The West Virginia Gets A Hit 10/23/2011
We're going back to the day Willie had his appendicitis attack! It was Easter Day, April 1st and he was in sick bay being cut open to remove what was causing so much pain in his side. He had been hearing guns firing and a horrible crash on deck... If you remember, he heard the engines stop...what was happening at that time?  The Wee Vee had continued to bombard the enemy with very little resistance until Japanese planes decided to bring the war directly to the battleship. Three enemy planes were headed their way and one of them looped over and crash dived into the West Virginia smashing into it's deck causing four deaths from the blast and seven wounded sailors near the gun gallery. The bomb that was on the plane broke loose and went through to the second deck. Thank goodness it didn't explode giving the bomb disposal officer time to disarm it. As witness Mate 3/C Charles Prazenica stated " We were lucky the bomb broke loose and did not explode, and the dead Kamikaze pilot ended up in the mess hall soup pot." They dumped the dead pilot, the junk from the plane and the disarmed bomb overboard. And according to Prazenica, because of the damage to the kitchen area...they had tomato juice and spam sandwiches for lunch that day until they could get things back to normal. There was a lot a damage to the Wee Vee's galley and laundry, but they continued to provide night illumination for the Marines ashore. "The hundreds of kamikaze suicide pilots were almost overwhelming at Okinawa. The disastrous results of the Japanese suicide pilots’ attack were mostly kept from the American public during the war. Military leaders and politicians didn’t want the public and the enemy to know how effective the kamikaze pilots were." (from War Tales by Don Moore) Kamikaze's were responsible for damage to USS Zellars, USS Tennessee, USS Salt Lake City, USS Stanley and others. The West Virginia buried her dead at sea and continued on with her gunfire support and also took down a suicide bomber, "Val". The West Virginia's duties of providing illumination, counter fire and lending her anti-aircraft continued. Her fire support to those onshore was met with praise from the spotter. He said, "Your shooting is simply marvelous. I cannot express just how good it is!" Comments Your comment will be posted after it is approved. Leave a Reply |  Author
Paula Tollison Andrews Maupin I am married to Bobby and live in the Nashville, TN area, working as Executive Assistant to both the Director of Sales and General Manager of FOX17, MyTV30 & CW58 television I have 3 wonderful sons and daughters in
love (Brad & Holly Andrews, Bryan & Stacy Andrews and Brandon
& Ashley Andrews) from Tulsa, St. Louis & Springfield
respectively. They have given me 9 precious grandbabies. (Joseph,
Cooper, Margo, Sloan, Jonas, Nora, Everett, Lawson and Blythe & Gma
loves them so much) I also have 2 great stepsons and daughter in love
(Jonathan & Kathryn Maupin and William Maupin) from Lexington,
Kentucky.
As a lady who's lived through both good & bad circumstances in my life, I've learned and continue to learn a lot of "life lessons". Along the way I have been inspired to be a better me. God is faithful in ALL circumstances and His love covers all. My hope is that you will be inspired to be who you were meant to be. I have been writing this blog about my mom and dad since September of 2011. You can find their story from the beginning by going to the Stories link. Happy Reading!!!   ArchivesMarch 2012 |
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