The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Commander Howard W. Gilmore - May 9th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.


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

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
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Commander Howard W. Gilmore



HISTORICAL REFLECTION

"Clear the bridge! Take her down!" yelled Commander Howard W. Gilmore, sacrificing his own life to save his submarine and crew.

Medal of Honor Citation for Commander Howard W. Gilmore



For distinguished gallantry and valor above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the USS Growler during her Fourth War Patrol in the Southwest Pacific from 10 January to 7 February 1943. Boldly striking at the enemy in spite of continuous hostile air and antisubmarine patrols, CDR Gilmore sank one Japanese freighter and damaged another by torpedo fire, successfully evading severe depth charges following each attack.

In the darkness of night on 7 February, an enemy gunboat closed range and prepared to ram the Growler. CDR Gilmore daringly maneuvered to avoid the crash and rammed the attacker instead, ripping into her port side at 11 knots and bursting wide her plates. In the terrific fire of the sinking gunboat’s heavy machineguns, CDR Gilmore calmly gave the order to clear the bridge, and refusing safety for himself, remained on deck while his men preceded him below. Struck down by the fusillade of bullets and having done his utmost against the enemy, in his final living moments, CDR Gilmore gave his last order to the officer of the deck, “Take her down.” The Growler dived; seriously damaged but under control, she was brought safely to port by her well-trained crew inspired by the courageous fighting spirit of their dead captain.

*******


Submarine Hero –
Howard Walter Gilmore

by Edward Whitman - Naval Science Advisor at the Center for Security Strategies and Operations (CSSO) at the Techmatics Division of Anteon Corp. in Arlington, VA.

The first U.S. submariner to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II, CDR Howard W. Gilmore, lost his life in a selfless act of heroism that has become one of the most inspiring legends of the Submarine Force.



Gilmore was born in Selma, Alabama, in 1902 and served first as an enlisted Sailor before entering the U.S. Naval Academy by competitive examination. He graduated from the Academy in 1926, standing 34th in a class of 456. Before the war, Gilmore had served as the executive officer of USS Shark (SS-174), and in a colorful incident during that time, narrowly survived an assault by a group of thugs in Panama, who cut his throat during an excursion ashore.


USS Shark (SS-174)

In March 1942, four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he took command of the new USS Growler (SS-215), fourth boat of the 81-ship Gato (SS-212) class and sailed her to the Pacific theater.


USS Growler (SS215)

Operating out of Pearl Harbor, Growler was one of seven submarines assigned picket duty north and west of the islands as part of the Hawaii defense force during the early phases of the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Later that month, she embarked on her first war patrol in the vicinity of the Aleutian Islands, where Gilmore attacked three Japanese destroyers off Kiska, sinking one and severely damaging the other two, while narrowly avoiding two torpedoes fired at him in return. In early August, Gilmore took Growler on her second and most successful war patrol in the East China Sea near Taiwan, sinking four merchant ships totaling 15,000 tons, before returning to Hawaii in late September.



In October 1942, Growler sailed from Pearl Harbor to Brisbane, Australia, by way of Truk in the Caroline Islands, both to support the blockade of that Japanese bastion and as part of a general repositioning of submarine assets ordered by ADM Chester Nimitz during the early struggle for the Solomon Islands. Gilmore and Growler scored no kills on this third war patrol but arrived safely in Brisbane in mid-December.



Growler departed Brisbane on New Year’s Day 1943 for her fateful fourth war patrol, targeting Japanese shipping lanes between Truk and Rabaul in the Bismarck Archipelago. On 16 January, Gilmore sighted an enemy convoy, maneuvered inside the escorts, and sank Chifuku Maru, a 6,000-ton passenger-cargo ship. He was unsuccessful in subsequent attacks on a small convoy and a converted gunboat, but on the night of 6-7 February, while charging batteries on the surface, Gilmore spotted the 900-ton provision ship Hayasaki and manned the bridge for a surface attack.



With Growler still a mile away, however, Hayasaki’s watch saw the on-coming submarine, and Hayasaki turned to the attack herself, attempting to ram her assailant. As the small ship charged out of the darkness, Gilmore sounded the collision alarm and shouted, “Left full rudder!” – to no avail. Perhaps inadvertently, Growler hit the Japanese adversary amidships at 17 knots, heeling the submarine 50 degrees, bending sideways 18 feet of her the bow, and disabling the forward torpedo tubes.



