" prior to boarding chalk # 21 of the 440th TCG, Exeter, England, June 5, 1944 At 11:50 PM, June 5, 1944, the heavily loaded C-47s of the 440th TCG began lifting off the runways at Exeter. Slung on the underbellies of the aircraft were six bundles of "parapacks", containers to be parachuted along with the troops. Many contained heavy weapons, ammunition and high explosives if hit by enemy fire guaranteed catastrophic results. Once the Group's planes were airborne and in formation Col. Frank Krebs pointed his lead plane in the direction of other troop carrier groups heading to marshalling points. Timing was critical, to bring the units together from their bases scattered over the midlands and southern England into position at exactly the right place. Carefully timed as an intricate ballet each aircraft in each squadron of each group had an assigned place within the V of V formations, each squadron a place within the group, each group an assigned place in the massive formation. This facilitated delivery of paratroop units in order specified. Each V was nine planes wide comprised of three flights of three aircraft.  The 440th launched 45 aircraft of its four squadrons, the 95th, 96th, 97th and 98th Troop Carrier Squadrons. They made up the last serial of many required to deliver the 101st Airborne Division into three drop zones. As scheduled in the orders the 440th joined the massive formation of 821 C-47s that carried more than 13,000 paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions into Normandy. The 440th's destination, DZ (drop zone) D, southwest of Ste Marie Du-Mont, forever after known as " the Bloody DZ." Unbeknownst to Frank Krebs and his pilots a series of obstacles threatened to undo the carefully laid plans of the air assault. At the lead of the great raid were the planes and paratroopers of the elite Pathfinder units whose mission was to mark the drop zones with lights and radio beacons to guide the oncoming C-47s of the giant main formation. A thick fog and enemy contact however prevented some of the Pathfinders from completely fulfilling their missions all though they were close enough to the desired drop zones to, in most cases set up either the lights, radio beacons or both.  Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne marching to their assigned aircraft of the 440th Troop Carrier, based at Exeter, England, June 5, 1942 in preparation for the Normandy Invasion. Looming ahead a massive cloudbank formed out of a rising ground fog scattered many of the formations ahead as pilots were forced into separation procedures to avoid collisions in the dense clouds in the dark of night. SHAEF, (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces) had failed to provide contingencies in the orders for a weather encounter and the orders mandated strict radio silence. Weather data for Normandy indicated that during June, low clouds appeared three out of every four nights. This serious planning error set the stage for the break up of many of the troop carrier's carefully planned formations. A weather plane sent ahead would have been able to send a coded message on weather conditions to the oncoming formations, the mission routed safely around the obstacle. As it was the pilots did not know what lay ahead. The formation headed into the night southwest, out into the English Channel on an indirect course. It brought the attacking troop carrier force over the Cotentin Peninsula of France from the windward side, flying 500 feet off the water to avoid German radar and flying a precarious 100 feet between their wingtips. The 440th first came under fire as they passed the Guernsey Islands but it was without effect as they were out of range of the German guns. The coast of France was now visible, the planes gained altitude to prepare for the drop. On Krebs' aircraft correspondent, Ward Smith noted, "The land slid by, silent and gray. And still nothing happened. Some of the paratroopers chorused "Put that pistol down Momma," and "For Me and My Girl." The peninsula was roughly 20 miles wide and at the cruising speed of 140 mph the planes would be back over the Channel waters on the leeward side in less than ten minutes. Those critical ten minutes became a lifetime to most of the airmen and the paratroopers. The planes of the 440th sped on into the dark night  Frank Krebs quickly recognized the hazardous cloud that broke up many formations of troop carrier groups that preceded the 440th. According to Bill Quick, Krebs' radio operator as well as Captain Don Orcutt, a 95th Squadron Flight Leader, Krebs quickly changed altitude bringing the 440th down under the dangerous cloud formation. His plane was the only aircraft in the serial that was equipped with radar and receivers that picked up the radio signals sent by the Pathfinders on the drop zones. In utter dependence on their leader, pilots following did so by visual contact with the dim blue formation lights on each aircraft, visible only from behind or above, they marked the tops of the wings and fuselages of the planes. Most of his pilots stayed with Krebs maintaining the formation. It was in the last six miles before DZ D that the 440th came under concentrations of flak, machine gun and small arms fire. The ride got rougher as hits and near misses damaged and buffeted the aircraft. Winds gusted from twenty to thirty knots, far in excess of 15 knots wind speed considered safe for combat jumps. In concert with heavy anti-aircraft fire the German defenders unleashed bright search lights and phosphorus flares, illuminating the targeted planes, the bright lights blinding some of the pilots by destroying their precious night vision.  