Navy History

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Comment by Paige on June 6, 2009 at 1:30pm

Paul, thank you for sharing the Vietnam War story with us.

Comment by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on June 6, 2009 at 10:03am

I'm posting something that is a little different today. This week commemorates both eht Battle of Midway on the 4th and the D-Day Invasion today. But hisotry is being made each and every day. This is a story that was posted in the Penny Press yesterday about the dedication to being closure to families from a very difficult time in our recent past....the Vietnam War. As Terry and several others on the site can tell you, many Americans did not come back from that conflict, but thanks to the hard work of at least one sailor, four families can feel a little more closure today.


Lincoln Chief gives closure after 44 years
By Petty Officer 3rd Class Kat Corona
USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72)
Public Affairs
June 3, 2009


The year was 1965. Lyndon B. Johnson was President, the Beatles released the movie and album "Help!," the mini skirt made its premier into pop culture, and in the Gia Lai Province of Vietnam's central highlands, a U.S. Army helicopter failed to return from a routine mission. Rescue aircraft spent months scouring the jungle, looking for traces of a crash site or the four Soldiers who had been on board.
The mountainside's dense jungle made recovery efforts impossible. The crew was never heard from again and was presumed dead. Their families were never able to gain closure.
Forty-four years later, a 15-person team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) (a military organization responsible for recovering the remains of U.S. troops who went missing in combat during any of the nation's past conflicts) departed Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, for the crash site. Their mission: to find out what happened that fateful day to bring closure to the families who were still waiting for their Soldiers to come home.
USS Abraham Lincoln's (CVN 72) Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic (AW/SW) Quang Dang, of Tacoma, Wash., volunteered for the mission to Vietnam after reading a message sent by JPAC asking for volunteers.
Born and raised in Vietnam until age 21, Dang realized he would be the perfect choice for the mission since he could speak Vietnamese fluently.
"I asked my master chief if he thought it was a good idea for me to go, and he said yes," said Dang. "So I volunteered and was accepted."
Dang was flown to the JPAC headquarters in Hawaii where he was given an introductory course in the proper way to excavate a crash site.
"We had to be taught how to dig," Dang said. "If you don't dig the right way, you might miss something or damage anything you find."
After mastering the technique, Dang and his team boarded cargo planes to begin their journey to the crash site.
Once in Vietnam, the JPAC team realized their mission was not going to be an easy task. The mountain was so remote and so thickly covered in jungle, trucks couldn't be used to bring supplies to the team. The only way to get on or off the mountain would be by helicopter. A landing zone at the mountain's top was created by the team and a trail to the bottom was blazed.
Even with the helicopter, getting to the mountain was still a game of chance. Thick fog often rolled in, creating an impenetrable blanket. The helicopter couldn't land because of the diminished visibility.
Before work at the crash site could begin, the teams built two camps. One, at the base of the mountain, would house the 60 locals hired by the JPAC team to assist in the excavation. The other camp, closer to the actual crash site housed the team throughout the dig.
The teams battled the inhospitable jungle, which was plagued with poisonous snakes and spiders and teeming with leaches and mosquitoes. Even many of the trees were toxic, as they produced a sap that could burn skin on contact.
"It's such a harsh environment for anybody to be in," said Dang. "It's so isolated there; no one had ever been able to get there before. That's why we had to go and find those four Soldiers. We had to bring them home."
A grid was designed over the crash site in four-by-four, square-meter sections. Starting in the middle of the grid, digging would begin. Every shovelful of dirt would be poured into a bucket, the full bucket taken to a screening station and dumped onto the top of the screen. Then carefully, the dirt would be sifted through the screen, leaving the dirt on the bottom and any remains on the top. The remains were then cleaned, labeled and cataloged. As each square in the grid was finished, the team would move outward until remains were no longer found.
"It's a little like looking for a needle in the ocean," said Dang. "Every bit of dirt we dug had to be sifted."
In the end, the team dug and sifted 6,000 square meters of dirt in 37 days on the mountain. They recovered remains of all four Soldiers including: Army air assault badges, aviator badges, dog tags and teeth.
"The first day I found a tooth, I couldn't believe it," Dang said. "Then I ended up finding four or five that day."
The remains were placed within flag draped coffins and flown to Hickam. Team members wore their dress uniforms and performed the solemn ceremony to honor their fallen comrades.
"These guys have been waiting, in a jungle they didn't belong in, for 44 years to come home," Dang said. "Their families have been waiting and wondering. The wound never really healed for them and to be able to find them, identify their remains and bring them home is beyond my feelings. I am happy and sad for the families. Happy that we are able to finally give them answers, but sad at the same time."
The remains were turned over to JPAC's identification laboratory for analyzing before being turned over to the family members.
"I cannot imagine the day when we actually hand over those dog tags to the family," said Dang. "I cannot imagine what that day will feel like."
According to Dang, JPAC's mission had Congressional level interest, but for him that wasn't the reason why he went.
"I was there for the guys who hadn't made it home," he said. "We should be able to bring them home. It isn't a mission you can hire out to just anyone. They deserve to be honored and brought home by the military."
Dang has been home for nearly two months and is still trying to readjust to life on board Lincoln.
"One month out there in the jungle is [physically] harder than a seven month deployment," he said. "I'm still sore from all the hiking and digging we did, but if they asked me to go again, I would go."
According to JPAC, there are over 88,000 American servicemembers listed as missing in action from previous wars, and more than 1,780 of them are from the Vietnam War. JPAC and volunteers like Dang will continue to search for those servicemembers until everyone has been found. For more information on JPAC visit their Web site at www.jpac.pacom.mil.

