Eye Witness Account – Rabaul

USS Charles Ausburne, flagship at Battle of Cape St. George

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.

Arleigh A. Burke

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.

Battle of Cape St. George

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.

Battle of Cape St. George, by: Anton Otto Fischer

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.

Gen. James Van Fleet w/ RAdm. Arleigh Burke aboard the USS Los Angeles, Korea 1951

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

The Lone Sailor

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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