The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Clifford Olds - Warrior Wednesday - Jan. 22nd, 2003

http://www.usswestvirginia.org/stories/they_will_always_be_remembered.htm ^

[SAMWolf]

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They Will Always Be Remembered

Jack Miller and his shipmate, Clifford Olds joined fellow sailor John Szawerda for a night at the "Monkey Bar". It was December 6, 1941 in Pearl City, Oahu, and Miller and Olds were on liberty from the USS West Virginia. A barmaid snapped their picture and offered it for sale. "What a scam" they thought-keep it. Within 10 hours, this photo was to be the last reminder of peace and the terrifying beginning of Clifford Olds demise.

Left to right: Jack Miller, John Szawerda and Clifford Olds

The "WeeVee" was moored next to the USS Tennessee and just ahead of the USS Arizona. The choicest of targets, she took 9 torpedo hits December 7, 1941. Her port side was literally blasted off. The USS Oklahoma, just ahead of the WV, suffered similar wounds and immediately capsized, but BB48 was of a more advanced water-tight construction. The fast thinking of Lt. Claude Ricketts (THE hero of this ship) prevented the Battleship from turning over. Instead, she settled in the mud on an even keel. This was accomplished by closing all hatch compartments and counter-flooding the starboard side of the ship in a procedure called "set zed".

Every sailor knew fate could place them in a doomed area to be drowned like rats. Old Timers would tell 17 and 18 year old "boots" that if that time came "just inhale water quickly and get it over". This, the "grizzled Ones" claimed, was preferable to a slow death in a pitch-black void. For Clifford Olds(20),Ronald Endicott(18) and Louis"Buddy"Costin(21), this would tragically come to pass.

Trapped in the forward fresh water pumping station known as area A-111, their fate was sealed when "set zed" was announced after the first Japanese torpedo struck shortly before 8am. Sinking straight down rather than "turning Turtle" enabled hundreds to escape. Those in the lower compartments were drowned, but Olds, Endicott and Costin were alive and well in their air-tight compartment at the bottom of the ship. They did not know what had happened, nor the extent of the carnage above them. Above deck, the Captain was disemboweled by a bomb blast and the Arizona's explosion 50 yards aft rained "Dante's Inferno" onto the WeeVee. Over 100 died in every way possible. BB48 sank into the Harbor amid burning oil. She burned for 30 hours.



When her fires were extinguished late Monday Dec. 8, Guards were posted on the shoreline of Ford Island, next to "Battleship Row". Jittery over rumors of invasion, Sentries at first didn't hear the noise. WeeVee Marine Bugler Dick Fiske recalls: "When it was quiet you could hear it...bang, bang, then stop. Then bang, bang, pause. At first I thought it was a loose piece of rigging slapping against the hull". Then I realized men were making that sound-taking turns making noise". After that night, no one wanted guard duty, but someone had to do it. Bang, bang. It went on for 16 days, slowing in frequency until Christmas Eve. Then silence.

The adjacent Oklahoma was upside down and holes were drilled in her bottom to allow a precious few to escape their coffin. The pressure of water inside the hull, pushing up on air pockets, meant as soon as the hull was breached, little time was left before remaining air escaped. Shipmates often drowned in front of rescuers eyes before a hole could be made large enough for escape. Cutting torches ignited trapped gasses and exploded, killing more. Jack-hammers jammed and men drowned while looking at a small holes of light. Knowledgeable Mates quickly learned to "rip open" hull plates fast to insure victims survival. A macabre Naval "C-section" with the same purpose.

Olds, Endicott and Costin were sitting on the harbor floor completely surrounded by water, 40 feet down. Cutting through the side of the hull for rescue was out of the question. The smallest of holes in a pressurized compartment would cause a "blow-out", something Submariners knew well. Besides, considering the destruction and carnage above, the problems of three men didn't amount to a "hill of beans" to busy Navy Brass. All Sailors know they are expendable after "set zed". Concerned Shipmates pin-pointed their banging as coming from the bow section, but could do nothing.



Clifford Olds' friend Jack Miller had a sinking feeling Olds was trapped. He knew the pump station well, as Cliff would often invite him there for "bull sessions". It was so air-tight, they often closed the hatch and dared people to hear them cursing wildly inside. Late Spring 1942 found Navy salvage teams finally getting to work on the WV.

An Inventive series of tremic cement patches were fitted to her port side, and enough water pumped out to partially float the once grand ship. BB48 was nudged across the Harbor into drydock and the grim task of finding bodies began.

