Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the USS Tate

Notes

NOTES Chapter 1 1. Milton J. Buswell, telephone interview, Elyria, Ohio; Robert Browning Jr., U.S. Merchant Vessel War Casualties of World War II, 271. The salvage rights for Ballot went to the Soviet Union. Buswell and several other shipmates remained on board the wrecked freighter until the negotiations for its transfer were completed. Greylock had been torpedoed previously while en route from New York to Murmansk on May 8, 1942, but managed to limp into Halifax with part of its stern blown off. After being torpedoed a second time, Greylock was abandoned and sunk by gunfire from a British escort. Browning’s book credits the escort trawler HMS Lady Madeleine (FY-283) with saving Greylock’s crew. Buswell stated that, after his rescue by HMS Oxlip (K-123), “you never forget the hull number of a ship that pulls you out of the Arctic Ocean.” 2. National Archives Branch Depository, College Park (NABD-CP), Attack Plan for Capture of Ie Shima, A406 – 45, from COM PHIB Group 4, Ser 00215, of 12 Apr 1945. 3. Buswell, interview; Howard C. Colley, telephone interview, Memphis, Tenn. 4. U.S. troops assaulted beaches in Europe, North Africa, Asia, and North America during the Aleutian Islands campaign. 5. Buswell, interview. 6. The attribution of the “awaken a sleeping giant” quote to Yamamoto is largely due to its use in the motion picture Tora, Tora, Tora. There is no evidence that the admiral ever made this comment. Still, the quote accurately summarizes Yamamoto’s views about going to war with the United States. 7. Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Maritime Administrative Collection of Ship Plans (1939–1970), U.S. Maritime Commission, C2-S-AJ1, ship plans; North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, Five Years of North Carolina Shipbuilding, 7–14; James L. Mooney, ed., Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, vol. 7, 52. Hereafter referred to as DANFS, the dictionary was published in nine volumes between 1959 and 1991. Tate’s cargo-handling gear consisted of two cargo derricks, one 20-ton cargo boom, four 25-ton booms, and a 35-ton boom forward of the number three hold. Tate County’s remoteness had not helped it escape the war. Off the East Coast, a U-boat torpedoed, shelled, and sunk the tanker India Arrow on Feb. 4, 1942. Twenty-six men were lost in the cold water of the Atlantic, including Seaman James Samuel Kerr, making Mrs. Bina Presley of the small town of Arkabutla, Mississippi, the first of Tate County’s twenty-eight Gold Star Mothers. Hull numbers are used with ship names in italics only on their first citation: Henrico (APA-45), for example. In subsequent uses, the ship name is given in italics without the hull number. 8. Wilmington Morning Star, Sept. 26, 1944, North Carolina Collection, Joyner Library, East Carolina University Library, Greenville, N.C. 9. DANFS, vol. 7, 52; NABD-CP, USS Tate (AKA-70) war diaries, 25 Nov 1944 – 31 Oct 1945 (hereafter referred to as TWD); NABD-CP, USS Tate (AKA-70) deck logs, Nov. 20, 1944, to July 1, 1946 (hereafter referred to as TDL). 10. John F. Borenski, telephone interview, Punta Gorda, Fla.; Colley, interview; James K. Baker, telephone interview, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The circumstances of each veteran’s entrance into the service were established early in each oral history interview. 11. Lewis Kampel, email interview. All of Kampel’s family in Poland died in the Holocaust . A wrenching account of their impending fate is conveyed in their letters. 12. Leroy W. Kemske, telephone interview, Frostproof, Fla. 13. Charles H. Gries, telephone interview, Boca Raton, Fla.; Cam Munro, telephone interview, Valparaiso, Ind. 14. Tim Alexander, telephone interview, Charlotte, N.C. Alexander provided the quotation used from the original note, which his family preserved. 15. David M. Waller, telephone interview, Copalis Beach, Wash.; Alvin L. Joslyn, telephone interview, Ypsilanti, Mich. 16. Defense Intelligence Agency, Characteristics of U.S. Vessels, Vehicles, and Equipment for Amphibious Operations, 8, 15, 28; U.S. Navy training film, Amphibious Warfare: The LCM3 ; Lewis A. Crew, interview, Pontiac, Mich. The LCP-L, while similar to the LCVP, was slightly faster due to its streamlined bow. Gray marine diesel engines powered all of the boats. Placed on movable nesting frames, the LCMs were stowed on top of the cargo hatches on the main deck, with an LCVP placed inside each of their well decks. Davits on both sides of the deckhouse each held two LVCPs. The remaining boats were stowed on...