7-4-11
What was it like to be aboard a warship in Task Force 58 during the Pacific War? Here’s a glimpse of one day . . .
From the diary pages of Augustus Harris, SC1, CA-69 (compliments of his family.)
Another peek, with more detail . . .
From the diary pages of Pat Fedele (compliments of Pat)
And, from the incomparable War Diary of Frank Studenski (whose entries became the basis for the book A Bird’s Eye View)
July 4, 1944
This morning at 0500 hrs our planes were launched to bomb the bases and airstrips of Iwo Jima. At 1530 hrs the Boston, Canberra, San Juan, Santa Fe, Mobile and about 15 destroyers went in to bombard the island. We fired our 8” and 5” guns. We got in close to the island to fire 5” shells. We launched one of our catapult planes for spotting duty over the targets. We were hitting the southern airfield where almost 70 aircraft were lined up. We also hit gas storage tanks. We were hitting all of our assigned targets. Looking through the binoculars, I could see a lot of planes on the field blowing up. There was a lot of large fires and explosions. The smoke was thousands of feet in the air. A ship was sighted leaving the harbor, so we immediately opened fire on her. A destroyer went in to finish her off. One of the planes from the Santa Fe that was spotting for us was shot down by Jap fighters. The crew was picked up by one of the submarines. All together this day 116 Jap planes were destroyed and five ships were sunk or severely damaged. This was a great way to celebrate the Fourth of July, killing Japs.
That’s how the crew of the USS Boston spent the Fourth of July, 1944.
P.S. I would be remiss if I did not point out the remarkable behind-the-scenes work my brother Bill has been doing on creating the crew records data-base. Please read the following post! If you want to sample his database work, which includes pictures of the sailors (when people supply them), check out my father’s entry: Kelly, William L.
Happy 4th of July
Steve