Escape From the Deep (31 page)
Read Escape From the Deep Online
Authors: Alex Kershaw
11
Ibid.
12
Jesse DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
13
Leibold.
14
Ibid.
15
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 285.
16
Savadkin.
17
Leibold.
18
O’Kane, p. 460.
19
Leibold.
20
DaSilva.
21
Savadkin.
22
Leibold.
23
Savadkin.
24
Leibold.
25
Ibid.
26
O’Kane, p. 462.
27
Leibold.
28
Ibid.
29
O’Kane, p. 462.
30
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 340.
Chapter 11
1
Cindy Adams, “USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
2
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), pp. 462-463.
3
Wall Street Journal
, April 7, 2005.
4
Jesse DaSilva, oral history, Indiana Historical Society.
5
http://www.acepilopts.com/usmc_boyington.html
.
6
William Leibold, letter to the author.
7
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
8
George Brown, oral history, personal files of George Rocek.
9
O’Kane, pp. 462-463.
10
Adams.
11
O’Kane, pp. 462-463.
12
Chuck Ver Valin, interview with the author.
13
Charles A. Lockwood,
Sink ’em All
(New York: Bantam Books, 1984), p. 351.
14
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
15
Adams.
16
O’Kane, pp. 462-463.
17
Decker.
18
DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
19
Caverly.
20
The
Tang
survivors quickly learned how to warn each other about that day’s subject of inquiry. Ibid.
21
Larry Savadkin, “Saga of POWs” (
All Hands
, June 1946).
22
Ibid.
23
Caverly.
24
Adams.
25
DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
26
Leibold, interview with the author.
27
Caverly.
28
Ibid.
29
Ibid.
30
Leibold, letter to the author.
31
O’Kane, p. 464.
32
Murray Frazee, interview with the author.
33
James F. DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 226.
34
Leibold, interview with the author.
35
Joyce Paul, e-mail to the author.
36
Jackie Morris, interview with the author.
37
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), pp. 362-363.
38
Ibid., p. 363.
39
DeRose, p. 292.
40
Adams.
41
Report of Recovery Team No. 56, HQ Amer. Div. Arty APO 716, September 22, 1945.
42
Caverly.
43
Ibid.
44
Ibid.
45
Barbara Lane, interview with the author.
Chapter 12
1
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 464.
2
“We only received three of these boxes and we got the third one only because Commander O’Kane was able to persuade the guards to give it to us,” recalled Jesse DaSilva. ”They had more but we figured they kept them for themselves.” Cindy Adams, “USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
3
Hervie Haufler,
Codebreakers’ Victory
(New York: New American Library, 2003), p. 220.
4
In no small part, the sinkings had been made possible by the superb intelligence provided to O’Kane and his fellow captains by naval intelligence. As Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood put it: “During periods, which fortunately were brief, when enemy code changes temporarily cut off supply of Communication Intelligence, its absence was keenly felt. The curve of enemy contacts and of consequent sinkings almost exactly paralleled the curve of Communication Intelligence available.” Ibid.
5
O’Kane, p. 464.
6
Report of Recovery Team No. 56, HQ Amer. Div. Arty APO 716, 22 September 1945.
7
James DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 253.
8
William Leibold, interview with the author.
9
Report of Recovery Team No. 56.
10
D. F. Weiss, Commander U.S. Navy, letter to Mrs. Floyd Caverly, February 6, 1945.
11
O’Kane, p. 465.
12
Leibold, letter to the author.
13
Jesse DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
14
O’Kane, p. 465.
15
Ibid.
16
Bruce Gamble,
Black Sheep One
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2000), p. 365.
17
Louis Zamperini,
Devil at My Heels
(New York: Harper Collins, 2003), p. 153.
Chapter 13
1
Jesse DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
2
Ibid.
3
Caverly, interview with the author.
4
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
5
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
6
Ibid.
7
Bruce Gamble,
Black Sheep One
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2000), p. 366.
8
Cindy Adams, “USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
9
Gavan Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese
(New York: William Morrow, 1994), p. 322.
10
Pappy Boyington was a chronic smoker. As he and the
Tang
veterans cleared their way through rubble, he scoured the ground for cigarette butts. Back in the cell he shared with Decker, he would take a small lens he had obtained secretly and wait until the sun reached the exact position where it shone into his cell. “He’d roll that tobacco in a [Japanese bank note] and get up there at the window with his mouth on one end and I’d hold the lens and he’d get it lit. Then he’d chain-smoke all of the cigarettes he had because the sun would change position and I couldn’t light another one.” Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
11
The army guards at Omori were not as sadistic as the guards at Ofuna but they did dole out fierce beatings if they felt like it. One of the more vicious guards, known as “Horseface” to the inmates because he had thick lips and buck teeth, was in command of the
Tang
survivors when they had to leave the camp on work details. One day, he beat Larry Savadkin, hitting him with a pair of pliers. Floyd Caverly recalled: “There was blood running down his face . . .” Adams.
