Midway...

Not much is there that will pass for streets, but Google Map makes the attempt with 360 degree panoramic views in its "Street View" mode...

Sand Island...

Eastern Island...

The view looking west 77 years ago is seen in an excellent photo from Wikipedia...Keen observers may note that in the 1941 photo Henderson Field is located on Eastern Island, while today the facility is located on Sand Island to the west...Both airfields were named for USMC aviator, Major Lofton Henderson, for whom the other Henderson Field on Guadalcanal was also named...Major Henderson was KIA leading a squadron of Douglas SBD's on a glide-bombing attack against the JIN Hiryu, one of four JIN aircraft carriers sunk in the Battle of Midway...I have not researched it, but he may be the only person so honored by having three military airfields named for him...

The Sand Island location is now used by civilian aircraft, and the entire atoll is under the management of the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a national wildlife refuge...It is the home of the largest nesting site in the world for the albatross (or gooney bird)...The airfield has no tower, and during the albatross nesting season, November to June, flights are permitted to land and depart only at night when the birds are nested...About 50 people are permanent residents, and although living conditions may seem harsh to some who are more accustomed to modern living conveniences, they are certainly more amenable than those facing the military and civilian Midway population of late 1941...Today's observers might have called it downright primitive...

The elevation at Midway of about 18 feet would seem almost mountainous in comparison to another mid-ocean location which also had a strategic history in WWII...French Frigate Shoals is located approximately halfway between Pearl Harbor and Midway atoll, and is actually part of the Hawaiian chain of islands...A shoal (for those like me who didn't know until I looked it up) can be likened to a submerged sandbar, and to run across one in the middle of the Pacific with no other land in sight could be considered an anomaly...The mean elevation there is six feet above sea level, with La Pérouse Pinnacle projecting 120 feet out of the sea...

Running across it very nearly happened to the two frigates under the command of French naval officer Commodore Jean-François de La Pérouse, who was on a commissioned voyage to enrich the treasury of King Louis XVI, presumably so his mistress/wife/queen, Marie Antoinette, could eat more cake while the peasants starved...While underway the night of 11/6/1786 one of his crew sighted waves breaking in their path indicating a submerged danger, and shouted the warning...Being French, La Pérouse's first instinct was to surrender to this unknown hidden danger, and he ordered an immediate turn for both ships, missing what turned out to be a large crescent-shaped reef near the surface...No mention is made in current historical accounts of whether La Pérouse flew the French tricolor or the standard white French battle flag...

The next morning, they returned to map the hazard, and found that what the lookout saw was waves breaking against the only point above water, later named La Pérouse Pinnacle, the only remnant of the volcanic action that formed the shoal area millions of years ago...The common name for the reef became known as French Frigate Shoals, and was later used as a refueling stop for the two Japanese seaplanes which took part in the second bombing of Pearl Harbor 3/4/1942...They embarked their mission from Wotje Atoll in the Marshalls, and flew to French Frigate Shoals to be refueled from a Japanese submarine...Another JIN sub, I-23, was intended to stand off as a lookout for the mission, but it was never heard from after 2/24/42, presumably sunk from unknown causes...

The mission was largely a failure, as little damage resulted from the bombing, mostly shattered windows at Theodore Roosevelt High School from the impact of the bombs dropped near it...However, the alarm was raised among US Navy planners when it was realized that the Japanese "Emily" flying boats had to have been refueled somewhere, and the only logical place was the uninhabited French Frigate Shoals...A construction mission was immediately launched by the USN to dredge and build up the area into a usable island to be manned as a submarine refueling and reprovisioning point...Future plans by the Japanese to repeat its use to refuel seaplanes were shelved when a Japanese submarine reconned the area and found the American military presence...

Eventually enough island space was built to accommodate a 3,000 foot landing strip on Tern Island for emergency landings by Navy aircraft, known today as French Frigate Shoals Airport...It was large enough in 2009 to land and depart a USCG C-130 to evacuate the Coast Guard unit operating a LORAN station on East Island, the second largest artificial island constructed there...Like Midway Atoll, French Frigate Shoals is today managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service as a nesting refuge for tropical birds...Last month, October 2018, Hurricane Walaka blew East Island into non-existence...

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A Brief Announcement...

