Coral Sea Memories

Hero

It was hard, growing up, to realize the significance of the stories my Grandfather would tell me about his time aboard the USS Lexington. I was, as are most boys, intrigued by the thought of war and all the machinery that goes along with it. I remember building models of WWII era fighters and bombers when I was still in grade school. Little did I know that at the time that my Grandfather was passing to me the history of my family and the price of freedom which was paid in blood all those years ago. I realized far too late how much I really didn't know. As he got older, he succumbed to multiple small strokes which eventually deprived him of most of his memories. I wish that I'd taken the time to ask more, when he was still all there.

Grandpa joined the Navy in the summer of 1941. He completed basic training in San Diego and was stationed aboard the USS Lexington attached to an anti-aircraft gunnery crew. My Grandfather would fight the Japanese from the 28mm gun emplacement immediately forward of the tower. From this vantage point, my Grandfather would be among the first men ever to take part in a naval battle in which the enemy ships never saw each other.

During the Battle of the Coral Sea, Grandpa said that everyone was so focused and intent upon completing their assigned duties, that they often completely blocked out what was happening around them. One such story was the aircraft armament group. Grandpa told me that an F4F Wildcat had just landed, returning from a dogfight. Part of the fuselage was on fire, however, so intent were the armament group that they'd climbed aboard the plane's wings and began reloading the F4F's .50 Cal machine guns before the fire crew had the opportunity to douse the flames. Shortly thereafter, the armament crews were pulled of the F4F which was ditched over the side of the CV-2, as the flames had completely engulfed the aircraft.

Confirmed hits upon the USS Lexington at the Battle of the Coral Sea

Midmorning on May 8th, as the carriers were in the midst of an attack upon the Japanese carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku, a Japanese bomb struck and detonated upon the anti-aircraft gun emplacement directly across the deck from where my Grandfather was serving. The bomb blast killed the entire gunnery crew along with members of the gunnery crews on either side of the damaged AA gun. It's believed that the shell in the gun also detonated when it was struck by the bomb, exploding and causing further damage to the interior of the ship. The Lexington would be struck by another bomb which hit the evaporator stack behind the tower, and also by two torpedoes on the port side. The crew of the Lexington were able to suppress the fires and the Lexington was able to continue on for a short while after the damaging blows. After the fires below deck had been extinguished, ventilation fans which were cycled on sparked and ignited gasoline fumes under deck which would render the Lexington immobile and ultimately lead to her being scuttled.

One of the enemy torpedo strikes upon the port bow.

#2 Port side gun gallery after the bomb strike

Smoke is seen rising between the deck sections from a fire raging below deck.  This fire would be extinguished, and the Lexington would sail on for the time being.

View from flight deck adjacent to the tower looking forward after the explosion which rendered the Lexington immobile.

Another photo of the #2 port side gun gallery after the bomb impact.

Smoke is seen rising from a splintered hole in the flight deck.

Photo of the #2 port side gun gallery after the bomb hit.

Still another photo of the #2 gun gallery after the bomb strike.  The ship is recovering her flight groups after a successful raid against the Shokaku and Zuikaku.

Close up of the #2 gun gallery after the bomb strike.  The gun is coated in foamite which was used to extinguish the subsequent fire.

Shortly after the fire below deck was ignited by the recirculation fans, the Lexington would be ordered abandoned.  My Grandfather, along with most of the Lexington's surviving crew would jump from the flight deck into the tropical waters below.  Once in the ocean, the men would swim to a near by destroyer where they would be pulled from the sea.  As the ship was being abandoned, small explosions continued below decks as planes, and armament lockers went up in flames.  Near the bottom of the post there are a few pictures of the massive explosion caused by the detonation of stowed torpedo warheads on the hangar deck.

After everyone was safely off the Lexington, the Destroyer Phelps would send her to the bottom with two torpedoes.

My grandfather would subsequently be stationed with several other men on the island of Tonga for a six month period before returning to Pearl and ultimately back to the states.  Grandpa had some funny stories about the people on Tonga stealing the servicemen's underwear.   But that's a story for another time.  Miss you, Grandpa.

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Absolutely Disgusting

I read this moments ago, and could not wait until later to post on it. I've NEVER been so outraged at a person I've never met. How cold, calloused and self-serving must one be...? This review of the Salon article is from Cassy Fiano:

I came across an article on Salon entitled “How to leave a soldier” that has apparently been making ripples across the blogosphere. It absolutely infuriated me, and I knew I had to write about it.

Before I get into the article, though, let me explain some things in the interest of full disclosure. My significant other is a Marine. We live together in North Carolina while he’s stationed at Camp Lejeune. He’s an 0311 (infantry rifleman) who has been to Iraq twice and is deploying to Afghanistan this year. The first year of our relationship was long distance, with him in North Carolina and me in Florida. We’re together now, but the Corps brings us apart occasionally for training and such, and of course, for deployments. Never, ever would I do something so cowardly as to send him a Dear John letter while he was deployed.

