To All,
Good Wednesday Morning October 23, 2024. A bit late this morning as I had to ge to the foot doctor and have an ingrown toenail dug out. Not my favorite thing. The house is coming along. Have a great day.
Regards,
skip
Make it a good Day
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History .
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History thanks to NHHC
October 23
1862—CSS Alabama, commanded by Capt. Raphael Semmes, captures and burns the American bark Lafayette south of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1864—During the Civil War, the blockade-runner Flamingo, which is run aground off Sullivan's Island, SC, is destroyed by shell fire from Fort Strong and Putnam, Battery Chatfield, and ships of Rear Adm. John A. Dahlgren's South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
1942—USS Kingfish (SS 234) sinks Japanese gunboat at the entrance to Kii Suido, Honshu, Japan.
1944—The Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered the largest naval battle of World War II, begins with the U.S. submarines attacking two elements of the Japanese armada moving towards Leyte. In the Palawan Passage, USS Darter (SS 227) and USS Dace (SS 247) sink heavy cruisers Maya and Atago. Takao is also hit, but survives. Off Manila Bay, USS Bream's (SS 243) torpedoes damage the heavy cruiser Aoba.
1961—Submarine Ethan Allen (SSBN 608) makes the first underwater launch of a Polaris A-2 fleet ballistic missile. The Polaris soars 1,500 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range.
1972—The United States ends all tactical air sorties into North Vietnam above the 20th parallel and brings to close Operation Linebacker raids as a goodwill gesture to promote the peace negotiations in Paris. From May through October, Navy aircraft fly a total of 23,652 attack sorties into North Vietnam, which helps stem the flow of supplies into North Vietnam.
1983—A suicide truck bomb explodes at the Marine Barracks at Beirut Airport and kills 241 Americans (220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three Army Soldiers).
1999—USS O'Kane (DDG 77) is commissioned at Pearl Harbor, HI.
2004—USS Virginia (SSN 774) is commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk, VA, the sixth U.S. Navy ship named Virginia; she is the first of its submarine class.
2007—Space shuttle Discovery launches from John F. Kennedy Space Center, FL. The pilot of the 120th shuttle flight and the 23rd to the International Space Station is U.S. Naval Academy graduate and former F/A-18 Hornet pilot Col. George D. Zamka, USMC.
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Today in World History October 23
4004 BC. According to 17th century divine James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, and Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, the world was created on this day, a Sunday, at 9 a.m.
1641... Rebellion in Ireland. Catholics, under Phelim O'Neil, rise against the Protestants and massacred men, women and children to the number of 40,000 (some say 100,000).
1694... American colonial forces led by Sir William Phips, fail in their attempt to seize Quebec.
1707... The first Parliament of Great Britain meets.
1783... Virginia emancipates slaves who fought for independence during the Revolutionary War.
1861... President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all military-related cases.
1918... President Wilson feels satisfied that the Germans are accepting his armistice terms and agrees to transmit their request for an armistice to the Allies. The Germans have agreed to suspend submarine warfare, cease inhumane practices such as the use of poison gas, and withdraw troops back into Germany.
1929... The first transcontinental air service begins from New York to Los Angeles.
1942... The Western Task Force, destined for North Africa, departs from Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1952... The Nobel Prize for Medicine is awarded to Ukranian-born microbiologist Selmart A. Waksman for his discovery of an effective treatment of tuberculosis.
1954... In Paris, an agreement is signed providing for West German sovereignty and permitting West Germany to rearm and enter NATO and the Western European Union.
1973... A U.N. sanctioned cease-fire officially ends the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Syria.
1983... A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem terrorist, crashes into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The bomb kills 237 Marines and injures 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurs at French military headquarters, where 58 die and 15 are injured.
1989... The Hungarian Republic replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic.
1998... Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat reach a "land for peace" agreement.
2002... Chechen terrorists take 700 theater-goers hostage at the House of Culture theater in Moscow.
2004... An earthquake in Japan kills 35, injures 2,200, and leaves 85,000 homeless or displaced.
2011... Libiyan National Transition Council declares the Libyan civil war is over.
2012... The world's oldest teletext service, BBC's Ceefax, ceases operation.
