USS BELL
ASSOCIATION (DD587)
JULY, 2009
IN THIS ISSUE:
Reunion plans have been
finalized and everything is ready for our arrival. The folks in Naperville that I have
worked with are so friendly and nice.
They seem to go out of their way to make sure everyone enjoys their visit.
Just a few reminders: hotel
reservations need to be made by August 25th.
Registration is September 24th and check out is September 28th. Two tours have been arranged. On Friday, we will do the Chicago Lake
Cruise. The cruise gives a great
view of the Chicago skyline with a very nice luncheon on board. Saturday a Veterans tour will be a
great way to see all the ways the Chicago area has honored our veterans.
Our farewell banquet on
Sunday night will be truly enjoyable. Tom & Wayne have arranged the
entertainment and it will be great entertainment. They have arranged for Johnny Gray to
entertain us. Johnny is a tremendous
musician and singer. He will be
doing some country, rock and roll, blues and patriotic songs. His music is great to dance to so you
might want to bring your cowboy boots and do a little boot scooting. It looks to be a fun and entertaining
event.
Also, remember to bring
something for the auction. The
auction really does a lot for the treasury and is also a fun part of our time
together. If you want to participate
in the gift raffle don’t forget to bring a gift.
Raffle gifts should be wrapped but the auction items should not be.
I am trying to find out how many "Plank Owners" were on the BELL.
If you are a "Plank Owner" or a member of your family was a "Plank Owner" please
let me know. I would like to mark
the records with that information.
MAILBAG
….I would like to say a big "Thank You" to Kenneth (Palmer) & Lucy Lamb
for the sweet and thoughtful birthday card I received. You are so kind and it is greatly
appreciated. A big kiss to the two
of you. On an additional note, I had
a call today from Kenneth and he now has gall stones and will be having surgery
around the first of July. If you
would like to send Kenneth & Lucy a greeting their address is 10934 Cristobal
Way, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. Their
phone number is 559-683-5858. Let’s
keep Kenneth and the Lamb family in our prayers.
….Teresa
DiVeronica is recovering from surgery for a dissected (torn) aorta near her
heart. She is doing well and is in
residence at The Health Center of Coconut Creek for recovery and therapy. The address is 4125 West Sample Road,
Coconut Creek, FL 33073 if you would like to send get well wishes.
....Got a phone
call from Cliff Ball, Torpedoman on the BELL & his wife Lottie, who advised that
he is fast approaching 89 and wondering how many Torpedomen from the BELL are
still around. I only knew of Jack
Forrester and myself. Are there any
others? We were talking about John
Pike, Boilermaker on the BELL and to my knowledge the only one to receive a
medal while on the BELL. He told me
that John’s wife, Dottie is doing well and her phone number is 843-553-3934. As I say to each of my family, LET’S ALL
KEEP IN TOUCH.
....Ed Flowers, eflower1@tampabay.rr.com.
Note: I’m sorry but I don’t have a listing of
rank/rate of all the shipmates.
Maybe we have a shipmate that will give us some information on Torpedomen on the
Bell.
....Sorry it took
me so long to have these pictures sent to you, but they actually turned out
better than I thought as I have the map in my laundry room where the light is
not so good. As you can see, my Dad,
Alex Burchardt, drew all of his travels for the Atlantic/Pacific Theatres. We never got back to actually putting
more written facts on the map before he passed away.
It was something that unfortunately we never took the time to do. My husband and I owned a Marina here in
Montello and every time Mom & Dad came up we were so busy at the business, and
then by the time we closed, Mom and Dad usually left Montello so they could get
back to Beaver Dam before dark. I
used to tease them that they wouldn’t have to leave so early, but now that I’m
in the same boat, I always leave Mom’s so that I can get home before dark!!!!
... Just like my parents used to do.
I hope the pictures are as enjoyable to you as the map is to me. Thank you for the USS BELL Newsletter. It is very interesting and I was
surprised to see that you published my letter to you.
I read the article from Anthony Turner and will email him. Somewhere my brother or I do have a
picture of the crew of the USS BELL.
I will check into it and email Mr. Turner.
By the way, my brother was named after my Dad’s very good friend, Chad Hope, who
also served on the USS BELL. Up
until a few years ago there weren’t many fellows named Chad!
....Sincerely, Bette (Burchardt) Whitrock
....Mrs. Edna
Atkinson has a new address. It is
1310 Horseshoe Creek Rd, Davenport, FL 33837.
....Thank you for
the newsletters. I really appreciate
them. I have had 13 operations since
December 2001 and is the reason I haven’t attended any of the reunions. Maybe some day I will be able to travel
again.
....Charlie Calkins, 2 Loretta Circle, Little Rock, AR 72227-5953
....I believe
that my father, Joseph Fish Brush, Jr. served aboard the BELL from about 1944
until her return to San Francisco.