Simultaneously, the Japanese crew unleashed a murderous burst of machine gun fire at Growler’s bridge, killing the assistant officer of the deck and a lookout, while wounding Gilmore himself and two other men. “Clear the bridge!” Gilmore ordered as he struggled to hang on to a frame. As the rest of the bridge party dropped down the hatch into the conning tower, the executive officer, LCDR Arnold Schade – shaken by the impact and dazed by his own fall into the control room – waited expectantly for his captain to appear. Instead from above came the shouted command: “Take her down!” Realizing that he could not himself get below in time if the ship were to escape, Gilmore chose to make the supreme sacrifice for his shipmates. Schade hesitated briefly – then followed his captain’s last order and submerged the crippled ship.

Surfacing some time later in hope of reattacking the Hayasaki, LCDR Schade found the seas empty. The Japanese ship had, in fact, survived the encounter, but there was no sign of Gilmore, who apparently had drifted away in the night. Schade and Growler’s crew managed to control the ship’s flooding and limped back to Brisbane on 17 February. Taken immediately into dry dock, Growler was repaired and fought again – at first under the command of LCDR Schade, and then under CDR Thomas B. Oakley, Jr.



Sadly, she was lost on her 11th war patrol in November 1944, while attacking a Japanese convoy south of Mindoro in the Philippine Islands. Growler received eight battle stars for her role in the Pacific War.

For sacrificing his own life to save his ship, CDR Howard Gilmore was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Subsequently, the submarine tender Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16) was named for him and sponsored by his widow.


Christening of Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16), at Mare Island Navy Yard, CA., 16 September 1943, by ship's sponsor Mrs. Howard W. Gilmore. Looking on are Mrs. F. A. Graf, Capt. W. E. Malloy and RADM W. L. Friedell, Shipyard Commander. US Navy photo 6500-43 Dated 9/16/1943.

Even today – over 50 years later – “Take her down!” remains one of the legendary phrases of the U.S. Submarine Force.


Sheet Music Cover

*******




USS Growler (SS-215) was launched on 2 November 1941 at the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut, and commissioned on 20 March 1942. (Then) LCDR Howard Gilmore was her first commanding officer. Growler was an early member of the Gato (SS-212) class, which then represented the highest stage of development reached by U.S. fleet submarines prior to World War II. Eventually, 81 Gatos were launched between May 1941 and November 1943: 41 by Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut; 18 by the Portsmouth (New Hampshire) Navy Yard; eight by the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California; ten by the Manitowoc Ship Building Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin (from whence they were barged down the Mississippi to New Orleans); and four by Cramp Shipbuilding, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Gato-class ships were followed in series construction by the Balao (SS-285) class, first launched in October 1942, but the brunt of the Pacific submarine campaign was borne by the earlier boats. Consequently, 21 of the Gato class – over a quarter – were lost in World War II, most with all hands. Growler’s principal characteristics – typical for a Gato-class fleet boat – are listed here:




Displacement: Surfaced: 1,526 tons
Submerged: 2,424 tons
Length: 311’ 9”
Beam: 27’ 2”
Draft: 15’ 3”
Speed: Surfaced: 20.25 knots
Submerged: 8.75 knots
Endurance: 11,000 nm at 10 knots, surfaced
Armament: 10 21” torpedo tubes (6 forward, 4 aft)
1 4”/50 deck gun
4 machine guns


Complement: 66 men

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning Mayor. It rained off and on yesterday. I wish I could explain it but the rain out here is so different than back east. Much easier to take. Most folks just walk right through it without umbrellas or even jackets. It's light and doesn't last long even though it can fall for most of the day.

[snippy_about_it]

Cool flag-o-gram. I look forward to these everyday now. See what you got yourself into!

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning tomball, thanks for the good wishes. Hope your day is sunny as well.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning feather. Happy Mother's Day to you. Any special plans for today?

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning snippy!!

Thank You for the greetings. My daughter #3 and granddaughter #3 are coming to visit today. We are ordering in lunch, oh goodie.