For Commander Paul Dice, compartment A-111 was expected to be like the rest: Put on gas masks, place some goo into a bodybag and let the Medical boys worry about identification. They had seen it all, but this compartment was different. Dice first noticed the interior was dry and flashlight batteries and empty ration cans littered the floor. A manhole cover to a fresh water supply was opened. Then he saw the calendar. It was 12"x14" and marked with big red Xs that ended December 23. Hardened salvage workers wept uncontrollably as they realized the fate of these men. Word quickly spread among salvage crews: Three men had lived for 16 days to suffer the most agonizing deaths among the 2800 victims at Pearl Harbor.



The Navy told their Parents they were killed in the attack on the 7th. Buddy Costins brother, Harlan, was the first family member to discover the truth.

He joined the Navy in October of 1942, at age 17 and was assigned to the USS Tuscaloosa. A 1944 chance meeting with a friend serving aboard the rebuilt WeeVee brought the awful tale to his attention. It was legend on BB48. Harlan determined never to tell his family; they had suffered enough. A brother had died of meningitis at age 9, and their Father had been killed in a fist fight when shards of bone punctured his brain. The Navy had sent Costin's Mother a wristwatch, found in his locker. Broken and water-logged, it was to be Buddy's Christmas gift to her. She had it restored and wore it until her death in 1985 at age 92. Buddy's sister didn't find out until 1995, when she read a local story revealing the sad story.

Duke Olds learned of his brother, Clifford's fate from a cousin who worked at the Bremerton, Washington Shipyard, where BB48 was rebuilt. It was legend there too, talked about in hushed tones. He too, never told his family. Clifford earned $21/month and always sent $18 to his poor parents. They didn't need to know anything more.

Ron Endicott's Parents last known address was listed in the Aberdeen, Washington City directory of 1956. No one knows where they went, but it is assured they never knew either.

Commander Paul Dice mailed the infamous calendar to Chief of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C., where it was lost. Bernard Cavalcante (head of Operational Archives for Navy History), has looked for it for 32 years. It remains elusive. A Seth Thomas 8-day clock, retrieved from the pump room was taken by Dice, perhaps as a memento. In later years, Dice donated it to West Virginias Museum at Parkersburg, where it resides today.

Ronald Endicott and Buddy Costin are buried at the National Memorial Cemetery Of The Pacific-the "PunchBowl". Clifford Olds remains were shipped home to Stanton City, North Dakota. All headstones list December 7 as their date of death.

Jack Miller volunteered aboard the USS Lexington and was at sea for two weeks following the attack, looking for the Japanese fleet. When he returned to Hawaii, he made a bee-line for the "Monkey Bar" and located the girl who had snapped their photo "light years" before. She found the negative and gave it to him for free out of respect. This photograph shows from left to right: Jack Miller, John Szawerda and Clifford Olds-Camel cigarette dangling from his care-free fingers. Shipmates, and our Country are represented in this amazing picture of the last hours of peace.

Thanks to Freeper Abner for providing the research on this Thread

[manna]

Present!

[SAMWolf]

Off hand I can't think of it, I know we lost a few subs to torpedoes circling back.

[FourtySeven]

Thank you. A very touching story.

[Darksheare]

So now we're BOTH in the same boat?
Hoo-boy.....

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

What a story. Ouch.

My dad took me to the Arizona Memorial when I was about 12 or 13 years-old, I guess...I was a typical kid, interested in boys and music and little else, and I sort of walked around disinterested - but I'll never forget Dad's somber demeanor and wondering what the "big deal" was.

I really need to go back there.

Thanks for the thread, you guys. This one is going to stay with me a long time...

[SAMWolf]

Hi DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet, glad you stopped by the Foxhole today.

Going back to the Arizona Memorial now would be a totally different experience for you now, I believe you'd understand better what your dad was feeling.

[SAMWolf]

You're Welcome.

[abner]

My grandfather was on the WeeVee. While looking him up on their website, I found this story. It brought me to tears.

[GailA]

Today's graphic

[SAMWolf]

Richard W. " Wallie" Morgan / USS West Virginia


I had just finished breakfast in the mess hall, with my buddies.

My battle station was in steering aft and our assigned eating area was in the first division area of the ship, which was about as far away from steering aft as possible. It was from one end of the ship to the other and down about 4 or 5 decks.

I am not sure which it was, anyway I was in the first division area when we took the first hit and by the time I got to “E” Division, the part of the ship where there was a ladder to use to get down to third deck, the third deck was already flooded.