Within two miles of DZ D, Flight Leader Captain Donald M. Orcutt caught the flash of a bright explosion off to his right. He would later conclude that the moment marked the point that the "DONNA MAE" piloted by 1st Lt. Ray B. Pullen suffered catastrophic damage. "He must have put up a terrific struggle to keep the airplane in the air. Otherwise how does one explain the aircraft coming to earth 20 miles north of the DZ." One only need imagine the extent of the damage that would prevent any of the crew or paratroopers from escaping from the burning plane in the last desperate miles. The French that witnessed the plane go down near Magneville said that it appeared that the pilot made last a ditch effort to clear farm buildings before the ill-fated crash that claimed the lives of all the crew and paratroops aboard.  In the final miles to the DZ the 440th lost two more planes to enemy fire, both crashed into the English Channel. According to Missing Air Crew Reports recently located in USAF files, plane # 914, piloted by 2nd Lt. Alton R. Keller, 96th Squadron, was able to drop the troopers aboard his plane accurately on the DZ. Out over the Channel pilot Arthur Douglass witnessed the final moments of # 914. He watched helplessly as the ill-fated plane lost altitude with one engine dead and the other on fire. Though he saw some parachutes, he later learned that 2nd. Lt. Keller and his crew perished in the crash into the Bay of the Seine. The report on the other aircraft, plane # 733 shed new light on exactly what happened aboard this aircraft. Damaged by anti-aircraft fire the pilots struggled for control of the aircraft. The pilot missed dropping troops on the first pass on DZ D. Out over the Channel the Jumpmaster, 2nd Lt. Floyd R. Johnston requested that the pilot, 2nd Lt. William H. Zeunar make another pass on the drop zone. Heading back over the coast the ill-fated craft again came under fire, probably from shore batteries. This time around the an engine erupted in flames and the aircraft was quickly going out of control and losing altitude. In a steep dive four of the paratroopers were successful in a struggle against the G-forces and exited the plane, one was Jumpmaster Johnston who broke his arm and was eventually returned to his unit. Another trooper was captured by the Germans and two lucky paratroopers who got out of the plummeting plane landed in waist deep water off of Pointe-Du-Hoc. When the Rangers made their assault on Pointe-Du-Hoc later in the early morning the two troopers joined the Rangers and the two 101st men fought over the next days along side the Rangers. This night luck abandoned the bulk of the 3rd Battalion of the 506th. Because of the area and its close proximity to key points, the Germans had anticipated the use as a drop zone by the invaders. As such it was ringed with heavy concentrations of troops, search lights, machine guns and flak wagons. As the planes flew over, the light signal passed from plane to plane for the 3rd Battalion to jump. The Germans ignited a farm building that had been soaked in fuel. The resulting fire lit up the drop zone, silhouetting the soft gray underbellies of the C-47s and the parachutists against the dark sky. It was 1:40 AM, June 6, 1944.  Correspondent Smith recorded the moment of the jump for posterity, "I wish I could play up that moment, but there was nothing to indicate that this was the supreme climax. Just a whistling that lasted for a few seconds - and those men, so young, so brave, had gone to their destiny. I'd expected them to whoop battle-cries, to raise the roof in that last fateful moment. But not one of them did. They just stepped silently out into the red night, leaving behind only the echo of the songs they had been singing." Smith was unaware of the ensuing massacre that began minutes later. The "Bloody DZ'" claimed the lives of Wolverton and the bulk of the ill-fated battalion. Lt. Col. Robert L. Wolverton was killed, as many of his men were on the parachute descent or while struggling to free themselves of their chutes. Another serious hindrance to survival their weapons were broken down and encased for the jump. Some of his men landed in the bivouac of Russian mercenaries who quickly gunned them down with machine pistols or hacked them to death with knives.  It seems almost incomprehensible now that the American paratroopers were not equipped with a quick release device to enable them to shed their harnesses quickly when they landed. Such devices were already in use among German and British airborne forces. The lack of this simple device left paratroopers to either cut themselves from the harness straps or to cut the risers and shed the harness later. Otherwise a man could fumble for many tense minutes trying to undo the buckles of the chute harness.  