Its Veterans Day. A lot of people post pictures of loves ones, or themselves, from their service days. I dont really have any snapshots of dad from his service days. However, I did find a short video clip which was identified as being his ship, the USS Pensacola, in action shelling Iwo Jima. It also show smoke rising from the ship after being hit and sustaining significant damage. According to dads stories (very few), he was in charge of the #2 gun. As I watch the video its hard to imagine that hes on that ship. Even harder what he and the others were dealing with. To all who served, thank you. We have no idea, and we are grateful. The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia article about the USS Pensacola, describing the ships action at Iwo Jima. As dramatic as this is, it is just one piece of the ships involvement. Pensacola bombarded Iwo Jima on the night of 11/12 November and returned to Ulithi the 14th. As she was about to depart for Saipan on 20 November, she spotted a periscope about 1,200 yd (1,100 m) to starboard. As she maneuvered clear, Case rammed the enemy. Four minutes later, her men witnessed the flaming explosion that destroyed Mississinewa, victim of a Japanese kaiten midget submarine. Pensacola arrived Saipan on 22 November to prepare for the invasion of Iwo Jima. Five nights later, she helped splash several attacking Japanese aircraft. She departed Saipan on 6 December, plastering Iwo Jima with 500 8-inch projectiles on the 8th. She returned to Iwo Jima on the 24th and 27th, pounding mountain gun positions north of Suribachi Mountain. She hit defenses on Chichi Jima and Haha Jima as well as Iwo Jima on 5 January and 24 January 1945. At Ulithi on 27 January, Pensacola formed with a battleship-cruiser-destroyer gunstrike task force under Rear Admiral B. J. Rodgers. Six battleships, four cruisers and a destroyer screen comprised the bombardment force which sailed on 10 February via Tinian to Iwo Jima. On 16 February, Pensacola opened fire on the northwest sector of Iwo Jima to prepare for the landings. That afternoon, Lieutenant Douglas W. Gandy, USNR—piloting one of Pensacola s OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes—shot down a Japanese fighter. The next morning, Pensacola took six hits from enemy shore batteries as her guns covered operations of the minesweepers close inshore. Three of her officers and 14 men were killed. Another five officers and 114 men were injured. Pensacola fired back as she retired for temporary repairs then returned to her bombardment station. The morning of 19 February she commenced harassing and counter-battery fire in direct support of the invasion landings. Her deadly guns fought day and night into 1 March when she silenced enemy shore batteries which had hit Terry amidships. After helping Terry′s wounded, she resumed direct bombardment support to advancing Marines that continued into 3 March.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Nov 2014 17:34:09 +0000
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