There was no place to go so we were told (there were several of us in the area) to stay where we were as there was nothing for us to do. We remained in the in that area until we heard abandon ship called over the intercom. At that point there was a hatch that led to the quarterdeck so we went up to the main deck through that hatch.


We had to boost each other up, as there was no ladder. The last guy was a rather tall person so he could jump up and grab the comming of the hatch. After getting a life jacket, which was near number 4 turret, I just walked off the ship as she had quite a list on her by that time.

I was picked up by a motor launch, off the USS Dobbin, a destroyer, and there just happened to be a guy on the launch from the black gang of the Wee Vee, who knew me. He had been an engineer on one of the boats and recognized me and knew that I had run the staff duty boat several times.

A.B. Dick the regular coxswain for the boat and a close friend of mine had taught me. When I had nothing to do I would make trips with him? Anyway he told the coxswain of the launch to let us off at the sub base as there was an officers boat tied up there. And wanted he and I to get this boat and go pick up survivors in the water, which sounded good to me.

As we approached the boat a Marine came running down the dock and told us to stay away from the boat or he would shoot us. We tried to explain to him what we wanted to do but all he could say was that he was responsible for that boat and we had better get the hell away from there.

We ended up in the recreation center where they gave us each a mattress and told us to put it any where we wanted and that sooner or later we would be assigned to another ship. I was then assigned a job, which was to deliver ammunition to the gun emplacements, which were set up around the base. We also delivered some deciphering machines to several of the ships. I did this until I was assigned to go aboard the USS New Orleans which was on the following Thursday December 11th

[SAMWolf]

Oil from the USS West Virginia spreads into the waters of Pearl Harbor in this aerial view from a Japanese bomber.

[SAMWolf]

Radio just reported that Bill Mauldin has passed away.

No details yet.

Bill Mauldin - 1921 - 2003

[Darksheare]

18th-20th June 1945, U.S.S. Bowfin:
"Several harbors were entered for investigation, but were found empty. On 18 June, Bowfin was the target of uncomfortably accurate gunfire and submerged to escape. On 20 June, a submerged six-torpedo attack on a convoy of three enemy ships in very shallow water failed as a result of poor visibility and attack positions, and the necessity to avoid Bowfin's own fourth torpedo, which seemed to be circling back."

Hmm..

[6323cd]

[SAMWolf]

World War II Cartoonist Bill Mauldin Dead at 81

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Bill Mauldin, who dished out snippets of World War II reality laced with humor through cartoon soldiers Willie and Joe and became one of the 20th century's pre-eminent editorial cartoonists, died Wednesday. He was 81.

Mauldin died of complications from Alzheimer's disease, including pneumonia, at a Newport Beach nursing home, said Andy Mauldin, 54, of Santa Fe, N.M., one of the cartoonist's seven sons.

"It's really good that he's not suffering anymore," he said. "He had a terrible struggle."

Willie and Joe, a laconic pair of unshaven, mud-encrusted dogfaces, slogged their way through Italy and other parts of battle-scarred Europe, surviving the enemy and the elements while caustically and sarcastically harpooning the unctuous and pompous.

They were the vessels that Mauldin, a young Army rifleman, filled with wry understatement to portray the tedium and treachery of war, entertaining and endearing himself to millions of fellow soldiers in the war and to Americans at home.

Mauldin called himself "as independent as a hog on ice," and his nonconformist approach brought him a face-to-face upbraiding from Gen. George Patton. Mauldin continued to draw what he wanted.

In 1945, at age 23, his series "Up Front With Mauldin" won him the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes for editorial cartooning.

Mauldin won the second in 1959, while he was an editorial cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for depicting Soviet novelist Boris Pasternak saying to another gulag prisoner: "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?

Mauldin wrote and drew 16 books and acted in two movies, including John Huston's 1951 production of The Red Badge of Courage starring real-life war hero Audie Murphy.

Mauldin was born near Santa Fe, N.M., and spent much of his life in the West. He described his father, part Chiricahua Apache and part French Basque, as sort of a gypsy with an itchy foot, and recalled growing up as a child of the Depression on a hardscrabble farm.

"We ended up in Arizona because he had this idea that he was going to be a citrus farmer," he recalled in an Associated Press interview. "He never got around to it."

Mauldin said his father instilled a strong work ethic in him and his brother. While still a youngster, Mauldin took to drawing and saw it as his life's pursuit.

