USS Forrest DD461 DMS24

07/30/2024

Post # 82: USS Doran DD-634 circa September/October 1942. [updated July 30th 2024]

LIFE magazine published an article entitled "Destroyer: Pictures show Cruise of new U.S. 'Tin Can' "
[May 17th 1943 edition, pgs 13, 69-75].

Citing an "un-named destroyer" in its article, it described life aboard ship during a cruise with a Task Force. (At the the time, the USS Doran was soon to be part of a convoy es**rt to North Africa. The ship, its Task Group and fellow ships in convoy, as well as its location, mission, and destination could not be named in any detail because of wartime censorship rules and military security requirements. The identity of the various ship's and their crewmembers, their locations, etc have now been identified by NAVSOURCE contributors and historians.
Additional ships seen in the USS Doran photo series include the USS Taylor, USS Wilkes, USS Cowie, USS Plunkett, and the USS Prairie (AD15), a destroyer station tender which was most often at Casco Bay Maine throughout 1942 and 1943 assisting various destroyers of the Atlantic Fleet squadrons to include the USS Forrest. Nearly all of the photo's in the USS Doran series are from the time period of its abbreviated shakedown cruise. There is also scene's from a destroyer squadron column sailing in formation: it has been identified as DesRon13 on 26th Sep1942.
Other Hull number's include the DD's: USS Bristol DD-453, USS Woolsey DD-437, USS Edison DD-439, USS Swanson DD-443, and USS Ludlow DD-438.)

In August 1942, the USS Doran had recently been commissioned and just weeks later, it was assigned to patrol duties in dangerous waters. Under ideal peacetime conditions, a Navy ship often has several months of shakedown cruises to conduct final adjustments to the new ship's constructions, operating systems, and train up its crew.
The USS Doran had to perform all of these vital tasks under the most strenuous emergency wartime constraints. The USS Doran's first skipper was LCDR Howard Wright Gordon Jr. [Other Officer's identified in the this photo series included the Engineering Officer LT John L. Kelley Jr, Medical Doctor LT(jg) David H. West, and LT (jg) William A. Burnham. 12 other Officer's are currently un-identified].
Soon after its abbreviated shakedown schedule, the USS Doran took part in the invasion of North Africa: Operation TORCH on November 8th 1942. The USS Doran was part of Task Group 34.10, Southern Attack Group off the coast of Safi.

{The USS Forrest was part of Task Group 34.9, Center Attack Group whose mission was off the coast of Casablanca}. http://www.navweaps.com/index_oob/OOB_WWII_Mediterranean/OOB_WWII_Casablanca.php

The complete series of 427 photo's of the USS Doran's autumn 1942 voyage can be found in the Google Arts & Culture series:

https://artsandculture.google.com/search/asset?q=destroyer%20doran

This invaluable collection details rarely seen and/or never before seen wartime views aboard a destroyer ship and its various departments to include Gunnery, Navigation, and Communications sections. Specific area's and sailor's associated Rating's seen include: Quartermaster's, Talker's and Helmsmen on the Bridge; Signalmen on the flying bridge and sewing repair of signal flags; Yeoman in the ship's Office; the Chief Petty Officer Pantry; Steward's Mates in the Officer Wardroom; Radiomen personnel typing out Morse code heard over their headphones; Ship's Service Laundrymen personnel cleaning clothes; Galley and Mess Hall personnel; StoreKeeper's selling items at the ship's tiny PX; Torpedo Mate's maintaining their ordnance; Ammunition Handling room's & gun positions and maintenance of 5inch/38caliber-40mm Bofors-and 20mm Oerlikon weapons; Navigation and Chart Room personnel; Depth Charge and Smokescreen positions; Watch Standing personnel throughout the ship; Bunk and Berth rooms for Enlisted, Officer's, and Chief Petty Officer's; Wardroom activities for Officer's to include dining, leisure pursuits, office paperwork, and mail censorship duties; Medical Doctor and Pharmacist Mate personnel carrying out their assigned tasks; Machinist Mate personnel in the lathe shop; Carpenter's Mates in the woodworking shop; Deck Force crew conducting never ending painting and chipping duties; various leadership personnel conducting instructional classes for new crew; docking and buoy tie up procedures by the Deck Force; Target practice exercises; Fueling tasks; and many other activities and duties while underway at sea.
Views include the crew conducting various daily chores as well as off duty pursuits such as reading, resting, or enjoying a movie.
One can even see rare wartime views of the harbor at Boston Naval Yard and the Cape Cod Canal (Boston Naval Yard aka Charlestown Naval Yard was the homeport of the USS Forrest).
Overall, all of these scenes record the same types of activities common to World War II era destroyers.
However, what is equally unique is the important fact that not only was the USS Doran built at the Boston Naval Yard - just like the USS Forrest... and that it shared its homeport with the USS Forrest; but also amazingly enough...the USS Doran and its sister ship were built on the same shipways as where the USS Forrest and its sister ship the the USS Fitch were built! After the USS Forrest and USS Fitch were launched into Boston harbor on June 14th, 1941, their empty shipways were prepared for new construction within less than an hour. In the place of the Forrest and Fitch, the keels for the USS Earle and USS Doran were started.
Both the Doran and Forrest were exact copies of each other because they were "Gleaves-class destroyers" and thus built to the same blueprint plans. Therefore, any of the scenes you see of the USS Doran would be the exact same things you would have seen aboard the USS Forrest.

