This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Historical

  • Remember December 6th

    dec6three1

    I know the date of the attack was December 7th, but I want to take a different view. Because on December 6th 1941, the 7th was going to be a ordinary non-eventful day.

    Jack Miller and his shipmate, Clifford Olds(right) joined fellow sailor Frank Kosa (Center) for a night at the “Monkey Bar”. It was December 6, 1941 in Pearl City, Oahu, and Miller and Olds were on liberty from the USS West Virginia. A barmaid snapped their picture and offered it for sale. “What a scam” they thought-keep it.

    The next day Clifford Olds along fellow shipmates Ronald Endicott, and Louis “Buddy” Costin were trapped in the USS West Virginia after the order for Set Zed was given.

    Every sailor knew fate could place them in a doomed area to be drowned like rats. Old Timers would tell 17 and 18 year old “boots” that if that time came “just inhale water quickly and get it over”. This, the “grizzled Ones” claimed, was preferable to a slow death in a pitch-black void.

    Except that Clifford Olds, Ronald Endicott, and Louis “Buddy” Costin survived the attack and the compartment that they were in was intact. They lived off of C-rations near by, water from a operational water pump that was in the vicinity and any available batteries for a light source. The had a calendar that they used to keep themselves orientated to how many days had passed. They were recovered on Spring of 1942.

    Late spring 1942 found Navy salvage teams finally getting to work on the WV. An Inventive series of tremic cement patches were fitted to her port side, and enough water pumped out to partially float the once grand ship. BB48 was nudged across the Harbor into drydock and the grim task of finding bodies began. For Commander Paul Dice, compartment A-111 was expected to be like the rest: Put on gas masks, place some goo into a bodybag and let the Medical boys worry about identification. They had seen it all, but this compartment was different. Dice first noticed the interior was dry and flashlight batteries and empty ration cans littered the floor. A manhole cover to a fresh water supply was opened. Then he saw the calendar. It was 12″x14″ and marked with big red Xs that ended December 23. Hardened salvage workers wept uncontrollably as they realized the fate of these men. Word quickly spread among salvage crews: Three men had lived for 16 days to suffer the most agonizing deaths among the 2800 victims at Pearl Harbor.

    They oldest one was twenty one at the time of the attack. Perhaps I should have given advance warning that this story did not have a happy ending, but I think that it helps drive the point I am trying to make. Now lets go back to December 6th 1941 when the sailors were at the bar.

    We remember Veterans of the older generation in the contributions and deeds that they performed that allow us to enjoy the life that we live today. But I think that we often forget that they were young too at one point. That they would sometimes do the same crazy things that teens and twenty year olds are know to do. For example Frank Kosa, the Sailor in the middle seems to be enjoying his booze very much. How many times have we been offered a overpriced service by a attractive waitress. Go to a place like Hooters if you want to experience this first hand. I think Clifford Olds is giving a nice irritated look of why someone is interrupting a toast among friends. That they acted like “Boots”.

    But I wonder what were the biggest worries about December 7th 1941 were going to be on December 6th 1941? The dreading having to do PMCS. Wondering why I have CQ on the weekend again. Making sure the family gets to Church on time. The second question is does anyone remember these things after December 7th 1941? How much do these things amount to a hill of beans afterwards?

    To put this into perspective, does anyone remember what they were doing on 10th 2001 or what their biggest concern or worry was on that day?

    Which comes to my point of take advantage of today, do not let worries and concerns about tomorrow distract from taking for granted what each of us has today. Because we cannot know what tomorrow will bring.

    That is why I say to remember December 6th along with December 7th. It should not only be remembered for those who died, be remembered that they lived.

  • 72d Pearl Harbor Day

    Pearl Harbor burning

    Seventy-two years ago today we were “suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan” leading to our ultimate involvement in the war which the rest of the world had been fighting for more than two years. Wiki records our casualties on that day;

    All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four being sunk. All but one were later raised, and six of the eight battleships returned to service and fought in the war. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship,[nb 5] and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,402 Americans were killed[16] and 1,282 wounded. Important base installations such as the power station, shipyard, maintenance, and fuel and torpedo storage facilities, as well as the submarine piers and headquarters building (also home of the intelligence section) were not attacked. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded. One Japanese sailor was captured.

    Ex-PH2 sends a link to NBC which reports that we haven’t completely forgot, yet, about the event that led us to war and leadership in the world;

    On Friday, Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell lead a day of remembrance at the USS Arizona Memorial center near the site of the initial attack.

    The Freedom Bell in Washington, D.C. — cast in bronze with metal from the World Trade Center — rang in honor of those who served in the armed forces, NBC affiliate KHNL reports. Skydivers also unfurled American Flags over Pearl Harbor.

    On Saturday, the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Va., will host Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day with speakers and a laying of a wreath in honor of the fallen members of the military as well as civilians killed.

    In Little Rock, Ark., bad weather forced the cancellation of ceremonies scheduled there for Saturday.

    Here is a link to President Roosevelt’s request to Congress for a declaration of war the following day.