"It was a way to work without having to get off my ass," he said. "It's that simple. I just figured how I ought to make my living. It was a deliberate thing."

At Phoenix Union High School, a teacher nurtured his nascent talent for art and encouraged him to go to study in Chicago.

So Mauldin talked his grandparents into lending him all the money they had -- "their last 500 bucks" -- to grubstake him.

"All I could afford was one year," he said. "So I knew I had to make the most of it. And I did."

He repaid them with his support the rest of their lives.

Mauldin attended the Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, learning from such teachers as cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker, a Pulitzer Prize-winner for the Chicago Daily News.

Then came the war.

Mauldin enlisted in 1940 and, assigned as a rifleman to the 180th Infantry, started drawing cartoons depicting training camp for the Division News, the newspaper for the 45th Division.

Through soldiers' eyes and pithy comments, Mauldin portrayed the miseries, the humors of military life, the tiny victories of common sense over the myopic bureaucrats and the horrors of war.

Once Mauldin's 45th Division shipped overseas, Stars and Stripes, the servicewide newspaper, began publishing his drawings, without his permission.

"Eventually my stuff took hold to the point where they realized they couldn't live without it," Mauldin said, "which is exactly what I had plotted."

His career took off and his freedom grew through Stars and Stripes.

Mauldin spent most of his time with the 45th Division, where his material came from, he said. He ended his five-year military career as a staff sergeant. After the war, Mauldin free-lanced for a time, producing cartoons focused on the fiery social issues and political commentary of the times, most prominently civil rights, the Vietnam War and Watergate.

He joined the Post-Dispatch in 1958. After a falling out with publisher Joe Pulitzer, he went to work for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1962.

It was at the Sun-Times that he drew one of his most poignant and famous cartoons on the day of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The drawing showed a grieving Abraham Lincoln, his hands covering his face, at the Lincoln Memorial.

During the mid-1990s, Mauldin suffered a debilitating injury to his drawing hand while working on the engine of a jeep he was issued while in the military. The block fell, mangling several of his fingers and costing him the end of one.

He spent years rehabilitating his hand, continuing after he moved to Tucson, in an effort to draw again.

Late in life, Mauldin remained amazed that the Army had let him portray soldiers as he did -- unshaven, disheveled, irreverent, not easily impressed.

He said a colonel once told him, "There will never be another Mauldin. We would never let it happen."

"And that's basically the truth," Mauldin said. "I was a fluke, I was an accident. It never should have happened."

Mauldin's father was the model for Willie and he used himself as the pattern for Joe. Yet he never intended either to be the everyman.

"I've never been an advocate of the common man theory," he said. "I don't like common men. I like and admire uncommon men, and I always have."

In his classic book Up Front, Mauldin wrote that the expressions on Joe and Willie are "those of infantry soldiers who have been in the war for a couple of years."

"If he is looking very weary and resigned to the fact that he is probably going to die before it is over, and if he has a deep, almost hopeless desire to go home and forget it all; if he looks with dull, uncomprehending eyes at the fresh-faced kid who is talking about all the joys of battle and killing Germans, then he comes from the same infantry as Joe and Willie," he wrote.

Author David Halberstam wrote: "One senses that if a war reporter who had been with Hannibal or Napoleon saw Mauldin's work he would know immediately that the work was right."

More than a half-century after World War II, NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw espoused the belief, in the best-selling book The Greatest Generation and two sequels, that World War II's veterans represented the nation's greatest generation.

Mauldin disagreed.

"I don't think we were all that special," he said. "But it's nice of him to say so. Don't think I don't appreciate it.

"They were human beings, they had their weaknesses and their flaws and their good sides and bad sides," Mauldin said. "The one thing they had in common was they were a little too young to die."

[Darksheare]

"Ya saved my life yesterday, Joe. Here's my last pair of dry socks."
"Water's not hot enough for coffee yet, run the Jeep back up the hill abit, will ya?"

The guy who did those comics is gone to the barracks at 81 years old?

[Paulie]

I can only imagine what that was like. It was tough to read completely, but necessary. Thanks.

[SAMWolf]

Just thinking of his Willie and Joe cartoons rings a tear to my eye.

"I've got a target for you but you'll have to be patient"
"I can't get any lower, me buttons are in the way"
"Remember the warm soft mud last summer?"

[facedown]

Thanks for the ping.

Probably Mauldin's best remembered cartoon.

[Darksheare]

His cartoons were a staple of some of our best unit internal messages.

artilleryman respectful bump for a Military Cartoonist and fellow soldier.