The List 5276 TGB
Good Wednesday Morning 15April. A lot of history and some tidbits.
Regards,
Skip
Today in Naval History
April 15
1912
The scout cruisers USS Chester and USS Salem sail from Massachusetts to assist RMS Titanic survivors, and escort RMS Carpathia, which carried the survivors of the Titanic, to New York.
1918
The First Marine Aviation Force, under the command of Capt. Alfred A. Cunningham, USMC, is formed at Marine Flying Field, Miami, Fla.
1945
USS Frost (DE 144) and USS Stanton (DE 247) join to attack German submarine U 880 north-northwest of the Azores, which sinks at 01:14.
1961
The first nuclear-powered frigate, USS Bainbridge (DLGN-25), is launched at Quincy, Mass.
1962
USS Princeton (LPH 5) brings the first advisory unit to Vietnam and the Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 362 SocTrang, Mekong Delta, South Vietnam.
1986
Operation El Dorado Canyon. Aircraft of USS America (CV 66) & USS Coral Sea (CV 43) attack Libya.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
• USNI News reports that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stated Thursday that the Truman Carrier Strike Group will remain at sea at least until the Nimitz CSG is ready to deploy.
• A second Sailor from USS Theodore Roosevelt has been admitted into the ICU at Naval Hospital Guam, while 950 Sailors across the Navy have tested positive for COVID-19, multiple outlets report.
• Multiple outlets report that Iranian naval forces seized a Hong Kong-flagged tanker, redirecting the vessel into Iranian waters before releasing it.
CORONAVIRUS:
1. 950 Sailors Now Have COVID-19; 2nd USS Theodore Roosevelt Sailor in Intensive Care
(USNI NEWS 14 APR 20) ... Sam LaGrone
The Navy is reporting 950 sailors have tested positive for COVID-19, and a second sailor from USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) has been admitted into the intensive care unit at Naval Hospital Guam, the service announced on Tuesday.
April 15
This day in World History
1755 English lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language.
1784 The first balloon is flown in Ireland.
1813 U.S. troops under James Wilkinson lay siege to the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama.
1858 At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists.
1861 President Lincoln mobilizes Federal army.
1865 Abraham Lincoln dies from John Wilkes Booth's assassination bullet.
1871 'Wild Bill' Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas.
1912 With her band playing on the deck, the ocean liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m. in the North Atlantic.
1917 British forces defeat the Germans at the Battle of Arras.
1923 The first sound films shown to a paying audience are exhibited at the Rialto Theater in New York City.
1923 Insulin becomes generally available for people suffering with diabetes.
1940 French and British troops land at Narvik, Norway.
1945 President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home.
1948 Arab forces are defeated in battle with Israeli forces.
1952 President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty.
1955 Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants.
1959 Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins a U.S. goodwill tour.
1960 The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes at Shaw University.
1971 North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops are on a rescue mission.
1986 U.S. warplanes attack Libya.
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1970
Apollo 13 returns to Earth
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From a Midnight Ride to Doolittle's Raid by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
04/20/2010
This Week in American Military History:
Apr. 18, 1775: Paul Revere and William Dawes begin their famous "midnight ride" from Boston to Lexington, Mass., where they link-up with Samuel Prescott, who rides on to Concord. All three are sounding the alarm – warning town leaders and alerting the militia – that British soldiers are advancing from Boston. One of America's most-famous battles is about to take place.
Apr. 18, 1942: Sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers launch from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet in the first raid against the Japanese mainland during World War II.
Led by U.S. Army Air Forces Lt. Col. (future four-star Air Force general) James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle, the raid is beyond daring: B-25's are not designed to take-off from carriers, so the bomber pilots have to be specially trained to fly the heavy, ground-launched airplanes (designed for long runways) off short carrier decks. It is also a one-way mission: The crews will not have enough fuel to return to the carrier, so they have been instructed to strike Tokyo and other targets on Honshu, then fly to China and pray they'll find suitable landing sites or bail out.
The raid will be successful, but all aircraft will be lost. Eleven men will be killed or captured.
Forced with his crew to make a nighttime parachute jump in stormy weather over China, Doolittle will ultimately receive the Medal of Honor. A portion of his citation reads: "With the apparent certainty of being forced to land in enemy territory or to perish at sea, Lt. Col. Doolittle personally led a squadron of Army bombers, manned by volunteer crews, in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland."
