Posted inAviation Maritime & Naval History World War 2

Our Navy Builds Flat-Top Mastery

By REAR-ADMIRAL E. L. COCHRANE, USN, Chief of the Bureau of Ships

By first punching the foe off balance and now smashing his last holds on the ocean, our aircraft carriers have proved modern speeders of Victory. Here “Buships” chief details how we’ve come from a mere seven to more than a hundred of these sky-sweepers.

Picture of an aircraft carrier from the side, showing rows of airplanes with folded wings on deck and sailors performing their work.

December 7, 1941, the United States had on hand seven full-sized carriers, the Lexington, Saratoga, Ranger, Yorktown, Enterprise, Wasp, and the Hornet, also the small escort carrier, Long Island. Of these the Lexington, Yorktown, Wasp, and Hornet have since been lost. For every one of those veterans lost, however, there has been built and are now at sea, nearly 30 replacements (including the escort carriers transferred to our allies).

In the two and a half years since Pearl Harbor, the number of carriers on hand (excluding the 38 transferred by lendlease to the British) has been increased to 90. totaling more than 1,400,000 tons. During this same period the combatant vessels of our Navy in all categories have more than tripled — going from 345 vessels, totaling 1,382,755 tons, to 1071 units, totaling 3,434,762 tons.

With the outbreak of war and following the heavy carrier losses in 1942. the desperate need for carrier strength in the Pacific and the growing demands for fighter transports pushed six vessels of the aircraft carrier program into top priority. With first call on the nation’s scarce materials and components, the inauguration of shift work, and the seven-day week, actual completions surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts.

Posted inWorld War 2

Letters From the Front

Letters from friends mean much to all of us. Some people have a knack for writing interesting letters. The following quotations are from a letter from a man in the service. You may be interested in some of the things he writes:

“As we near our rendevous with destiny many of us especially we older ones often get together in informal yet searching gab-fests and bull sessions.

“What we’re fighting for can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. But to us of the Combat Team, though we may express it in many ways, we are fighting for victory for our United States and the United Nations; we are fighting to assure ourselves, our loved ones, and our posterity the right to live in these United States in peace, security and dignity. We are fighting to justify the faith and confidence which other Americans have in us, a faith which enabled them to withstand ostracism, criticism, and ridicule, and sometimes even threats of violence.

Posted inWorld War 2

PFC. Frank Harada Recently Awarded Distinguished Unit Badge

Black and white image of the color guard of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat team. It shows 4 Japanese American men in front of a line of soldiers. The two men in the center carry furled flags, the US and regimental. They are flanked by tow soldiers with rifles standing as honor guard.

With the Fifth Army, Italy

Pfc. Frank T. Harada recently was awarded the distinguished unit badge for his part in three battles in which he fought as a member of the 2nd battalion of the 442nd Japanese American combat team.

The battalion was given the distinguished unit citation for out standing performance of duty in one battle on the Fifth army front in Italy and two battles in France. Each member is entitled, by virtue of the citation, to wear the blue and gold badge on the right breast.

In the first action cited, the battalion took a hill dominating important supply routes running through Alsace into Germany. Protected by dense minefields, the hill was defended by three German tanks and many self-propelled guns, mortars, machineguns and other automatic weapons and small arms. More than six enemy machineguns were silenced. An enemy command post and considerable quantities of German equipment were seized, 125 Germans were killed, and 20 were captured.

Posted inWorld War 2

Landings “Going Well.”

Parachutes open overhead as waves of paratroops land in Holland during operations by the 1st Allied Airborne Army.

Gen. Eisenhower announced that the air-borne landings in Holland were “going well” in this latest blow, a blow which might break the back of German resistance strained by the piling up demands of many fronts.

“One of the greatest air-borne operations in military history,” as it was described by Lt. Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, commander of the 1st Air Army, was said by the Germans to be centered at Nijmegen, only about 3 miles from the Dutch-German border and 12 miles northwest of Kleve, where the Siegfried Line is reported to end.

Other landings were reported by the enemy radio at Arnhem, 10 miles north of Nijmegen, where a bridge head would have been established across the famous water barriers of Holland—the Waal River and the Neder Ryn (Rhine).

Posted inWorld War 2

Japanese Drop Leaflets for A.I.F.

Appeal To Lay Down Arms MELBOURNE, Friday.—Leaflets in pidgin English, urging Australians to cease fighting have been dropped by the Japanese in Malaya during indiscriminate bombing raids. The leaflets, crudely…
Posted inBiographical Daily News Maritime & Naval History World War 2

D-Day – One Sailor’s Memoir

American troops landing at Omaha Beach, with large obstacles blocking their way.

There were about 150 of us on each of the L.C.I.’s and transported over with L. C. M.’s and rafts in tow—these were all filled with explosive materials. We were given, immediately, our final destination orders and already knew the type of job to be done. On the way over we were frankly told that many of us would be killed—now that was a comforting thought. The price of freedom was going to be expensive. Our particular mortality rate was very assuredly in the 10% range of survival.

We were supposed to arrive at 0330 but must have been later as it was. nearing daylight, and things were quite visible. The others that arrived before were the Rangers and the glider corp. The gliders were engineless planes that were towed over from England and then set free. These “planes” carried combat ready troops but had it very rough as many crashed into the trees and stone walls.