CHAPTER 3

Correspondence relative to night fighter program (6 pages). In June, 1941, Benjes attended Navy radar school at Bowdoin and Navy Research Laboratory in DC. EXAM was in the meantime installed in USS CINCINNATI. In July, 1942, Benjes reported for flight training in New Orleans, trained at Pensacola, and earned wings in March 1943. He learned to fly F4Fs at Green Cove Springs in mid-year, then volunteered for the Night Fighter program. In August, he reported to Project Affirm at Quonset Point, RI, which was responsible for testing and developing equipment for night fighting. In December, he became XO of VF(N) 76, the second F6F Night Fighter Squadron, which was broken into three sections. Benjes' section joined the new YORKTOWN. Benjes shifted to the FRANKLIN when the YORKTOWN was hit during the landings off Guam (1944). The FRANKLIN was hit by a Kamikaze on 29 October, 1944, and had to retire to the US for repairs. Benjes shot down two enemy aircraft during night actions.

Following from Phil Eckert: A relatively new book (1995) entitled "Left to Die - The Tragedy of the USS JUNEAU"written by an award winning author, Dan Kurzman, reveals some hitherto unknown information about our classmate, John T. Blodgett, after the sinking of JUNEAU.

The JUNEAU went down after a fire-ball explosion from the I-26's torpedo that hit themagazine at 1101, Friday, 13 November 1942. The torpedo, meant for the SAN FRANCISCO, missed and hit the JUNEAU. This took place south of Indispensable Strait and Guadalcanal and west of San Cristobal Island.

Johnny Blodgett, a Lieut. jg, was the senior survivor of about 140 men, who were leftto die after SAN FRANCISCO, HELENA, and three DD's plodded their way at 18 knots to Espirito Santo. After bungled communications between HELENA and a B-17, too lengthy to narrate here, the 140 survivors shrank to ten. Johnny took charge and began to suffer as most of them did, from lack of fresh water, little or no food, cold nights, extremely hot daytimes, and the DT's. Johnny left a raft "to relieve the watch" and drifted off among the sharks. The lack of an immediate rescue attempt and a failure to break radio silence recall the stupidity of the INDIANAPOLIS debacle

two weeks before VJ Day.

For those who do not recall, Johnny was from Tulsa and was in the Third Platoon of the 12th Company (Fourth Battalion) for our first three years.

Bogardus. Robert A.

Mrs. [Sally] Bogardus mentions that she has an excellent description of the atom bomb explosion at Bikini in 1946 written by Bogardus. [This was the Able-Baker Test supervised by Admiral Blandy -- one test was underwater and the other was an air-dropped Mark-3 device)

"Summary of TUSCALOOSA Firing on 9 June 1944." (See Summary for 6, 7, and 8 June 1944.) This is a highly-detailed account of the cruiser's firing on the Normandy coast during the third day of the Overlord D-Day landings. Commentary on each firing is very good and would be useful in research on the very controversial question of the utility of offshore naval gunfire during the Neptune Operation. Like the 8 June 1944 firing, the cruiser again targeted enemy concentrations around Montebourg. Refers to difficulties in maintaining communications with the shore fire control party -- a common problem in all landings. Should be used in conjunction with Task Group-Bombardment Group After Action Reports on battle.

"The Story of PQ 17 -- July 4, 1942." At bottom of p.1 is comment, "Written by one of the WICHITA officers." This is a well-written, highly-detailed account of the WICHITA's participation in the ocean escort group that was intended to protect the North Russia Convoy PQ-17. WICHITA was in company with CruSqOne (four cruisers, two USN, two British). There is material in here that directly contradicts David Irving's DESTRUCTION OF CONVOY PQ-17. (It would be useful to compare this account with Roskill's official history, Irving's account of the battle, and Campbell's more recent work which incorporates Ultra information.)

Author recounts large German air attack on the Cruiser Task Group which was providing distant cover, explains that their steaming orders provided that they not proceed farther than 25 degrees North Latitude and that, in fact, they continued on to 30 degrees N Lat when they were hit from the air. He pointed out that the BBS and CV were "still some ways away" but that the enemy had preponderance in the air owing to the Norway-based land-based aircraft. "The German ships could operate far enough off from shore to carry on a surface battle while at the same time be close enough to have an 'umbrella' of fighter planes hovering over them the whole time. The author appears to firmly approve of Admiral Pound's [First Sea Lord] decision to break off the cruisers and instruct the convoy to scatter. [Most British authors consider this to be a great mistake.] Following the action, the cruiser returned to Iceland. This is fine source for research on the PQ-17, difficulty in command and control, intelligence use, etc.

"Summary of TUSCALOOSA Firing on 14 June 1944." (Note: See Summary for 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 June 1944.) This is a highly-detailed account of the cruiser's firing on the Normandy coast during the third day of the Overlord D-Day landings. Commentary on each firing is very good and would again be useful in research on the very controversial question of the utility of offshore naval gunfire during the Neptune Operation. Brief report on firing at German pill boxes at a range of 16,500 yards during the drive inland one week after the landings. Should be used in conjunction with Task Group-Bombardment Group After Action Reports on battle.

This cruiser had an unusually exciting war record. Interesting to compare the intentions of her designers [who planned that she support the battleships in an "Orange War" battle line engagement and scout for the Battle Force] with what she actually did in wartime conditions. Marvelously flexible platform.

Binder enclosing copies of 19 articles, reports, and letters, dated 14 Jan 52 to Sep 1960. Subjects deal with air conditioning in ships, buckling of bulkheads on LSTs, floating drydocks, renumbering vs. key letters in ship nomenclature, statistical report on wave heights in the North Atlantic, motion and hull bending movements in ESSEX class carriers, suggestions for employee protection during bombing attacks, and an account of multi-product replenishment ships. The binder also encloses four microfiche copies of photocopied material.

Impressions of the peacetime Navy prior 7 Dec 1941: "My impression was that the Navy did not believe the United States would be involved in hostilities. First, at the Academy, few if any lectures or courses were installed to take advantage of what was going on in the European War..." "As for the Japanese, we were assured that they were lousy aviators, and that they could only copy the engineering achievements of others.

Ltr from Mildred V. (Mrs. Conrad) Bundy to Love, 10 Feb, 1991, with encl. "A Navy Wife Remembers Pearl Harbor," a 14-page account of the Japanese attack on Oahu on 7 December 1941. The account also treats Mrs. Bundy's thoughts about the war years and the bombing of Hiroshima.

Rear Admiral Julian Thompson Burke writes: "My association with Regulus was very limited. I relieved Charlie Styer '41 as Commander Submarine Division 63 in July 1958 in Norfolk. The Division Commander with staff plus 2 guidance boats, deployed San Juan early August 1958, and GMU-51 was moved to Roosevelt Roads." Training consisted of missile guidance, an occasional shoot, diesel type training and services. Program in the Atlantic was canceled Spring of 1959. We returned to Norfolk that summer. The program was canceled for good, valid reasons: Polaris, which properly enjoyed a priority. Regulus was "horse and buggy" with limited capability. I got the Regulus division in lieu of Jim Osborne '42 because Jim was more valuable to the Navy going directly into Polaris. I was just a garden variety line submarine officer available. A number of personal discoveries followed. 1. Air Force had a Bomb Site in Puerto Rico. 2. One of our boats trained very near a Dutch Island, I think St. Marten's. For the first time I became aware of the threats that revolutionaries pose. We observed first hand the contrast between the way of life we continentals lived and the average Puerto Rican.