One of only 9 men to survive the sinking of the submarine USS Tang, Decker describes how his sub’s own torpedo sunk the vessel, and the primitive, experimental device called the Momsen Lung which allowed him to reach the surface from nearly 200 feet down.
Clay Decker
When World War II ended, American Naval vessels docked in Shanghai, China. Though the Japanese occupiers were gone, Shanghai was still under threat by Mao’s Communist forces and Americans wouldn’t be welcome there for long.
Bill Greenewald
The importance of training was driven home for Julius Jordahl when the USS Tennessee was attacked at Pearl Harbor. He survived the attack, where the crew members at his station on the nearby West Virginia paid a price for a lack for preparedness.
Julius Jordahl
As the ship’s photographer aboard the USS Missouri, Stan Kerkhoff had a prime vantage point for the surrender of the Japanese to General Douglas MacArthur. Not only did he have to accompany Japanese and Russian photographers during the ceremonies, but he also found a way to take some rarely-seen movie footage of the historic event.
Stan Kerkhoff
Stanley Knoop was aboard the USS Vestal, a repair ship, that was moored right next to the USS Arizona when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He describes what happened when the attack initially occurred, the damage his ship sustained as Japanese planes targeted the larger battleship beside it, and seeing the doomed Arizona crewmen before the ship exploded.
Stanley Knoop
Served on the USS Steamer Bay, one of several “Jeep Carriers”, smaller versions of the more famous attack carriers that dominated naval battles in the Pacific. During an air attack, he camed to understand why the Jeep Carriers came by the nickname “Kaiser’s Coffins”.
Joe Lemmo
Paul Murphy is one of only 317 survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis at the end of World War II. Though many more men survived the initial attack by a Japanese submarine, there were more perils in the water before they could be rescued, and the famous stories of shark attacks weren’t the only danger.
Paul Murphy
Minesweepers were usually the first naval vessels to approach the shore of Japanese held islands. During the invasion of Iwo Jima, minesweepers could approach close to the beach, and the Japanese soon found it was best to leave the minesweepers alone.
Bennie Saindon
Though his ship’s primary duty was to scout for submarines, Bob Seeber’s Destroyer Escort’s biggest threat came from Kamikaze attacks on the “Ping Line” between the home islands of Japan and Okinawa.
Bob Seeber
The Navy’s famed Seabees were construction units that rapidly built airfields and facilities on recently captured islands. Despite the island of Tinian being under American control in 1944, Jack Tanner had a close call while building a runway there.