Posted on 05/28/2023 2:04:34 PM PDT by Jacquerie
“If you ever want to sleep with a blonde again, you had better shoot down these bastards as soon as they come up” - a destroyer captain motivates his exhausted crew shortly before a kamikaze attack. The sea-battle toll for Okinawa that ended on June 21st 1945 was 36 U.S. warships sunk and 368 damaged. Almost 5,000 sailors were killed in action and another 5,000 wounded.
War naturally conjures images of courageous infantrymen. Gettysburg, Flanders Fields and not the Coral Sea or Leyte Gulf.
Too often forgotten are the heroic Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine sailors felled at sea. It’s understandable; there are no battlefield memorials, no marked graves, no poppies, no flags. Presidents and dignitaries visit Normandy and not Midway or Iron Bottom Sound. Few are the photo memoirs of engineering room slaughter-by-steam, of those who inhaled fire, of those blown overboard, of those who survived the battle only to die of burns, thirst, or sharks.
Hoses washed the remains of many off their ships. Some had proper burials. Did boot camp recruits know their Navy-issue hammocks did double duty as burial shrouds? I don’t know, but should your Memorial Day weekend find you on an Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico beach, you are graveside. Take time to say a few words of thanks.
Thank you for mentioning the merchant mariners who lost their lives at sea during WWII. The merchant marine had the second highest per capita losses during WWII except for the USMC.
Amen.
Aye, the sea is a graveyard.
This afternoon, I’m finishing my read of “Shinano: The Sinking Of Japan’s Secret Supership.” By Joseph F Enright
In a galling injustice, covert US Navy opposition due to jealousy over higher pay led to US Merchant Mariners never getting the full recognition and veteran and survivor benefits that were promised in wartime as an inducement to service.
I’m not brave enough to have been a WWII North Atlantic Merchant Mariner.
Neptunis Rex, Davey Jones, many a sailor resides in the depths. RIP mates.
The 81st anniversary of the Battle of Midway is up in a few days.
I’ll be re-reading Shattered Sword, The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Parshall and Tully.
A number of YouTube vids are available.
When the sea shall give up her dead....
Interesting points.
RIP, all brave fighting men who have died to keep us free. And may our Lord comfort their love ones.
I recently read “Days of Steel Rain” about the Cruiser Astoria and the kamakazies of Okinawa. Recommended.
I think a big reason is that death on land, no matter how horrible, has a “certainty” about it not found at sea.
That is, at the “cruel sea”. Lots of sailors have died without injury, just by being knocked or washed overboard.
After the tragedy of the USS Indianapolis, where sailors had to float in the water surrounded by sharks *for days*, the US Navy developed a severe hatred of sharks.
But translate naval warfare to civilians and they will easily understand the horror, and find it very hard to remember the naval dead.
“US Navy TBF Avenger gunner from USS Essex is buried at sea with his aircraft”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMWz10jaK0g
I read that ages ago, it was good. I agree about Hornfischer, shame he passed not terribly long ago,
To those brave sailors who were lost..Hand Salute. Fair Winds and following Seas.
Yes...a horrific injustice has been done to Merchant Mariners in the way their service and sacrifice has been swept under the rug. Their lives meant no less...the memory of them does not either.
Amen. You often her of the thousands of brave soldiers and Marines who died in far of lands, but the sailors died by the thousands in WWII. And even less celebrated are the Merchant Marines who were sitting ducks to the Nazi submarine Wolf Packs in the Atlantic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.