When things turned bad, they were quick to turn to worse if a trooper landed in water or in close proximity to the enemy and many did. To free oneself from the harness became a life and death struggle. Though the field orders directed the pilots to drop their troops "with in the combat area" should the drop zone be missed on the first run, pilots in many groups made multiple passes at great hazard in an attempt to put their troops on target. Some of them paid with their lives and the lives of their crews. Slowing to the drop speed of 110 mph 1st Lt. Arthur Douglass of the 96th Troop Carrier Squadron fought to keep his heavily overloaded plane from stalling. He had given his green light in the cabin, the signal to the troopers to jump, but the crew chief informed him that the unit malfunctioned and the DZ passed away quickly, his troops still on board. Douglass turned his plane around for a second pass into the hell of DZ D. Coming under heavy fire on the run in, flak smashed through the cockpit. On this pass Douglass gave a verbal signal to the crew chief and he yelled for the troops to jump. Eleven troopers exited quickly only for the twelfth man to be hit setting off a grenade he was carrying. The blast knocked the remaining men to the floor of the plane. The unfortunate trooper fell in the doorway of the plane blocking the exit. The pilot remained undaunted, as the DZ slipped away a second time, again Douglass turned the C-47 around for a third pass into the now withering ground fire of the German guns that sought to stop the single assualt by the lone C-47. On the third pass the troopers were still in no position to jump. As he turned over the flooded area near DZ D Douglass and his crew reported coming under attack from a fighter that had lined up behind him, firing it's machine guns into his plane. Douglass threw his plane into a dive for zero altitude, the screaming engines of the C-47 were at maximum power as Arthur Douglass wove and twisted to shake the fighter doing so as they sped out over water. His instrument panel wrecked, the fuselage riddled with damage and his hydraulic systems gone, Arthur Douglass turned his war weary C-47 toward England and a hazardous journey home. 1st Lt. Douglass was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his daring one plane raid.  Wounded be off loaded at Exeter, England, June 6, 1944. These men were among the first casualties of the Normandy Invasion. Back at Exeter the ground crews and support personnel sweated out the return of their comrades. As the planes returned the men and medical personnel on the ground looked for the red flares that would signal wounded aboard. They were among the first casualties of the invasion though the 440th would suffer many more in the hazardous D-plus re-supply missions ahead.  As pilots and crews were debriefed and given a stiff jolt of alcohol to calm the nerves the damaged planes were given over to the waiting ground crews to prepare them for the next missions that would surely come with the daylight.  Later the group learned the incredible story of another of their pilots, who, flying on temporary assignment with the 439th TCG for Normandy, earned the DFC for his actions at DZ C. The plane was badly crippled and flying on one engine. Pilot Lt. Russell Hennicke negotiated the trip home sometimes just a few feet above the Channel waters as he struggled to keep his ship in the air. Without hydraulics and brakes Hennicke landed the C-47 at another field on an emergency landing. Unable to stop he crashed through a bomb dump before finally coming to rest. He and his crew counted themselves among the lucky that day. For their actions 440th Troop Carrier Group earned the Distinguished (Presidential) Unit Citation for the Normandy missions. The elation of a job well done turned bitter sweet though, when the news of the fate of the men of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was learned. The greatest testament to the Group's performance that night came from the Commander of the 101st Airborne Pathfinders on the ground, Captain Frank Lillyman, "Credit should be given to the 440th and 441st Groups of Troop Carrier Command. Using radar only, and no lights because of tenuous position, forty-seven aircraft delivered their personnel to the intended DZ. This totaled more than the other two drop zones combined."  In the months to come the 440th earned seven battle stars. Dropping critical supplies to the surrounded defenders of Bastogne the Group suffered heavy losses. They delivered millions of pounds of supplies and fuel to the front lines, participated in all the major airborne campaigns and evacuated thousands of wounded troops and liberated prisoners of war. Their success as combat airmen was not gauged by the number of enemy killed, rather the number of lives they saved, daring to go to war, unarmed. Rightfully the men of the 440th Troop Carrier group could claim that they had done their duty, "Never Unprepared." The motto and legacy lives on in the present with the 440th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve.       |
Cessna C-195 (About my favorite airplane!)
