Download or read book One Sailor s Story A Narrative of World War II by a Destroyer Escort Sonar Man written by Malcolm Akey and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2012-10-05 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Christmas of 1988 my wife, Doris, and our children Ronn, Carolyn and Phyllis gave me a tape recorder in order that I might record my story of the war. So during the winter of 1989, I taped the story of my experiences of the time leading up to World War II and the time I spent as a Destroyer Escort Sonar Man in the Navy. My story ended up being 22 ninety-minute tapes. Over the course of 4 months during the winter of 2011-12, Erma Akey, my sister-in-law, transcribed my story using these tapes. My daughter, Phyllis Akey Gregg and her husband, K.T. (Tom) Gregg, edited this story. Thanks go to Erma, Phyllis and Tom for the time they spent on my memoirs of WWII. Additional thanks goes to my granddaughter, Cynthia Kiesel, and her sister-in-law, Janet Kiesel, for designing and publishing this book.

Download or read book Shepherds of the Sea written by Robert F Cross and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This compelling tale of courage, heroism, and terror is told in the words of ninety-one sailors and officers interviewed by the author about their World War II service aboard fifty-six destroyer escorts. They reveal many never-before-told details of life at sea during wartime and, along with information found in secretly kept war diaries and previously unpublished personal photographs, add important dimensions to the official record. Unseasoned teenage recruits when they first went to sea, these sailors were led by inexperienced college boys more accustomed to yachts than warships. Their ships were untested vessels, designed by a man with no formal training in ship design, and which many viewed as a waste of money. Yet, as Cross points out, these men are credited with helping turn the tide of the war in the Atlantic as they singlehandedly sank some seventy U-boats and captured U-505, the only German submarine taken during the war and the first enemy vessel captured by Americans at sea since the War of 1812. In the Pacific, the destroyer escorts fought in every major battle, side-by-side with Allied battleships and destroyers. But this story is not just about battles. It is also about American genius, hard work, honor and growing up in the Great Depression. The author provides eyewitness details about the historic first step taken to end racial discrimination in the military as African-Americans stepped aboard the destroyer escort USS Mason as full-fledged sailors for the first time and earned a Navy commendation of heroism in the Battle of the Atlantic presented to the surviving crewmen fifty-one years later. Readers also learn about an ingenious invention when a sailor breaks his silence about a secret weapon tested aboard his destroyer escort that rendered a new German radio-controlled glide bomb useless.

Download or read book The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors written by James D. Hornfischer and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2008-11-12 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can.” With these words, Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland addressed the crew of the destroyer escort USS Samuel B. Roberts on the morning of October 25, 1944, off the Philippine Island of Samar. On the horizon loomed the mightiest ships of the Japanese navy, a massive fleet that represented the last hope of a staggering empire. All that stood between it and Douglas MacArthur’ s vulnerable invasion force were the Roberts and the other small ships of a tiny American flotilla poised to charge into history. In the tradition of the #1 New York Times bestseller Flags of Our Fathers, James D. Hornfischer paints an unprecedented portrait of the Battle of Samar, a naval engagement unlike any other in U.S. history—and captures with unforgettable intensity the men, the strategies, and the sacrifices that turned certain defeat into a legendary victory. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James D. Hornfischer's Neptune's Inferno. Praise for The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors “One of the finest WWII naval action narratives in recent years, this book follows in the footsteps of Flags of Our Fathers. . . . Exalting American sailors and pilots as they richly deserve. . . . Reads like a very good action novel.”—Publishers Weekly “Reads as fresh as tomorrow's headlines. . . . Hornfischer's captivating narrative uses previously classified documents to reconstruct the epic battle and eyewitness accounts to bring the officers and sailors to life.”—Texas Monthly “Hornfischer is a powerful stylist whose explanations are clear as well as memorable. . . . A dire survival-at-sea saga.”—Denver Post “In The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, James Hornfischer drops you right into the middle of this raging battle, with 5-inch guns blazing, torpedoes detonating and Navy fliers dive-bombing. . . . The overall story of the battle is one of American guts, glory and heroic sacrifice.”—Omaha World Herald

Download or read book Memoirs of a World War II Destroyer Escort Sailor written by Bill Bowers and published by . This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Author Bill Bowers made his career working with the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Cos. of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Starting on June 18th, 1941, in Arlington, Virginia, as a Frame Man, he progressed to Power Man, then Central Office Repairman, working in Arlington, Falls Church and and Alexandria, Virginia. He was married on December 4, 1942, to Lillian Bernice Felton of Arlington. Bill joined the navy May 18th 1944 and served in the navy until discharged on January 20, 1946. He served as a Radar man 3/c on the Destroyer Escort USS Lee Fox DE 65/APD 45 In World War ll covering the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of operations. This book covers his wartime experiences.