The LIFE photographer was the well-known Thomas McAvoy who was friends with President Franklin Roosevelt as well as the skipper of the USS Doran, LCDR Gordon. [McAvoy and two other news correspondents were known to be aboard the USS Doran approximately Sept 24th to about Oct 7th 1942. The other journalists were: William Hickman Pickens-a well known journalist who promoted early auto racing and aviation news and wrote for the Saturday Evening Post, and Herbert Reginald Ingraham-a WWII Time & LIFE navy correspondent and also editor of the Kiplinger Washington Letter.]

https://www.life.com/photographer/thomas-mcavoy/

In these scenes aboard the USS Doran, you can see some of the same area's & battle station's positions where your USS Forrest family member's worked at while conducting their activities, daily duties, assigned tasks, job sites, and living areas.

https://artsandculture.google.com/search/asset?q=destroyer%20doran

https://www.originallifemagazines.com/product/life-magazine-may-17-1943/

https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/634.htm

https://www.navsource.org/archives/11/0941.htm

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/d/doran-ii.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-85000/NH-85463.html
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-85000/NH-85463.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-240000/80-G-240881.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-210000/80-G-215133.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-210000/80-G-215094.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-77000/NH-77373.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/80-G-K-13000/80-G-K-13940.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49191100/howard-wright-gordon

Operation TORCH history links:

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/operation-torch.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-013/h-013-3.html

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/a-hit-or-miss-affair/

https://codenames.info/operation/torch/

https://achh.army.mil/history/book-wwii-medsvcsinmedtrnmnrthrtrs-chapter3

NOTE: very few interior photograph's of Gleaves-class destroyers currently exist. {And for that matter, few detailed photo's exist of the exterior's of Gleaves-class ships}.
The USS Doran LIFE collection is exceptional in that it portrays Gleaves-class views which would otherwise be impossible to imagine in comparison to follow on classes of USN destroyer ships which have many more archival photographic images available.
A fine example of other detailed ship views is the Allen M. Sumner class destroyers. Its ship class has detailed views of nearly the entire ship type, many dozens of scenes are available which is found in the excellent archives of the NAVSOURCE website.

Although the Sumner-class has differences in size, construction, and layout design compared to the USS Forrest's Gleaves-class, the differences seen in the NAVSOURCE archive are still slight enough that a viewer will have a very good overall understanding of what the interior scenes of the USS Forrest would have looked like during WWII.
This author highly recommends exploring the complete series.

https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/interior.htm

Title: USS Doran
Description: (DD-634) Underway on 10 July 1943, the first day of the invasion of Sicily. Photographed from USS Ancon (AGC-4) Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Catalog #: 80-G-215094 REF: https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-210000/80-G-215094.html

07/25/2024

Post # 81: "Information & Guidance Booklet for New Sailor's aboard the USS John A. Bole DD-755" (March 1945). [Updated July 25th 2024]

