Bonnie Henry : 16 sea battles hard to forget

Arizona Daily Star ^ | Bonnie Henry

[SandRat]

Hope you have a nice Fourth of July. Maybe you'll watch the fireworks, grill a few hot dogs, give a little thanks to those keeping watch — now and then.

Dave Cohea knows where he was on the Fourth of July in 1944: on board the USS Boston, which was shelling the island of Iwo Jima, softening it up for invasion the following spring.

The Boston was Cohea's second ship, the first having been blasted out of the water 18 months earlier at Guadalcanal.

"We were torpedoed. The ammo blew up, and fuel was all over me," says Cohea, 85, now living in Tucson. His shirt was blown off, his arms burned, earning him his first of three Purple Hearts.

Altogether, Cohea would survive 16 major sea battles — from Midway to Guadalcanal to the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines.

Ironically, he missed the battle that started it all: Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941.

"We had accompanied the aircraft carrier Enterprise to Wake Island to drop off some planes," says Cohea, who joined the Navy in June of '41. They were on their way back and about 100 miles from Pearl when the attack occurred.

"We heard it on the radio. We went to general quarters. We did not know what the hell was going on."

By morning of the next day, his heavy cruiser, the Northampton, was pulling into Pearl Harbor. "Bodies were still in the water; some of the ships were still burning."

They docked, refueled, got new provisions and went out to patrol the islands, in case of another attack.

In late January of 1942, his ship was heading for battle in the Pacific. "Our fleet was crippled," says Cohea, whose ship, along with others, was still escorting the Enterprise, skippered by Adm. William Frederick "Bull" Halsey, commander of the South Pacific Forces.

In April of 1942, the Northampton as escort took part in the famed bombing raid over Tokyo by Jimmy Doolittle and his fliers. "The planes were all crowded on the deck of the Hornet," Cohea says. "After they were launched, we never saw them again."

Next came the Battle of the Coral Sea. "We had some strafing, but no real damage." Then came Midway, ranked by many as World War II's most important battle in the Pacific.

At Midway, between June 4 and 7, 1942, the U.S. Navy struck a decisive blow against the Imperial Japanese Navy, paving the way for future American campaigns. "We were under bombardment for three days," says Cohea. "You fought during the day and were on guard during the night."

Still escorting the Enterprise, the Northampton was there in late October 1942 when the Hornet was bombed and torpedoed in the Battle of Santa Cruz near Australia and eventually scuttled. "We were not able to tow it to be repaired," says Cohea.

A month later, on Nov. 30, 1942, the Northhampton also found the deep, torpedoed in the Battle of Tassafaronga during the Guadalcanal campaign.

About 50 men died on the ship, and another 700 were rescued — some, such as Cohea, after drifting all night in a life raft. "One guy in our raft died overnight. There were sharks all around," he says.

Picked up the next morning, Cohea was taken to Florida Island, off Guadalcanal, and treated for his burns. As he and others from his ship made their way to their tents, Marines sprawled on the beach threw their pants and underwear at the sailors. "They knew we'd lost all our gear," says Cohea.

Sent home on a troop ship, he landed in San Francisco in late 1942 and went home to Iowa on 30 days' leave. There, he met Gerry Reiff, the young lady he would later wed, at a dance.

Then it was on to Boston, where he was assigned as a radar man to the USS Boston, which steamed through the Panama Canal toward more battles in the Pacific, including Formosa, Okinawa and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.

In early 1945, Cohea was again shipped back to the United States and was transferred to an aircraft carrier preparing for the invasion of Japan. Meanwhile, he and Reiff married in mid-July. Days later, two atomic bombs were dropped over Japan. The war was over.

Cohea returned to Iowa and a job with the telephone company. But his wartime duties were not over. As a member of the Naval Reserve, he was called back to action during the Korean War and assigned to the destroyer USS Sproston.

In early 1951, the Sproston departed for Eniwetok, a Pacific island, and participated in several atomic bomb tests.

"Our job was to keep the Russian subs from hanging out and taking pictures of the bomb blasts," says Cohea, by then a chief radar man. "We were seven miles from the blast; it was supposed to be 10. We kept telling them we were in the red zone, and all they said was, 'Aye, aye.' "

Though the Navy later acknowledged that he had been exposed to radiation, he's had no ill effects, says Cohea, who moved to Tucson in 1989.

Long retired, he now shares his experiences from time to time in the classroom. "I was in 16 major battles, but some of those battles went on for days."

Bonnie Henry's column appears Sundays and Mondays. Reach her at 434-4074 or at bhenry@azstarnet.com, or write to 3295 W. Ina Road, Suite 125, Tucson AZ 85741. Blog: go.azstarnet.com/bonniehenry

[Redbob]

Yet another good man whose life was quite possibly spared by Fat Man and Little Boy...

[sionnsar]

Yet another good man whose life was quite possibly spared by Fat Man and Little Boy...

[Shqipo]

Good partial history of the Northhampton’s role in the Pacific Theater in Herman Wouk’s “War & Remembrance.”

[I Buried My Guns]

"...As he and others from his ship made their way to their tents, Marines sprawled on the beach threw their pants and underwear at the sailors. "They knew we'd lost all our gear," says Cohea..."

The character of the men that won WWII is awe-inspiring, and in short supply today.

We need men of this caliber if we are to triumph in the coming conflict.