  • Ia Drang Valley, 14-17 November 1965

    A bit more than 30 miles southwest of Pleiku, in what was once the Republic of Vietnam – AKA South Vietnam – flows a river.  It flows through the region of South Vietnam called the Central Highlands.

    The people living there were the Nguoi Thuong.  They were not ethnically Vietnamese.  Westerners termed them “Montagnards”.

    In their language, the term “Ia” meant river.  The river referenced above was the “Drang”; the place it flowed, the Ia Drang valley.

    In November 1965, the Ia Drang valley it was the site of what is generally regarded as the first major battle of the US Vietnam War.  The battle lasted for four days.

    For a bit more about the battle, you can read these articles (here, here, and here) previously published at TAH and elsewhere.  Or you could read LTG Hal Moore’s and Joe Galloway’s book for a more detailed account.

    Those there were, for the most part, soldiers.  Many were young; some, not so much.

    Many who went to the Ia Drang valley in November 1965 didn’t come home.  That’s true for both sides.

    May the fallen, and those who have passed since, rest in peace.  And may the passage of time, along with the grace of God, comfort the survivors – both the families of the fallen, and those still among us who lived through the battle.

    I just thought this deserved a mention today.  Today’s the 48th anniversary of the battle.

  • Recognition Well Deserved

    One of the primary reasons our military exists is to provide security.  That’s true whether you’re talking about the nation in general, or to specific individuals or facilities in a combat zone.

    Sometimes people die doing that job.  And while that hurts – especially for the family and friends of those lost – it’s something that can’t always be prevented.  It’s a risk inherent to the profession.

    Over time, memories of such sacrifices fade.  The fact of such sacrifices, while not forgotten, dims in or is lost to society’s collective memory.

    In November 2004, two Kansas ARNG soldiers – SFC Clayton Wisdom and SGT Don Clary – were KIA in Iraq.   They died when a suicide bomber attacked a convoy transporting a group of staff members from the Iraq Survey Group and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

    SFC Wisdom and SGT Clary were among those providing security for the convoy.  During convoy operations they’d placed their vehicle between the convoy and another vehicle, preventing it from approaching the rest of the convoy.  They were killed when the suicide bomber in that other vehicle detonated his bomb.

    Their remains were repatriated.  Their funerals were held.  The matter, while not forgotten, faded from our memory.

    That’s simply the norm.  And that’s normally where the story would end.

    Except this time, someone they were protecting thought their sacrifice should be publicly recognized – and the memory of that sacrifice preserved for posterity.

    The Defense Intelligence Agency maintains a memorial for those Agency personnel who died in line of duty at their Headquarters on Joint Base Anacosta-Bolling.  DIA has announced it will add SFC Wisdom’s and SGT Clary’s name to that memorial to honor their sacrifice, as they were killed while defending DIA personnel.

    Thanks for remembering, DIA.  Many thanks.

     

    Note:  the first two links show SFC Wisdom and SGT Clary as SSG Wisdom and SPC Clary; the last linked article indicates their ranks as SFC and SGT, respectively.  Apparently both received posthumous promotions.

  • Robert Rheault, 87

    COL Robert Rheault (Ret), US Army, passed away on 16 October 2013.

    COL Rheault’s name may ring a bell.  He was commander of the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1969, and oversaw (among many other things) Project GAMMA – at the time of the “Green Beret Affair”.   The resulting scandal ended his career.

    I won’t comment further, except to say that – if reported accounts are accurate, as they seem almost certainly to be – I can’t condone what happened and Rheault’s apparent participation.  I can certainly understand it, though.

    No intent here to either lionize or criticize the man.  I just thought his passing merited mention.

  • A Quick Reminder . . .

    On 25 October 1983, beginning at 0500


    Combat had effectively ended by 27 October 1983; the end of the combat phase was declared on 2 November 1983.  The operation’s formal end was 15 December 1983.

    Overall, Operation Urgent Fury was successful.  However, many substantial problems with communications and interservice coordination were discovered during the operation.  Thankfully we discovered these issues in Grenada vice against more serious opposition.

    The operation was not zero cost.  US fatalities, Operation Urgent Fury, were as follows:

  • Vo Nguyen Giap, 1911-2013

    General Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of North Vietnam’s armed forces during the French and US Indochinese Wars, has died.  He was 102.

    For decades, Giap was our enemy.  Regardless, give the man his due:  though he was an enemy, he was nonetheless an extremely effective commander – and was perhaps the most capable military strategist the US has ever faced.

    Unfortunately, none of the various Saigon regimes we supported had a leader of Giap’s stature and ability.  If one had, it’s possible things might have turned out differently.

  • NRA Life of Duty; Blackhawk Echoes

    The folks at NRA’s Life of Duty remember Gothic Serpent today;

    NRA Life of Duty Correspondent Chuck Holton and the Frontlines team ride through Somalia’s war-torn streets alongside former U.S. Army Rangers Keni Thomas and Jeff Struecker, reliving a scene of intense personal tragedy, sacrifice and heroism.

    That was the trailer so here’s the whole thing;