He was a signalman, and I have an old, large photo of the BELL that I was given
by my step-mother. Joe passed away
on 23 November 1984. Thought you
should know.
....SeanOConaill01@aol.com
....Thank you so
much for the USS BELL caps. I saw my
dad this past weekend at my brother’s son’s graduation. We took dad out of the nursing home for
the day. My brother was showing
medals that Dad received a while back which we ordered thanks to an attachment
application on one of your past USS EBLL Newsletters.
So Again, thanks for all your help.
My husband, 5 year old grandson and I are leaving soon by car for
Scottsdale, AZ. Our son gets married
June 6th.
....Blessings to You, Niki Bell
....I wanted to
let you know that William Adams, Jr., a radioman on the USS BELL and USS Wesson
passed away on April 21. His wife,
Effie passed away on April 7. I know
he had many memories of his service and enjoyed the times he was able to attend
the reunions.
....Jim Hogarth
....I received a
phone call from the son of Isadore & Elizabeth Kleiner and he told me that
Isadore passed away December 31, 2008, and his wife Isabelle passed away July
12, 1992.
....Mrs. George
Colligan called to tell me that her husband George passed away June 7, 2009.
He was in the Navy from 1940 to 1946 and served on the USS BELL.
He was buried in the Florida National Cemetery.
The following is a story of a friend that
served in WWII. I met John when I worked for the Internal
Revenue Service. He was asked by
some of his reunion friends to write some of his memories of his service. Here he recalls some of his service in
WWII and I thought you might enjoy his story.
"I trained at various camps in the US and the Mojave Desert, and then moved to
Camp Shanks, NY. Our chaplain indicated we were headed to
a destination unknown. When the sun did come up it came up in the East and we
were headed in that direction. The
initial destination turned out to be England.
Incidentally, we eventually joined the largest armada of ships of all
kind that I had never seen before or since.
When I arrived in England in early May, 1944, I joined the 4th Infantry
Division. On June 6, 1944,
"Operation Overlord" began with the Invasion of Normandy. The 4th Infantry Division landed on Utah
Beach. On June 7, 1944, we were
successful in establishing a Beach Head.
Our next objective was to proceed to Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France to free
the 82nd Airborne Division. Five
hours before the invasion, the 82nd had made a parachute combat assault at night
in and around that area and were surrounded and totally outnumbered by the
German Army.
"Incidentally, June 6, 1944 was extremely overcast and the clouds and fog
touched the water on the English Channel.
Plus the Commander had ordered Destroyers to travel up and down the beach
setting off smoke bombs. The wind was fierce and troops dropped
from planes drifted, as did the landing ships coming in from England. Mission accomplished and we headed back
up the beach toward the East to hopefully free up a large Seaport. Mission Accomplished. Moved back down the other side of the
Peninsula to Avaranches. Orders then
arrived in August to move to Paris to assist the French in the liberation of
their capital. It wasn't easy, but
we assisted in freeing Paris from the Germans.
Finally, mission accomplished.
"No rest for the weary, we headed toward Belgium and of course hi right in to
the famous Battle of the Bulge starting on December 16, 1944 and on to the end
of the European War. All troops were sent to camps usually
named after cigarettes - Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, etc. I was sent to Tent City outside
Marseilles, France. The powers that
be established a point system as to who would go home first (depending on
available ships). Points were established by how old you
were and how many dependents one had at home, how many battle stars you earned
and length of service and it seems there were other things. Oh yes, some medals counted different
amounts of points. I was 20 with no
dependents, one serious injury, with one Purple Heart, one Soldiers Medal and
two battle stars. All of that just
put me at the end of the line with others 20.
"The Tent City was a designated staging area for all folks identified to be
shipped to the Pacific area. On our way to Japan, about 3900 miles out
of the Panama Canal, the Atomic Bombs were dropped. The Captain slowed the ship waiting for
orders to continue or turn around and head home. We continued and staged outside Manila in
the Philippine's for shipment to Japan.
The orders came in a short period and we were ordered to proceed to the Dia
Nippon Aircraft Company, seize the factory and disable all planes. Mission accomplished.
"Now all the ships had been diverted to Europe to return all the soldiers left
over there and we waited and I think my group came home in December 1945.
I had to enter the hospital for rehabilitation of an old injury and then
come home on the USS Bountiful, a Hospital Ship. The USS Bountifuls' Glory Days were in
WWI when it hauled mules and horses to the European theatre under the name of
the USS Henderson. It was one of
those riveted ships and it creaked and popped all the way, but it brought us
home.
"Upon our return, I was housed at the Presidio in San Francisco until I was
placed aboard a hospital train to the Mayo General Hospital.
In summary, I trained, went to Europe, shipped to the Pacific, finally to Japan
and came home."