The USS John A. Bole was commissioned on March 3rd 1945 with Commander Edward Baxter Billingsley as the skipper. Sharp eyed readers and fellow history enthusiasts of the USS Forrest's squadron DESRON 10 might recognize the name of Commander Billingsley -- he was a US Naval Academy graduate from the class of 1932 and a Plankowner aboard the USS Forrest's sister ship in Destroyer Squadron 10: the USS Emmons DD-457/DMS-22. When the USS Emmons was commissioned in Boston on December 5th 1941 [just two days before the attack on Pearl Harbor], then LT Billingsley began his service with DESRON 10 as the USS Emmons's Engineering Officer. Working his way thru the ranks and duty positions to include the Executive Officer (XO), he later became the skipper of the USS Emmons on July 4th 1943 until his transfer on December 1st, 1944. Thus, Commander Billingsley participated in nearly all of the same 1942 to 1944 missions as the USS Forrest.
He took command of the brand new ship, the USS John A. Bole upon its commissioning on March 3rd 1945 and ensured each sailor aboard his ship had the basic knowledge with which to operate with success while under his command. The booklet presents a 9-part series of explanations of useful information needed while serving on a destroyer. These include: an introduction by the skipper. I-Ship's Namesake History. II-Know Your Ship. III-Know Your Shipmates. IV-Get the Word. V-Health and Recreation. VI-Training and Rates. VII-Mail, Censorship, Security. VIII-Pay and Allotments. IX-Full Sea Bag.
We can easily speculate that such information was essential fleetwide knowledge throughout the US Navy during WWII and perhaps many a skipper issued similar guidance to his subordinate sailors and Officers.

https://battleshipnc.catalogaccess.com/archives/28888

Any such similar booklets or advice pamphlets have not been located for the USS Forrest although this author is certain that the data presented by Commander Billingsley in his booklet was information that must have been quite similar to that which was presented to sailors when they reported aboard the USS Forrest.
Special thank you to US Navy veteran Ed Zajkowski from the FB website entitled "US Navy Regulations Facts Statistics Plans": his generous assistance and permission to share the USS John A. Bole booklet on the USS Forrest FB page is greatly appreciated. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1142095836492349/

RADM Billingsley enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the Navy with many awards and decorations, retiring at the rank of Rear Admiral in 1959. His later achievements were just as impressive as his naval career: earning a PhD in Latin American history as well as literally authoring the history book of the USS Emmons -- his first ship's command. In October 1998, his cremated remains were buried at sea in the Atlantic Ocean, followed by a twenty-one-gun salute from a Spruance-class destroyer, the USS John Hancock DD-981: a fine and fitting choice for such a ship type to send him off since RADM Billingsley had extensive association with destroyer's throughout his naval career.

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/edward-baxter-billingsley-14520/

https://navylog.navymemorial.org/billingsley-edward

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/55259

https://usnwcarchives.org/repositories/2/resources?q[]=%2A&op[]=&field[]=title&from_year[]=&to_year[]=&limit=resource&sort=title_sort%20desc&page=45

https://read.dukeupress.edu/hahr/article/48/3/504/157720/In-Defense-of-Neutral-Rights-The-United-States

https://uncpress.org/book/9780807873007/in-defense-of-neutral-rights/

https://www.ussemmons.org/about

https://www.wayfarerdaves.com/?p=5350

https://www.kamikazeimages.net/books/ships/emmons/index.htm

https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/457.htm

Information links about the USS John A. Bole DD-755

http://www.dd755.org/history/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/DD755org/

https://www.navsource.org/archives/05/755.htm

https://usnamemorialhall.org/index.php/JOHN_A._BOLE,_JR.,_LCDR,_USN

https://www.oneternalpatrol.com/bole-j-a.htm

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/19800

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/us-navy-ships/alphabetical-listing/j/uss-john-a--bole--dd-755-0.html

Note: in February 2001, the wreck of the USS Emmons was re-discovered off the coast of Okinawa where it can be visited by scuba divers. May the crew who remain aboard rest in peace.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Site-for-this-study-Location-of-the-wreck-of-USS-Emmons-and-areas-1-2-for-multibeam_fig1_325717428

https://piranha-divers.jp/diving-spots/uss-emmons-dive

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g1025647-d8631750-Reviews-USS_Emmons-Nakijin_son_Kunigami_gun_Okinawa_Prefecture.html