Today's classic ship, USS Missouri (BB-63)
Iowa class battleship
displacement. 45,000 t.
length. 887'3"
beam. 108'2"
draft. 28'11"
speed. 33 k.
complement. 2,800
armament. 9 16", 20 5"
The USS Missouri (BB-B3), the last battleship completed by the United States, was laid down 6 January 1941 by New York Naval Shipyard; launched 29 January 1944; sponsored by Miss Margaret Truman, daughter of then Senator from Missouri Harry S Truman, later President; and commissioned 11 June 1944, Capt. William M. Callaghan in command.
After trials off New York and shakedown and battle practice in Chesapeake Bay, Missouri departed Norfolk 11 November 1944, transited the Panama Canal 18 November and steamed to San Francisco for final fitting out as fleet flagship. She stood out of San Francisco Bay 14 December and arrived Ulithi, West Caroline Islands, 13 January 1945. There she was temporary headquarters ship for Vice Adm. Marc A, Mitscher. The battleship put to sea 27 January to serve in the screen of the Lexington carrier task group of Mitscher's TF 58, and on 16 February her flattops launched the first airstrikes against Japan since the famed Doolittle raid that had been launched from carrier Hornet in April 1942.
Missouri then steamed with the carriers to Iwo Jima where her Mighty guns provided direct and continuous support to the invasion landings begun 19 February. After TF 58 returned to Ulithi 5 March, Missouri was assigned to the Yorktown carrier task group. On 14 March Missouri departed Ulithi in the screen of the fast carriers and steamed to the Japanese mainland. During strikes against targets along the coast of the Inland Sea of Japan beginning 18 March, Missouri splashed four Japanese aircraft.
Raids against airfields and naval bases near the Inland Sea and southwestern Honshu continued. Wasp, crashed by an enemy suicide plane 19 March, resumed flight operations within an hour. Two bombs penetrated the hangar deck and decks aft of carrier Franklin, leaving her dead in the water within 50 miles of the Japanese mainland. Cruiser Pittsburgh took Franklin in tow until she gained speed to 14 knots. Missouri's carrier task group provided cover for Franklin's retirement toward Ulithi until 22 March, then set course for preinvasion strikes and bombardment of Okinawa.
Missouri joined the fast battleships of TF 58 in bombarding the southeast coast of Okinawa 24 March, an action intended to draw enemy strength from the west coast beaches that would be the actual site of invasion landings. Missouri rejoined the screen of the carriers as Marine and Army units stormed the shores of Okinawa on the morning of 1 April. Planes from the carriers shattered a special Japanese attacking force led by battleship Yamato 7 April. Yamato, the world's largest battlewagon, was sunk, as were a cruiser and a destroyer. Three other enemy destroyers were heavily damaged and scuttled. Four remaining destroyers, sole survivors of the attacking fleet, were damaged and retired to Sasebo.
On 11 April Missouri opened fire on a low-flying suicide plane which penetrated the curtain of her shells to crash just below her main deck level. The starboard wing of the plane was thrown far forward, starting a gasoline fire at 5-inch Gunmount No. 3. Yet the battleship suffered only superficial damage, and the fire was brought quickly under control.
About 2305 on 17 April, Missouri detected an enemy submarine 12 miles from her formation. Her report set off a hunter-killer operation by carrier Bataan and four destroyers which sank Japanese submarine I-56.
