Monday, December 18, 2006
This Day in American History
On this day in 1944, the destroyers Hull, Spence and Monaghan sink in a typhoon off the Philippines. My dad was in that storm, on the destroyer Buchanan and will tell the stories about surviving that (but he never mentions combat--at least not in any detail). The destroyers then had a beam of about 35 feet and were like pencils in the water. Each of the sunk destroyers rolled all the way over in the heavy seas. There are survivors, but they are few and far between.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 6:37 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
Beginning about 6 months prior to the typhoon, my father, then a 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd marine Division, participated in the Northern Marianas campaign and the conquest of Saipan and Tinian. The Battle for saipan began June 15 and the island was declared secure July 9, although the heaviest fighting lasted 3 weeks.
Like yours, my father never mentions combat but talks of the food and the liquor ration he received. I think it was about a case amonth of various spirits. Dad grew up in NYC and may of his fellow officers were from the south and drank bourbon. Dad preferred scotch and they would trade him 2 bottles of scotch for 1 of bourbon.
One of my father's friends from NYC became a district court judge in Colorado Springs. He knew my mother also. My parents had dated b/f my father went into teh Mairnes. My parents married in 1946. Once when I was over @ his house for dinner when I was in my 20's he advised that my father never wrote my mother when he was overseas. I think he thought that as a Marine 2nd Lieutenant who was a forward artillery observer, the prospect of coming back was pretty good.
Another story I remember was him asking my uncle, who then 16, to go to the local police station to get and send him a .38 caliber pistol. Dad had been issued a .45 but couldn't hit anythinhg w/ it so he opted for a smaller piece.
Like yours, my father never mentions combat but talks of the food and the liquor ration he received. I think it was about a case amonth of various spirits. Dad grew up in NYC and may of his fellow officers were from the south and drank bourbon. Dad preferred scotch and they would trade him 2 bottles of scotch for 1 of bourbon.
One of my father's friends from NYC became a district court judge in Colorado Springs. He knew my mother also. My parents had dated b/f my father went into teh Mairnes. My parents married in 1946. Once when I was over @ his house for dinner when I was in my 20's he advised that my father never wrote my mother when he was overseas. I think he thought that as a Marine 2nd Lieutenant who was a forward artillery observer, the prospect of coming back was pretty good.
Another story I remember was him asking my uncle, who then 16, to go to the local police station to get and send him a .38 caliber pistol. Dad had been issued a .45 but couldn't hit anythinhg w/ it so he opted for a smaller piece.
# posted by 
: 9:50 AM
: 9:50 AM
My father's a bit younger than yours are, but he tells similar stories of sailing in destroyers during typhoons in the late 50s and early 60s. He is fond of retailing an account of the destroyer he was aboard rolling more than 50 degrees to either side during one storm, to the general distress of the crew.
Note: The USS Maddox (Sumner class) was commissioned in 1944 and still in use during the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, so the destroyer he was aboard may have been of that vintage. FWIW, USS Spence was a Fletcher class DD commissioned in 1943, while Hull and Monaghan were Farragut class DDs commissioned in the mid-thirties.
Note: The USS Maddox (Sumner class) was commissioned in 1944 and still in use during the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, so the destroyer he was aboard may have been of that vintage. FWIW, USS Spence was a Fletcher class DD commissioned in 1943, while Hull and Monaghan were Farragut class DDs commissioned in the mid-thirties.
Good stories, both of you. Tony, I can't hit the broad side of a barn with a .45. FAO was a very dangerous job, I thought. Doug, my dad's ship was a Bristol class which the Fletcher class superseded. In my dad's story they go to 60 degrees. Perhaps he is exagerating.
Post a Comment
<< Home