The commercial bookselling site, Amazon, has asked Truckman to create an author page to further advance sales of his growing list of publications...It can be found here for those who wish to purchase from Amazon...However it should be noted again that Amazon still sells the Truckman Publications at full retail price, rather than the discounted prices found on Truckman's own sales site...It may also be noted that the so-called "free shipping" enjoyed by Amazon buyers is more than absorbed by the exorbitant extra profit generated by Amazon's higher prices...For those unaware of the publication process, when a Truckman Publishing book is ordered through Amazon, it is then ordered by Amazon from Truckman's sales site...Their claim that the book is "ready to ship" in 1-2 days is misleading, as it is not printed until ordered...Printing takes 5-7 days under normal circumstances, after which it is shipped...

In addition periodic discounts can be found from the printer, Lulu.com, which, unlike other promotions from other sellers, can be added to the already discounted price offered by Truckman Publishing...Sometimes these discounts can include shipping, and buyers are encouraged to look for these bargains, and add the appropriate discount code to an order...These discount offers are not passed on by Amazon...It might be further noted that in Truckman's experience "express shipping" is seldom any faster than the "standard shipping" through the US Postal Service, the bulk of which transit is accomplished by Federal Express anyway...Amazon also does not offer the far less profitable paperback editions available from Truckman...We wish Jeff Bezos continued success in his Amazon business, but want cost-conscious readers to always be aware of the otherwise hidden costs, and the available bargains offered to those who make the effort to look...

In other business decisions, the fine and well intentioned Facebook group, USS APc-1 WWII, dedicated to preserving the memory of the brave veterans of service aboard the US Navy's Small Coastal Transports during the Pacific War, will now continue to preserve the memories of those troubled times without the direct contributions of Truckman...The narrow-minded petty decision of Mark Zuckerberg to stifle the posts offered by Truckman to this worthy group through his still unexplained deletions of Truckman's posts has brought Truckman to the reluctant choice of resigning from Facebook...USS APc-1 WWII's administrator, Neal Ash, continues his efforts to bring awareness of this "forgotten fleet" to the public, and any new information gleaned from the research of Truckman's hardworking staff will continue to be passed along to Neal, who will certainly post these items for his Facebook readers...A link to the Facebook group will continue to be available to readers here as the "Applecart Link" button under the banner at the top of each page on this blog...

Added in edit: It should be said here in the interest of transparency that Truckman does indeed receive a royalty payment on each copy of his books which are sold, whether that sale takes place on his own site or the various reseller sites such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ingram or any of the other book sales outlets...However the amounts of those royalties vary greatly...The amount received by Truckman when a reader purchases from the resellers is approximately one-third of the amount received when the reader purchases from Truckman's site at a reduced price...A simple math equation should reveal where the most profit lies, the author who researched and wrote the book and sells for less, or the book outlet which sells the same product for more money...

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Public Service Announcement...

It should be noted that for maximum enjoyment by Truckman's readers, he voluntarily accepts no commercialization attempts on his many blogsites...Readers interested in only fact and truth will not be victimized by obnoxious advertising, nor by annoying pop-ups demanding the reader turn off his adblocking software in order to continue reading...It is a sad fact of the journalistic world that crass commercialism has become the guiding light for almost all blogs, historical websites and news sources...Truckman will resist to the end any attempt to insert ads on his websites which attempt to draw hard-earned assets from the pockets of his loyal readers...

It is true that the mighty dollar-worshiping Google may attempt to place advertising on Truckman sites, but this is not done with the cooperation nor collaboration with Truckman...We have taken every step possible to deny the presence of advertising on these sites, and will continue to do so...Truckman encourages his readers to install adblocking software, available at little or no cost as browser extensions on almost any modern web browser...These extensions infuriate commercial websites interested in bilking rather than informing the public, and they will employ many clever devices to defeat them...Some websites will block viewers altogether who do not submit to the distraction of commercial advertising...Truckman's answer to this is to merely avoid those websites, and seek out other sources for the desired information...

Readers here visit because they have come to trust Truckman as a source of unbiased truth which cannot be bought with money...The only redirects here will lead to other activities brought to you by Truckman, such as his video channel, photo and satire blogs, and publishing site...Yes, there are books for sale on the Truckman Publishing site where proceeds are used to further research into future books...Any reader here who finds that either Google or an internet provider or even an unscrupulous hacker has placed advertising on these websites operated by Truckman Industries is encouraged to report it using the email address provided in the sidebar...These sites are wholly financed by Truckman, and the readers may be confident that the only requirement to join this group is to merely read and absorb the truth...

You're welcome...

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Introducing the APc-48 "Gray Gang"...