06/12/2024

Post #80: Holiday meals and menu's for the military. The Navy and other branches of the US military have a long tradition of providing extra special meals - in particular for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons. For servicemen and women overseas and far, far away from their family and friends, a touch of home can boost morale and provide a small portion of homefront memories.
----The USS Forrest did much the same and continued that tradition for the 1942 and 1943 seasons: see Post # 25 for copies of the ship's holiday menu's which were graciously provided by member's of several USS Forrest shipmates.
The featured article is from the battleship USS North Carolina BB-55, now a museum ship permanently docked in Wilmington, NC.
Many of the same themes and experiences highlighted in this story would have been common to all Navy and military personnel during WWII. Links below showcase other menu's and holiday experiences from other ships and service branches.

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/3249229/services-showcase-menus-from-christmases-past/

https://navyhistory.org/2013/11/turkey-giblet-gravy/

https://ussnautilus.org/holiday-menus-through-the-years/

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/victory-salad-and-snowflake-potatoes-wartime-christmas-menus

https://navymuseum.co.nz/explore/by-collections/art-ephemera/christmas-menus/

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/manuscripts/m/menus-from-ship-to-shore.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Navy_031125-N-0336C-001_Holiday_dinners_on_ship_and_shore_are_important_memories_for_past_and_present_Sailors_of_special_times_away_from_home_with_their_shipmates.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm3jiCAl_7A

https://www.columbian.com/news/2016/dec/26/off-beat-armys-vintage-menus-reflect-christmas-for-those-far-from-home/

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/manuscripts/m/menus-from-ship-to-shore/1910s/uss-new-jersey-thanksgiving-dinner-1917.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/manuscripts/m/menus-from-ship-to-shore/1940s/uss-new-york-1943-christmas-dinner-.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/research/archives/digital-exhibits-highlights/royal-letters/thanksgiving-1.html

https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/people/chiefs-of-naval-operations/admiral-harold-r--stark.html

https://libguides.usna.edu/c.php?g=472716&p=6628899&t=66884

https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/lincoln-and-thanksgiving.htm #:~:text=Abraham%20Lincoln's%20Thanksgiving%20Proclamation,-In%20July%201863&text=On%20October%203%2C%201863%2C%20with,a%20day%20of%20Thanksgiving...

During World War II, sailors on the battleship enjoy a welcomed taste of home during the holidays.

06/08/2024

Post #79: FEATURED SHIPMATE: D-Day and S2/c Edward Allen Miller. The USS Forrest's youngest D-Day sailor.
[In progress, last updated June 13th 2024)

Edward was a lifelong resident of the Weatherly Pennsylvania area where he raised a family with his wife. While still a senior in high school, Edward completed his requirements early in order to join the Navy before his school's May graduation commencement ceremonies. On March 10th '44 at the age of 17, he was inducted into the US Navy [note that at that point in time, Navy policy required a 17-year old prospective naval candidate to obtain parental permission to join; in fact, either his mother or father's signature was required on his enlistment contract. Earlier in the 1930s, the enlistment limit without a parent's signature was age 21, later lowered to 18 during WW2. Also note that the youngest age a sailor could sign up for was age 17...although many instances have been documented whereby young boys 16 and even younger were able to join the Navy throughout WW2 -- or, at least attempt to do so. Some were caught underage and turned away at the recruiter, boot camp, or some were even able to join and manage to get ship assignments before they were sent home... but some young men were able to get away with it and remain in service throughout the war or at least until they turned they legal age and at the point the issue was moot and the Navy was officially no longer interested in disputing the matter and would simply just let the formerly underage sailor continue his service]. Indeed, Edward had to miss his own class High School graduation on May 16th...because he was already off the coast of England and Northern Ireland! - on his behalf, his parents accepted his diploma. After only 4 weeks of basic training in March/April 1944, on April 19th, Edward found himself assigned to a warship: the USS Forrest - his destroyer was docked at the Forrest's homeport of Boston harbor. After he walked up the gangplank, much to his surprise, Edward met another fellow Weatherly area resident, Y1/c Stanley Winnicki (soon to be promoted to Chief Yeoman). Stanley introduced him to the crew as well as helped him out by literally and figuratively "showed him the ropes" around his new ship. Just days later after reporting aboard for duty, Edward turned 18 and the USS Forrest sailed for England...unbeknownst to this young sailor - one of the youngest if not THE youngest crewmember aboard ship, he was about to embark on a voyage to destiny and participate in the largest naval invasion in history: D-Day. {Please see each photo caption sidebar for additional historical information}.
Historic note: General Eisenhower conducted a 3-day inspection tour of Allied troops and ships in the Northern Ireland: on May 19th the General and his party visited several ship's in the bay of Belfast Lough. On May 16th, the day of Edward's High School class graduation, he was aboard the USS Forrest which was anchored in the Lough of the River Lagan, just off the coast of Northern Ireland.