But that’s exactly what this woman did. Meet Courtney Cook, an extraordinarily shallow and callous woman.

You’d be surprised how easy it is to leave a soldier on deployment. You can do it with a letter. (He can’t argue with you. He doesn’t have a phone.) If you lay the groundwork early, saying to the soldier before he leaves, “This will be the end of us, we might as well admit it,” it’s that much easier. The letter won’t even come as a shock.

And if you have children with that soldier? You can handle all that with a letter, too. He’ll write it — because he cares about the kids, because he wants to work with you to do what’s best for them even though you’re leaving him — and you’ll give it to them. Here again, you will avoid a nasty confrontation. Who will they cry to? You? You’re just the teary-eyed bearer of the letter. Him? The one who’s sweating it out in the desert?

There will be no moving truck, no boxes, no house torn asunder. The soldier is peeing in a bucket as you pack. He doesn’t care who gets the couch.

It isn’t enough for her to be this callous, shallow, superficial, and selfish. She’s recommending other women do the same thing, too. One of the worst parts about this is that she feels like it was a good thing to tell him while he’s away at war that she’s leaving him. She presumably doesn’t care about the effect this has on soldiers while they’re deployed.

Be sure to head over to Cassy's blog to read the entire review, and if you have the stomach for it, head over to Salon to read the original post. If you head over to Salon, take a vomit bucket with you.

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Remebering Pearl Though The Eyes of a Survivor

I realize this is late, so late, in fact, that it's no longer December 7th on the East Coast. My apologies for not doing my part and posting this last night. With the recent passing of my grandfather, the whole family has had occasion to reflect upon his life and his many stories. One of our favorite topics was his service in the United States Navy. You see, 68 years ago today, my grandfather was aboard the USS Lexington, CV-2, on maneuvers south of the islands when the Japanese attacked Pearl. Below, to the best of my ability, I'll recall the thoughts and memories of an American patriot and World War II hero.

My grandfather enlisted in the Navy in June of 1941. Having attended High School in Orange County, the family had to travel north to Los Angeles to get to the recruiting office. Once he signed up, my grandfather was sent to the US Naval Base at San Diego to undergo basic training. After completing basic, he was shipped to Pearl Harbor, the sweetest gig in the Armed Services at the time. It was believed that Pearl Harbor was the furthest one could be from the storm clouds of war that were billowing up on the European horizon. Everyone was willfully ignorant of the aggressive Japanese in the Pacific, believing that negotiations would be reached and that they would never attack the United States.

On December 5th, 1941, the USS Lexington and the other ships which made up Task Force 9, departed Pearl Harbor on a mission to resupply and reinforce the Pacific island of Midway. The trip was expected to be mostly uneventful until they were within range of the Midway. The Japanese were, to this point, only interested in the islands in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. None-the-less, men who worked the early watch on December 7th were uneasy as they'd overheard radio reports of suspicious behavior around the base. Rumors spread throughout the ship that a Japanese submarine had been sunk attempting to enter the harbor. What were the Japanese up to?

A mere 48 hours into their mission, just before 08:00 hours, general quarters was sounded and the entire task force was put on high alert. Word traveled quickly throughout the carrier, Pearl had been attacked by the Japs. The Lexington immediately launched several fighters and bombers to seek out the enemy carriers which had served as the launch platform for the most infamous attack on US soil to date. After hours of searching, in vain, the planes were recovered and the new orders came through. The Gray Lady and her task force were to meet up with the USS Enterprise to continue the search southwest of the main islands. The men aboard knew very well what their orders were, and all were anxious to find the enemy and to exact some revenge, but none could help but feel that they should be back at Pearl and should have been there to help defend her against that horrible attack. The Enterprise and the Lexington would spend nearly a week searching for the Japanese west of the islands as high command believed that the next step in the attack would be an attempt to occupy the islands.

On the morning of December 13th, 1941 the men of the USS Lexington and task force 9 saw for the first time with their own eyes the destruction the Japanese had wrought upon Pearl Harbor. Thick black smoke was visible for miles upon the horizon as the ships sailed ever closer to their home port. However, nothing could prepare them for the sight they were yet to behold. I remember Grandpa telling me as the ships pulled into the harbor, you could smell the burning oil and diesel fuel upon the air. He referred to it as the smell of death. Smoke still rose from the hulls of the Nevada, the Arizona, the Shaw and a few others. Salvage efforts were underway on most of the ships in the harbor, but rescue efforts had been called off days earlier. My Grandfather was an educated man, having received a Masters degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and yet for all his words, he could not find any to describe the utter devastation nor the emotion that he and his crew mates felt on that day. Ultimately the Lexington would deploy in a relief effort to the Wake Islands.

My Grandfather used to say, lamentfully, that he missed the Pearl Harbor attack by 3 days. On October 30, 2009, my Grandfather rejoined so many of his ship mates and the men he so proudly served beside in the United States Navy.

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