At an IRS reunion
with many of John's friends, he was presented a flag that was flown over the US
Capitol. The inscription
accompanying the flag read "This flag was flown over the United States Capitol
in Honor of John W. Henderson, WWII Veteran & Recipient of The Purple Heart for
wounds received in combat, at the request of fellow IRS retirees, many who are
fellow Veterans. Let it be known
that he who wears the military order of the Purple Heart has given his blood in
the defense of his homeland and shall forever be revered by his fellow
countrymen." It is my pleasure to
know Mr. Henderson as well as all my wonderful veteran friends and family
members. My heartfelt thanks go out
to each and every one of them.
News item printed in a ship newsletter dated
May 8, 1945.
Germany surrendered
unconditionally to the western allies and Russia at 2:41AM French time Monday.
This was at 8:41PM Eastern War Time Sunday.
The surrender took place at a little red school house which is the Headquarters
of Gen. Eisenhower. The surrender which brought the war in Europe to a formal
end after five years eight months and six days of bloodshed and destruction was
signed for Germany by Co. Gen. Gustav Jodl.
Jodl is the new Chief of Staff of the German Army. It was signed for the Supreme Allied
Commander by Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff for Gen. Eisenhower.
It was also signed by Gen. Ivan Susloparoff for Russia and by Gen. Francois
Sevez for France. Gen. Eisenhower was not present at the
signing but immediately afterward Jodl and his fellow delegate Gen. Admiral Hans
George Friedeburg were received by the Supreme Commander. They were asked sternly if they
understood the surrender terms imposed upon Germany and if they would be carried
out by Germany. They answered yes. Germany, which began the war with a
ruthless attack upon Poland, followed by successive aggressions and brutality in
internment camps surrendered with an appeal to the victors for mercy toward the
German people and armed forces.
After signing the full surrender, Jodl said he wanted to speak and was given
leave to do so. Quote: "With this
signature" unquote, he said in soft spoken German, "the German people and armed
forces are for better of worse delivered into the victor's hands.
In this war which has lasted more than five years both have achieved and
suffered more than perhaps any other people in the world."
ABC's of World War II
...ACE - Fighter
pilot who downed five or more enemy planes.
If more than one pilot was involved, French gave full credit to each
pilot; U.S. split credits fractionally; Germans allowed one full credit with
pilots deciding who got it. Leading
U.S. Aces were: AAF Maj. Richard
Bong (40); Navy Capt. David McCampbell (34); Army Lt. Col. Gregory "Pappy"
Boyington (28).
...BARRAGE BALLOONS
- Hydrogen balloons floated over London on heavy cables to snare enemy aircraft
during the blitz.
...CHASTITY -
Allied code name for a plan to build an artificial harbor in Brittany.
...DAISY CUTTER - A
German anti-personnel bomb, designed to explode just above ground for greater
effect.
...EL AGHEILA - The
city on the Gulf of Sirte in Libya from which General Rommel launched his first
desert campaign.
...FIDO -U.S. Navy
torpedo, guided by a homing mechanism, that was launched from airplanes.
...GESTAPO - The
Nazi secret police, short for Geheime Stattspolizei.
...HEDGEROW CUTTER
- Normandy hedgerows presented problems for U.S. tanks. While the tank was crossing a hedgerow,
its bottom was exposed to enemy fire and its own guns could not be properly
aimed and fired. The hedgerow cutter
was a toothed, bulldozer-like device attached to the front of the tank that
enabled it to go through, rather than over, the hedgerows.
...IRONBOTTOM SOUND
- Portion of the Coral Sea off Guadalcanal where so many ships had been sunk
that the bottom was littered with wreckage.
...JOHNNY GOT A
ZERO - A popular 1942 song. The
"zero" of course, was the famous Japanese fighter plane.
...KAITEN - Manned,
suicide torpedo developed by the Japanese.
...LADY LEX -
Nickname of the Lexington, the 33,000-ton aircraft carrier sunk during the
battle of the Coral Seal.
...MAE WEST - The
yellow, vest-like life jacket developed for air crews. When inflated, it reminded them of a
famous and amply endowed actress.
...NARVIK -
Norwegian port, one of six attacked by the Germans on April 9, 1940, and the
only port through which the Nazis could get iron ore from Sweden.
...OSS - Office of
Strategic Services - the wartime American intelligence organization.
...PANAY - On Dec.
12, 1937, Japanese planes bombed, strafed and sank the U.S.S. Panay, an old Navy
gunboat evacuating civilians on the Yangtze River in China. The unprovoked, deliberate attack was a
prologue to Pearl Harbor, had we known.
...RETROBOMB - U.S,
Navy bomb that had a rocket propellant to launch it backward from a plane,
allowing gravity to take over and drop it straight down on a target and well
behind its low-flying launcher.