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Thanks to the Bear. We will always have the url for you to search items in Rolling Thunder
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …
https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Wednesday October 23
22-Oct: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=306
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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Thanks to P'Nuts
The Tailhook San Diego Ready Room get together Is this Friday 25 October at MCAS Miramar OÇlub
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Thanks to the Bear for passing this on
Subject: October memories of the "O" Boat
Thanks to Brown Bear who was a part of this bit of history
USS Oriskany and its Air Wing SIXTEEN set a record (that I pray will never be broken) for "losses" during our combat tour of July '67 thru January '68. After losing 58 "brave souls" in an explosion and fire during the previous deployment to Yankee Station off Vietnam in October '66, we returned for another "tour of duty" on 14 July '67. During the following 6 months, we were in combat for 122 of those 180 days! We lost 37 aircraft: 22 A-4 Skyhawks, 11 F-8 Crusaders, 2 KA-3D Tankers, 1 A-D6 Skyraider, and 1 E-1B. When combined with aircrew losses from the previous cruise, that total was 73 lost of 72 assigned. We certainly earned our title of Bloody SIXTEEN, as assigned later by various authors.
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL, EACH AND EVERY ONE, WHETHER STILL ON HIS BLESSED EARTH OR WITH HIM NOW IN HIS HEAVENLY PARADISE. AMEN!
Very Respectfully,
Brown Bear aka Silver King Leader (CO VF-92) aka Gunfighter Three (1st version of Top Gun)
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Aloha Ken & Skip,
Tailhook received a call today from Karen Lenardi, CDR Don Lenardi's daughter.
Karen is in Italy & her email address is listed in the Cc line (karenzhere@gmail.com).
She advised us her dad passed away on 13 October 2024, he was 92.
CDR Lenardi retired in 1976 & his career included, but was not limited to the following assignments:
VF-211, VT-23, Flag Aid in Italy, VA-42 (plank owner), VA-85, VA-75, & VA-42 again.
He served as XO in VA-85 & VA-42 & flew 22 types of planes before retiring.
His carriers included:
USSs Monterey (training), Bon Homme Richard, Antietam, Forrestal, Hancock, Kitty Hawk, Independence & Coral Sea.
He was also a Tailhook Life member who resided in San Diego.
Karen asked us if we could help her let Tailhook membership & other folks know CDR Lenardi had passed away.
We advised our The Hook editors that CDR Don Lenardi was a 'Last Cut' & they will list him as such in a future magazine.
Sending this note to you both FYI & since Don Lenardi was first a Miramar fighter pilot then a long-time A-6 pilot.
Memorial services for CDR Don Lenardi are scheduled at 1330 Friday, 22 November 2024 at the Miramar National Cemetery.
Skip, we thought you might consider adding a note about the memorial service in an upcoming The List in case any of your readers, especially locals, might have known him.
Any help here in getting this word out will be greatly appreciated by Karen, CDR Lenardi's family & also by Tailhook.
Mahalos & continued 2024 blessings to you all, Rodger
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The Battle of Leyte Gulf
Every time I read about this battle more things come to light. It was amazing and at many points in the battle the outcome hung on a thread. The book "The last stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is a must read. I read a lot literally a hundred books a year and I have rarely read a book more than once but this is one of maybe 5 that I have read twice and learned more after the second reading. The survival of the sailors that went in to the sea was a close run thing and many of them would not have been picked up were it not for one of the Captains looking for them had not disobeyed orders and extended his search area. skip
As always you can go to Yes, https://www.history.navy.mil/ is still the one. Go to the director's to search the 74 H-Grams for fantastic naval history.
skip
On 23 October 1944, the 3-day Battle of Leyte Gulf began–the largest naval battle in modern history
Overview
On 15 October 1944, following indications of impending Allied landings in the Philippines, the Japanese Imperial Navy's First Mobile Fleet launched Operation Shō. Shō pulled together the majority of Japan's remaining battleship, cruiser, and carrier forces in a desperate, multi-pronged attempt to interdict and destroy Allied landing forces off of Leyte in the central Philippines and inflict crippling damage on U.S. naval forces. The limited strike capabilities of severely depleted Japanese carrier air groups were to be augmented by land-based naval and army aviation units based in Formosa (Taiwan) and the Philippines. The stage was set for the multiple, widely separated engagements that made up the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
The First Mobile Fleet's Main Body ("Northern Force"), which included the carrier force based in Kure, Japan, approached the Philippines from the northeast. It successfully drew Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet (including TF 34, its powerful fast battleships) away from the Leyte Gulf area, exposing the northern flank of Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's Seventh Fleet invasion force. The Northern Group would be largely destroyed by Halsey's carrier air wings in the Battle of Cape Engaño on 24 October. Meanwhile, the First Mobile Fleet's Third Section, based in Brunei and approaching the Philippines from the southwest, and the Kure-based Second Diversion Attack Force approaching from northeast to northwest, were combined in a "Southern Force." This force would be soundly defeated by the U.S. Seventh Fleet's Bombardment and Fire-Support Group (battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and PT boats) in a tumultuous surface engagement on 24/25 October in the Battle of Surigao Strait as it attempted to force its way into Leyte Gulf from the south. It was one of the unique instances in naval warfare where a U.S. force successfully crossed the "T" of a Japanese force.
