USS Frank E, Evans ·DD-754

David Forrest

Written by a shipmate and shared by me.

Z 030312z Jun 69

It was 50 years ago today that I assumed the mid watch, mid – 0800 on 3rd Jun 69 in radio. My ship was the USS Schofield (DEG-3). My ship was in Desron 23 along with the USS James E. Kyes, USS Bronstein, USS Walke, USS Everett F. Larson, and the USS Frank E. Evans. We were on a SEATO exercise in the South China Sea and in company with the HMAS Melbourne, an Australian aircraft carrier. The Evans was in front of the carrier and told to assume plane guard duty 500 yards behind the carrier.

Approximated 0313 we received a flash message from the Melbourne. That flash message was and has to be the most shocking message I ever received. The message said that the Evans was in a collision with the Melbourne and the front half of the ship was on its side. I put the message on the message board and hauled my behind to the captain’s cabin and pounded on his door. I told him the Evans was in a collision and showed him the message. He signed it and said to keep him informed.

A few minutes later we received another message from the Melbourne indicating that the Evans sank. I hauled my behind back up to the captain’s cabin and didn’t knock this time but rushed through the door, opened of course, and shook the captain and told him about it. He signed the message and went to the bridge.

The exercise was canceled as well as our port visit to Thailand. We were on a search and rescue mission for the next 5 days looking for bodies and/or survivors. Unfortunately, we found nothing.

On that morning of 3 June 1969, 74 men lost their lives and are in a watery grave at the bottom of the South China Sea. Today we should remember those brave men who lost their lives in such a horrific way.

May they rest in peace!

The Pope & a US Navy Chief

Pope John Paul dies of old age and finds himself at the gates of Heaven at 0300. He knocks on the gate and a very sleepy-eyed watchman opens the gate and asks, “Waddyah want?”

“I’m the recently deceased Pope and have done 68 years of godly works and thought I should check in here.”

The watchman checks his clipboard and says, “I ain’t got no orders for you here. Just bring your stuff in and we’ll sort this out in the morning.”

They go to an old WWII barracks, 3rd floor, open bay.

All the bottom racks are taken and all empty lockers have no doors. The Pope stows his gear under a rack and climbs into an upper bunk.

The next morning he awakens to sounds of cheering and clapping. He goes to the window and sees a flashy Jaguar convertible parading down the clouds from the golden headquarters building.

The cloud walks are lined with saints and angels cheering and tossing confetti. In the back seat sits a Navy Chief; his EAWS Wings glistening on his chest, a cigar in his mouth, a bottle of San Miguel beer in one hand, and his other arm around a voluptuous Pinay Angel with magnificent halos.

This sight disturbs the Pope and he runs downstairs to the Master-at-Arms shack and says, “Hey, what gives? You put me, the Pope with 68 years of godly deeds, in an open bay barracks, while this Navy Chief, who must’ve committed every sin known and unknown to man is staying in a mansion on the hill and getting a hero’s welcome. How can this be?”

The Master at Arms calmly looks up and says, “Hey, we get a Pope up here every 20 or 30 years, but we’ve never had a Navy Chief before.

‘On the Edge of a Storm’

Artwork by Dale

https://marineartbydale.com/

Just a good old fashion bit of marine art painting. Nothing fits the bill better than a clipper running before a following sea.

A History Lesson

Insight Into Japan’s Surrender:

Why did the US choose a US Navy Iowa-class battleship as the location for Japan’s surrender in World War 2 even though they were in Tokyo Bay and could have used a building on land? Pure symbolism.

Nothing says “you’re utterly defeated” than having to board the enemy’s massive battleship in the waters of your own capital city. A naval vessel is considered sovereign territory for the purposes of accepting a surrender. You just don’t get that if you borrow a ceremonial space from the host country. In addition, the Navy originally wanted the USS South Dakota to be the surrender site. It was President Truman who changed it to USS Missouri, Missouri being Truman’s home state. The Japanese delegation had to travel across the water to Missouri, which sat at the center of a huge US fleet. It’s a bit like those movie scenes where someone enters a big-wig’s office, and the big-wig is seated silhouetted at the end of a long room, behind a massive desk. The appellant has to walk all the way to that desk along the featureless space, feeling small, exposed, vulnerable and comparatively worthless before the mogul enthroned in dramatic lighting before him. By the time he gets there the great speech he had prepared is reduced to a muttered sentence or two.

In addition, the USS Missouri flew the flag of Commodore Perry’s 19th-century gunboat diplomacy mission that opened the closeted Edo-era Japan to the world and forced upon them the Meiji restoration which ended the rule of the samurai class. The symbolism here is pretty clear – “this is how we want you to be, and remember what happens to countries that defy us.” It was particularly humiliating for a proud country like Japan, and that was entirely the point. The symbolism of the ceremony was even greater than that. The ship was anchored at the precise latitude/longitude recorded in Perry’s log during his 1845 visit, symbolizing the purpose of both visits to open Japan to the West. Perry’s original flag was also present, having been flown all the way from the Naval Academy for the ceremony.

When the Japanese delegation came aboard, they were forced to use an accommodation way (stairs) situated just forward of turret #1. The freeboard (distance between the ship’s deck and the water line) there makes the climb about twice as long as if it had been set up farther aft, where the freeboard of the ship is less. NOTE: This was even more of an issue for the Japanese surrender party as the senior member, Foreign Affairs Minister Shigemitsu, was crippled by an assassination attempt in 1932, losing his right leg in the process.

The #1 and #2 turrets had been traversed about 20 degrees to starboard. The ostensible reason for this was to get the turret overhangs out of the way to create more room for the ceremony on the starboard veranda deck, but in fact, this would have only required traversing turret #2 had it been the real reason. However, the turret position also put the gun tubes directly over the heads of the Japanese. They were literally boarding the ship “under the gun”.

The honor guard of US sailors (side boys) were all hand-picked to be over six feet tall, further intimidation of the short-statured Japanese. The surrender documents themselves, one copy for the Allies and one for the Japanese contained identical English-language texts, but the Allied copy was bound in good quality leather, while the Japanese copy was bound with light canvas whose stitching looked like it had been done by a drunken tailor using kite string.

After the signing ceremony, the Japanese delegation was not invited for tea and cookies; they were shuffled off the ship as an Allied air armada of over 400 aircraft flew overhead as a final reminder that American forces still had the ability to continue fighting should the Japanese have second thoughts on surrender.

Now you know………….