Apr. 19, 1775: Nearly 1,000 British regulars – light infantry, grenadiers, a few Royal Marines – cross the Charles River from Boston, Mass. to the Cambridge shoreline (thus the famous "two" lantern signal in the Old North Church as opposed to the "one" lantern which would have signaled a British approach on land across "Boston neck").
Lt. Col. Francis Smith of the 10th Lincolnshires commands the force.
Commanding Smith's lead elements is Maj. John Pitcairn of the Royal Marines. Gen. Sir Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of the King's men in North America, had previously ordered Smith to lead an expedition to Concord, and seize and destroy the military stores hidden in the town.
First stop along the way is Lexington. There, just before dawn, two militia companies – the Minute and the Alarm – under Captain John Parker are forming for battle on Lexington Green.
Before the day is over, the British will bowl over the militia at Lexington. The Redcoats will then advance on Concord where they will spike cannon and burn weapons stores. The militia will retreat to high ground, regroup, then advance on the North Bridge. Shots will be exchanged. The British will withdraw. Then the most serious bloodletting of the day will begin: Firing from rock outcroppings, trees, and houses, the American militia will open a "veritable furnace of musketry" on the British companies streaming back toward Boston. The British barely escape the gauntlet. The war is on.
Apr. 19, 1861: Pres. Abraham Lincoln orders a Naval blockade of Confederate ports in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The blockade will be extended to North Carolina and Virginia the following week.
Apr. 19, 1945: Following a massive artillery, Naval gunfire and air bombardment of Japanese defenses on Okinawa, U.S. forces launch a coordinated ground assault against the infamous Shuri Line.
Apr. 20, 1861: A reluctant Col. Robert E. Lee – forced to choose between the United States and his home state Virginia – resigns his commission in the U.S. Army. In a letter to his sister, Lee writes: "With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I have therefore resigned my commission in the Army, and save in defense of my native State, with the sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I may never be called on to draw my sword." In three days, Lee will accept command of Virginia state forces. He is destined to become general-in-chief of Confederate forces.
Apr. 21, 1836: Described as "one of the biggest military upsets in the [western] hemisphere," Texas Army forces under the command of Gen. Sam Houston decisively defeat Mexican forces under Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna in the bloody Battle of San Jacinto. The fighting is grim – much of it hand-to-hand – but it is over in less than 20 minutes. Houston is wounded. Santa Anna, hiding and dressed in a common soldier's uniform, will be captured the following day. The Mexican Army is finished. Texas independence is secured.
Apr. 21, 1898: America declares war on Spain. The following day, U.S. Navy warships begin blockading Cuba, and USS Nashville (one of five so-named American warships, including two Confederate vessels of the same name) fires the first official shots of the war.
Apr. 23, 1778: Capt. John Paul Jones – commanding the Continental sloop-of-war Ranger (the first of 10 so-named American warships) – leads a daring ship-to-shore raid on the British fortress at Whitehaven, England. Jones' sailors and Marines spike the enemy's guns, burn a few buildings, and set fire to a ship before withdrawing. The raid is the first on British soil by an American force.
Apr. 24, 1778: Jones captures the Royal Navy sloop HMS Drake in an action off the Irish coast in which Drake's captain, Commander George Burdon, is killed by a Continental Marine.
Apr. 24, 1862: Union Naval forces under the command of Adm. David Farragut knife past Confederate gunboats and batteries at Forts Jackson and St. Philip in the Mississippi River at New Orleans. Farragut will capture the city.
Apr. 24, 1980: Following a string of glitches from missed deadlines to malfunctioning helicopters, a U.S. operation aimed at freeing American hostages in Iran is aborted at a remote staging area – code-named "Desert One" – some 200 miles from Tehran. As the rescue force begins to withdraw, one of the helicopters operating in night black-out conditions accidentally hovers into a C-130 transport aircraft. A terrific explosion follows, killing five airmen and three Marines. Though an operational disaster, America's enemies will be stunned by the fact that such a mission in adverse conditions was nearly carried out so far from American shores. Moreover, the disaster will force military planners to ramp up and retool U.S. special operations forces, establishing a special warfare capability that is today the envy of foreign militaries worldwide
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Thanks to Bob and all the Bubbas
Proud to have been one!!!!
And even more proud to have served with you all….