12
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
James F. DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 253.
Chapter 14
1
Gregory Boyington,
Baa Baa Black Sheep
(New York: Bantam Books, 1987), p. 301.
2
Edwin P. Hoyt
, Japan’s War
(New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1986), p. 438.
3
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 466.
4
Ibid.
5
Boyington, p. 308.
6
Gavan Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese, POWs of WWII in the Pacific
(New York: William Morrow, 1994), p. 337.
7
O’Kane, p. 466.
8
Jesse DaSilva, written account of his time aboard the
Tang
.
9
Boyington, p. 311.
10
Daws, p. 343.
11
Boyington, p. 312.
12
Robert Goldsworthy, oral history, Washington State oral history program.
13
Cindy Adams, “USS
Tang
Survivors” (
Polaris,
February 1981).
14
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
15
Marsha Allen, interview with the author.
16
Gavan Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese
(New York: William Morrow, 1994), p. 343.
17
Jesse DaSilva was also taken aboard the hospital ship
Benevolence.
He was the only one of the survivors who was not flown home. Instead he spent three weeks at sea.
18
Saylor, p. 225.
19
“Survivors’ Battle Adds to
Tang
’s Epic,”
New York Times
, September 1, 1945.
Chapter 15
1
Dan Van der Vat,
The Pacific Campaign
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991), pp. 400-401.
2
James DeRose,
Unrestricted Warfare
(New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000), p. 259.
3
Ernestine O’Kane to families of the
Tang
’s crew, September 2, 1945.
4
Charles A. Lockwood,
Sink ’em All
(New York: Bantam, 1984), p. 347.
5
“We organized a regular detail of officers and stenographers to interview each man and record their stories,” recalled Lockwood. “I talked to as many as I could and was shocked to observe the shifty, hunted look in their eyes and the punch-drunk condition of many. Some, I feared, would never be quite normal again. All data collected was sent to the Office of Naval Intelligence in the hope that it could be used in the trials of war criminals.” Ibid.
6
William Leibold, interview with the author.
7
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid.
10
Leibold.
11
Ibid.
12
Los Angeles Times
, September 1, 1945.
13
Leibold.
14
Los Angeles Daily News
, August 31, 1945.
15
Richard O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1977), p. 464.
16
“POWs from Japan Reach U.S.,”
Associated Press
, September 7, 1945.
17
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 393.
18
Clay Decker, oral history, Regis University.
19
Ibid.
20
Ibid.
21
Leibold.
22
Barbara Lane, interview with the author.
23
Joyce DaSilva, interview with the author.
24
Lane.
25
Leibold.
26
DeRose, p. 263.
27
Caverly.
Chapter 16
1
Medal of Honor Citation of Commander Richard Hetherington O’Kane: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the USS TANG operating against two enemy Japanese convoys on October 23 and 24, 1944, during her Fifth and last War Patrol. Boldly maneuvering on the surface into the midst of a heavily escorted convoy, Commander O’Kane stood in a fusillade of bullets and shells from all directions to launch smashing hits on three tankers, coolly swung his ship to fire at a freighter and, in a split second decision, shot out of the path of an on-rushing transport, missing it by inches. Boxed in by blazing tankers, a freighter, transport and several destroyers, he blasted two of the targets with his remaining torpedoes and, with pyrotechnics bursting on all sides, cleared the area. Twenty-four hours later, he again made contact with a heavily escorted convoy steaming to support the Leyte campaign with reinforcements and supplies and with crated planes piled high on each unit. In defiance of the enemy’s relentless fire, he closed the concentration of ships and in quick succession sent two torpedoes each into the first and second transports and an adjacent tanker, finding his mark with each torpedo in a series of violent explosions at less than a thousand-yard range. With ships bearing down from all sides, he charged the enemy at high speed, exploding the tanker in a burst of flame, smashing the transport dead in the water and blasting the destroyer with a mighty roar which rocked the TANG from stem to stern. Expending his last two torpedoes into the remnants of a once powerful convoy before his own ship went down, Commander O’Kane, aided by his gallant command, achieved an illustrious record of heroism in combat, enhancing the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
2
William Tuohy,
The Bravest Man
(Stroud, England: Sutton Publishing, 2001), p. 396.
3
William Leibold, interview with the author.
4
Floyd Caverly, interview with the author.
5
Leibold.
6
Bill Gallagher, letter to Jesse DaSilva.
7
Leibold.
8
Caverly.
9
Leibold.
10
Caverly.
11
http://warfish.com/gaz_tangmem.html
.
12
Leibold.