The Brunei-based Japanese First Diversion Attack Force ("Center Force"), also approaching from the southwest, was hit by U.S. submarines in the Palawan Strait on 23 October and by U.S. naval air attacks as it transited the Sibuyan Sea in the center of the Philippine archipelago on 24 October. After being sighted by American carrier pilots in apparent retirement to the west, the force resumed its eastward passage and broke out of the San Bernardino Strait north of Samar, focused on destroying U.S. amphibious shipping to the south in Leyte Gulf. Due to the Northern Force's successful decoy of U.S. Third Fleet, the Center Force was faced only by three U.S. Seventh Fleet escort carrier task units when it emerged from the strait in the early morning hours of 25 October. These task units had been providing close air support and an ASW screen for the Leyte landings. The resulting clash of the utterly mismatched forces and ultimate Japanese withdrawal—the Battle off Samar—would prove to be the most dramatic naval engagement of the Leyte campaign.
By 26 October, Operation Shō had been repulsed successfully. Despite hard battles ahead, the American offensive in the Philippines and beyond was to continue unabated. Most important, Leyte completely destroyed the strategic threat posed by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
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Taffy 3 The Battle off Samar
Overview
On 15 October 1944, the Japanese Imperial Navy's First Mobile Fleet launched Operation Shō, a last-ditch attempt to engage Allied naval forces off Leyte in the central Philippines decisively. Following the 24 October Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the powerful Japanese First Diversion Attack Force ("Center Force") appeared to be retiring westward. However, the task force ultimately resumed its eastward passage, broke out of the San Bernardino Strait north of Samar early the following day, and headed southward toward Leyte Gulf. The Japanese Northern Force, a carrier task force, had drawn Admiral William F. Halsey's U.S. Third Fleet to the north. The heavy forces of Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid's U.S. Seventh Fleet were engaged to the south of Leyte Gulf. This left only three Seventh Fleet escort carrier (CVE) task units on the northern flank of the Leyte operational area, where they had been providing close air support and an ASW screen for the amphibious landings. Just after sunrise on 25 October, Rear Admiral Clifton A. F. Sprague's TG 77.4.3—call sign "Taffy 3"—the northwesterly-most task unit, made up of six small escort carriers, three destroyers, and four destroyer escorts, was stunned to confront four Japanese battleships (among them Yamato with her 18-inch main guns), six heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, and 11 destroyers.
Taffy 3 was comprised of the following ships:
Escort Carriers
Fanshaw Bay (CVE-70)
Gambier Bay (CVE-73)
Kalinin Bay (CVE-68)
Kitkun Bay (CVE-71)
St. Lo (CVE-63)
White Plains (CVE-66)
Destroyers
Heermann (DD-532)
Hoel (DD-533)
Johnston (DD-557)
Destroyer Escorts
Dennis (DE-405)
John C. Butler (DE-339)
Raymond (DE-341)
Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413)
The Battle
Initial Contact
Following its San Bernardino Strait passage, the Japanese Center Force was still in its nighttime search disposition. At 0623, shortly after sunrise and before the task force had fully shifted to its circular daytime anti-aircraft formation, Yamato made radar contact with U.S. ASW patrol aircraft. Additional air contacts followed and were fired on until 0650, when the Japanese sighted what appeared to them to be a large U.S. task force of carriers and cruisers on the eastern horizon, thought to be part of the U.S. Third Fleet (this was actually Taffy 3). Center Force's commander, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, immediately ordered his ships to move into a pursuit formation. Due to still-ongoing shift from nighttime to daylight antiaircraft dispositions, this order inadvertently led to confusion. It would have the effect of committing the Japanese ships in a piecemeal fashion and dispersing their overwhelming firepower during the upcoming battle.