GBox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1yN6irzSvE
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Thanks to Z-man for this one
BRAVERY IN BATTLE: THE MEDAL OF HONOR
COPTER PILOT'S REPEATED PICKUPS UNDER FIRE RESCUED 29 SOLDIERS
CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 4 MICHAEL J. NOVOSEL Received medal: June 15, 1971 Novosel served in three wars during his time in the military, initially enlisting in the Army Air Corps and becoming a captain who flew B-29 bombers in 1945. He also fought during the Korean War as a pilot before leaving the military to work in commercial aviation. In the 1960s, he learned he had glaucoma, disqualifying him from flying as a civilian. He was inspired by President John F. Kennedy's call for Americans to ask what they could do for their country, and decided to re-enlist in the Army, which needed combat pilots in Vietnam and chose to waive the glaucoma disqualification. He'd become a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, but had to accept a lower rank of chief warrant officer in the Army. His first tour ended in 1967. His second was with the 82nd Medical Detachment, 45th Medical Company, 68th Medical Group. He was a "dustoff" pilot — an airman who flew helicopters into battle to hover long enough to evacuate injured soldiers. His mission on Oct. 2, 1969, was to fly into the Kien Tuong Province to rescue a group of South Vietnamese soldiers who were surrounded by the North Vietnamese near the Cambodian border. All of the men on the ground were out of ammunition and had no radio communication, so Novosel had to repeatedly circle the area under heavy enemy fire and without cover or fire support. He and his crew flew low and scooped up the injured men, making six trips to drop off men at a Special Forces camp for medical attention. On his final trip, he saw a soldier close to an enemy bunker. Despite knowing he'd draw more fire, he went in backward so the man could be pulled on board. One of the enemy soldiers opened fire at close range, damaging the helicopter and hitting Novosel in the leg and hand. He nearly lost control of the helicopter, but managed to lift off and get everyone to safety. He and his men would save 29 soldiers that day, and during his two tours in Vietnam, Novosel reportedly evacuated more than 5,000 men. In early 1970, Novosel's son, Michael Jr., was a recent Army flight school graduate and was assigned to his father's unit. The two were reportedly the only father-and-son team to fly together in the same unit in combat. Novosel completed his tour in 1970, and the next spring, he learned that he was to receive the Medal of Honor. His presentation was delayed so that his son could finish his tour and attend the ceremony. On June 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon presented Novosel with his medal. Novosel died on April 2, 2006, at age 83.
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A great old baseball joke from Donna and Dutch
Two 90-year old guys, Leo and Frank, had been friends all of their lives. When it was clear that Leo was dying, Frank visited him every day.
One day Frank said, "Leo, we both loved playing baseball all our lives, and we played all through high school. Please do me one favor: when you get to heaven, somehow you must let me know if there's baseball there."
Leo looked up at Frank from his deathbed and said, "Frank you've been my best friend for many years. If it's at all possible, I'll do this favor for you."
Shortly after that, Leo passed away. A few nights later, Frank was awakened from a sound sleep by a blinding flash of white light and a voice calling out to him, "Frank...Frank...
"Who is it?" asked Frank sitting up suddenly. "Who is it?"
"Leo-- it's me, Leo."
"You're not Leo, Leo just died."
"I'm telling you, it's me, Leo," insisted the voice.
"Leo! Where are you?"
"In Heaven," replied Leo. "I have some really good news and a little bad news."
"Tell me the good news first," said Frank.
"The good news," Leo said, "is that there's baseball in heaven. Better yet, all of our old buddies who died before us are here, too. Better than that, we're all young again. Better still, it's always springtime, and it never rains or snows. And best of all, we can play baseball all we want, and we never get tired."
"That's fantastic," said Frank. "It's beyond my wildest dreams! So what's the bad news?"
"You're pitching Tuesday."