https://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/worldwar/hafh092.shtm

https://visitantrimandnewtownabbey.com/things-to-do/loughs-tours/loughs/belfast-lough/

The family of Captain (US Retired) Lawrence D. Caney, the Gunnery Officer for the USS Forrest at D-Day, reported that two member's of each vessel in the harbor were selected to meet the General (this meeting was possibly aboard either the USS Texas, USS Quincy, or another large ship): LT(jg) Caney and an unknown enlisted sailor from the Forrest were voted by members of crew to represent their ship and they were able to shake hands with the General in a very memorable occasion just before D-Day.

On November 30th 1945, S1/c Miller was present for duty aboard the USS Forrest when his ship was de-commissioned from the naval ship registry and prepared for the scrapyard. S1/c Miller was then transferred to the Fletcher-class destroyer, USS Waller DD-466, where he served until May 31st 1946, shortly before his discharge on July 6th. By that point, Edward had also attained a new rating of Ship's Cook Third Class (SC3/c) during the time he was aboard the Waller. He was honorably discharged and moved back to his hometown region and enjoyed raising a family.

https://wartimeni.com/article/eisenhower-in-northern-ireland/eisenhower-in-ulster-1944/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nara-series/80-g/80-G-360000/80-G-368078.html

https://battleshiptexas.info/images/Photos/VIPs/Ike1944/Ike1944.html

https://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/worldwar/hafh09.shtm

https://www.niwarmemorial.org/collections/blog/diamonds-in-the-emerald-isle-the-5th-infantry-division-in-northern-ireland

https://www.impartialreporter.com/news/24316852.events-ahead-help-mark-fermanaghs-key-world-war-two-role/

https://www.nivco.co.uk/commemorating-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-d-day-landings-in-northern-ireland/

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/belfast-to-mark-anniversary-of-us-troops-arrival-in-northern-ireland/34990042.html

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=1956-03-01a.1427.0

https://digitalfilmarchive.net/media/dwight-eisenhower-in-hillsborough-and-assorted-1822

[See history news link below to read more about complications of US race relations when service personnel came to the United Kingdom. This story relates to the bases in Northern Ireland but events described in this story were common to many other areas of the UK. We also ought to those remember difficult period's in history when US race relations experienced violence-even WWII was no different in that time where segregation policies of the Jim Crow era were brought over to the United Kingdom and this led to unfortunate discrimination and unfair exclusion for minority US troops: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-46033229

At this point in our nation's history, fairness, justice and equal treatment were not available to all of our citizen's. Thankfully, we have made great strides in achieving the goal of "forming a more perfect Union" and providing an opportunity of "liberty and justice for all".]

06/06/2024

Post #78: D-Day articles from the Austin, Texas "American-Statesman" newspaper. Authored by the third Executive Officer of the USS Forrest, Lieutenant Commander William S. Warren III, USNR. Many of his naval-themed articles were penned in the 1950s to include his column "Seas, Ships, and Sailors" and published when Mr Warren was the editor of his newspaper, although Mr Warren wrote other naval commentary throughout his journalism career and even well into the 1970s and the 1980s after his retirement.. The events he described occurred aboard his ship, the USS Forrest DD-461. He also wrote a poignant article in the "Oak Chips", probably in late June or early July 1944: in it, he describes the many dangers experienced by the crew of the USS Forrest during the D-Day Campaign and the tragic destruction of several of their sister destroyer ships off the coast of Normandy France throughout June of 1944. His stark remembrance of ship sinking's included the USS Corry DD-463...itself a member of the Forrest's Destroyer Squadron 10/Destroyer Division 20, which was sunk at 06:33AM...only three minutes after the naval assault invasion officially which had begun at H-Hour, 6:30 AM on June 6th, 1944.
https://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u-boat_photos/d-day_photos.htm