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 09:
1265 Dante Alighieri Italian poet (Divina Commedia)
1740 Giovanni Paisiello Italian composer (Barber of Seville)
1783 Alexander Ross Canada, pioneer/fur trader
1785 James Pollard Espy Pennsylvania, meteorologist (Philosphy of Storms)
1800 John Brown abolitionist; led attack on Harpers Ferry
1824 William Edmonson "Grumble" Jones Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1837 Adam Opel German manufacturer (cycling, motorcars)
1843 Belle Boyd spy (Confederate)/actress/lecturer
1860 Sir James Matthew Barrie Scotland, novelist (Margaret Ogilvy, Peter Pan, The Little Minister)
1865 August de Boeck composer
1873 Howard Carter British archaeologist/Egyptologist (found King Tutankhamen's tomb)
1882 Henry J Kaiser builder (Liberty Ships, Jeeps, Boulder Dam)
1901 Fuzzy Knight Fairmont WV, actor (Oklahoma Annie, Cowboy & the Lady)
1910 Barbara Woodhouse dog training expert
1913 John Hayes Admiral
1914 Hank Snow Nova Scotia Canada, country singer ((Now And Then, There's) A Fool Such As I)
1918 Mike Wallace Brookline MA, newscaster (Biography, 60 Minutes)
1918 Orville Freeman Minneapolis MN, (Senator-D-MN)/Secretary of Agriculture (1961-69)
1927 Manfred Eigen German physicist/chemist (Nobel 1967)
1928 Richard A "Pancho" Gonzalez Los Angeles CA, tennis star (US 1948-49)
1931 Vance DeVoe Brand Longmont CO, astronaut (Apollo 18, STS-5, 41B, 35)
1936 Albert Finney Salford UK, actor (Dresser, Under the Volcano)
1936 Floyd Robinson baseball player (White Sox, Reds, A's)
1937 Dave Prater Ocilla GA, R/B vocalist (Sam & Dave)
1937 Sonny Curtis Meadow TX, guitarist (Crickets)
1944 Richard [Richie] Furay Yellow Springs OH, rock vocalist (Buffalo Springfield, Poco)
1946 Candice Bergen Beverly Hills, actress (Carnal Knowledge, Murphy Brown)
1949 Billy Joel Hicksville Long Island NY, singer/songwriter/piano player (Pianoman, Captain Jack, Bridge)
1949 Oleg Yuriyevich Atkov Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz T-10)
1950 Tom Petersson Rockford IL, rock bassist (Cheap Trick)
1962 John Corbett actor (Chris-Northern Exposure)
1980 Tatewin Means Miss South Dakota Teen USA (1996)

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Deaths which occurred on May 09:
1079 Stanislaus Polish bishop of Cracow, murdered
1280 Magnus VI Lagaboeter King of Norway (1263-80), dies at 42
1443 Niccoló d'Albergati Italian cardinal, dies
1474 Peter van Hagenbach Elzasser knight/land guardian, beheaded

1657 William Bradford Governor (Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts), dies

1667 Marie Louise de Gonzague-Nevers French Queen of Poland (1645-48)
1688 Frederick William Great Elector of Brandenburg, dies at 68
1791 Francis Hopkinson US writer/music/lawyer, dies at 53
1864 "Uncle" John Sedgwick US Union general-major, dies in battle at 50
1864 Thomas Donnely Doubleday US Union Colonel, dies in an accident
1937 Walter Mittelholzer Swiss aviation pioneer, dies in crash at 43
1958 Bill Goodwin TV announcer (Burns & Allen), dies at 47
1965 Leopold Figl premier Austria, dies at 62
1968 Harold Gray US comic strip artist (Little Orphan Annie), dies at 74
1970 Walter Reuther UAW union leader/president (CIO), dies in a jet crash
1977 James Jones US writer (Bad Blood, From Here to Eternity), dies at 55
1981 Nelson Algren US writer (Man with the Golden Arm), dies at 72
1985 Edmond O'Brien actor (Sam Benedict, Johnny Midnight), dies at 69
1986 Tenzing Norgay Tibetan climber (Mount Everest 1953), dies at 71
1990 Pauline Frederick 1st woman to moderate Presidential debate, dies at 84
1992 Mike Tyrell [Red Baron] British air acrobat, dies in an accident

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1965 KARDELL DAVID A.---SONOMA CA.
[REMAINS RETURNED 7/31/89, ID 11/08/89]
1965 WISTRAND ROBERT C.---NEW YORK NY.
[CRASH NO PARA BEEPER SEARCH NEG]
1966 DEXTER BENNIE L.---BEND OR.
[CAPTURE WITNESSED JEEP FOUND]
1967 TODD ROBERT JACY---NORTH EASTON MA.
1968 LEOPOLD STEPHEN R.---OKLAHOMA CITY OK.
[03/05/73 RELEASED BY PRG INJURED, ALIVE IN 98]
1968 VAN ARTSDALEN CLIFFORD V.---PLUMSTEADVILLE PA.
1970 HAIGHT STEPHEN H.---CAZENOVIA NY.
1972 REEDER WILLIAM S.---LAKE ARROWHEAD CA.
[03/27/73 RELEASED BY PRG, ALIVE IN 98]