Taffy 3's first contact with Kurita's force was a visual sighting of antiaircraft fire to the northwest, immediately followed by a surface search radar "hit" and intercepted Japanese voice transmissions. Shortly after, Kurita ordered his forces to engage and Yamato, followed by other Japanese ships, opened fire. Later, Taffy 3 personnel were to remark on the brightly colored geysers thrown up by the salvos of near-misses that were caused by the spotting dye added to Japanese shells. By this time, Sprague had his carriers come about and initially followed a southeasterly course. His destroyers generated a smoke screen and, Johnston in the lead, began firing at their pursuers. At this point, Taffy 3's sister task units, Taffy 1 and Taffy 2 (TG 77.4.1 and TG 77.4.2) were approximately 25 nautical miles to the southeast and had adopted a southeasterly course. Although its escorts were bound to protect the slow, unarmored escort carriers, Taffy 2, commanded by Rear Admiral Felix B. Stump, was able to support Taffy 3 with its aircraft as the battle progressed. Taffy 1, commanded by Rear Admiral Thomas L. Sprague, also launched some aircraft, but would be faced with other challenges as the day progressed.
Sprague also launched fighters and bombers, which, although armed for their original close air support and ASW missions, could at least harass Taffy 3's pursuers. Sprague also began to change course toward the south; developments would ultimately force him toward the southwest. (Thus, the overall track of the Battle off Samar would come to resemble an inverted fishhook.)
U.S. Torpedo Attacks
At 0716, and again at 0742, Sprague ordered his screen to carry out torpedo attacks. The three destroyers, Johnston (in the lead), Heerman, and Hoel carried out the first. Johnston managed to damage the heavy cruiser Kumano with a torpedo hit, but was heavily damaged by 6- and 14-inch shells. Hoel fired at, and missed, the battleship Kongo, and was also hit multiple times. For a time, she was boxed in by Japanese battleships and cruisers, all of which fired at her. Heerman entered the fray just before Sprague's second attack order. Heerman launched torpedoes at the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguru, but she evaded them and fired multiple salvos at the destroyer, which all missed. Moving beyond the Japanese cruiser division, Heerman came upon the battleships Kongo, Yamato, and Nagato, firing her remaining torpedoes and 5-inch guns at Kongo. The destroyer then quickly came about and moved to a screening station on the starboard flank of the carriers. Despite the intensity of Japanese fire, the only damage aboard had been caused by shell fragments. The determined, aggressive attacks of the three U.S. destroyers, coupled with the ongoing air attacks on his ships, tended to confirm Kurita's erroneous assessment that he was facing a strong carrier task force. The second U.S. torpedo attack would only strengthen this impression.
Sprague ordered his screen to make a second torpedo attack shortly after and his destroyer escorts also engaged. Samuel B. Roberts joined Heerman and the badly damaged Hoel; Dennis, John C. Butler, and Raymond followed, attacking individually. The hard-hit Johnston was also back in action. They faced not only a Japanese cruiser division, but also most of the Japanese destroyers. U.S. and Japanese ships zig-zagged, and exchanged intensive gunfire and torpedoes in the melee-like conditions. Johnston was still able to lay such a heavy fire on the Japanese cruisers Haguro and Tone that these reported her as a "heavy cruiser." By 0820, the U.S. escorts had rejoined the escort carriers, laid smoke, and proceeded on the task unit's southwesterly course. Shortly after, at 0830, Hoel went dead in the water. Listing to port, with all of her engineering spaces flooded and her No. 1 magazine on fire, Hoel began settling by the stern and her crew abandoned ship.
The U.S. Escort Carriers in Action
Even before Sprague had ordered the initial torpedo attack, the escort carriers found themselves under heavy fire from their pursuers. After the brief rain squall and the U.S. air attacks, Japanese battleships and heavy cruisers were gaining on the carriers from astern and enemy destroyers were approaching from starboard. Moreover, a Japanese heavy cruiser division had managed to overhaul the carrier formation's port flank, intending to cross its "T" and cut it off. This pushed Sprague toward the southwest and forced him to launch aircraft with the added disadvantage of a following wind. The U.S. aircraft were ordered to target the heavy cruiser division to port of the carriers. Taffy 2, to the southeast, also launched aircraft at Kurita's force. Center Force would remain under relatively uncoordinated, but heavy, U.S. air attack throughout the engagement.