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A repeat but worth the time
H-Gram 18 from Admiral Cox and the NAVAL HISTORY AND HERITAGE COMMAND
No Higher Honor: The Road to Operation Praying Mantis, 18 April 1988
"Mr. Secretary, I think we've shed enough blood today," said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral William Crowe to Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci. With that, the primary target of Operation Praying Mantis, the Iranian frigate Sabalan, dead in the water with a laser-guided bomb down her stack and U.S. Navy planes ready for the kill, was given a stay of execution. Sabalan's skipper, the infamous "Captain Nasty" (named for his habit of firing into the crews' compartments of neutral merchant ships and tankers, and leaving the high-casualty scene of attack with his trademark radio call, "Have a nice day") also lived to go on to be a vice admiral. Nevertheless, the cost to the Iranians of the one-day operation was very high: over 60 dead and 100 wounded. Sabalan's sister, Sahand, was on the bottom, the largest warship sunk by the U.S. Navy since World War II, smothered by a rain of air- and ship-launched Harpoon missiles, laser-guided air-launched Skipper missiles, and a variety of other air-delivered ordnance. The Iranian missile boat Joshan was also on the bottom, having fired the last operational U.S.-supplied Harpoon missile in the Iranian inventory at the cruiser USS Wainwright (CG-28)—and narrowly missing—crippled by a shower of Standard missiles fired in surface-to-surface mode and then sunk with guns. Three Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats were also sunk and others damaged. An Iranian Air Force F-4 Phantom fighter, hit by an extended range Standard missile from Wainwright, barely made it back to Bandar Abbas, Iran. Two Iranian oil platforms in the Arabian Gulf, used for intelligence collection and staging points for Iranian reconnaissance and attacks against neutral shipping, were also heavily damaged by U.S. naval gunfire and demolition charges emplaced by U.S. Marines off USS Trenton (LPD-14). U.S. forces were unscathed, except for a Marine AH-1 Sea Cobra helicopter that crashed into the ocean after nightfall while pursuing Iranian speedboats, killing its two-man crew. Operation Praying Mantis, the largest U.S. Navy surface action since World War II, did succeed in modifying Iranian behavior, and represented the culmination of several years of undeclared war between the U.S. and Iranian navies (both of them, regular and Revolutionary Guard). Although there continued to be tense encounters, the Iranians refrained from laying additional minefields in the Arabian Gulf.
The proximate reason for the execution of Operation Praying Mantis was to retaliate for minefields laid by the Iranians in the shipping lanes of the Arabian Gulf. On 14 April 1988, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck a mine in a recently and deliberately laid Iranian minefield in the shipping channel in the central Arabian Gulf. The Iranian-made Sadaf 02 (Farsi for "oyster") moored contact mine, based on a 1908 Russian design, inflicted severe damage to the Samuel B. Roberts, breaking her keel, flooding two main spaces, and starting fires. Casualties were light; ten wounded, four of them seriously, only because an alert lookout had spotted the mines, giving the ship's captain, Commander Paul X. Rinn, enough time to order his crew to get above the main deck before the ship hit an unseen mine while attempting to back out of the minefield. Post-event computer simulations all indicated the ship should have sunk, yet her well-trained and drilled crew saved their ship in one of the most inspiring damage-control efforts in the history of the U.S. Navy. At the height of the fire and flooding, the commander of the U.S. Middle East Force, Rear Admiral Anthony Less, asked Commander Rinn via radio if he was considering abandoning ship. Rinn replied that he had no intention of giving up the ship and finished with the ship's motto, "No Higher Honor." The motto derived from the battle report filed by Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland, skipper of the first Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), lost in an extraordinarily valiant sacrificial action during the Battle of Leyte Gulf in World War II, in which he stated there was "no higher honor" than to lead the American Sailors who displayed such extraordinary courage during battle.
For more on Operation Praying Mantis and the undeclared naval war between the U.S. and Iran in the late 1980s, please see attachment H-018-1. For more on the legacy of Coxswain Samuel B. Roberts and the three ships that have been named for him see my previous H-Gram 010/H-010-4.
75th Anniversary of World War II
Operation Vengeance: Admiral Yamamoto Shot Down, 18 April 1943
At 0935 on 18 April 1943, 16 U.S. Army Air Force P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighters arrived over Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands after a circuitous 600-mile flight from Guadalcanal. The two Japanese G4M Betty bombers and six escorting A6M Zero fighters were exactly where the P-38s expected to find them. Four of the P-38s, designated the 'killer" group, went after the bombers, while the others engaged the fighter escorts. The pilots did not know who was aboard the bombers—only that their target was a VIP—nor did they know the true source of the intelligence regarding their target, having been told a cover story that it had been provided by Australian coast watchers. Both of the bombers were shot down. One bomber crashed in the jungle of Bougainville and the other crashed at sea just off the coast. The next day, a Japanese search party found Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, in the jungle, sitting upright, buckled in his seat thrown from the aircraft, clutching his katana ("samurai sword") with one white-gloved hand, dead from a .50-caliber slug through his face. One P-38 and pilot were lost on what was the longest fighter-intercept mission of the war. The P-38s returned several times over the next weeks to make it look to the Japanese that the intercept of Yamamoto had been a coincidence, and not because U.S. naval intelligence had broken the Japanese navy code (by then the JN-25D cipher), intercepted and deciphered the message with Yamamoto's flight schedule, and done so in sufficient time for Admirals Nimitz, Halsey, Mitscher, and commanders at Guadalcanal to plan and execute a complex and daring "joint-service" mission (the USAAF P-38s were the only aircraft that had the legs to execute the mission, and even then needed special drop tanks flown in just in time from General MacArthur's Southwest Pacific theater). Operation Vengeance (as best I can tell a name given after the fact) is one of the greatest intelligence-operations success stories of all time. For more, please see attachment H-018-2.