Download or read book One Sailor s War Story written by Carleton Patterson and published by Pagefree Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 2006 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story of a 17 year old High School Graduate who enlisted in the United States Coast Guard during World War 2 and served as a Combat Photographer aboard the Naval Destroyer Escort USS KIRKPATRICK crossing the Atlantic 18 times on convoy duty escorting troop and supply ships to the war zones of Europe. It was a constant effort trying to avoid the torpedoes of German submarines.

Download or read book From Brooklyn to Tokyo Bay written by Albert R. Pincus and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2004-08-01 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Brooklyn To Tokyo Bay: A Sailor’s Story is the story of how Albert R. Pincus and the young men of his generation fought for the United States during World War II. This poignant, yet humorous, tale of young men caught up in one of history’s bloodiest wars follows Albert all the way from his childhood home in Brooklyn to the front lines of military combat and back.

Download or read book The Sonarman s War written by H.G. Jones and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This memoir is an intimate and sometimes irreverent account of one man's coming of age during World War II. Born a North Carolina farmboy, Jones served as a U.S. Navy sonarman aboard a wooden submarine chaser operating from Africa and Sicily during the Allied invasions at Anzio and Southern France. He also served as sonarman and yeoman on two fleet mine sweepers in the Okinawa, Formosa and China operations. This memoir is drawn not only from memory, but from the author's surviving diaries from the conflicts, daily logs of the three ships upon which he served, and the secret reports of military commanders and other official records.

Download or read book A Destroyer Sailor s War written by Jerome S. Welna and published by . This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author, Jerome Welna, takes the reader aboard the USS Barton to his battle station on the bridge for a grandstand view of the army Ranger assault on Pointe du Hoc, located at the west end of Omaha Beach, 6 June 1944. The Barton provided artillery support for the army Rangers until target number one for the Omaha Beach sector was taken out and all German resistance eliminated. The author provides personal eyewitness details of the nineteen-day naval battle with naval artillery support for invasion troops at Omaha Beach, including E-boat and bomber attacks, which ended 24 June with the bombardment and capture of Cherbourg. Detailed descriptions of problems encountered by assault forces advancing through the German mined defense system bring the reader to realize how dangerous it really was for the soldiers to advance up the beach to the base of the cliffs, which afforded their only protection from accurate German shell fire. The Normandy invasion could never have been attempted without the support of the U.S. Navy. In the second half of the book the author describes the many battles with the kamikazes (Japanese suicide planes) for the liberation of the Philippines, and the final battle of Okinawa. A foreword by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. (U.S. Naval Historic Foundation), many footnotes, eighteen maps, fourteen photographs, and an index of full names, places and subjects enhance the text.

Download or read book For Crew and Country written by John Wukovits and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-01-29 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In For Crew and Country, John Wukovits tells of the most dramatic naval battle of the Pacific War and the incredible sacrifice of the USS Samuel B. Roberts. On October 25, 1944, the Samuel B. Roberts, along with the other twelve vessels comprising its unit, stood between Japan's largest battleship force ever sent to sea and MacArthur's transports inside Leyte Gulf. Faced with the surprise appearance of more than twenty Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, including the Yamato, at 70,000 tons the most potent battlewagon in the world, the 1,200-ton Samuel B. Roberts turned immediately into action with six other ships. Captain Copeland marked the occasion with one of the most poignant addresses ever given to men on the edge of battle: "Men," he said over the intercom, "we are about to go into a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected." The ship churned straight at the enemy in a near-suicidal attempt to deflect the more potent foe, allow the small aircraft carriers to escape, and buy time for MacArthur's forces. Of 563 destroyers constructed during WWII, the Samuel B. Roberts was the only one sunk, going down with guns blazing in a duel reminiscent of the Spartans at Thermopylae or Davy Crockett's Alamo defenders. The men who survived faced a horrifying three-day nightmare in the sea, where they battled a lack of food and water, scorching sun and numbing nighttime cold, and nature's most feared adversary—sharks. The battle would go down as history's greatest sea clash, the Battle of Samar—the dramatic climax of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Download or read book How I Joined the Navy and Won the War written by William Wenzel and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-04 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of one man's experiences in World War 2 aboard a Submarine Hunting Destroyer Escort

Download or read book Tin Can Sailor written by Susan Cosentino and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2000-06-09 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than eight hundred sailors served aboard the Sterett during her hazardous and demanding duties in World War II. This is the story of those men and their beloved ship, recorded by a junior officer who served on the famous destroyer from her commissioning in 1939 to April 1943, when he was wounded at the Battle of Tulagi. Peppered with the kind of vivid, authentic details that could only be provided by a participant, the book is the saga of a gallant fighting ship that earned a Presidential Unit Citation for her part in the Third Battle of Savo Island, where she took on a battleship, cruiser, and destroyer and was the last to leave the fray. Calhoun's gripping and colorful account tells what it was like to be there during those furiously fought, close-range engagements. When published in hardcover in 1993, the book was widely praised as a good read loaded with rich and interesting details.