With its course turning toward the southwest, the escort carriers were taken under Japanese fire from the north and east. As the range was reduced, the carriers began firing the single 5-inch guns under their fantails at their pursuers. Although this fire had little effect on the Japanese, Kalinin Bay and White Plains were actually able to score hits on the Japanese heavy cruisers. (Significantly, a chance White Plains hit on Chokai caused enough damage aboard the latter for her to fall out of formation and later fall prey to aircraft from Kitkun Bay.) More smoke was laid, but given the course and wind direction, this did little to hide the carriers. All were hit by Japanese shells, but the enemy's gunnery during this phase was not good and the full effect of their armor-piercing shells was wasted on the unarmored U.S. vessels. However, Gambier Bay, on the exposed port flank of the formation, began receiving Japanese hits—including from Kongo—at 0810, which started fires on her flight and hangar decks. She then received hits below the waterline in her forward port engine room, which flooded. This reduced the escort carrier's speed and she dropped behind the formation. Johnston attempted to draw fire away from Gambier Bay, but the Japanese concentrated on the carrier. Gambier Bay was dead in the water and sinking by 0840 and ordered abandoned ten minutes later.
Kurita Presses the Attack
As the task unit proceeded toward the southwest, Samuel B. Roberts, Heerman, and Johnston continued to engage the pursuing Japanese heavy cruisers. Shortly before Hoel sank, Sprague ordered John C. Butler and Dennis to take up station on the escort carriers' starboard quarter (where they were joined by Raymond), interposing them between the carriers and the Japanese. At this point, with the exception of John C. Butler, the escorts had expended all of their torpedoes. Given the dispositions of the two forces, it was also questionable if an advantageous firing position was even still possible. The destroyers and destroyer escorts had to resort to darting attacks at the Japanese cruisers while firing their guns, zig-zagging back and forth between the carriers and the enemy. Smoke screens partially shielded Sprague's carriers, but the escorts were hit hard, yet remained underway and able to fight. Around 0850, Samuel B. Roberts received her first serious hit, which entered her hull under the waterline and knocked out her No. 1 fireroom. More Japanese hits followed. A massive explosion caused by several 14-inch shells tore an over 30 feet–long gash on the destroyer escort's port side, obliterated the No. 2 engine room, ruptured fuel tanks, and started fires. All power and communications were lost, and Samuel B. Roberts was abandoned at 0910. Her commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland, USNR, was awarded the Navy Cross.
At 0845, just before Samuel B. Roberts' waterline hit, the Japanese light cruiser Yahagi and several destroyers launched a torpedo attack on the Taffy 3, which was repulsed by Johnston's furious fire and strafing by U.S. aircraft. However, Johnston, limping on one engine, was hit several times more as the Japanese destroyers concentrated their fire on her. Her other engine knocked out, her topsides in shambles, with no power or communications, Johnston was dead in the water at 0945 and was ordered abandoned five minutes later. Johnston's commanding officer, Commander Ernest E. Evans, did not survive her sinking, but was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. The Japanese destroyer squadron's attack was to be the enemy's last offensive action.
Japanese Withdrawal
Taffy 3 might not have survived if Kurita's ships had not been under air attack during the entire Samar engagement. As noted above, Rear Admiral Stump's TG 77.4.2 (Taffy 2), was particularly engaged in this facet of the battle, augmenting Taffy 3 aircraft over the dispersed Center Force. Earlier that morning, just after the Japanese force had been sighted by Taffy 3, Stump had his available TBM Avengers re-armed with torpedoes or 500-pound bombs capable of damaging capital ships. As Taffy 3 was being pursued, Stump closed the distance to Sprague's task unit and was able to launch three strikes during the battle's roughly 90-minute duration. (At one point, Taffy 2 sighted Japanese ships, which, temporarily diverted from their pursuit of Sprague, fired on Taffy 2's destroyers.) Rather than targeting specific vessels, Stump ordered his air group to attempt to cripple as many Japanese ships as possible. Taffy 2 and Taffy 3 aircraft contributed to the sinking of the heavy cruisers Chokai, Chikuma, and Suzuya, all of which had received some degree of damage from surface action. Additionally, aircraft damaged most of the other Japanese combatants and, combined with Sprague's smoke screens, adversely effected Japanese gunnery and Kurita's command and control of his dispersed force. After his last remaining scout aircraft was shot down shortly after 0900, and unaware of the proximity of his weakened and outnumbered opponent, Kurita decided to break off the surface action. Center Force, still under air attack, began to retrace its course toward the northwest.
The U.S. task units were not to have a long respite. Already at 0740 that morning, Taffy 1, in the process of launching aircraft in support of Taffy 3, had been attacked by six land-based Japanese planes from the recently constituted "Special Attack Air Corps," the first official kamikaze unit. USS Santee (CVE-29) was hit by one, which caused flight and hangar deck fires. Other Taffy 1 escort carriers experienced near misses. The kamikaze attacks—an as-yet-unfamiliar enemy tactic— halted or slowed flight operations until after 1000.