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
1092 Lincoln Cathedral consecrated
1336 Italian poet Francesco Petrarca climbs Mont Ventoux
1502 Columbus left Spain on his 4th & final trip to New World
1573 Polish Parliament selects duke of Anjou as king
1671 Colonel Thomas Blood attempts to steal Crown Jewels
1689 English King William III declares war on France
1753 King Louis XV disbands French parliament
1754 1st newspaper cartoon in America-divided snake "Join or die"
1785 Joseph Bramah receives British patent for beer pump handles
1788 English parliament accepts abolishing of slave trade
1837 "Sherrod" burns in Mississippi River below Natchez MS; 175 dies
1846 Battle of Resaca de la Palma-US sends México back to Rio Grande
1862 Battle of Farmington MS
1862 Battle of Fort Pickens FL (Pensacola), evacuated by CS
1862 US Naval Academy relocated from Annapolis MD to Newport RI
1864 Battle of Cloyd's Mount & Swift Creek VA (Drewery's Bluff, Fort Darling)
1864 Battle of Dalton GA
1864 Ship battle at Helgoland, Austria-Denmark
1864 Skirmish at Ware Bottom Church VA
1889 15th Kentucky Derby: Thomas Kiley aboard Spokane wins in 2:34½
1896 1st horseless carriage show in London (featured 10 models)
1899 Lawn mower patented
1901 Australia opens its 1st parliament in Melbourne
1913 17th amendment provides for election of senators by popular vote
1914 40th Kentucky Derby: John McCabe aboard Old Rosebud wins in 2:03.4
1914 President Wilson proclaims Mother's Day
1916 British-France Sykes-Picot meet over division of Turkey
1925 Cornerstone for Hebrew University, Jerusalem laid
1926 Richard Byrd & Floyd Bennett make 1st flight over North Pole
1932 Piccadilly Circus, 1st lit by electricity
1933 Spanish anarchists call for general strike
1936 Italy takes Addis Ababa, annexing Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
1939 Catholic church beatified the 1st Native American, Kateri Tekakwitha
1941 English Army breaks German spy codes
1943 5th German Panzer army surrenders in Tunisia
1944 Country singer Jimmie Davis becomes Governor of Louisiana
1944 Russians recapture Crimea by taking Sevastopol
1945 Czechoslovakia liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day)
1945 Jersey liberated from Nazis
1945 New balata ball used in baseball, 50% livilier
1945 Norwegian Nazi collaborators Vidkun Quisling arrested
1945 Victory celebration at Red Square
1946 King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy abdicates, replaced by Umberto
1949 Prince Rainier III becomes leader of Monaco
1950 French Foreign minister Robert Schuman announces the Schuman Plan for European integration
1951 Air raid on Chinese positions at Yalu River
1955 German Federal Republic joins NATO
1958 Botvinnik recaptures world chess championship
1960 US is 1st country to use the birth control pill legally
1960 US send U-2 over USSR
1961 Baltimore Oriole Jim Gentile hits 2 grand slams (9 RBIs) vs Minnesota Twins
1961 FCC Chairman Newton N Minow criticizes TV as a "vast wasteland"
1962 Beatles sign their 1st contract with EMI Parlophone
1962 Laser beam successfully bounced off Moon for 1st time
1964 Peter & Gordon release "World Without Love"
1965 Beatles attend a Bob Dylan concert
1965 Luna 5 launched (USSR) 1st attempt to soft land on Moon (fails)
1966 1st black member of Federal Reserve Board (A F Brimmer)
1966 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Rebublic of China
1970 100,000s demonstrate against Vietnam War
1971 Friends of Earth return 1500 non-returnable bottles to Schweppes
1977 Patty Hearst let out of jail
1978 Corpse of kidnapped ex-premier Aldo Moro found
1979 US & USSR sign Salt 2 treaty, limiting nuclear weapons
1980 35 motorists die as a Liberian freighter rams a Tampa Bay Bridge
1981 Kazimiroff Blvd in the Bronx named for a Bronx historian
1984 Chicago White Sox beat Milwaukee Brewers, 7-6, in 25 innings (started 5/8, 8 hour 6 minute game-longest timed baseball game)
1987 Oriole Eddie Murray is 1st to switch hit homeruns in 2 consecutive games
1989 Journalists petition Chinese Government for freedom of press
1989 New York Mets Kevin Elster, errors after 88 errorless games at shortstop
1990 New York Newsday reporter Jimmy Breslin suspended for a racial slur
1991 Michael Landon appears on Tonight Show to talk about his cancer
1992 Michelle McLean, 19, of Namibia, crowned 41st Miss Universe
1993 Landslide in Nambija Ecuador, kills 300
1993 Paraguay holds its 1st presidential & parliamentary elections in 50 years
1995 Kinshasa, Zaire under quarantine after an outbreak of Ebola virus
1997 1st US ambassador since Saigon fell arrives in Vietnam
2000 Former four-term Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was convicted of extortion schemes to manipulate the licensing of riverboat casinos.