Comment by Tony on June 5, 2009 at 12:25pm

Thanks Paige. Sort of depressing to hear there are so few pictures.

Comment by Paige on June 4, 2009 at 7:50pm

One of the Great Mysteries of the Sea?
A Frequently Asked Question, and its None-Too-Pleasant Answer.


After going through our pictorial coverage of the Battle of Midway, researchers often ask "So, where are all the photographs of Kaga, Akagi and Soryu during and after the attacks that sank them?". To which we reply, sadly, "Well, there don't seem to be any!"


The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the only existing views of Japanese ships during the Battle of Midway are those taken by the Army B-17s as they tried to hit the Japanese carriers on 4 June 1942, two photos of the wrecked Hiryu taken from a Japanese aircraft early on 5 June, and several photographs of the cruiser Mikuma after she was bombed on 6 June.


Undoubtedly, there were photographers on board the Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway, as there were on earlier and later operations. However, either their pictures were destroyed with the ships, or afterwards, when the Japanese Navy went to great lengths to conceal the disaster from the rest of their nation. In addition, some of the attacking U.S. planes carried cameras, but most apparently did not have an opportunity to use them.


It has been related, in a particularly unhappy tale, that a Bombing Squadron Six SBD flown by Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Wilbur E. Roberts and Aviation Machinist's Mate First Class W.B. Steinman had a camera, and that Steinman took a number of photographs. This plane was one of two Enterprise SBDs to land on USS Yorktown shortly before she was bombed. Later in the day, after Yorktown was torpedoed, LtJG Roberts took the camera and film with him as he abandoned ship. After reaching USS Portland (CA-35), he had the film developed and printed. He has reported that the resulting photographs showed a Japanese carrier, which would probably have been Kaga. However, while he examined the freshly developed prints, a more-senior officer came along, saw what they represented, and confiscated them. Roberts never saw them again.


There the trail ends. No such photographs were included in any of the Midway action reports, and they are not with the Portland photography that became part of the Navy's official photographic collection that is now held by the National Archives.

Comment by Paige on June 4, 2009 at 7:17pm

NNS020418-12. This Day in Naval History - June 04

From the Navy News Service

1934 - USS Ranger (CV 4), first ship designed from the keel up as a carrier, is commissioned at Norfolk, Va.
1942 - Battle of Midway (June 4-6) begins. During battle, the four Japanese carriers which attacked Pearl Harbor are sunk; this decisive U.S. victory is a turning point in the Pacific war.
1944 - Hunter-killer group USS Guadalcanal (CVE 60) captures German submarine, U 505.

Comment by Paige on June 3, 2009 at 4:27pm

NNS090603-03. Museum Exhibit Highlights Navy's Role in Timekeeping Exploration

By Mike Randazzo, Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg Communications

COLUMBIA, Pa, (NNS) -- The National Watch and Clock Museum's Time and Exploration: Earth, Sea, and Space Exhibit opened in Columbia, Pa., and includes the Navy's significant contribution to the advancement of this science.

