Kamikazi's

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

ok this is my last rant for today.When I was a kid in the 1970's,I had a neighbor who was on a destroyer during the Okinawa invasion.I talked to him about his experiences and he told me about the Kamikazi's.You could still see the fear in his face as he talked to me. he was still dreaming and damaged by the experience.can you imagine being on the receiving end of a kamikazi attack? I cant imagine what it was like. ok,i'm done

Hemiman · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:22 am

I remember reading a book on the Okinawa battle where a Destroyer had been attacked so many times the crew painted a sign "THE CARRIERS ARE THAT WAY!"

Bill

Holedigger · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:09 pm

They took a terrible toll on the Picket Destroyers. They started to try to keep a CAP with radar equipped aircraft late in the war to give warning and intercept as possible, but it was a tough thing.

Pat Carry · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 12:58 pm

The Kamikazes sunk a total of 34 US Navy ship and killed or wounded 10,000 saliors. One of the ships sunk was the destroyer USS Ward which fired the first shots of the Pacific war when it engaged a Japanese midget sub off Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th, 1941. Amazingly the Ward was sunk on December 7th, 1944 off Leyete in the Philippines when it was hit by a Kamikaze!

John Dupre · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:23 pm

I remember reading a contemporary account that stated that one of the picket destroyer positions had lost one ship a day for a week. I don't know if that meant every ship was sunk but certainly it meant a new ship had to be on station every day for seven days.

Hemiman · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:18 pm

One of the Tin Cans that took a beating! The AARON WARD is pictured after suffering multiple kamakazi hits.. How low can you go! Repaired and went back into service!!

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

Wow! what a pile of junk,can you imagine the amount of work and effort it took to keep it afloat? Amazing.

SaxMan · **Posted:** Sat Mar 05, 2011 11:36 pm

Hemiman wrote:

One of the Tin Cans that took a beating! The AARON WARD is pictured after suffering multiple kamakazi hits.. How low can you go! Repaired and went back into service!!

I think you're confusing the Aaron Ward with the Laffey. The Aaron Ward was not repaired. It was decommissioned in Sept 1945, stricken from the Navy list in Oct 1945 and scrapped in 1946. Laffey sustained 7 kamikaze hits, but was repaired and returned to service. It's now in Charleston SC with the Yorktown.

Very scary stuff. A good account of what happens to men under that kind of pressure is in the book "Little Ship, Big War" by Edward Stafford (who also wrote "The Big E"...one of the best accounts of CV-6 Enterprise). It recounts his experience as an officer on the DE Abercrombie. One of the chapeters is devoted to the ships time on the "ping line" off Okinawa and living under the threat of Kamikaze attack.

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

I have always been amazed that the Laffey still exists.it was totaled too.an amazing effort to stay afloat.

Hemiman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:41 am

I think you're confusing the Aaron Ward with the Laffey. The Aaron Ward was not repaired. It was decommissioned in Sept 1945, stricken from the Navy list in Oct 1945 and scrapped in 1946. Laffey sustained 7 kamikaze hits, but was repaired and returned to service. It's now in Charleston SC with the Yorktown.

Yep, I goofed... the pics are of the Aaron Ward, but erred on the rebuild. I didn't realize that 3 ships carried that name.

Bill

tom d. friedman · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 1:17 am

Pat Carry wrote:

The Kamikazes sunk a total of 34 US Navy ship and killed or wounded 10,000 saliors. One of the ships sunk was the destroyer USS Ward which fired the first shots of the Pacific war when it engaged a Japanese midget sub off Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th, 1941. Amazingly the Ward was sunk on December 7th, 1944 off Leyete in the Philippines when it was hit by a Kamikaze!

wow!! the uss ward was an old geezer by the time of her loss!!

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

Isnt one of the original Wards 5 inch guns on display somewhere.are you sure it was sunk by Kamikazi's?

tinbender2 · **Joined:** Fri Jun 01, 2007 12:04 am **Posts:** 212

I spent some time in a VA hospital, and one of my fellow patients was a U.S. Navy gunner at Okinawa, who saw a lot of action.

He recounted the action in vivid details, as if it had just ended. It was pretty impressive to listen to, and get detailed answers to my questions.

I was feeling pretty bad about a General Practitioner massively botching my surgery. But what made me feel even worse was this Navy vet.

Both his feet were injured during a kamikaze attack, and were later amputated in the states. He spent much of the next 50 years in VA hospitals, fighting chronic infections, and getting horrible medical treatment. They kept amputating his legs to kill infections, and when I met him, his legs were gone from the thigh down. He was living out of a broken down camper van.

Owen Miller · **Joined:** Fri Aug 27, 2004 9:28 pm **Posts:** 614

When you have time, Google up "USS Evans", USS Hadley",
and "Okinawa". The material will make the hair on the back
of your neck stand up.. I cannot even begin to imagine....

God bless those guys and what they did to keep us free!!

agent86 · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 3:57 am **Posts:** 926

Typical VA medical care.I know because until Medicare my dads only option was VA .it was pathetic and in my opinion ,criminal.He did what he signed up for and did his duty and what he was promised in return was a pathetic joke.I hope it has changed.He had to go,people now volunteer.They better get whats promised

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