https://destroyerhistory.org/benson-gleavesclass/desron10/

06/06/2024

Post #77: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 20, Nov 6th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #76: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 19, Oct 22nd 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #75: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 18, Oct 15th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #74: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 17, Oct 8th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #73: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 16, Oct 1st 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #72: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 15, Sept 10th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #71: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 14, July 24th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #70: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 9, March 26th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #69: The "Oak Chips" newspaper aboard the USS Forrest. Edition No. 8, March 19th 1944.

06/06/2024

Post #68: FEATURED SHIPMATE: WT3/c Michael Dombrowski at D-Day.
He was born in Massachusetts, later moving to Connecticut where he was employed in carpentry after the war, and raised a family with his wife. Sources indicated he joined the US Navy either on Oct 1st 1942 or April 16th 1943: he served on the Forrest from July 28th 1943 to Oct 2nd 1945. Aboard the USS Forrest, Michael was a member of the "Black Gang": an archaic nickname for the engine room crew. His collections of letters related to D-Day currently represent the only known postal correspondence from that campaign which are publicly available. Aside from his regular duties below decks as a Water Tender down in the engine rooms, it is unclear from his letters which location(s) Michael was at during June '44 when the ship was at General Quarters-aka "battle stations". In his letters, he describes events which were usually only visible to those crewmembers working on deck, up in gun mount positions, or other duties which would have allowed them access to the surrounding environment. We can speculate that perhaps Michael's battle station position was in one of various gun mounts around the ship, or perhaps as a member of a damage repair party. Note that many sailor's assignments had positions below decks which usually do not allow them to view events going on around the ship; in contrast, some of the below decks crew may have assignments in above deck positions during General Quarters "battle stations" - however, it is unclear but possible that Michael may have had such an above deck assignment during GQ throughout the Normandy campaign. Michael came from a large family, many of whom also served in the military during WWII. During the 1945 Okinawa campaign during Operation ICEBERG, Michael was cited for a Letter of Commendation for courageous actions taken to help save his ship from catastrophic fire and ammunition explosions.
Special thanks to the Dombrowski family for graciously sharing copies of WT3/c Michael Dombrowski's wartime correspondence.

06/06/2024

Post #67: D-Day, Eisenhower, and the Responsibility of Command.

https://dundas.substack.com/p/d-day-eisenhower-and-the-responsibility

Steve Dundas presents a compelling explanation of General Eisenhower's character, fortitude, planning foresight, and outstanding leadership qualities.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/general-eisenhowers-order-of-the-day

Additional articles which are especially relevant: Colonel David Fivecoat, US Army (Retired) --- his articles about D-Day: selected blog's linked below and additional articles about the overall Normandy campaign are also available on his website:

https://www.thefivecoatconsultinggroup.com/the-coronavirus-crisis/dday-decision

https://www.thefivecoatconsultinggroup.com/the-coronavirus-crisis/dday-opord

https://www.thefivecoatconsultinggroup.com/the-coronavirus-crisis/teddy-roosevelt-jr

Patrick Thomines, mayor of Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France: “You realize that peace is never won for all time, it’s an eternal struggle to secure it,” he said. “We should unite to avoid war, but extreme parties are rising and represent the very contrary of what we are celebrating here.” (June 2024)

Additional Historic Documents Links:

https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/whats_on/pritzker-military-presents/john-c-mcmanus-dead-and-those-about-die

https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/in-case-of-failure

https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/d-day

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6922052

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/curriculum/d-day

https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/sketch-dday-dress

https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/eisenhower-cable-dday

https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/dday-statement

https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/world-war-ii-d-day-invasion-normandy

https://www.npr.org/2013/06/08/189535104/the-speech-eisenhower-never-gave-on-the-normandy-invasion

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/story/Article/3052217/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-d-day/

https://www.invent.org/blog/word-ceo/D-Day-Innovation

https://theddaystory.com/discover/d-day-timeline/

https://www.dday.org/learn/

https://www.archives.gov/files/education/lessons/d-day-message/