quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Respectfully, would the Navy or Goverment have shared that film with his family ?

Times were different then. Although scenes of bloody beach landings were censored, this stark memorial for a fallen airman probably was not, and most likely shown across the nation in newsreels.

I first saw it in the documentary "Victory At Sea", either in its original broadcast on NBC in 1952-1953, or a later re-run, still in the mid-1950's.

It's the sort of thing that sticks with you for your entire life.

The rush of emotion I felt as I watched this was very powerful. My uncle was a pilot in New Guinea and was MIA on his first mission. My Dad flew B-17s from England, 35 missions, he came home, graduated from Pharmacy School and supported a wife and four children.

Amazing to see. So many have paid the ultimate price on our behalf. A debt that cannot be repaid but must be honored if we are to survive as a nation.

Thank you Sig765.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
... "Victory At Sea"....

The entire Victory at Sea series can be seen on YouTube. The whole series is very well done, possibly because the war was still fresh in the minds of those who survived it and because of the growing threat of the Soviet Union and the rising of the world-wide Communist insurgency.

You're welcome, David.

Sig2340, I have it on DVD, and usually watch an episode or two every year. I haven't been able to find a copy of the original music, however, so I listen to that on Youtube.

Wow!

My Dad was in the Pacific during WWII. He never would talk about it much unless he was pretty inebriated. And then it was very brief and he was very solemn. My generation knows nothing about sacrifice. Thanks, Jim.

I hadn't seen that before...very moving.

My throat hurts and I got something in my eye

Thanks for posting this Jim. I just watched it again for the 5th or 6th time today. Gets me every time.

Thank you for posting, Jim. Tributes like this truly humble me.

quote:

Originally posted by drendean:
My Dad was in the Pacific during WWII. He never would talk about it much unless he was pretty inebriated.

I have an uncle who was in Korea who is the same (my dad was 4F...bad ears). (Un)fortunately he is an alcoholic, so at times the stories would flow and they were not pretty nor for the faint of heart. Yet...stories that need to be told.

I have another uncle by marriage who was a Marine in Vietnam. Same story. Sadly, he is so messed up in the brain these days due to his wife and the VA that none of his stories make sense anymore. 30 years ago, though, when I was in the Army, they really hit home with me.

Looking at the damage to that TBF I was suddenly struck by how hard the events of that day were on the pilot and radioman/bombardier (R/B).

It looks like a flak round came up through the bottom of the fuselage and detonated just aft of the turret.

The two hour flight back must have been Hell for the pilot, knowing one of his crew was dying or already dead, and all he could do was fly their plane back to the Essex.

Worse still was the experience of the R/B. He too would have been unable to aide his shipmate in any meaningful way, but had blood drip down into the lower recesses of the plane until AMM 2 (Gunner) Deen succumbed to his wounds. The only measure of a kindness to be hoped for would be that Deen died almost instantly.

My father was a merchant mariner in WWII. Like Eugene Sledge of The Pacific, my father had rheumatic fever as a child and had a life-long heart murmur as a result. Disqualified from military service, he chose to go to war on merchant ships. From 1940 to 1945, he had four ships sunk under him. One left him with permanent psychological scars, awakening him at night reliving the terror of being blown off an avgas tanker into the icy North Atlantic and having to clear a hole in the burning gas in order to come up for air. He swallowed a small ocean of Johnny Walker Red trying to self-medicate that memory away.

The men and women of that period were not just great; they fought, some died, and still others carried a physical or psychological burden the rest of their days, but all of them came home from war to make America great, in fact the greatest nation and economy that ever existed, and then they defeated the Soviet Union and its desire to subjugate all mankind under the tyrannical yoke of communism.

We owe them all. Twice over.

I believe it was President Bush Sr. who flew these torpedo dive bombers and was shot down. We've all seen the footage of him being picked up onto a Sub. Does anyone know what battle he was involved in when he went down ? I cannot recall.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
I believe it was President Bush Sr. who flew these torpedo dive bombers and was shot down. We've all seen the footage of him being picked up onto a Sub. Does anyone know what battle he was involved in when he went down ? I cannot recall.

Let me Google That for you

LOL, thanks for the help. I did go see after posting. I like to just go ahead and ask the Members as they who know lend a interesting perspective with their historic knowledge and, it tends to be more interesting while keeping a topic alive. Like Bushs' dive bomber seems to be different than the planes on Essex. I never knew Bush was also saved by machine gun straff while floating in his raft, waiting for rescue.

I am blessed to share a little time, every Saturday and Sunday talking with a WW2 Veteran. He just turned 90 at the end of May. He always asks me, " Wha'd ya bring me" ? He wants a US 1911. Local gun shop has a few but the prices are high. He likes his firearms. This weekend I will ask his name. He's in good shape for his age. Another WW2 Veteran I talked to often, last year, has not been seen at all this year. He and his Jack Russell. I hope he is well.

That this should be posted today, on the 73rd anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, which almost surely defined the U.S. victory in the Pacific, is either a coincidence of the highest proportion, or remarkably timely. Thank you.

http://www.loyceedeen.org/


(l to r) Digby Denzek (Radioman), Lt. Robert Cosgrove (Pilot) and Loyce Deen (Gunner) on the flight deck of the USS Essex in front of a Grumman Avenger TBM.

quote:

There, they encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire from a Japanese cruiser and Loyce was killed from two AA shells. In the 2001 History Channel documentary film "Battle Group Halsey" interview, Capt. Cosgrove recalled, "Denzek told me over the intercom that Deen was hit bad.Then, Densek came back up thru the small passage way to sit in the cabin behind me. He stayed there until we landed."