As odd as it may seem for an old Air Force veteran
to take an interest in the actions of the US Navy, especially in a war which
was concluded twenty years before his own service began, this author has gained a new
perspective on what it took to still the quaking seas in a world consumed by
destruction and death...Researching for the small bits of information available
concerning the Navy's Small Coastal Transports (APc's) of WWII, and the service
of those officers and men who crewed them, led to many accounts of unconventional
warfare heretofore unknown by this author...Several of these stories were
included in the previous "APc-48"series in the hope of enlightening others of the unheralded actions and sacrifices
undertaken by those who dedicated themselves to the restoration of peace and
freedom...
One of these stories came to light in my research
reading of David Bruhn's book, "MacArthur and Halsey's 'Pacific IslandHoppers': The Forgotten Fleet of World War II," of an almost
unheard of, and certainly unheralded event occurring five days after Emperor Hirohito's radio announcement of acceptance of peace terms by the Empire of Japan, which concluded with the signing of the peace agreement on the deck of the USS Missouri (BB-63)...Like this author,
David Bruhn looks for the fascinating, unusual stories and facts to fill the
cracks between recitations of facts and figures, in an attempt to hold a
reader's interest and urge forward a grip on new knowledge...Mighty ships of
steel armor and huge guns, plus the floating cities launching angry, buzzing
aircraft against an unwanted enemy are hardly the only elements necessary in
the restoration of peace...And yet these enormous creations of war seem to
gather the largest attention from the public as their sheer size seems to
command the watery battlefields...Deservedly so the officers and crewmen of
these seaborne monsters also seem to garner the lion's share of the printed
media and film and video projects, even though they themselves will be the
first to point out that their achievements would have been impossible without
the support of the endless chains of support vessels and smaller warships, and
the even more important tasks taken on by those who manned them, risking even
more with little, and in many cases, no armor nor armament against the same
deadly enemy faced by the giant armored warships...
This author's late uncle, MoMM1/C William Vernon
Johnson, was one of those enlisted crewmen who survived the Pacific War, and
returned to a peaceful life...His story was told in the "APc-48" series of books, chronicling the service of
those who served aboard the tiny wooden ships bringing the life-sustaining
supplies to other participants in defense of his nation...In Cmdr. Bruhn's
book, he told briefly of the several battles and rescues in the Pacific which
took place among the centuries-old designs of the wooden ships and their crews
risking their all against modern heavily gunned warplanes, and the fast, steel
warships to which the only defense possible relied more on the cunning,
ingenuity and courage of the crews against the advantages of speed, bulk and
overwhelming weapons employed by their enemy...In this author's research, one event which stood out that was described in Cmdr. Bruhn's, book was the battle which took
place between two ancient wooden junks, one manned by Japanese Imperial Army
(JIA) personnel, and the other by a mixed crew of US Army, US Navy and US
Marine Corps officers and men, occurring on 8/20/1945,
This author's own military experience having
centered on jet powered fighters and bombers of the Cold War and Vietnam War
eras, and being still unaccustomed to the many events which remain even today
overshadowed in the mass media accounts by the enormous, far-flung battles of
land, sea and air fought by brave, determined men on both sides, the telling of
this comparatively small, nearly unheard of occurrence of combat fired my
imagination as I made notes to follow up for a new research project...Beginning
with the hope of at least enough information to warrant a blog article, enough
facts and new leads began to emerge in which thoughts of a new book
arose...From there, this accounting takes shape...
For those interested, David Bruhn's own website contains much information concerning the smaller warships of WWII, as well as his own books on the subject...It is well worth the visit...
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