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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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Posted on 12/06/2002 12:33:24 PM PST by Jen
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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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Veterans History Project There are over 19 million veterans living in the U.S. today. With each is a personal story of battles fought, victories and defeats. Each story, though sometimes heartbreaking, is full of love, dedication and patriotism.
 War correspondent May Craig interviews a soldier, ca. 1945.
That's how Peter Bartis describes his work with the Veterans History Project. The grassroots effort that began two years ago -- and has now caught fire -- is hoping to keep those memories alive. Bartis, a senior program officer for the project, said that each day some 1,500 U.S. veterans die -- and with them a treasured part of the nation's past. "These are some of the most amazing stories; when you put them all together you get a story of the nation," he said. Over the past year alone, the project's staff of 16 has already collected more than 14,000 items, such as letters and other memoirs, and video and audiotape interviews. "We're all just blown away by these stories," he said. "The information has been very rich, it's been emotional, and it's very heartening to listen to the stories, to learn how and why they (veterans) joined, their war-time experience." With the idea that future generations could learn from the histories of the nation's veterans, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, began the effort to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans -- men, women, civilians who served in World Wars I and II, and the Korean, Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars. The center needs contributions of civilian volunteers, support staff, and war industry workers also. Bartis said the amount of regular mail and the number of e-mails and phone calls vary from day to day, "but the response to this project has been enormous." "We get to know a lot of these people personally. That's the fun part," he said. Aside from the thousands of items received from everyday Americans each year, Bartis said the project has gained tremendous support from the corporate community as well. The Veterans History Project's official Web site lists more than 50 national partners and support organizations from every state. The military services contribute through offices such as the Army's U.S. Center of Military History and the Naval and Marine Corps Historical centers, as well as DoD's official committee commemorating the 50th Korean War anniversary. Major national veterans associations are well-represented also. "This is not our project or the library's project. This is the nation's project," Bartis said. "We want people of all walks of life to feel ownership of this project." Learn more about the Veterans History Project.
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We were lucky in 2000 election, but all of FR helped make a difference. Can we override the "cheater party" next time?
"President Al Gore"? Brrrrr! Sends chills up my spine.
Happy holidays to all from and old USAFSS vet from Fort Meade.
SOT
Dear Dad:
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 several other Monaghan crew decided to remain 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
FYI required reading (Inf School text book):
On Infantry
Every page, every 'lesson learned' paid for in blood. It gives you a straightforward assessment of tactics and weaknesses and technical solutions. If only 1 squad of modern infantry with their GLA 40mm grenades could be time transported back to the summer of 1916 and let loose on the trench-fest...
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.
Your father is a Hero! God rest his soul.
I enjoyed visiting your website. Thanks again for your post.
Dec 7th and Sept 11, two days that we'll never forget, never, ever!! !!
OT PS: Kyoto is a scam, never give up your guns, and keep the wusses out of office!!
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