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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/18/2002 5:39:20 AM PST by SAMWolf
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are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| 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. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. 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.
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USS HULL, USS MONAGHAN and USS SPENCE  As father and son go, we've known each other only in our hearts. You were all of 19 when the Lord called you into another service. Dad, thank you for giving me life and a proud lifetime memory. I love you. On 17 December, 1944, my father's ship, DD-354 .U.S.S. Monaghan was steering toward Leyte Bay on a rendezvous course with the Pacific Task Forces 38 and 58. The Third Fleet was engaged in naval air strikes against Japanese forces in the Philippines. While the planes had been attacking central Luzon in support of the Mindoro invasion, the carriers and their destroyer protectors were in desperate need of fuel. Dad's ship was assigned to escort duty for the fuel ships of the fleet, an attractive enemy target. She ran at flank speed during the operations and was riding high in the seas from lack of fuel. Then she ran into Typhoon Cobra, described below as "more powerful than any western Pacific encounter with the Japanese." "In December 1944 as Admiral William Halsey's Third Fleet was operating in support of General MacArthur's invasion of the Philippines, the Third Fleet encountered a tropical cyclone more powerful than any western Pacific encounter with the Japanese. The result was three destroyers (the USS HULL, USS MONAGHAN and USS SPENCE) sunk with 800 men lost, 26 other vessels seriously damaged, and 146 aircraft destroyed (16). The Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Nimitz said, "It was the greatest loss that we have taken in the Pacific without compensatory return since the First Battle of Savo." Halsey himself described it best. "No one who has not been through a typhoon can conceive its fury," he wrote in his autobiography. "The 70 foot seas smash you. The rain blinds you. The battleship NEW JERSEY once was hit by a 5-inch shell and I did not even feel the impact. The MISSOURI had kamikaze crash on her main deck and repaired the only damage with a paint brush. But the typhoon tossed our enormous ship the MISSOURI as if she were only a canoe."  One eyewitness account speaks to the conditions my dad found himself and his shipmates facing. "These destroyers were escorting the carriers, and they came out. We're trying to fuel them, and the seas are choppy; I mean, when I say choppy, they're twenty, twenty-five feet waves... They were going to move to another location and commence fueling in the morning again. Well, instead of taking us out of the typhoon they took us back into it. I'm talking about waves that were fifty and sixty feet high. Sometimes you'd see a destroyer, he'd be sitting up on top of a wave and the next time he would be down so low that you couldn't even see the mast. That's how deep the troughs were. There's no way those destroyers could fuel from the tankers." Former President Gerald R. Ford in May 1943 served as a pre-commissioning detachment for a new light aircraft carrier, USS Monterey (CVL-26). This was one of the ships in may dad's group. The following is an official record of an account by Lt. Ford who served as the assistant navigator, Athletic Officer, and antiaircraft battery officer on board Monterey. "Monterey was damaged by a fire which was started by several of the ship's aircraft tearing loose from their cables and colliding during the storm. During the storm, Ford narrowly missed being a casualty himself. After Ford left his battle station on the bridge of the ship in the early morning of 18 December, the ship rolled twenty-five degrees which caused Ford to lose his footing and slide toward the edge of the deck. The two inch steel ridge around the edge of the carrier slowed him enough so he could roll and twisted into the catwalk below the deck. As he later stated, 'I was lucky; I could have easily gone overboard.' " The fueling day was the first of Typhoon Cobra that claimed 790 lives in the 3d Fleet, and sank Spence (DD-512), Hull (DD-350), and Monaghan. The six survivors, rescued by USS Brown after drifting on a raft 3 days, reported that Monaghan took roll after roll to starboard, finally going over. Of the 6 hands that survived the sinking, 3 perished after rescue. From accounts passed on by one of his shipmates, my dad and other Monaghan crew members remained in the water because some of the men were injured and bleeding. Their being in the life raft was their only hope and the area was known to be shark invested. Quietly, on the night of the second day, without notice in the darkness and the rough seas, Dad joined the watery grave of the Spence, Hull and Monaghan. Of the tragedy, Admiral Nimitz said, "represented a more crippling blow to the 3d Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action." Veteran of so many actions against a human enemy, Monaghan fell victim to the sailor's oldest enemy, the perils of the sea. Monaghan received 12 battle stars for World War II service.  Survivors from the Spence and the Hull ***NOTE: This dedication and story is not about my Dad*** Thanks to Freeper Comwatch for this story
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The fueling day was the first of Typhoon Cobra that claimed 790 lives in the 3d Fleet, and sank Spence (DD-512), Hull (DD-350), and Monaghan. The six survivors, rescued by USS Brown after drifting on a raft 3 days, reported that Monaghan took roll after roll to starboard, finally going over. Of the 6 hands that survived the sinking, 3 perished after rescue."Thirteen of us were on the only life raft that was picked up," Darden explained, "but seven died or disappeared before we were rescued. Me I was too busy bandaging injured men and handing out food and water, trying to make it last, to think about dying. I guess that's one reason why I just didn't give up hope like some of the boys."
Wow, what an amazing story. God bless our military and may our children's children cherish and defend the freedoms we enjoy in the USA.
Paul
A Bradley fire support team vehicle travels at speed during the large military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002.
An Abrams tank sits under a rainbow during the large military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002.
An Abrams tank travels through the desert during the large military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002
An Apache attack helicopter hovers above a M1A1 Abrams tank from Alpha Company 464 Battalion, Second Brigade during a battle exercise on Kuwait's desert on December 17, 2002. Some 12,000 U.S soldiers are participating in the live ammunition military exercise in Kuwait.
Two Abrams tanks, top, and a Bradley fighting vehicle travel along a desert road during the large military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002. U.S. forces have been taking part in training drills in the Kuwaiti desert as part of Operation Desert Spring amid growing speculation that a U.S.-led coalition could attack Iraq. (AP Photo/Adam Butler)
An Abrams tank travels over a large mound during the military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday Dec. 17, 2002.
An Abrams tank travels at speed during the large military exercise Internal Look in the desert of western Kuwait on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2002.
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 Legendary entertainer Wayne Newton and his wife, Kathleen, step off a C-2A Greyhound assigned to Aircraft Logistatics Squadron 30 during a recent visit aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Newton along with country singer Neil McCoy, comedian and Air Force veteran Paul Rodriguez and Julie Holeman and Kelly Kirchoff of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders entertained the troops during a USO tour. The USO has been entertaining troops since World War II in peace and war. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Philip A.  Comedian and Air Force veteran Paul Rodriguez entertains sailors and crew members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. Other performers included Wayne Newton, country singer Neil McCoy, and Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, Julie Holeman and Kelly Kirchoff. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Tyler Clements  Comedian Paul Rodriguez signs autographs for sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln after entertaining them with stand up comedy. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Tyler Clements
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