A Presidential Unit Citation for a Failed Attack: USS Tunny's Second War Patrol, 9 April 1943
It was a submarine skipper's dream come true. On the night of 9 April 1943, the Japanese convoy was right where naval intelligence reports said it would be, approaching the Japanese stronghold at Truk Island in the central Carolines, and the submarine USS Tunny (SS-282) was in the perfect position. On the surface, but ballasted down with decks awash, Tunny's skipper, Lieutenant Commander John A. Scott could see off his port bow a column of ships led by a destroyer, followed by a large aircraft carrier. Off his starboard bow was another column, led by a destroyer, followed by two smaller aircraft carriers. At a range of about 880 yards, Scott set up to take out all three carriers, when out of the darkness came three motor torpedo boats, forcing him to submerge. Nevertheless, Tunny fired all four stern tubes at the smaller carrier and all six bow tubes at the large carrier. The shots appeared to be perfect, and seven of the ten torpedoes were heard to detonate at the right time. Back in Pearl Harbor, the attack was hailed as the greatest of the war to date, only to have the euphoria dashed by subsequent deciphered Japanese messages confirming the safe arrival at Truk of all ships in the convoy. The Japanese traffic also confirmed that only the escort carrier Taiyo had been slightly damaged, and that all the torpedoes that would otherwise have been hits had prematurely detonated just short of their targets. Despite the result, Scott's attack would be rightly lauded as a superb example of daring and skill. The results of the attack provided yet more confirmation of what many submarine skippers had been saying for months: U.S. torpedoes were unacceptably defective. Tunny and Scott would go on to earn a second Presidential Unit Citation on her fifth war patrol, dueling and sinking a Japanese submarine, and damaging the super-battleship Musashi. Taiyo led a charmed life for a while, surviving four attacks and two torpedo hits from U.S. submarines, before finally succumbing to torpedoes from the submarine USS Rasher (SS-269) on 18 August 1944, sinking with heavy loss of life (estimated about 800). For more on USS Tunny's extraordinary second war patrol, please see attachment H-018-3.
100th Anniversary of World War I
Dental Valor
U.S. Navy dental officers earned two of the 12 Medals of Honor awarded to U.S. Navy personnel for exceptional acts of valor under combat conditions during World War I, one of them posthumously. Lieutenant Commander (and future vice admiral) Alexander Gordon Lyle was awarded the medal for rescuing and operating on a wounded Marine while under intense bombardment in France on 23 April 1918. Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Weedon Oscar Osborne would be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for action during the Battle of Belleau Wood on 6 June 1918, when he attempted to carry a wounded Marine officer off the battlefield under intense fire, which killed both. Lyle and Osborne are the only two U.S. Navy dental officers to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Their citations are in attachment H-018-4.
At the time, the Medal of Honor could be awarded for exceptional courage under non-combat conditions, and nine other Navy personnel won such awards during World War I. The Navy combat version of the medal was distinguished by a different design, known as the "Tiffany Cross," which was introduced in 1919 for World War I Navy recipients. This design was officially discontinued in 1942, partly because it looked too much like a German Iron Cross and partly because the Navy and Marine Corps Medal had been by then created for non-combat acts of valor. The non-combat version during World War I retained the original Civil War (and current) five-pointed design.