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Channel Island : Liberation Day
Poland, USSR : Victory Day [in World War II]
World : North Pole Flight Day (1926)
US : Mother's Day, give her a call today (Sunday)
Ireland : Feis Ceoil music festival (1897) (Monday)
National Turn Off Your TV Week Ends
Let's Go Fishing Day
National Salvation Army Week Begins
National Police Week Begins
National Egg Month

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Religious Observances
Christian : Feast of St Joan
old Roman Catholic, Anglican : Commemoration of St Gregory Nazianzen, bp of Constantinople/doctor
Jewish : Lag B'Omer (love for Holy Land Day) (Iyar 18, 5753 AM)

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Religious History
1619 In Holland, the six month long Synod of Dort ended. Confirming the authority of the "Heidelberg Catechism," the decisions of the Synod led to some 200 Arminian clergy being afterward deprived of their offices.
1828 Birth of Andrew Murray, South African Dutch Reformed clergyman and devotional writer. His most famous writing was "Abide in Christ" (1864).
1905 Birth of Merrill Dunlop, American sacred chorister and hymnwriter. He directed the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle for many years, and is author of the hymn, "My Sins Are Blotted Out, I Know."
1961 English apologist C.S. Lewis, offering an evaluation of English Bible translations, wrote in a letter: 'A modern translation is for most purposes far more useful than the Authorized [i.e., King James] Version.'
1983 John Paul II announced the reversal of the Catholic Church's 1633 condemnation of Galileo Galilei, the scientist who first espoused the Copernican (i.e., heliocentric) view of our solar system.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
To Mom:
"If I had a rose for every time I thought of you, I'd walk through a garden forever."

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Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Teacher Strikes Idle Kids

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Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
CAPTAIN JAMES T. KIRK: To boldly go where no chicken has gone before.

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Stocks To Watch In 2004 Watch for these consolidations in 2004 and make yourself a bundle...
Mobile Oil is purchasing what is left of Enron and will be known as MORON

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Guide to REAL driving...
Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or
even someone changing a tire.

[SAMWolf]

I've never been real big on "Hallmark" holidays.

I'm with you on that one.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

One reason submarine crew casualties were high was because subs sunk while submerged usually lost the entire crew. It was very rare for anyone to escape from a sub that wasn't on the surface.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Mayor. Great quote by Lincoln.

[SAMWolf]

Morning PE. Most Excellent Flag-o-gram this morning.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Tomball. The weather here is trying to co-operate.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather. Happy Mother's Day.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Snippy. I wish we could have finished watching the program on the Fletcher Class Destroyers. :-(

[Professional Engineer]

Struck down by the fusillade of bullets and having done his utmost against the enemy, in his final living moments, CDR Gilmore gave his last order to the officer of the deck, “Take her down.” The Growler dived; seriously damaged but under control, she was brought safely to port by her well-trained crew inspired by the courageous fighting spirit of their dead captain.

HOLY COW! I've not even heard of Gilmore before. What a sad state of education we have, when guys like this are ignored.

[Professional Engineer]

Thanks miss Feather.

[SAMWolf]

1945 Jersey liberated from Nazis

Now if we could only liberate it from the democrats. ;-)

[Professional Engineer]

See what you got yourself into!

LOL. It hit me after about a week and half. Now I spend time looking for flags, and stories to go with them, if possible.

[Professional Engineer]

1931 Vance DeVoe Brand Longmont CO, astronaut (Apollo 18, STS-5, 41B, 35)

When Apollo 17 was launched, I proudly told my parents that I'd be on Apollo 20. My dad replied, "well you'd better grow up pretty fast to make that". I suppose it's still possible.

[snippy_about_it]

I've not even heard of Gilmore before.

Last year sometime while researching for a different subject I ran acrossed him and had him on my list of threads to do. Sam and I often find stories while researching "something else". I expect you find the same while looking for flag-o-gram material. That's part of what makes it fun!