Eye Witness Account – Rabaul
An ideal night for a nice quiet torpedo attack.
by: Capt. Arleigh A. Burke
There may have been blacker nights than Thanksgiving Eve, 1943, [26 November 1943], in the South Pacific, but none could have been more completely blacked out with regard to information of the enemy.
The Solomon Islands campaign, one of the decisive battles of WWII in the Pacific, was at its height and the issue had not yet been resolved. Our destroyers were streaming north in search of the Japanese, who were reported to be evacuating their forces from the islands of Buka and Rabaul.
Suddenly our ships made contact with an unidentified force – strength unknown – and closed to fight it out. The battle continued throughout the night. One after another, the breaks fell to us. The pieces of the puzzle gradually slipped into their proper places as, one by one, the enemy warships were routed or sunk.
But as dawn came, a new battle loomed ahead. Pursuit of the beaten Japs had put our formation deep in enemy waters, far beyond our own air cover. The weather was clear. Japanese airfields were close by and we knew they had many fighters and bombers on the four bases in the vicinity of Rabaul.
As we began our retirement southward, aerial attack seemed imminent. We hadn’t suffered a single casualty during the night action, but now, perhaps, our luck had run out.
To our surprise, nothing happened – nothing at all. The Japanese did not strike back! As we continued to sail into friendlier waters, identical requests began coming to the flagship, (USS Charles Ausburne, DD 570), from every destroyer in the formation. [Destroyer Div. 44/Squadron 23] Finally we passed them all along to Admiral Merrill, our commander back in Purvis Bay: “Please arrange Thanksgiving services for all hands on arrival.”
They were waiting for us when we returned to port – our Protestant, Catholic and Jewish chaplins. An explanation was also waiting – a reconnaissance dispatch stating that 58 enemy bombers and 145 fighters had been observed on Japanese airfields near Rabaul. They had not attacked up presumably because, through the grace of Divine Providence, they didn’t know our exact position and hence, couldn’t find us in time.
I’ll always remember that Thanksgiving Day in that beautiful, tropical harbor: battle-scarred ships nested together in a quiet anchorage, battle-weary crews giving thanks to God for their victory – and for their deliverance.
___ Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations
Article is from The Parade, 18 November 1956; Destroyer History.org
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
George Alcox – Middleburg Hts., OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 414 Fighter Grp/13th Jungle Air Force
Richard Betts – Woburn, MA; US Navy, WWII
Thomas Frosini – Finleyville, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 221st Medical/11th Airborne Division
Merle Hill – Waikato, NZ; WRNZS # 386, WWII
Ian Martin – Forest, AUS; RA Air Force, WWII, pilot
Roy Shiosaki – Spokane, WA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Sgt., 324th/44th Division
Robert Thompson – Argyle, WI; US Navy, WWII, squadron radioman
Martin Upmal – Montpelier, VT; US Army, Korea
William Van Dyke Sr. – Columbus, GA, US Army, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Sgt. Major (Ret.27 yrs), Silver Star, Bronze Star
John Keith Wells – No. TX; USMC, WWII, PTO, 28th Marines/5th Marine Div.; helped to raise 1st flag on Iwo Jima
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Posted on February 29, 2016, in First-hand Accounts, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, family history, History, Military, Military History, Navy, Pacific, Pacific War, Tributes, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 49 Comments.
Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
The video is hilarious. ~ Connie
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Thank you for your continued support of these troops and glad you enjoyed the video!!
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What an amazing story – and on Thanksgiving!
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Yes it is, for a change, eh?!!
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Divine intervention or very good luck that no aerial attack ensued, the outcome would have been very different.
Good reading gp.
Cheers.
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It sure makes you wonder – doesn’t it?!! Glad you enjoyed the story, Ian!
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I’ve not had much time for blog visits lately, but am thankful that when I did have a time to visit, i landed here. Thanks for sharing this story.
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Always glad to see you when you stop in, LB. Believe me, I understand time constraints!!
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Amazing!
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Truly the right description!!
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It’s a wonder they were safeted and not detected by the enemy
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I agreed. The enemy must have been awfully angry when they found out !!
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A very Happy Thanksgiving, indeed, by the grace of God!
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I do believe they sure enjoyed it, Linda!! Thanks for stopping by.
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I am so sorry to use this comment space to ask for help but I could not find a contact form. My daughter is writing a book that has a navy pilot in it set during mid 1970s. She needs to pick someones brain for info about Navy destroyers active during that time, especially how they dealt personnel during dry dock. She has googled endlessly but needs and wants real world experience. Thank you!
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Do not apologize, you did exactly right, but I’m afraid I would not consider myself qualified to help your daughter, so I have left a couple of links here that might be good for her. If they can not, I’m certain they would be happy to point her in the right direction. Wish her good luck for me.
https://smartinshelton.wordpress.com/
steven@hcstx.org.
http://hcstx.org/co-civilian-operator/
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Awesome post!
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Thank you very much, Wyatt.
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Reblogged this on Ancien Hippie.
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Your support for these troops is great to see, Penny.
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Penny, a good friend of mine had this post today and thought you might like it.
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The title says so much about wartime thought. How thankful they must have been to have not been detected by the enemy that Thanksgiving Day.
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It makes you understand why they were so glad to have the chaplains there for services – everyone needed to say a thanks you!!
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I read all the positive comments above and have nothing to add except that all the soldiers thanked God for being spared a deadly attack deep in enemy territory, truly a miracle.
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It was remarkable, so easily it could have been different, Peter. Thanks for visiting.
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I can imagine how memorable that Thanksgiving must have been for those brave soldiers — great post GP.
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Yes, so easily the tables could have been turned. Thanks for coming by.
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Not many battles have a nice ending like that one. Thanks a lot for sharing it with us.
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My pleasure, John, especially when everyone is smiling at the end!
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At last, pure good news … thanks for this. I just looked it up, and this entry fleshes out a few bones—
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_St._George
—and even better about the furious aviators afterwards~!
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Yes, Wiki does it again.
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Hi you! I wrote a military inspired post you might enjoy. It is always good to remember why we have our freedoms today. Isn’t it?
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I wish patriotism would stay more ‘in-style’ like it did way back. Sorry I got off to a late start today due to doctor appt., but I just read your post and I love it!!
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Hey- so glad you enjoyed it!! I am always late. Don’t worry!
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I try to stay on schedule, but it isn’t always possible – you know how life has a tendency to get in the way!!
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So glad that they got a reprieve and that the Japanese couldn’t find them. Very interesting, Everett!
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Thank you, Kathy. I’m glad to have a happy story for everyone this time.
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What wonderful timing! Love the cartoon too!
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Yes it was! And SNAFU is always fun to watch, the guys in training did.
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Always good to read these first-hand accounts and memoirs. They were very lucky that time!
Best wishes, Pete.
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Glad you enjoyed it, Pete. I was glad to find a story with a happy ending!!
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Really interesting story. Thanks for posting it!
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My pleasure.
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Must have been a very happy Thanksgiving.
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I can only imagine!!
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Amazing combination of daring and luck. The Japanese must have been furious when they found out that there had been so many prime targets within striking distance.
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If they ever did discover what really happened, it would certainly be an embarrassment !!
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Thank you, Kathy.
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