In memory of the service aboard APc-48 during WWII of this writer's Uncle, MoMM2/C William Vernon Johnson, as a member of that ship's "Black Gang," this blog proudly announces the formation of the "APc-48 Memorial Gray Gang"...For the uninitiated Wikipedia defines a ship's Black Gang thusly:

"The black gang are the members of a ship's crew who work in the fire room/engine room; they are also called stokers or firemen. They are called "black" because of the soot and coal dust that is thick in the air in the fire room/engine room. The term began being used in the days of the coal-fired steamships. The term is commonly used in the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy to describe personnel in 'M' and 'B' divisions."

Firemen and other members of a ship's Engine Force were called the "Black Gang" due to the considerable amount of oily grime and dust that collected on their skins, hair and clothing from performing their assigned duties in the often stifling heat of the confines of the Engine Room...MoMM2/C Johnson's assignments seesawed back and forth between Fireman and Motor Machinist's Mate, as well as sharing gunnery, deck watch and galley duties as needed with the other crewmembers...Truckman chose to honor his Uncle's service with what has become first a series of articles, and then books concerning the tiny wooden ships classified as Small Coastal Transports, of which APc-48 was but one example...Truckman's research staff has found that any information concerning these small but tough little ships is often buried in the shadows of the larger warships, and often must be pried out of the mountains of data that was recorded in the various official Navy reports, and the books written in the post-war period...

At this time Truckman is proud to declare the embarkation of our own "Gray Gang" dedicated to digging out those stubborn bits of intelligence to keep the fires of APc research burning, much as the "Black Gangs" of earlier centuries dug the last scrap of coal from their vessels' coal bunkers to fuel the fires of their ships...The "gray" is in deference to the color of hair taken by many of us whose interests lie in this narrow field of inquiry...The only requirements needed to enlist with this important research team, is to use the email link in the sidebar to the right of this article to submit the username to which you want your new finding credited...What we are looking for is any pictures, books, articles or news items concerning the activities, locations or service of these ships or their crewmembers, whether in war or in the hard-earned peace which followed, that may be included in future books in the "APc-48" series...Please note that your submissions do not have to be directly related to APc-48, but rather to any of the Small Coastal Transports, including the planning stages, construction, recruitment, staffing, assignments or later post-war civilian careers...Letters, journals, notes and diaries can be other valuable sources...If it concerns the APc ships, or their officers and crews, we want to hear about it...

It is also not necessary to submit new information right away, just your intention to add to our APc bank of knowledge and your username (real or assumed) are all that is necessary...A method of keeping score of information submissions may also be added in the future...

EDIT: Score of acceptable submissions is now kept by the italicized number within parentheses to the right of the username...

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Another reprint...

OK call me lazy if you wish...This was recently posted by me on USS APc-1 WWII...

I just finished watching "The Fighting Lady," a conglomerate of WWII combat and promotional footage presented as a feature film about an unnamed aircraft carrier (actually USS Yorktown CV-10)...I was hoping to see some glimpses of the smaller auxiliaries like our coastal transports, but as usual the big boys hogged the glory...Only one Hollywood star was listed in the credits, Robert Taylor as narrator, but listed as Lt. Robert Taylor USNR...All other cast members were also presently in Navy service including Adms. JJ "Jocko" Clark and John S. McCain Jr...Also seen was the legendary Captain Dixie Kiefer, who made the first-ever night takeoff from a warship...He served as XO of the the original USS Yorktown (CV-5) in the Battles of the Coral Sea and then Midway where the Yorktown was shot out from under him, shattering his right leg and knee...He recovered sufficiently in time to take command of the new USS Ticonderoga which was attacked by Kamikaze pilots during action in the Pescadores...

The first caused massive fires in the hangar deck...Kiefer immediately improvised by flooding port side compartments (an action unheard of until that moment), inducing a 10 degree list and causing the flaming debris to slide overboard...He then steered his ship upwind away from the floating flames where the second kamikaze hit near him leaving him with 65 separate shrapnel wounds and a broken arm...Disregarding his injuries, he stayed on the bridge in command another 11 hours...SecNav James Forrestal, after Kiefer's award of a second Distinguished Service Medal to offset his previous DSM and Navy Cross, called him "the Navy's indestructible man"...

Kiefer had also previously broken his left ankle and kneecap playing football, in addition to having a shattered elbow from being hit by the wingtip of a passing seaplane flown by a fellow pilot showing off by buzzing him a mite too closely...No word on the following aviation career of the showoff aviator...Kiefer's crew on the Ticonderoga said he had so much metal in his body that the ship's compass followed him wherever he walked on deck...