120th Anniversary of Spanish-American War
Battle of Manila Bay, 1 May 1898
The Spanish Pacific Squadron didn't have a prayer. The United States, on the other hand, had been planning the attack on the Spanish in the Philippines for over four years. According to my "Z-power" professor at the Naval Academy, the fact that the Battle of Manila Bay occurred at all was because the Spanish could not find a white sheet big enough to be seen by the U.S. Asiatic Squadron. That tongue-in-cheek remark was somewhat unfair in that the Spanish flagship, the cruiser Reina Cristina, made a valiant effort to get underway under a hail of U.S. fire. Hit 81 times with half her crew of 400 dead or wounded, the burning Reina Cristina was ordered scuttled by the wounded embarked Contra-Almirante Patricio Montojo. Nevertheless, Montojo had previously recognized that his old, ill-trained, under-manned squadron would be no match for the U.S. Asiatic Squadron in a battle of maneuver. Therefore, he chose to fight from an anchored position in shallow water in the small bay between Sangley Point and the peninsula of Cavite so as to spare the city of Manila from damage resulting from the battle and to give his sailors the best chance of swimming ashore after his ships were sunk. Had he anchored his ships under the protection of the one Spanish shore battery with large enough guns to reach the U.S. squadron, the battle might have been a bit more even, but he didn't. As a result, the U.S. Asiatic Squadron under the command of the combat-experienced and aggressive Commodore George Dewey, embarked on the modern protected cruiser USS Olympia (C-6), cruised back and forth off Cavite at ever-decreasing range, blasting the anchored Spanish ships like ducks in a shooting gallery, suffering only a handful of ineffective hits in return.
In the end, the Battle of Manila Bay was more like a massacre. At a U.S. cost of one dead (from a heart attack/heat stroke on a non-engaged support ship) and seven wounded, all seven Spanish ships were abandoned—either sunk, aground, scuttled or on fire, with between 77 and 381 dead (sources vary). Hailed in the American press as a great victory, the battle propelled Commodore Dewey to "rock star" fame, a presidential run, the rank of "Admiral of the Navy" (technically senior to the World War II five-stars), and president of the new U.S. Navy General Board from 1900 until his death in 1917. Nevertheless, the battle failed in its objective, which was to so shock Spain that it would give up Cuba without a fight. Instead, the Spanish refused to negotiate and sent a force of cruisers to Cuba, and the United States had to resort to an invasion of the island. The victory also sucked the United States into the ongoing insurrection between the Filipino people and Spain when the nation replaced Spain as colonial master of the Philippines, which would cost far more lives than the Spanish-American War (and would largely be written out of U.S. history). For more on the Battle of Manila Bay, please see attachment H-018-5 "You May Fire When Ready, Gridley."
Published:Tue Apr 17 09:02:46 EDT 2018
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The battle for Okinawa started on 1 April 1945 and lasted for 92 days. The battle against the Shuri line and Sugar Loaf Hill was a meat grinder for the US.
I recently read his book Islands of the Dammed" Pelilu and Okinawa and a couple others that were "minor". This Marine went through the grinder….skip
Thanks to Jim
Subject: A Story of Valor from the Battle of Okinawa
Reply-To: info@contact.americanveteranscenter.org
Romus Valton "RV" Burgin, a young Marine soldier joined the Marine Corps at age 20 in 1942. Burgin and his men trained for six months in Australia beside veterans of Guadalcanal, preparing for what they knew would be intense combat.
Dear Robert,
Seventy-three years ago this month, the Battle of Okinawa commenced in the Pacific Theater, the last major battle against the Japanese forces of the Second World War. The battle proved one of the bloodiest fought in the Pacific – the Japanese called it 'The Typhoon of Steel' – with both sides suffering over 160,000 casualties. It would be the last battle in the Pacific islands before attention was turned to Operation Downfall – the planned invasion of Japan...
Among those fighting was a young Marine soldier, Romus Valton "RV" Burgin, who joined the Marine Corps at age 20 in 1942. Burgin and his men trained for six months in Australia beside veterans of Guadalcanal, preparing for what they knew would be intense combat. He first saw action on the island of New Guinea and later at the Battle of Peleliu. Burgin and his men hit the beach at Peleliu under enemy fire on September 15, 1944, and fought until October 15, 1944. Of the 235 Marines of K Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Regiment, First Marine Division who hit the beaches, only 85 were standing on Peleliu when they received relief from the Army's 81st Division.
Burgin saw intense combat again when he and his men landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945. For his acts of valor during this battle, Burgin was awarded the Bronze Star.
Want to hear more about his story? Watch the AVC's latest oral history project about Sergeant RV Burgin.
Like many of his comrades, RV did not talk about his experiences on Okinawa or Peleliu for many years. Eventually he began to attend reunions, which helped him heal and work through some of his unseen wounds.
RV's story would later be featured in the acclaimed HBO miniseries The Pacific, and he is among the last surviving veterans portrayed in the series. More than seven decades after RV and his comrades made the final push toward victory in the Pacific, the lessons of what they stood for, what they fought for – and what they died for – are more important than ever. Please take a moment to watch his story and share with friends and family, and reflect on the valor of the men who fought through that 'Typhoon of Steel' exactly 73 years ago.
Warmest Regards,
President & Founder
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