Land-based kamikaze aircraft attacked Taffy 3 just before 1100. Kitkun Bay, Fanshaw Bay, and White Plains shot down or drove off their attackers. However, one Japanese plane, already damaged by White Plains antiaircraft fire, dove into St. Lo. The aircraft, a Mitsubishi A6M Zero (or Zeke), crashed through St. Lo's flight deck into her hangar deck. The explosions of ready ordnance blew off the ship's flight deck and elevator; fires raged. St. Lo sank in less than 30 minutes after the attack. Follow-on kamikaze targeted the other carriers. One hit Kalinen Bay's flight deck, but the resulting fires could be extinguished. Her after stack was also hit. By 1130, the Japanese air attacks ceased and the task unit was able to concentrate on assessing damage and searching for survivors from Hoel, Gambier Bay, Samuel B. Roberts, Johnston, and St. Lo.
The initiative, aggressiveness, and outright heroism demonstrated by Taffy 3, combined with determined U.S. naval air attacks, limited Japanese situational awareness, and pure dumb luck of the Americans had stymied Vice Admiral Kurita's intent to destroy U.S. landing forces in the Leyte Gulf. Along with the defeats in the Sibuyan Sea, the Surigao Strait, and off Cape Engaño, the Samar engagement blunted or destroyed much of the Japanese navy's remaining offensive capabilities and turned its surviving surface forces into a "fleet in being"—a concern for Allied commanders, but never again the threat it had still posed into early 1944.
—Carsten Fries, NHHC Communication and Outreach Division, August 2019
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My mother gave me the gift of books and reading. She taught me to read care for books and at around 4 years old I could read pretty well and I still have the forty or so Golden Books that got me started and a couple of the Hardy Boys books….Skip
Thanks to Gailard - and Dutch
I don't know who wrote this or when but, for those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom, this is beautiful.......For those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful.
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked.
And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it.
But the end will be better than the beginning." But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years.
So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."
Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."
And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary.
But at all times she said to the children," *A little patience and we are there*." So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, " *Mother, we would not have done it without you*."
And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said,"This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.
Yesterday I gave them *courage*. Today, I've given them *strength*."
And the next day came strange clouds, which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: " *Look up* . *Lift your eyes to the light* ." And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, "This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."
And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent.
But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide.
And mother said,"I have reached the end of my journey.
And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."
And the children said,
"You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates."
And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said:
"We cannot see her but she is with us still.
A Mother like ours is more than a memory. *She is a living presence......"
Your Mother is always with you* ....
She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well..
Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every teardrop.
She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take.
She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space... not even death
Have Fun,
Pete
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This Day in U S Military History
1864 – Forces led by Union Gen. Samuel R. Curtis defeated Confederate Gen. Stirling Price's army in Missouri. Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition had changed course from St. Louis and Jefferson City to Kansas City and Fort Leavenworth. As his army neared Kansas City, Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis's Army of the Border blocked its way west, while Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton's provisional cavalry division was closing on their rear. Price decided that he needed to deal with the two Union forces and decided to attack them one at a time. With Pleasonton still behind him, Price chose to strike Curtis at Westport first. Curtis had established strong defensive lines and during a four-hour battle, the Confederates hurled themselves at the Union forces but to no avail. The Rebels could not break the Union lines and retreated south. Westport was the decisive battle of Price's Missouri Expedition, and from this point on, the Rebels were in retreat.
1917 – The 1st Infantry division, "Big Red One," fired the 1st US shot in WW I. This morning the first American shell of the war was sent screaming toward German lines by a First Division artillery unit.
1921 – Four unknown soldiers from the cemeteries of Asine-Marne, Meuse-Argonne, Somme, and St. Mihiel were brought to the Hotel de Ville in France for final selection to commemorate the sacrifice of the 77,000 American servicemen who died during World War I. the US military selected bodies of unknown soldiers who died in France. One was chosen to be brought to Arlington National Cemetery. The chosen soldier would represent just one of many who would never be identified. The military service record describes the selection of the first unknown soldier out of a group of four: "The original records showing the internment of these bodies were searched and the four bodies selected represented the remains of soldiers of which there was absolutely no indication as to name, rank, organization or date of death." The selection of the first unknown soldier to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery was made at the Hotel de Ville. Sergeant Edward F. Younger was chosen to select which of the four unknown soldiers would be brought to the United States. Younger entered the mortuary room, "carrying a spray of white roses which had been donated by M. Brasseur Brulfer, a former member of the City Council. Sergeant Younger passing between two lines formed by the officials, entered the chamber in which the bodies of the four Unknown Soldiers lay, circled the caskets three times, then silently placed the flowers on the third casket from the left. He faced the body, stood at attention and saluted. General Duport stepped forward at the other end of the casket and saluted in the name of the French people. He was followed by the other officials present." The casket was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with the inscription, "An Unknown American who gave his life in the World War."