Missouri was detached from the carrier task force off Okinawa 5 May and sailed for Ulithi. During the Okinawa campaign she had shot down five enemy planes, assisted in the destruction of six others, and scored one probable kill. She helped repel 12 daylight attacks of enemy raiders and fought off four night attacks on her carrier task group. Her shore bombardment destroyed several gun emplacements and many other military, governmental, and industrial structures.
Missouri arrived Ulithi 9 May and thence proceeded to Apra Harbor, Guam, 18 May. That afternoon Adm. William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander 3d Fleet, broke his flag in Missouri. She passed out of the harbor 21 May, and by 27 May was again conducting shore bombardment against Japanese positions on Okinawa. Missouri now led the mighty 3d Fleet in strikes on airfields and installations on Kyushu 2 and 3 June. She rode out a fierce storm 5 and 6 June that wrenched off the bow of cruiser Pittsburgh. Some topside fittings were smashed, but Missouri suffered no major damage. Her fleet again struck Kyushu 8 June, then hit hard in a coordinated air-surface bombardment before retiring towards Leyte. She arrived San Pedro, Leyte, 13 June, after almost 3 months of continuous operations in support of the Okinawa campaign.
Here she prepared to lead the 3d Fleet in strikes at the heart of Japan from within its home waters. The mighty fleet set a northerly course 8 July to approach the Japanese mainland. Raids took Tokyo by surprise 10 July, followed by more devastation at the juncture of Honshu and Hokkaido 13 and 14 July. For the first time, a naval gunfire force wrought destruction on a major installation within the home islands when Missouri closed the shore to join in a bombardment 15 July that rained destruction on the Nihon Steel Co. and the Wanishi Ironworks at Muroran, Hokkaido.
During the night of 17-18 July Missouri bombarded industrial targets in the Hichiti area, Honshu. Inland Sea aerial strikes continued through 25 July, and Missouri guarded the carriers as they struck hard blows at the Japanese capital. As July ended the Japanese no longer had any home waters. Missouri had led her fleet to gain control of the air and sea approaches to the very shores of Japan.
Strikes on Hokkaido and northern Honshu resumed 9 August, the day the second atomic bomb was dropped. Next day, at 2054 Missouri's men were electrified by the unofficial news that Japan was ready to surrender, provided that the Emperor's prerogatives as a sovereign ruler were not compromised. Not until 0745, 15 August, was word received that President Truman had announced Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender.
Adm. Sir Bruce Fraser, RN (Commander, British Pacific Fleet) boarded Missouri 16 August, and conferred the order Knight of the British Empire upon Admiral Halsey. Missouri transferred a landing party of 200 officers and men to battleship Iowa for temporary duty with the initial occupation force for Tokyo 21 August. Missouri herself entered Tokyo Bay early 29 August to prepare for the formal surrender ceremony.
High-ranking military officials of all the Allied Powers were received on board 2 September. Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz boarded shortly after 0800, and General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (Supreme Commander for the Allies) came on board at 0843. The Japanese representatives, headed by Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu, arrived at 0856. At 0902 General MacArthur stepped before a battery of microphones and the 23-minute surrender ceremony was broadcast to the waiting world. By 0930 the Japanese emissaries had departed.
The afternoon of 6 September Admiral Halsey transferred his flag to battleship South Dakota. Early next day Missouri departed Tokyo Bay to receive homeward bound passengers at Guam, thence sailed unescorted for Hawaii. She arrived Pearl Harbor 20 September and flew Admiral Nimitz' flag on the afternoon of 28 September for a reception.
The next day Missouri departed Pearl Harbor bound for the eastern seaboard of the United States. ,She reached New York City 28 September and broke the flag of Adm. Jonas Ingram, Commander in Chief, Atlantic Fleet, Missouri boomed out a 21-gun salute 27 October as President Truman boarded for Navy day ceremonies. In his address the President stated that "control of our sea approaches and of the skies above them is still the key to our freedom and to our ability to help enforce the peace of the world."
After overhaul in the New York Naval Shipyard and a training cruise to Cuba, Missouri returned to New York. The afternoon of 21 March 1946 she received the remains of the Turkish Ambassador to the United States, Melmet Munir Ertegun. She departed 22 March for Gibraltar and 5 April anchored in the Bosphorus off Istanbul. She rendered full honors, including the firing of a 19-gun salute during both the transfer of the remains of the late Ambassador and the funeral ashore.
