Bunker Hill (CV 17) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 204 text:

had to put the planes back in commission can attest to the ferocity of many of those scraps. The young career of VT Seventeen was a triumph in many ways and stands as a tribute to the courage, devotion to duty, and the cameraderie of the men who comprised its roster, and to the man who inculcated those qualities in them, Lieutenant Commander Whitaker. '- Eid bw- KQT ,y f, THE FIRST HELLDIVERS Bombing Seventeen made history. Its pilots didn't look like history-making figures, any more than any other bunch of American kids who had gone through the Navy's flight training program. Several of the kids shaved but once a week, and that was required just for its effect on their private pride. The squadron looked like the usual mixture of types, with perhaps a heavier mix- ture of experienced men than theaverage. But it made history, nevertheless. It was the first squadron to take the be- deviled Curtiss Helldiver to sea and prove it a carrier dive bomber. It was the first squadron to take that dive bomber into combat and prove its battle worthiness. And, with but a few others, it was the first to draw a bombing bead on such beefy Jap bastions as Kavieng, Truk and the Marianas. Perhaps it was that mixture of combat veterans in its ranks that made Bombing Seventeen stand out just a little bit over other squadrons. Lieutenant Commander James E. Vosie, USN, a case-hardened dive bomber of earlier Pacific days, was its skipper until his transfer in January, 1944, when Lieutenant Commander Geoffrey Norman, USN, his sec- ond in command, took the post. His Exec- utive Officer was Lieutenant R. P. Rip Kline, veteran of the Enterprise and Guadal- canal duty, where Lieutenant Al Frank and Lieutenant Cjgj Bill Foley also had served, after stretches aboard the Saratoga. The Hornet had contributed such beribboned pilots as Lieutenants Bob Friesz, Frank Chris- toferson, Gus DeVoe, Nig White, Phil Rusk and Nels Maguire. Lieutenant Bill Adami was a Wasp survivor. They coached the yearlings and gave them the wisdom of their experience. Willie Palmer, W. L. Flip Gerner, B. J. Red Dog Shearon, R. L. Temme, the Thompson broth- ers, stubby H. W. Worley and the rest of the squadron novitiates took that Wisdom and added it to their natural youthful zeal to become masters at the Martian art of bomb- lugging and ship-sinking. They had trained Well, first as members of the individual Bombing Seventeen and Scout- ing Seventeen squadrons, and upon their mer- ger, as a single unit. They mastered the in- tricate SB2C, which they swore required the help of a licensed plumber, and passed on to other squadrons the benefits of the lessons they llearned when they took it into battle. Their targets felt jarring thump of tons of bombs dropped from the yawning bomb- bays and if they had been disappointed in the amount of shipping to drop on at Rabaul, the Japs obliged with a layout in Truk's sprawling lagoon that caused Gerner to yell: It looks like a checkerboard down there! Typical of the cold efficiency of the entire squadron, Gerner and F riesz looked over the field and found a dive bomber's top target- a carrier. They put their bombs through its deck and retired. Bombing Seventeen, like the other squad- rons of their Air Group, left the Bunker Hill tired, wise in combat, and deep in the esteem of all who knew them. .gm THE BLACK CHI CKENS Sparked by an eagerness for action that was entirely too rare to their liking, the men of VF CND Seventy-six worked the night shift regularly, but their extracurricular HY- ing proved to be their greatest asset to the Air Group and to the ship. NAL

Page 203 text:

dm-standing of all their problems was always the guiding light. Thus when the training period was over, their morale equalled the peak of their tacticaQ perfection. The first dividends of that training program came in their record on the shakedown cruise: not a single plane was even slightly damaged during their practice of carrier procedure. Torpedo Seventeen went to combat and put to good use that grueling training, as well as the novel attack signals and division recognition calls which the Skipper devised. He was known as Hobo, as was his First division, the second division was Box- car, and the third, Caboose All were a part of the big train whosehome was Hobo- town and who rendezvoused at Round- house. The mess hall was the inspiration for attack signals. The Skipper's familiar Chow Down, spoken over the intercom, was the spine-tingling call to the attack. Dinner is Ready, feasted their eyes on the sight of the enemy-the attack was to start. And that stern study of their specialized type of flying and perfection of tactics early brought them laurels in combat. It was ironic that the climax of their initial combat period came after the Skipper had failed to return from a mission-the Skipper, who had schooled them so well. The day was bright, the target-units of the Jap fleet. The squadron had been flying without spirit, almost automatically, so hard had been the blow of the Skipper's untimely death. Nearly every man felt that Torpedo Seventeen no longer existed. Their Skipper had been Torpedo Seventeen. But they manned planes dutifully and went to the attack. Led by Lieutenant G. N. Owens, upon Whose shoulders as Executive Officer the squadron command had fallen, they stalked a tail-turning Jap ship, found it, and Owens called to attack. Perfectly timed, excellently executed, the attack was a triumph of flying and fighting skill. Radios Were jammed with the cheers of the pilots as they SaW 'Shell' 1 torpedoes run true and blow the enemy out of the water. As they returned aboard, it was easy to see that Torpedo Seventeen again rode the crest. The long hours of study, the grueling training program, had left their marks on every one of them and they once again felt that they were doing the job each one had pledged himself to do-carry on for the Skipper. Lieutenants Cjgj B. F. Buck Berry, S. G. SuQlivan and Del Schatz came aboard with Wide grins and on deck, excitedly told of the attack. Lieutenant Cjgj D. H. Termite Robertson joined them, then Grady Owens. Together they moved off the flight deck and toward their ready room, still shouting at each other, comparing notes. They had won more than the skirmish, that day. They had proven themselves that they were still a squadron. The esprit de corps inculcated in them by The Hobo flamed anew. Once again their laughs were loud, the bantering keen, and they kidded The Duch- ess -athletic, chattering Lieutenant Cjgl G. A. Turnbull, assigned Lieutenant E. H. Lieder to the bogey watch and continued the high-spirited tomfoolery of old. So the ship knew that Torpedo Seventeen was the squadron of old, now led by Owens and Lieutenant P. E. Dickson as Exec. No story of the torpedo squadron is com- plete without the inclusion of the radiomen and the gunners whose work so often goes unsung and little recognized. The average twenty-year-old man in the tunnel or turret seat lives in the reflected glory of his pilot and no pride of accomplishment is greater, no allegiance firmer, than that of a pilot's crewmen. In the ready room post-battle bull-session the pronoun used in describing an action is always Uwe. 1 Torpedo Seventeen's bag tells the story of harmony between crewmen and pilots in much more emphatic manner than words. Tales of fighting their way back from raids are numerous, and the engineering gang that

Page 205 text:

The Night Fighters flew aboard late in jan um-y, 1944-five young flyers sporting Hell- Cats specially designed for night aerial com- bat. Leading the detachment was youthful, ambitious Lieutenant Commander Evan Pete Aurand, USN, skipper not only of the Bunker Hill's detachment but also of two similar units on sister carriers. With him landed Lieutenant Cjgj Norman Doc Davis- son, his Exec, and Ensigns Robert Bice, john Bertie and jack Connor. Within a month, they had seen their first action. They had been scheduled to fly an intruder mission to open the first raid on Saipan and Tinian and their takeoff had been delayed by the all-night air attack on the ship, thus finding them over the target after sunrise-and heavily outnumbered by inter- cepting enemy fighters. In a brief but hot flurry of scrapping, they knocked out five Jap fighters. Bertie totted up three confirmeds, two of them after receiving serious wounds to himself and heavy damage to his plane, and for which he was awarded the Navy Cross. Skipper Aurand added a Distinguished Fly- ing Cross to a Navy Cross previously won while a divebomber pilot, for his part in the action, and Davisson the Air Medal. Bitsy Bice, however, failed to return. Combat missions at Kwajalein, Eniwetok, New Guinea, Guam, Iwo and HaHa Jima were logged by the night fighters in addition to the monotonous night watches which they stood while the ship operated in combat areas. Those watches led to an odd type of carrier duty for the Black Chickens of which no small part were the conversational free-for- alls that developed. Their Ready Room Log records one thusly: The pin-up of Lena Horne opened a discussion of her singing. We then kicked around the following topics, in this order: jazz music and orchestras, -the art of the performer in music and acting, the theatrical profession, radio broadcasting, misrepresentation of the news, journalism, the realities of war, patriotism, political per- secution, death and the fear of same, pro- hibition. I was going to remark that the conversation has been noteworthy for not even touching on Women-but just now. . . Additions to the squadron during its time aboard were Lieutenants Cjgj Paul Kepple, and julian K. jollife. Bertie and Connor, it might be noted, had achieved the rank of lieutenant, junior grade-thus dropping claims to being the Navy's oldest ensigns- and the new rank did not sway established seniority privileges, such as who did the engine tune-ups or who calls for coffee. One thing the night fighters did have was squadron administration. They were admin- istered by a full-dress set of A-VCSD officers. In fact, for each pilot, there was one admin- istrative oflicer! Clixplanations that they also handled the detail work of the units on the other carriers never did carry much weightj Lieutenant VV. VVild Bill Cunningham led off the desk jockeys, followed closely by Lieutenant V. S. Mitchell, Lieutenant Cjgj C. M. Martenson of flying destroyer fame was listed as the Fighter Director Officer, and Ensign R. D. Slobodin the ACI officer. The extracurricular flying that the squad- ron did majored in lifesaving procedure par- ticularly effective for pilots downed in target areas, and many were the missions carried out by Aurand Sz Co. giving an assist to dunked pilots. Many of the missions, too, were conducted in the face of gunfire from Nips seeking to isolate the pilot for their own purposes. Squadron casualties, besides Bice, were Doc Davisson, missing in action off Guam on june 19, 1944, and Joliffe, missing at sea May 2, 1944. I 201