Willie finds out about the Wee Vee Damage 10/24/2011
Willie found out that the black day in history for the USS West Virginia was on April 1, 1945 when a Kamikaze pilot decided to try to take out what looked to be the newest and biggest of the old battleships and hit them on port side. Willie had no idea how much danger he was in because he was in the lower part of the ship having surgery. When the enemy plane dived into the Wee Vee... it went through to the mess deck, fouled up the galley and put it out of commission. The engine tore down another deck and put the laundry and tailor shop out of business. The plane was carrying a 250 pound bomb that went thru the press shop down to the 2nd (about 20 feet from the radio) men's compartment but did not go off, and a good thing too as the radiomen were all asleep due to having stood watch for the better part of 2 weeks. Had that bomb went off, Willie wouldn't have known what hit him either...and the ship would have sank. He realized how fortunate he was to have been having surgery that day when he found out about the damage that the suicide plane had actually done. Of course, he would much rather have been helping his fellow sailors during the crisis, but had no choice. The total damage left was... 5 men killed, 6 injured and about 2 dozen seriously burned, galley, press shop, laundry, port side of signal bridge, two 20 mm mounts all out of commission. This was the WEE VEE'S FIRST HIT SINCE DEC 7 1941. Willie was well aware that being hit by a kamikaze plane had always been a possibility, because he knew that there had been so many of them flying over. He also knew that they had some of the best shooters in the navy aboard ship...if anybody could take down these planes...they could. The West Virginia continued with fire support for the Army until April 20th then went to Ulithi but had to turn back to Okinawa quickly because the USS Colorado had damage due to a powder charge exploding. The Wee Vee fired night harassment for the 10th Army and the XXIVth Army Corps. She remained and supported the Army and Marines at the embattled Okinawa Island until the end of June. 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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