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Posted on 08/02/2005 9:06:46 PM PDT by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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The landing at Inchon, in a large part, is the story of six brave little Ships and a wonderful blunder.  In the entrance of Inchon harbor, and commanding approaches to it, is the island of Wolmi. It is a wooded island shaped like an oyster shell. From the beaches, the ground rises 300 feet to a rounded top, A stone causeway connects the island to the Inchon waterfront. Wolmi was the key to the entire operation. Before the main attack could begin on Inchon, Wolmi had to be taken. In an order issued before the battle, Rear Admiral James H. Doyle, commander of Task Force 90, said:, "This mission (Wolmi) must be successfully completed at any cost. Failure will seriously jeopardize or even prevent the major amphibious assault on Inchon therefore, press the assault with the utmost vigor despite loss or difficulty." Big questions loomed. What did the north Koreans have on Wolmi to defend it? How many guns? How big? Where?  Five U.S. Navy destroyers steam up the Inchon channel to bombard Wolmi-Do island on 13 September 1950, two days prior to the Inchon landings. Wolmi-Do is in the right center background, with smoke rising from air strikes. The ships are USS Mansfield (DD-728); USS DeHaven (DD-727); USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729); USS Collett (DD-730) and USS Gurke (DD-783). Six brave little ships. six destroyers, were sent to find out. Vice Admiral Arthur D. Struble, commander of Joint Task Force 7, ordered a "reconnaissance in force." The mission frankly was to draw fire from Wolmi-the more the better. A destroyer's armor is three-eighths of an inch thick. Practically anything stronger than a slingshot will pierce it.  Wolmi-do Island, Inchon, 9/14/50 Before Assault On the morning of September 13, "D-day minus two," the six brave little ships, moving in column, and slowly, sailed into the narrowing channel leading pass Wolmi to Inchon. One anchored off of the southern face of the island. Three passed through the neck of the channel to the other side. Two remained in the channel. None was more than a mile from the beaches and some were 1,000 yards-two thirds of a mile. They were "sitting ducks." That's what they were meant to be, juicy targets for concealed guns on the shore.  USS DeHaven DD-727 From all over the elbe of the channel farther down, thousands of binoculars were trained on them from American and British cruisers. The silence was like a blanket. It was a brilliant sunny day, and you could see even without binoculars. Suddenly there was a single white flash. Seconds later the muffled crack of the gun came back. "The 730 reported she spotted a battery moving on the beach," a report to the bridge of the flag ship said. A few more tense, breathless, incredible seconds of waiting passed. Still silence. Wolmi Island looked like a picnickers paradise, green-wooded and serene.  USS MANSFIELD DD-728 Then the North Koreans made a fateful and wonderful blunder. Suddenly a necklace of gun flashes sparkled around the waist of the island. The flashes were reddish gold and they came so fast that soon the entire slope was sparkling with pinpoint of fire. The destroyers were quick to answer. Lightening flashes leaped from their guns. They hit back, shell for shell, firing faster and faster until the whole channel was a tunnel of rumbling thunder.  USS Lyman K Swenson DD-729 The pace increased. On Wolmi, still more gun positions opened up. The red necklace spread and widened. They were hitting destroyers now. They could hardly miss at that range. Then a report came down to the bridge and your blood ran cold. "It looks as though the 783 is dead in the water, Sir." Admiral Struble's answer was quiet and the words were taut. "Make sure and then see what we have to do to get her out of there." The duel went on for an hour. It was a slugging match, toe to toe, and nobody quit or backed away. Six brave little ships sat there and shot it out with the dug in enemy gun crews on Wolmi Island.  USS Collett DD-730 Three of the six were hit, one seriously, but not so seriously that she could not come out under her own steam. An officer died. There were other casualties. The destroyers came out proudly and without haste, still firing flat trajectory fire at close range and then at higher arcs as the distance increased. The mission was accomplished successfully, the navy will say. Gloriously is a better word.  USS Gurke DD-783 If the guns on Wolmi Island had never been discovered; if the North Koreans had not blundered into exposing their armament, it is hard to say what might have happened to the transports and the little landing craft when they came in for the assault two days later. At best, the casualties would have been enormous -for Wolmi Island is studded with guns-at worst, the invasion could have stalled right there at the first objective. Six brave little ships exposed themselves to fire. The bigger guns and hordes of planes knocked it out before the Marines ever appeared.  USS Henderson DD-785 Six brave little ships: the Mansfield DD728, DeHaven 727, Collett 730 Lyman K Swenson 729, Gurke 783 and the Henderson 785.  Two days later the Marine invasion took place.
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Coffee, I need coffee!
The start of it all
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Don't do that!
The BIRDS will attack!
morning!
The duel went on for an hour. It was a slugging match, toe to toe, and nobody quit or backed away. Six brave little ships sat there and shot it out with the dug in enemy gun crews on Wolmi Island.
Makes you proud to be an American.
LOVE those sudeburns!
SOMEBODY needs a life.
LOL! I almost put that at the bottom of the pic. GMTA!
Some very sad news
Steven Vincent, RIP (This is so awful, I can't believe it)
Powerline ^ | August 3, 2005 | Scott Johnson
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456125/posts
Posted on 08/03/2005 10:37:56 AM CDT by 68skylark
Steven Vincent was the journalist and author of In the Red Zone: A Journey Into the Soul of Iraq and its companion In the Red Zone blog. He was murdered in Basra while working on a new book and doing some of the best reporting out of Iraq: "U.S. freelance journalist slain in Iraq." The substance of his latest reporting may well have been related to his murder. His last column was his July 31 New York Times op-ed: "Switched off in Basra."
The CNN story notes:
Vincent was an eyewitness to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and traveled twice to Iraq afterward, paying his own way and "traveling without security or official connections, living by his wits," according to the Spence Publishing site.
The result was his book, "In the Red Zone: A Journey into the Soul of Iraq," published late last year. Vincent dedicated the book to those who lost their lives in the attacks.
"I stood that morning on the roof of my building in lower Manhattan and watched United Airlines Flight 175 strike the south tower of the World Trade Center," Vincent said in a December 2004 interview with Frontpage Magazine.
(snip)
His book will need to be moved to the top of my "to read" list.
Egads, possessed computers.
Even worse.
;-)
I love it!
ROTFLOL.
He had several close escapes the last time he was over there. I think he was most interested in getting the story. You know like a reporter is supposed to do.
Lookit that. Isaac Asimov with a bunch of trash.
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