Born in Westerly, R.I. Aug. 16, 1927, he was the son of the late Eugene and Ethel (Binns) West. The doctor was working on him and directing corpsmen that were working on Monte and me. One of our first time attendees, Angel Barnes, offered to host the 2023 reunion in Corpus Christi, Texas at the USS Lexington CV-16 to celebrate both the 80th birthday of the USS Lexington and a permanent home for some of the USS Franklin CV-13 memorabilia. When thou walkest through the rivers, thou shalt not be. Ron C. Meyer will officiate. The USS Franklin was the Most Damaged Aircraft Carrier to Survive WWII On one occasion I was late in getting to the plane on one of those surprise flights. As her magazines erupted and she began to list, nearby sailors from nearby ships raced to her side to rescue survivors. USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN 640), the lead ship of her class of ballistic missile submarine, was the only submarine of the United States Navy to be named for Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), the American journalist, publisher, author, philanthropist, abolitionist, public servant, scientist, librarian, diplomat, inventor, and Founding Father. The dinner and dance was fantastic, complete with a live band that offered a delightful collection of songs for the reunion goers. See the article below. I put my hands to my face at this sudden blast; flames came and then the dense smoke. I looked up and could see the glitter on the surface of the ocean. Big Ben Memorial | Battleship Cove I encourage everybody that reads this to download and distribute this PDF document copy of the original 1946 USS Franklin cruise book. Roosevelt spent most of her active deployed career operating in the Mediterranean Sea as part of the United States . A World War II combat veteran, Pat entered the U. S. Navy from West Haven, Connecticut in October 1943. Darren and Susan Hamm will continue to maintain the website USSFranklin.org to share USS Franklin information. I was in the middle of the flight deck on my way to our plane when it was announced for the pilots to start their engines. I went to the top cable guard of the catwalk, and then there were a series of explosions with no letup of the smoke. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. It has been my pleasure to help bring John (Jack) Hensels story to publication. Cremation rites will be accorded. Since the tips of some of my fingers extended through the bandages, I was able to put a mark on the letter. I struck a stack of sea bags and hammocks, one being my own, which cushioned the impact. Our crew was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5), a part of Air Group Five. Yet, when I look back, the events of March 19, 1945 were so traumatic that it gave me the feeling of contributing to the war effort. The wake from the battleship made it difficult to hang onto the raft. The bow was coming completely out of the water. Built to the Essex-class standard, USS Franklin displaced 27,100 tons under standard load and up to 36,400 tons under full . We were there for about two weeks and then returned to Santa Rosa. On entering the landing circle my pilot, Ensign Fuller, tried to lower the landing gears and flaps. Patrick Allen Desmond, age 95, was born October 15, 1926 in Nantucket, Massachusetts and died June 26, 2022 in Henderson, Nevada. If all instructions were not right, we would get a wave-off. In my own words, this is my story. The enemy was dropping flares to silhouette against the sky so they could find us and attack. He worked many years as a Master Electrician for Tumblin Electric. The sound of the initial explosion was unexpected and a devastating experience. Commander Carrier Division Two & Four Admiral Davison & Admiral Bogin Staff KIA, USS Franklin CV13 Museum Association Newsletters. I have nothing but fond memories of my grandpa. This muster roll contains records of the ships company as the sailors moved onto and off of the ship. Her IMO number is 1 and MMSI number is 368962000. USS Franklin (CV-13) War Damage Report No.56. Some hurried to go aft, some forward. OCALLAHAN-GARY plaque at the Nimitz Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg,TX. One of her type was USS Franklin (CV-13) which was ordered in 1940 but not laid down until December 7th, 1942. Broadside view, starboard side. It was the first-ever Earth ship capable of reaching warp 4. In one of the worst naval tragedies of the World War II, Franklin was hit by Japanese bombs and began to burn. I felt I could almost reach out and touch a fighter