1939 – North of Murmansk, a German prize crew steers the US ship City of Flint into Kola Bay. The steamer was seized as contraband by a German cruiser. SS City of Flint, a freighter of the United States Merchant Marine, was the first American ship captured by the Germans during World War II. Under the command of Captain Joseph H. Gainard, City of Flint first became involved in the war when she rescued 200 survivors of the torpedoed British passenger liner SS Athenia in early September 1939. On October 9, City of Flint was carrying 4000 tons of lubricating oil from New York to Great Britain. (Panzerschiff) Deutschland seized her some 1200 miles out from New York, declaring her cargo to be contraband and the ship a prize of war. A German prize crew painted out all US insignia and hoisted the German ensign. To avoid the Royal Navy, the prize crew headed for Tromsø. The Norwegians, neutral at the time and disturbed by the sinking of the merchant SS Lotent W. Hassen, refused entry to the Germans. The prize crew then sailed for Murmansk, claiming havarie (the privilege of sanctuary for damage caused at sea), but the Russians also refused entry, stating that if the Germans claimed havarie, the American crew could not be prisoners of war. In the several weeks that elapsed, the United States ordered many US merchant ships to register with other countries, so as to continue supporting the Allies without violating the US's nominal neutrality. The Royal Navy began closing on the captured ship. The prize crew then tried Norway again at the port of Haugesund. The Norwegian government again refused entry, describing the German crew as kidnappers. The approaching Royal Navy left the prize crew no choice, though; on November 3 they entered the harbor. The Norwegian Admiralty interned the German crew and, on November 6 returned City of Flint to Captain Gainard's command.
1944 – The 1st Battalion, 141st Infantry, 36th Infantry Division (TX), soon known as the "Lost Battalion" was cut off on top of a hill by German infantry and armored forces. After six days of stemming repeated enemy attacks and suffering extremely high losses and with ammunition, food and water running out, the battalion was relieved by the other two battalions of the 141st along with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team made up of Japanese-Americans.
1983 – A truck filled with explosives, driven by a Moslem suicide terrorist, crashed into the U.S. Marine barracks near the Beirut International Airport in Lebanon. The bomb killed 241 Marines and sailors and injured 80. Almost simultaneously, a similar incident occurred at French military headquarters, where 58 died and 15 were injured. Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyeh was suspected of involvement. They were part of a contingent of 1,800 Marines that had been sent to Lebanon as part of a multinational force to help separate the warring Lebanese factions. Twice during the early 1980s the U.S. had deployed troops to Lebanon to deal with the fall-out from the 1982 Israeli invasion. In the first deployment, Marines helped oversee the peaceful withdrawal of the PLO from Beirut. In mid-September 1982 — after the U.S. troops had left — Israel's Lebanese allies massacred an estimated 800 unarmed Palestinian civilians remaining in refugee camps. Following this, 1,800 Marines had been ordered back into Lebanon. The president assembled his national security team to devise a plan of military action. The planned target was the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger aborted the mission, reportedly because of his concerns that it would harm U.S. relations with other Arab nations. Instead, President Reagan ordered the battleship USS New Jersey, stationed off the coast of Lebanon, to the hills near Beirut. The move was seen as largely ineffective. Four months after the Marine barracks bombing, U.S. Marines were ordered to start pulling out of Lebanon.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
DUNN, PARKER F.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company A, 312th Infantry, 78th Division. Place and date: Near Grand-Pre, France, 23 October 1918. Entered service at: Albany, N.Y. Birth: Albany, N.Y. G.O. No.: 49, W.D., 1922. Citation: When his battalion commander found it necessary to send a message to a company in the attacking line and hesitated to order a runner to make the trip because of the extreme danger involved, Pfc. Dunn, a member of the intelligence section, volunteered for the mission. After advancing but a short distance across a field swept by artillery and machinegun fire, he was wounded, but continued on and fell wounded a second time. Still undaunted, he persistently attempted to carry out his mission until he was killed by a machinegun bullet before reaching the advance line.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for October 23, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