The exhibit examines the importance of time and timekeeping from the earliest explorers to modern space travel. The museum acquired approximately 25 valuable pieces, including the Shuttle Endeavor's wristwatch, the pocketwatch Adm. Byrd used on his Antarctic exploration, the clock from a Soviet "Soyuz" spacecraft, several legendary ships' chronometers and the Mars clock.

During his keynote address, Capt. Chris Vitt, commanding officer Naval Support Activity Mechanicsburg, chronicled the tradition of the ship's bell, the role of the chronometer and the importance of the master clock maintained by the U.S. Naval Observatory.

"Keeping time is vital to a ship's routine and readiness," Vitt said. "Bells have a centuries-long tradition of timekeeping in the navies and merchant fleets of the world."

Before the advent of the chronometer, time at sea was measured by the trickle of sand through a half-hour glass.

"One of the ship's boys had the duty of watching the glass and turning it when the sand had run out," said Vitt. "When he turned the glass, he struck the bell as a signal that he had performed this vital function."

During the end of the 17th century, mariners fixed their latitude fairly accurately using the quadrant and sextant to measure the elevation of the sun or chartered stars. However, calculating longitude was a problem because it relied upon the ability to accurately tell time at sea.

"In these days of iron men and wooden ships, the chronometer was the most critical and most valued item on the ship. Each and every day, the chronometer was wound at exactly the same time using the same number of turns. This daily revolution was so essential that a report was made each day to the ship's commanding officer," Vitt said.

In 1845, at the request of the secretary of the Navy, the Naval Observatory installed a time ball atop the 9.6-inch telescope dome. The time ball was dropped every day precisely at noon, enabling the inhabitants of Washington to set their timepieces. Ships in the Potomac River could also set their clocks before putting to sea. The observatory's time service was initiated in 1865. A time signal was transmitted via telegraph lines to the Navy Department, and it also activated Washington's fire bells at 7 a.m., noon and 6 p.m.

By a Department of Defense directive, the Naval Observatory is charged with maintaining the military's reference standard for precise time and time intervals. The observatory has developed the world's most accurate atomic clock system; the U.S. Naval Observatory's master clock is the time and frequency standard for all of these systems.

"Highly accurate, portable, atomic clocks have been transported aboard aircraft in order to synchronize the time at naval bases and other Department of Defense facilities around the world, with the master clock," Vitt said.

Vitt also praised the pioneer spirit and those who watch over history's keepsakes and collectibles.

"We owe great debt to those explorers who bravely charted the unknown and drew maps for future generations. We also owe a debt to those, like all of you here tonight, who play a role in preserving our timepieces, artifacts, and collectibles for posterity," Vitt said.

Comment by Paige on June 3, 2009 at 4:24pm

NNS020418-11. This Day in Naval History - June 03

From Navy News Service

1785 - Order received to sell last ship remaining in Continental Navy, frigate Alliance. No other Navy were ships authorized until 1794.
1898 - Collier Merrimac sunk in channel leading to Santiago, Cuba in unsuccessful attempt to trap Spanish fleet. The crew was captured and later received the Medal of Honor.
1949 - Wesley A. Brown becomes the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy.
1966 - Launch of Gemini 9, piloted by Lt. Cmdr. Eugene A. Cernan. The mission included 45 orbits over three days. Recovery was by USS Wasp (CVS 18).

For more information about Naval History, visit the Naval Historical Center Web site at www.history.navy.mil.

Comment by Paige on June 2, 2009 at 1:37pm

Tony,
Thanks to you and Paul for sharing information about the Battle of Midway and its anniversary date coming up this week. Also, June 6th is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in France. I will be posting some information and photos on Friday.

Comment by Tony on June 2, 2009 at 9:59am

June 4, 5 and 6 is the anniversary of the battle of Midway. US Navy has a pretty cool video of the battle.

http://www.navy.mil/midway/mid_over.html

Comment by Paige on May 28, 2009 at 7:46pm

NNS020131-29. This Day in Naval History - May 28

By Navy News Service

1813 - Frigate Essex and prize capture five British whalers.
1917 - First underway fueling in U.S. Navy, USS Maumee fuels 6 destroyers in North Atlantic. LCDR Chester W. Nimitz served as Maumee's executive officer and chief engineer.
1957 - 1st of 24 detonations, Operation Plumbbob nuclear test.
1980 - 55 women become first women graduates from the U.S. Naval Academy.

For more information about naval history, visit the Naval historical Center Web site at http://www.history.navy.mil.

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