Best I could do Aomagrat, there doesn't seem to be any pictures available of the USS Tampa or any of the Unalga Class Cutters.
Posted on 01/25/2003 12:01:36 AM PST by SAMWolf
Best I could do Aomagrat, there doesn't seem to be any pictures available of the USS Tampa or any of the Unalga Class Cutters.
I always thought the movie was better than the TV series
BTW, can you guess which classic warship will be featured tomorrow?
St. Petersburg Times, published January 25, 2001
TAMPA -- The first time Jack C. Edwards received a Purple Heart, more than 55 years ago, it wasn't much of a ceremony.
"I was at a hospital in Honolulu," said Edwards, a Marine wounded on the beaches of Okinawa during World War II. "They just rolled me out and gave it to me there in the bed, and that was that."
On Wednesday, as the U.S. Coast Guard band played, Edwards accepted Purple Heart medals for two men he never met: his mother's cousins who died when the USS Tampa was sunk by a German U-boat in World War I.
Seaman Homer B. Sumner and Ship's Writer Wamboldt Sumner were among dozens of local boys on the Tampa when it sank. Many of the dead were related to each other or were childhood friends who went down to the Port of Tampa together to join the Coast Guard.
Edwin T. Galvin knows the story of the Tampa well. His father and uncle served on the ship, but his father transferred off a month before it sank.
His father never got over the guilt, Galvin said.
"The ship left port here with his brother and his two best friends," Galvin said. "He never saw them again He talked about it through his tears many times."
During World War I, the Tampa escorted ships in the North Atlantic, protecting them from German U-Boats. It was after one such mission, on Sept. 26, 1918, that they were attacked. In the Bristol Channel of the Irish Sea, the Tampa went down, taking down 111 Coast Guardsmen, four Navy sailors, 10 British sailors and five civilians.
Because so many of the dead were from here, the sinking hit the Tampa Bay area hard. But besides a plaque or two and a stained-glass window at the American Legion post, the men weren't officially honored until recently.
Led by the effort of Coast Guard retiree James C. Bunch of Citrus County, some relatives of the ship's crew were awarded Purple Hearts in Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day 1999.
But the Coast Guard had trouble contacting all relatives for that ceremony. After an article was published in the St. Petersburg Times about the ceremony, more relatives came forward.
Galvin, of New Port Richey, broke down in tears when he saw the article.
So in the shadow of the modern-day Coast Guard cutter named Tampa, Galvin accepted the Purple Heart for his uncle, Charles Emmitt Galvin, who died long before Edwin Galvin was born.
"This is a great day for the Coast Guard family," said John Thorne, national community relations chief for the Coast Guard. "We want to remember those who died defending our shores."
I have to leave to take my kids to a party. I'll be back later to read the thread. You guys do a great job.
The TAMPA was believed to have been torpedoed, and later a man from a captured U-Boat, the U-53, reported that they had sunk a ship of the TAMPA's description at that time and place.
When the TAMPA sunk there were no survivors. Three Coast Guardsmen, four Navy men, a captain and 10 seamen of the Royal British Navy, and five civil employees -- a total of 131 persons -- lost their lives. This loss was the greatest single casualty incurred by any Navy unit as a result of known enemy action, and because of it the Coast Guard suffered the greatest loss, in proportion to its size, of any armed service in the War.
Admiral William S. Sims, a senior naval officer on duty in Great Britain, received the following letter from the Lord of the British Admiralty:
"Their Lordships desire me to express their deep regret at the loss of the USS TAMPA. Her record since she has been employed in the European waters as an ocean escort to no less than 18 convoys from Gibraltar, comprising of 350 vessels, with a loss of only two ships through enemy action. The commanders of the convoys have recognized the ability with which the TAMPA carried out the duties of the ocean escort. Appreciation of the good work done by the USS TAMPA may be some consolation to those left behind and Their Lordships would be glad if this could be conveyed to those concerned."
Eighty-one years after the ultimate sacrifice, the descendants of the men who perished received their Purple Hearts in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, held on Veterans Day, November 11th, 1999. Representatives from the American Legion USS TAMPA Post 5, of Tampa, Florida, were in attendance for the special presentation ceremony. Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard presented the medals, in conjunction with the annual Veterans Day Wreath-Laying Ceremony at Arlington.
The American Legion USS TAMPA Post 5 has a Memorial Window located for the Tampians and the USS TAMPA crew who lost their lives. This beautiful, varicolored window first adorned the Ladies' Auxiliary room at the USS TAMPA Post in its first location at 513 Bay Street in Tampa, Florida. Built by the Works Project Administration (WPA) during World War I, the window now has a permanent home at 3810 Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa.
The window is five feet wide, the lower section is seven feet tall, with the arched portion above three feet high. Ranged around the Great Seal of The American Legion are the names of the 115 men (including the 24 Tampians) who perished with the sinking of the Coast Guard Cutter, the USS TAMPA, on September 26th, 1918 in the Bristol Channel off the coast of Wales.
WW I soldiers suffering from shell shock sent back from the front lines to be 'patched up' emotionally so they can be sent back to the front.
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