Captain C. Raymond Calhoun addresses the SNA, 12 January 2011.
This web site contains essays, articles and speeches by shipmates and war correspondents, most of which have not been published elsewhere and some of which provide particular insight into shipboard life. Highlights and major works are as follows:
WRITING INDEX
First person accounts may be found for
Gamble,
Preston,
Maury,
Sterett,
La Vallette,
Nicholas,
O’Bannon,
Chevalier,
Strong,
Taylor,
De Haven,
Bennett,
Hudson,
Buchanan,
Lansdowne,
Farenholt,
Converse,
Claxton,
Newcomb,
Heywood L. Edwards and
Hugh W. Hadley.
World War II cruise book text may be found for Nicholas, Taylor and Heywood L. Edwards.
Recommended: use search (above) to find specific subjects.
FEATURED WORKS
Articles of general interest:
MAJOR WORKS
Books, book excerpts, diaries and other major works:
- Nathan H. Cook (quartermaster, Newcomb): Excerpt from his book Before Your Time, written for his children covering Newcomb’s entire career, including the Battle of Surigao Strait and kamikaze action at Okinawa.
- Russell S. Crenshaw, Jr. (executive officer, Maury): excerpt from Crest of the Wave — including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Battles of Guadalcanal, Tassafaronga, Kula Gulf, Kolombangara and Vella Gulf.
- Foster Hailey (war correspondent, New York Times): from Pacific Battle Line, a record of the first two years of war in the Pacific.
- Ernest A. Herr (sonarman, O’Bannon): Horror at Guadalcanal — O’Bannon’s first wartime tour in the Solomon Islands, including the Battle of Guadalcanal; The Maine Potato Episode, when O’Bannon and a Japanese submarine exchanged potato fire; The Last Day of the De Haven, the first 2,100-tonner lost; The Last Day of the Emmons, reflecting both American and Japanese perspectives on the battle for Okinawa.
- Tom McWhorter (torpedo officer, Sterett): Stand and Fight — Sterett’s war through the Battle of Guadalcanal.
- Virgil N. Wing (water tender, Nicholas): Destroyer Sailor — diary of Nicholas’s first wartime tour in the Solomon Islands, correlated with ship’s records, including commissioning, loss of De Haven, and the Battles of Kula Gulf and Kolombangara.
DIARIES
- Dow H. Ransom, Jr. (ship’s doctor, La Vallette): diary of La Vallette’s second and third wartime tours, including Solomon Islands, New Guinea and the Philippines.
- Daniel E. Henry (commanding officer, Buchanan): Buchanan at Tokyo Bay.
SPEECHES
INDIVIDUAL ARTICLES
Highlights of additional first person accounts, speeches and other articles that appear throughout this web site:
- THE ART OF WAR: George Eisenberg’s striking paintings and drawings from his tours in La Vallette in World War II plus some of his wonderful writing on his blog, A Sailor’s Diary.
- Alton B. Grimes (radar and sonar officer, Strong): USS Strong (DD 467) World War II Operations and Stories of USS Strong (DD 467).
- R. Douglas Turpen (navigator, Nicholas): Navigating the “Nick” — Nicholas’s second tour, including the Philippines, Borneo and Tokyo Bay.
- Douglas Perrett Starr (sonarman, Nicholas): I Would Not Have Missed It for the World; Taking Corregidor; and Mothballs.
- Charles Nelson (damage control officer, Claxton): With Division X-Ray at Leyte Gulf, The First Kamikaze Attack; Loss of Abner Read.
- William F. Vose (communications and sonar officer, Gamble: How Lengo Channel was Swept for Mines.
- Warren W. Armstrong (commanding officer, Gamble and Bradford): Memories of the Gamble.
- Robert Reed (Preston): A recollection.
