Manchester (CL 83) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 73 text:

J Lieutenant Tuvlnr. right, from the Bolster, guarded the helicopter from Communist troops lurking in the distance Meanwhile, the Manchester had been detached from nearby TF 77. The Philippine Sea had provided her with a helicopter and Chief Avia tion Pilot D. W. Thorin. Winn the Manchester reached the area, Thorin began his pet shuttle service between the ship and the ; to bring the freezing men ab While the evacuation was in progress. Lieutenant (jg) M. D. Taylor, the Repair Officei oi the Bolster, had board ' isae and was ducting salvage operations. The followm. count is from the statements of Lieutenant Taylor and from Pilot Thornton -ered minor injuries from the crasl Said the latter: During th aboard the ground I ab nit 200 enemj I triers. Although th : . within t the shij I lit 1 V tile were m dark vhich blended with the tiees and brush. Otl illy invisible against th background-

Page 72 text:

THE PRASAE STORY X EMERGENCY X MANCHESTER PROCEED Radioman Second Class Kelly Havard and Quartermaster Second Class Jim Kuykendall were assigned as c-oinniunic.it ions interpreters aboard the Thailand Corvette Prasae operating with UN ships off North Korea ' s east coast. The following from their accounts of the incident: On the night of January 6th, Quartermaster Kuy- kendall said the Prasae Ran into the heaviest blizzard I have ever seen. I went up to the flying bridge at about 1900 to check dead reckoning calculations which we were forced to rely on be- cause we had no radar equipment for navigation. The visibility was nearly zero. Later as the two men talked in the radio shack, they felt a lurch. I bet we ' ve run into one of those destroyers, joked Kuydendall. There was a severe jarring of t he ship, and Havard said, Feels like we ' ve gone aground. Kuydendall was still unim- pressed. Suddenly the Prasae shuddered. In Hav- ard ' s words, A rumbling movement this time came from the bowels of the ship, and when she listed to starboard, I knew damn well we ' d gone aground. Everyone was quietly nervous and scared, includ- ing myself, but there was nothing anyone could do, so we settled back uneasily for the night. A sister ship, the Bangpakong, lowered one of its tiny lifeboats to send a salvage line to the stricken ship, but it had to turn back after one man was washed overboard and disappeared into the heavy sea. Another attempt was made by the U.S.S. Bolster, but a chain around the stern broke and further operations were halted because of darkness. The next morning a helicopter from a minesweep- ing group nearby, piloted by Lieutenant (jg) John Thornton, and crew member Gene Marciano, attempted to transfer Lieutenant Harold H. Hard- ing, the Executive Officer of the Bolster, to the Prasae. Kuydendall: The helicopter came in and began hovering over the fantail. I thought it would land. but it went up again and paused over the after superstructure. The pilot took her away from there after a few moments and approached the flying bridge up forward near where Havard and I were standing. Havard continues: This time the pilot came down close, and I could see the crewman open the door and begin lowering Lieutenant Harding on a hoist line. If all had gone well, the plane ' s rotors would have cleared the Prasae ' s rigging by not more than two yards. But all did not go well. The whirling blades began slicing into the lines. I yelled and waved my arms at the pilot, said Havard; He saw me, looked up, and tried to pull the helicopter away, but he was too late. Lieutenant Harding was still dangling from the hoist line, when the plane began falling. In a second it had crashed over the bridge and burst into flames with Mr. Harding underneath. Suvan, the Siamese radioman who worked with us, rushed to the burning wreckage. A section of the falling plane had hit him and his face was streaming blood. Disregarding the flames and his own injuries he pulled Mr. Harding from under the plane. Mr. Thornton and his crewman Marci- ano were also brought out . . . Radioman Havard burned the palms of his mittens and his foul weather jacket putting out the flaming clothing of Gene Marciano. To add to the confusion, 20 millimeter ammunition in the ready boxes on the upper decks began exploding as the fire spread, and nine Siamese sailors in that area became panic- stricken and dove overboard to swim to the beach 200 yards away. One man was lost in the freezing waters, but the others made it to shore. Huddled together on the beach, they were soon suffering from severe exposure, and to make matters worse, it became evident that enemy troops were closing in around them.

Page 74 text:

Thailand sailor is bundled into ■ i .Inh ln-i In I It M vf.nl I )M ' , Enclicott. Man at iur left tried to help, but was so frozen he could hardly move. I saw two of them killed by 40 millimeter fire from the destroyers. All eight of the Americans aboard slept in the Captain ' s cabin of the Prasae. The temperature was near zero. One night we tried to use a char- coal brazier to keep warm, but the fumes were unbearable and the rest of the time we just gritted our teeth and endured the cold. U. S. Navy personnel who tried to save the ship did an excellent job, but conditions made it impossible. Although the Siamese sailors were completely out of their element, with ice on the bulkheads and many of them fainting because of the char- coal smoke and freezing weather, they elected to stay with their ship in the hope that it might be salvaged. As the seas became rougher, the Prasae was pushed further up on the beach. During the next three days the weather made flying impossible. Lieutenant Taylor stood by to supervise the salvage attempts. He said, We went in an LCVP and it looked like a one way trip. The Prasae was about 75 yards from dry beach, and the surf was extremely heavy. Radioman Kelly Havard stood guard alongside the Siamese crewmen during the operation. Two bursts in sky are anti-per- sonnel salvos directed at Com- munist troops.