Download or read book It Wasn t Just a Job It Was an Adventure written by Donald Johnson and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2002 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered what your sailor husband, wife or friend does at sea or at that overseas Navy facility? This book will tell you some of the things that go on. You will read about "The Perfect Storm", practical jokes, Navy food, the loss of a shipmate at sea and much, much more. Sit back and read these Sailors' stories.

Download or read book The USS Flier written by Michael Sturma and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2008-02-15 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The realities of WWII underwater warfare come to life in this chronicle of a submarine sunk in the Philippines—and the remarkable sailors who survived. The fate of the USS Flier is one of the most astonishing stories of the Second World War. On August 13, 1944, the submarine struck a mine and sank to the bottom of the Sulu Sea in less than one minute, leaving only fourteen of its crew of eighty-six hands alive. After enduring eighteen hours in the water, eight remaining survivors swam to a remote island controlled by the Japanese. Deep behind enemy lines and without food or drinking water, the crewmen realized that their struggle for survival had just begun. Those eight sailors became the first Americans of the Pacific war to escape from a sunken submarine and return safely to the United States. Their story of persistence and survival has all the elements of a classic World War II tale: sudden disaster, physical deprivation, a ruthless enemy, and a dramatic escape from behind enemy lines. In The USS Flier, noted historian Michael Sturma vividly recounts a harrowing story of brave men who lived to return to the service of their country.

Download or read book Sea of Sharks written by Elmer J Renner and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2013-12-15 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caught off Okinawa in the fiercest typhoon in history at the end of World War II. Elmer Renner, then a young officer aboard a US minesweeper, recounts the horror of his ship sinking. Renner and eight other sailors clung to a small raft for days, battling thirst, hunger, shark attacks and, eventually, madness. Renner and co-author Ken Birks describe the men's panic as distant ships seemingly ignore their desperate calls, the sea turning blood red when one of the men loses his life to a shark, and how another slips silently away into the unforgiving Pacific.

Download or read book This Is War written by Valeria Ann Carrano and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2014 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arcangelo "Sonny" Parisi grew up in New Haven, Connecticut, and as the eldest brother of eight siblings, he spent a lot of time protecting his family.There were plenty of fights with bullies and the Irish police, but he didn't let that stop him from running the streets, stealing food, and seeking out adventure. From an early age, he learned to rely on himself and his Italian-American instincts for survival, which served him well when he was drafted into World War II and sent to the South Pacific.Told by his granddaughter, this life story of a courageous sailor celebrates Parisi's many achievements - from surviving the Great Depression as a youth, to marrying the love of his life, serving his country, and later becoming a mechanic. His life story is proof that no matter how big or small the goal, determination achieves results, whether it's fixing a car or surviving a war.

Download or read book War Beneath the Waves written by Don Keith and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2010-04-06 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the national bestselling author of Final Patrol comes a gripping story of heroism under the sea. In November 1943, while on war patrol in the Makassar Strait, the USS Billfish submarine was spotted by the Japanese, who launched a vicious depth charge attack. Explosions wracked the sub for fifteen straight hours. With his senior officers incapacitated, diving officer Charlie Rush boldly assumed command and led key members of the crew in a heroic effort to keep their ship intact as they tried to escape. Now, in War Beneath the Waves, this intense story is finally told in all its harrowing detail. It is an inspiring tale of one man's leadership and courage under fire, and of the remarkable efforts of a submarine crew to do their duty and save their ship.

Download or read book The Uss Blessman and I written by Edward Hinz and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2007-12-10 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a memoir of shipboard life during World War II, the story is an accurate depiction of life aboard a combat vessel during the invasions of Normandy, Lingayen Gulf in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and landing in Wakayama, Japan. From escorting convoys crossing the Atlantic and working with Under Water Demolition Team UDT15 now called Seals, in the Pacific, the USS Blessman survived a 500 pound bomb blast at Iwo Jima. After limping to Mare Island for repairs, she sailed at full speed carrying UDT-17 team to join the forces landing on Japan soil.