Missouri departed Istanbul 9 April and entered Phaleron Bay, Piraeus, Greece, the following day for an overwhelming welcome by Greek government officials and people. She had arrived in a year when there were ominous Russian overtures and activities in the entire Balkan area. Greece had become the scene of a Communist-inspired civil war, as Russia sought every possible extension of Soviet influence throughout the Mediterranean region. Demands were made that Turkey grant the Soviets a base of seapower in the Dodecanese Islands and joint control of the Turkish Straits leading from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean.
The voyage of Missouri to the eastern Mediterranean gave comfort to both Greece and Turkey. News media proclaimed her a symbol of U.S. interest in preserving Greek and Turkish liberty. With an August decision to deploy a strong fleet to the Mediterranean, it became obvious that the United States intended to use her naval sea and air power to stand firm against the tide of Soviet subversion.
Missouri departed Piraeus 26 April, touching at Algiers and Tangiers before arriving Norfolk 9 May. She departed for Culebra Island 12 May to join Admiral Mitscher's 8th Fleet in the Navy's first large-scale postwar Atlantic training maneuvers. The battleship returned to New York City 27 May, and spent the next year steaming Atlantic coastal waters north to the Davis Straits and south to the Caribbean on various Atlantic command training exercises. On 13 Dec 1946 she was struck by a star shell during target practice in the North Atlantic.
Missouri arrived Rio de Janeiro 30 August 1947 for the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Hemisphere Peace and Security. President Truman boarded 2 September to celebrate the signing of the Rio Treaty which broadened the Monroe Doctrine, stipulating that an attack on one of the signatory American States would be considered an attack on all.
The Truman family boarded Missouri 7 September to return to the United States and debarked at Norfolk 19 September. Overhaul in New York (23 September to 10 March 1948) was followed by refresher training at Guantanamo Bag. Summer 1948 was devoted to midshipman and reserve training cruises. The battleship departed Norfolk 1 November for a second 3-week Arctic cold weather training cruise to the Davis Straits. The next 2 years Missouri participated in Atlantic command exercises ranging from the New England coast to the Caribbean, alternated with two midshipman summer training cruises. She was overhauled at Norfolk Naval Shipyard 23 September 1949 to 17 February 1950.
Now the only U.S. battleship in commission, Missouri was proceeding seaward on a training mission from Hampton Roads early 17 January when she ran aground at a point 1.6 miles from Thimble Shoals Light, near Old Point Comfort. She traversed shoal water a distance of three ship lengths from the main channel. Lifted some 7 feet above waterline, she struck hard and fast. With the aid of tugs, pontoons, and an incoming tide, she was refloated 1 February. 
From mid-February until 15 August Missouri conducted midshipman and reserve training cruises out of Norfolk. She departed Norfolk 19 August to support U.N. forces in their fight against Communist aggression in Korea. Missouri joined the U.N. just west of Kyushu 14 September, becoming flagship of Rear Adm. A. E. Smith. The first American battleship to reach Korean waters, she bombarded Samchok 15 September in a diversionary move coordinated with the Inchon landings. In company with cruiser Helena and two destroyers, she helped prepare the way for the 8th Army offensive.
Missouri arrived Inchon 19 September, and 10 October became flagship of Rear Adm. J. M. Higgins, commander, Cruiser Division 5. She arrived Sasebo 14 October, where she became flagship of Vice Adm. A. D. Struble, Commander, 7th Fleet. After screening carrier Valley Forge along the east coast of Korea, she conducted bombardment missions 12 to 26 October in the Chonjin and Tanchon areas, and at Wonsan. After again screening carriers eastward of Wonsan she moved into Hungnam 23 December to provide gunfire support about the Hungnam defense perimeter until the last U.N. troops, the U.S. 3d Infantry Division, were evacuated by way of the sea on Christmas Eve.