planes wing tip. The Barnes family is thrilled to be hosting the 2023 USS Franklin reunion in honor of the USS Franklin CV-13 crew member Gerald Ahniwake . He enjoyed hunting, fishing and trapping and his expertise was occasionally sought after by the RI DEM. As any Star Trek fan will attest, ships are more like living, breathing characters than mere inanimate settings. I saw men coming out of the chapel crying. Where Is Kirk In Star Trek Strange New Worlds' Season 2 Premiere? On one of these flights, we were the last to land with this particular plane. The PDF Document is approximately 5MB so it may take a minute to download. If you were unable to attend, you should consider a trip to Fredericksburg, Texas. Our crew was not assigned to this mission. USS Franklin (CV-13) - NHHC After my leave, I went by train to San Diego, California where I met several crewmen including my radioman, Bob Jensen. The night fighters must have taken care of them as we were not attacked at this point. I rode a bus for 90 miles to Lubbock, Texas, where as a selective volunteer, I was sent to Naval Boot Training at Camp Wallace near Galveston. The gun pointed straight up into the air perpendicular to the body of the plane, and it wouldnt come down with the control. Born July 19, 1924, in Wild Cherry, Ark., to Elvin and Agnes (Guthrie) Woody. My gear was an extra shirt, pants, and underwear that a crewman gave me somewhere along the line. The next morning March 18, 1945, on my 20th birthday, our crew was assigned to this days mission. Where is the USS Franklin now? Another time we were far out to sea on a navigation flight, and we spotted a freighter headed toward San Francisco. NS021367: 35k: USS Franklin (CV-13) was welcomed to Pearl Harbor and toured by 50 WAVES, mid-February 1945. On returning to the airfield and entering the landing circle, there is a point where the pilot puts down the retractable wheels and lowers the flaps to lower the speed and get additional lift. The bomber squadron VB5 was made up of SB2C Helldivers and my squadron VT5 the torpedo bomber squadron TBF Avengers. The ground crew observed us landing with me still in that position and came right out to the plane. Wineries abound in this area of Texas, so reunion goers had lots of options when wanting to cool off from the Texas heat. USS Franklin, nicknamed Big Ben, was one of 24 Essex-class carriers, home to 3,500 crewmen and 100 aircraft, bristling with 5-inch and 40mm anti-aircraft guns and topped by a Douglas fir flight deck. My watch was important. I was scheduled to fly a combat mission the next morning, March 19, 1945. Harold will be sadly missed by his five children: Harold West Jr. and his wife Carole of Preston, Lawrence West of Westerly, R.I., Cathy LaFountain and husband William of Rockville, R.I., Lois Reynolds and husband David of Carolina, R.I.. and Debbie Hull and husband David of Wood River Jct., R.I. Bob loved going to yard sales, hunting, vegetable gardening, and his friends and family. The multiple for a Frank A is probably 200,000. A line was thrown, and I caught it. On one occasion when our crew was out on an anti-submarine flight and had an escort of one of the F4V fighter planes, we flew in very close formation. Carrier USS Ronald Reagan Now in the South China Sea The Hyatt place will honor our current USS Franklin rate of $104 per night. I could see that one of the fighter pilots was laughing. USS Franklin lived a short but eventful life, joining the Pacific Fleet in mid-1944. There was a hydraulic leak; the wheels appeared to come partially down and one of the flaps came partially down. (He was also killed on March 19, 1945.) Mr. Ed Maxwell of theVietnam Veterans of America Chapter1041 in Stuart Florida reports that their Memorial Brick Program is open to any and all veterans and is installing customized bricks in theStuart Veterans Memorial Park. The squadron did a lot of flying out of Santa Rosa practicing night flying, air group hops, navigation flights, etc. We boarded the USS Franklin he first week of February 1945 in Alameda, California. As I got near the raft I recognized a sailor, Mike Monte, from the bomber squadron VB5. I remember saying if I see the bottom of the bow Im jumping, thinking that the bottom of the bow would come over the raft and take it under the ocean. RIP, Aircraft Carrier: The Tragic Tale of the USS Franklin The file is very large- at 2GB in size and may take some time to download from google drive. I remember several sailors popping to the surface with me. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) Current Position NATO WARSHIP The sea was still rough and the greatest movement is at the bow end of the ship. 1 rating Print length 152 pages Publisher Turner Publishing Company See all details Product details ASIN : B00FIT8JT2 Unknown Binding : 152 pages Item Weight : 1.01 pounds Best Sellers Rank: #7,431,707 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) Customer Reviews: 1 rating Videos We were to go on the double before chow call and eat ahead of everyone else; we had to get mess over within 5 minutes and report to Radio 2 on the fantail. It is real FAITH when that is all you have to hang onto. They bandaged my hands with Vaseline gauze, and I had several patches on my face. The radioman, also looking forward, had to put his head down between his legs. Burning aviation gasoline started pouring over the side and making its way aft toward us. Main ship particulars are length of 333 m and beam of 77 m. Maps below show the following voyage data - Present Location, NExt port, Estimated (ETA) and Prediced Time . We were pulled up to the port side of the destroyer where there was a cargo net and sailors aided in pulling us off the raft and onto the destroyer. These rockets were equivalent to the shell of a 16 gun fired from a battleship. I remember holding my hands down and fluid kept coming out of them. At this point, I remember flying over the Fort Lauderdale water tower. Arrangements entrusted to the Boulder City Family Mortuary, Boulder City, NV 89005. This is very similar if not the same information available at www.ancestry.com. The engine was started and smoke poured down the side of the plane from the exhaust. Since I was all dressed to fly and had eaten breakfast, I decided to go out to the flight deck catwalk and watch the planes take off. I replied, No, go on with the flight. After about 1 12 hours, we landed back at Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Station. We would rise to about 10,000 feet, and the plane would nose over. We were taken to a TBF that had crashed in the everglades. I was just a few feet from spinning propellers, but one plane captain spotted me and expertly guided me to my plane. You may recallthe USS Franklins own Sam Rhodes efforts to establish a USS Franklin Memorial in Stuart Florida published in an article on this site in November 2013. One time we landed and were off at an angle, but the landing hook caught the arresting cable and stopped us just before going into the sea. My first thought was that I was alive and survived. There were crewmen from the old VT5 squadron. This sight was very scary. We docked at Treasure Island in the bay, and I was immediately transferred to Alameda NAS. Reaching a gun mount, we saw no way out in any direction but the sea. On March 19, 1945, I was aboard the U.S.S Franklin. We landed in the morning, and there was a flight scheduled with this plane in the afternoon with another crew. Battleship Cove is open 7 days a week 9am-5pm. Later, on that fateful date, Lietzke went into the ocean. I grabbed a towel from a bunk, wet it in a scuttlebutt, and tied the wet towel over my face to breathe, and then crawled into a bunk. Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces on December 7, 1941. I came back out in time to see the torpedo bombers take off. (Beth), Ida Mae, Claudine and Lucille; infant son, Dallas; and grandson, Christopher. This is where I started flying in TBF Avenger torpedo bombers and also where a lot of interesting things started happening. I went to the officer of the deck and explained my situation and asked him if I could go ashore at Ford Island for a while. He is lovingly survived by his daughter, Patricia Stowell and son-in-law, William and cousin, Leona VanBuskirk and her husband, Jack. This left a terrifying impression on our minds. This acted as an aileron causing the pane to flip on its side, lose speed, and dive into the ground. I also regret not maintaining contact with Gerald Nolds family and friends. USS Potomac | FDR's Floating White House We arrived at Ulithi early in March, the morning after a suicide plane struck a carrier, either the USS Randolph or the USS Hancock. Pearl Harbor: Attack, Deaths & Facts | HISTORY We were able to make it to an auxiliary airfield not far from the main field. Patrick retired from the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Major; Michael retired from the U.S. Navy as a Master Chief Petty Officer. We got back to our carrier and my pilot made a perfectly smooth landing with no wave-offs.
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