Even without any APc's in the supporting cast, "The Fighting Lady" is well worth an hour of your time...

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Reprint...

Since I have been lax in my duties as a source of information for my loyal fans, I wanted to publish the following posts I wrote for Neal Ash's "USS APc-1 WWII" Facebook group...This group can only be accessed by joining, but it is well worth it for the information contained within concerning Small Coastal Transports...

Today's discussion of aircraft carriers prodded my memory of a few items...One often hears the term, "four and a half acres of sovereign US territory" in reference to the size of the flight decks of our largest carriers, but is it really treated as such?...The answer is yes, by international law...The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea gives US flagged warships not engaged in commercial trade the same status as land within US borders...It flies the US flag only, is bound only by US law and is immune to search and seizure by other powers, even when docked in a foreign port...  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_ships…

And foreign ports can be particularly welcoming of our carrier fleets when disaster strikes...Our nuclear powered aircraft carriers can produce enough electricity to power a small city, or essential services for a larger city...It's sick bay is actually a hospital which can act as an emergency room, and its helicopters can act as flying ambulances:

http://cimsec.org/flattops-of-mercy/23912

As a final item in my jogged memory, there have been times when a passing ship sighted by a pilot in distress has become a convenient flattop of opportunity: 

 http://1truckman.blogspot.com/2016/09/lost-at-sea.html

Another sometimes wondered about question concerns the aircraft carrier's traditional placement of the superstructure (or island) on the starboard side of the ship...Although bluejackets will tell you that the superstructure on any ship only exists to give sailors something to paint, the first carriers to have a superstructure were the British HMS Glorious and Courageous, both converted from cruisers...Their placement had to do with the original ships' boiler and stokehold air intakes and the fireroom's exhaust...Subsequent A/C's kept it on the same side to avoid confusion for pilots landing on a ship from which they did not take off...Other stories insist the propeller powered aircraft had a strong torque-steer toward the left, and since landing aircraft were kept under full power until forward motion was halted, larger disasters were avoided in the rare case when an arrestor cable broke under tension sending the aircraft back out to sea in an unwanted direction...For this reason the extremely powerful F4U Corsair, with its 13 foot propeller had to be kept under 3/4 throttle on arrested landings, otherwise it could flip over at full stop...The Japanese carriers Akagi and Hiryu were built with their superstructures portside to operate with their sister ships, Kaga and Soryu which had starboard side islands...The theory was one would fly left-hand circuits, and the other right-hand circuits, effectively splitting the air and sea lanes...Innovative thinking, but they lost the war anyway...In any event, the unwieldy width of the carrier with the superstructure mounted far to one side means other heavy equipment, including propulsion units, fuel and water tanks, ammunition magazines, and hangar decks with their spare parts and machine shops, must be proportionately distributed to achieve an even balance, preventing capsizing in emergency high-speed turns...

At some point soon I hope to have the loads lifted from my shoulders which have been thrust on me by the fortunes of life, at which time I can resume my previous direction in research and writing my blog articles and books...Thank you for your patience...

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Living with violence...

Since no one else seems capable of uttering the obviously most effective method of removing the spectre of violence from society, I'll say it...Those with demonstrable tendencies toward violence, and histories of incapability of living peacefully must somehow be separated from the law-abiding, productive peaceful citizens who remain...The group to be removed would of necessity include all mentally unbalanced persons of all ages, and even those who have been physically violent, or threatened violence within their own schools, workplaces and families...

Since the world economy cannot support the building of enough prison space to house, feed, clothe, guard and sustain the health of this many people, they must be removed from society by ending their lives...Then those that cause those deaths would have to be added to the list of those with violent histories, necessitating their removal from society...Eventually this would leave one non-violent person left breathing who, if honest, would have to admit his own aggressive tendencies simply by passively allowing the destruction of the world's population, and being honest would have to commit suicide...

The above ridiculous and obviously unworkable solution would certainly remove the menace of violence, but nobody would be left to enjoy the peace...And until we all realize we are flawed human beings living together with other flawed human beings, then other impossible solutions such as mechanical safety devices, outright bans of instruments which have the possibility of being used for violence and increased expenditures for prisons and mental wards on an already overburdened taxpayer will be presented, discussed, studied, argued and rejected as ineffective...
'
Finding an affordable, acceptable method of ending violence permanently is a fool's errand...Learning to live with the consequences of an evolving world is the only alternative...

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