23 October
1909: Wilbur Wright gave Lt Benjamin D. Foulois his first flying lesson at College Park. (24)
1922: The American Propeller Company demonstrated the reversible or adjustable pitch propeller at Bolling Field. Tests continued until 1927. (24)
1944: BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF. Through the 26th, the battle raged. It featured carrier air as well as surface action and introduced Kamikaze attacks. FEAF bombers from Noemfoor and Biak belatedly entered the fray on 26 October and sank the damaged Japanese cruiser Abukuma southwest of Negros Island as the beaten enemy fleet retired on the 26th. They lost three battleships, one heavy carrier, three light carriers, six heavy and four light cruisers, and eleven destroyers in the battle. The US fleet lost one light carrier, two escort carriers, two destroyers, and one destroyer escort. (17) (24)
1951: KOREAN WAR. During one of the bloodiest air battles of the war, the 307 BW's raid on Namsi Airfield, MiG-15s destroyed three B-29s and one F-84, and damaged five other bombers. Fighter pilots and B-29 gunners shot down five MiGs. (28) Col Michael N. McCoy, the 306 BMW Commander, flew SAC's first operational Boeing B-47 (No. 50-008) to his wing at MacDill AFB. In a 19 November ceremony, the B-47 received a name, "The Real McCoy." (1) (12)
1957: A BOMARC missile, in two minutes from beginning its alert, successfully intercepted and knocked down a B-17 drone 100 miles away over the Atlantic Ocean. (24)
1961: A Polaris A-2 R&D missile, launched from the submerged submarine USS Ethan Allen, marked the first underwater launching of this model missile from a submarine. (See 20 July 1960) (16) (24)
1962: Navy F8U-1Ps and USAF RF-101s flew low-level reconnaissance missions over Cuba. (24) PACAF's first F-105D landed at Hickam AFB en route to Kadena AB. (17)
1963: SAC asked for a large payload missile to follow the Minuteman. (6)
1965: The 4503d Tactical Fighter Squadron (Provisional) arrived in Vietnam with 12 F-5A Freedom Fighters for a combat evaluation test. (16) (26)
1972: Operation LINEBACKER I. President Nixon halted bombing operations north of the 20th parallel to end this operation. (16) (17) PROJECT ENHANCE PLUS. Begun in September, the project attempted to build up the Vietnamese Air Force to a level adequate to conduct operations after a cease-fire or withdrawal of US forces. The first cargo aircraft arrived at Tan Son Nhut AB today, while the last shipment arrived at Newport, near Saigon, on 12 December. Altogether, the 288 additional aircraft transferred to the Republic of Vietnam under this project included 116 F-5A/Bs, 90 A-37s, 28 A-1s, 22 AC-119Gs, and 32 C-130As. (17)
1978: Two UH-1N Iroquois helicopters and one O-2A aircraft from the 24th Composite Wing provided flood assistance in Costa Rica. (16)
1983: Through 16 November, MAC flew 78 Americans injured in the terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut from Lebanon to medical facilities in the US and Europe on 8 C-141 and 12 C-9A aeromedical airlift missions. (2)
1984: An H-3 Jolly Green Giant from the 31 ARRS rescued 9 people trapped on the roof of the Pines Hotel in Baguio, Philippines. A C-130 from the 374 TAW, Thirteenth Air Force, carried 48 people to Clark AB for treatment. (16) (26)
1991: MAC units moved 146 tons of medical supplies and relief cargo to Kiev, Ukraine, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. (16) (26)
: Through 25 October, two C-130 Hercules evacuated 96 Americans from war-torn, Monrovia, Liberia. (16)
1998: Two Marine Corps V-22 Ospreys landed at Eglin AFB for a week of pre-operational testing. The V-22 would eventually be transformed into the CV-22 and delivered to the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in 2004. A total buy of 50 CV-22s would replace most of the command's existing rotary and fixed-wing fleet. (AFNEWS Article 981677, 5 Nov 98)
2002: The first KC-135 with the Roll-on-Beyond Line of Sight Enhancement (ROBE) relayed a large quantity of tactical communications data from several F-15 fighters and an E-8C (Joint Stars) aircraft to an operations center at Hanscom AFB. The ROBE, carried on pallets aboard a KC-135 from the 319 ARW at Grand Forks AFB, and flying a test mission from Eglin AFB successfully demonstrated the ROBE's ability to serve as the relay platform of a war-fighting communications network. (22)
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