Missouri conducted additional operations with carriers and systematic shore bombardments off the east coast of Korea until 19 March 1951. She arrived Yokosuka 24 March, and 4 days later was relieved of duty in the Far East. She departed Yokosuka 28 March, and upon arrival Norfolk 27 April became flagship of Rear Adm. J. L. Holloway, Jr., commander, Cruiser Force, Atlantic Fleet. Summer 1951 she engaged in two midshipman training cruises to northern Europe. Missouri entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard 18 October for overhaul until 30 January 1952.
Following winter and spring training out of Guantanamo Bay, Missouri visited New York, then set course from Norfolk 9 June for another midshipman cruise. She returned to Norfolk 4 August and entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard to prepare for a second tour in the Korean Combat Zone.
Missouri stood out of Hampton Roads 11 September and arrived Yokosuka 17 October. She broke the flag of Vice Adm. J. J.. Clark, commander of the 7th Fleet, 19 October. Her primary mission was to provide seagoing artillery support by bombarding enemy targets In the Chaho-Tanchon area, at Chongjin, in the Tanchon-Sonjin area, and at Chaho, Wonsan, Hamhung, and Hungnam during the period 15 October through 2 January 1953.
Missouri put in to Inchon 5 January 1953 and sailed thence to Sasebo, Japan. Gen. Mark Clark, Commander in Chief, U.N. Command, and Adm. Sir Guy Russell, RN, commander of the British Far East Station, visited the battleship 23 January. In the following weeks, Missouri resumed "Cobra" patrol along the east coast of Korea in direct support of troops ashore. Repeated strikes against Wonsan, Tanchon, Hungnam, and Kojo destroyed main supply routes along the eastern seaboard.
The last gunstrike mission by Missouri was against the Kojo area 25 March. she sustained a grievous casualty 26 March, when her commanding officer Capt. Warner R. Edsall suffered a fatal heart attack while conning her through the submarine net at Sasebo. She was relieved as 7th Fleet flagship 6 April by battleship New Jersey.
Missouri departed Yokosuka 7 April and arrived Norfolk 4 May, to become flagship for Rear Adm. E. T. Woolridge, commander, Battleship-Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, 14 May. She departed 8 June on a midshipman training cruise, returned to Norfolk 4 August, and was overhauled in Norfolk Naval Shipyard 20 November to 2 April 1954.
Now the flagship of Rear Adm. R. E. Libby, who had relieved Admiral Woolridge, Missouri, commanded by Capt. Taylor Keith, departed Norfolk 7 June as flagship of the midshipman training cruise to Lisbon and Cherbourg. She returned Norfolk 3 August and departed the 23d for inactivation on the west coast. After calls at Long Beach and San Francisco, Missouri arrived Seattle 15 September. Three days later she entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard where she decommissioned 26 February 1955, entering the Bremerton group, Pacific Reserve Fleet.
Missouri received three battle stars for World War II service and five for Korean service.
Missouri was modernized at Long Beach Navy Yard and recommissioned 10 May 1986. She fired 16 inch rounds and Tomahawks during Desert Storm and was present at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1991 for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Japanese surprise attack. She was decommissioned 31 March 1992, stricken 12 Jan 1995, and donated for preservation at Pearl Harbor 4 May 1998, arriving at Pearl Harbor under tow 22 June 1998. She was opened to the public on 29 Jan 1999.
I'm such a slacker. :-(
No, really CJ I'm swamped and it's good you reminded me. I promise I'll get on it this weekend! :-)
Another group of unsung heroes, men who did the "unglamorous" but none-the-less dangerous jobs, that contributed to victory over the Axis. This article just points out once again that everyone who served, no matter what the job, is important to the overall picture.
Part of the security at the gate. All visitors and "random" checks go through this. Must have been 100 guards at this gate alone. It was all done by armed civilian security personnel.
The gate was near a Motor Pool compound. Oh boy GI stuff!
My objective was to reconnoiter the PX.
Sign at the PX entry. Go Army!
After the PX mission was complete we took a whirlwind tour.
Recognize this one SAMWolf?
Something for Darksheare, and the Artillery buffs.
Wonder if those were "Compact Only" spaces these guys parked in?
This is III CORP Headquarters. A tree branch made it look like II CORP.
Community Support! This billboard is located along US190. Note the ACE in the hand. Heh heh heh
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
