Navy D-Day Monument Dedicated
After more than 64 years and a half million dollars, on 27 September the U.S. Navy finally dedicated a monument that pays proper tribute to the service's vital yet generally unheralded role at the beginning of the Allies' World War II liberation of northwestern Europe. The monument is located on Utah Beach, near Sainte Marie du Mont, France, where Navy craft first landed troops early on D-Day, 6 June 1944.
The Naval Order of the United States—a group of Navy, Coast Guard, Marine, and Merchant Marine veterans founded in 1890—worked more than four years to gain recognition for the Navy's D-Day sacrifice. While the Army and Army Air Forces have more than 60 monuments and markers in Normandy honoring their units and individuals, a plaque to the 6th Naval Beach Battalion and a small marker to the U.S. Naval Reserve were about the only Navy memorials there.
At the ceremony, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England addressed an audience of 900, including Normandy residents, schoolchildren, and officers and crew of USS The Sullivans (DDG- 68). The Secretary recognized eight Navy Normandy veterans in attendance, including three who minutes earlier had received the French Legion of Honor. He noted that their efforts and the ultimate sacrifices of the 1,068 U.S. Navy servicemen killed at Normandy were absolutely essential in the liberation of France.
The Naval Order, with the help of its members and co-sponsors, raised nearly $600,000 to fund the design, sculpting, and casting of a larger-than-life memorial. Designed by Stephen Spears of Fairhope, Alabama, on his own initiative and expense, the monument consists of figures depicting three basic elements of the landing operation.
The planning and execution figure is a Navy captain in a "take charge" attitude; at his feet are charts, codebooks, and plans representing the planning aspects of the operation. Close by is a Sailor about to load a shell, representing the thousands of rounds fired before and during the assault. A third Sailor, kneeling, with rifle and explosives detonator, represents the dangerous work done by the Navy's Naval Combat Demolition Units.
Getting the massive monument to France was not without its moments. Once the casting was completed, Captain Greg Streeter, chairman of the monument committee, learned that a major would-be contributor was unable to provide funds for its shipping. He also learned it was too large to go by air. Finally, after having arranged for sea delivery, its arrival in time for the dedication came into question. It arrived with time to spare.
The placement and dedication of the memorial required the agreement and cooperation of the French government and officials in Normandy, who did not hesitate to approve and assist in providing an appropriate plot of land at Utah Beach. The Naval Order also had to gain approval from the American Battle Monuments Commission for its design and placement.
Finally, after all these years, Navy veterans and family members of Sailors who fell on D-Day have their proper monument, thanks to the Naval Order of the United States and its many friends.
-William Dudley and Commander Dan Felger, U.S. Navy (Retired)
Grunion Identified
The Navy confirmed in October the wreckage of a sunken submarine found in August 2007 off Alaska's Aleutian Islands is that of the USS Grunion (SS-216), which disappeared during World War II. Underwater images made of the wreck almost a mile below the ocean's surface during an expedition hired by sons of the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Mannert L. Abele, allowed the Navy to confirm the discovery, Rear Admiral Douglas McAneny said in a news release.
McAneny added that the Navy was very grateful to the Abele family, and "We hope this announcement will help to give closure to the families of the 70 crewmen of Grunion."
The last contact with the sub was on 30 July 1942 when she reported heavy antisubmarine activity at the entrance to Kiska. Later that day she was directed to return to Dutch Harbor Naval Operating Base. She never returned and was reported lost on 16 August 1942. Because there was no Japanese record of an antisubmarine attack in the Aleutian area at the time of the Grunion's disappearance, the submarine's fate remained an unsolved mystery for more than 60 years.
Abele's sons—Bruce, Brad, and John—began their search for the sub after finding information on the internet in 2002 that helped pinpoint her possible location. In August 2006, a team of sonar experts hired by the brothers located a target near Kiska, and a second expedition a year later yielded the identifying images through the use of high-definition cameras on a remotely operated vehicle.
She's Back!
At 1415 on 2 October, Jeff McAllister gave the widely anticipated order.
"First line," the senior docking pilot said into a walkie-talkie, and deckhands threw a heavy rope from the former USS Intrepid (CV-11) to the dock where she was secured.
About 10 minutes later, with more lines hauled ashore, the pilot ordered the four McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. tugboats to idle their engines, kissed his wife, and relaxed with the historic aircraft carrier safely secured to Pier 86 in Manhattan. The big ship was back home after a 22-month absence for a $120-million project to restore the vessel and construct a new pier.
"The core of the [Big] Apple was missing and now she's back," said an elated Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
Just after 1100 the Intrepid began a leisurely eight-mile voyage from the Staten Island Homeport, across New York Harbor, and up the Hudson to the new pier. More than 300 veterans who served on the ship, some when she was commissioned in 1943, lined the rails for the tow north. When she paused off Ground Zero a bit before 1245, the veterans unfurled a 60-by-30-foot U.S. flag on the starboard side, NYPD buglers played "Taps" and the police department band played the "Navy Hymn." The Intrepid was surrounded by spectator craft, and a city fireboat sprayed streams of water, some of it dyed red and blue.
It was a gusty day that raised concerns that the move might have to be postponed, but McAllister said the 20-mile-an-hour winds were coming from the best direction, the west, so they would help push the ship into her slip.
The museum was set to reopen 8 November with new exhibits including four new aircraft—two Russian MiGs and two American helicopters.
Museum officials took no chances that the big carrier might get stuck in the mud as she did at the beginning of her first attempted outbound refurbishment trip in October 2006. More dredging released the ship two months later.
This time, the museum paid $10 million to dredge more Hudson River mud—more than 90,000 cubic yards—than was done two years ago to move the ship to a New Jersey dry dock, where she underwent the first stage of restoration. Colonel Nello Tortora, commander of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that his agency cleared a space measuring about 110-feet wide and 30-feet deep alongside the pier. The ship needs 28 feet of water to float, and there was 35 at high tide when the ship docked. For good measure, the carrier's four bronze 16-ton, 22-foot-diameter propellers have been permanently removed so they can no longer hang up on the Hudson River bottom.
The museum expects one million visitors in the next year to see new exhibits, including areas of the 29,000-ton ship that were formerly off limits.
-Bill Bleyer
Hero's Portrait for Sale
A rare portrait of John Barry, the man sometimes called the father of the American Navy, came on the market this summer. The circa 1801 painting by Gilbert Stuart has been held by Barry's descendants for most of its existence, but now is being offered by a New York state art dealer for $300,000. The oil portrait measures about 29 inches by 24 inches and shows a three-quarter bust.
"We don't have an acquisition budget," said James Cheevers, art curator and associate director at the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. "If you would like to donate it, we'd be delighted to accept it." The Academy museum does not have a contemporaneous portrait of Barry done during the naval officer's life, Cheevers said.
Like the Academy, the Navy doesn't have an art budget, but Gale Munro, curator of the Navy Art Gallery in Washington, D.C., said she would welcome the portrait as a gift. "They don't have to tell me in advance, it would be a lovely Christmas present," she said.
Barry lived in Philadelphia, and the New York art dealer who is offering the portrait, Bruce Gimelson, said that Independence Hall is interested in buying it. "It is an amazing painting," Gimelson said. "It definitely belongs in a great institution like the Naval Academy or in the National Portrait Gallery or Independence Hall."
Barry, commanded a series of ships during the Revolutionary War, capturing 20 enemy vessels. After the war, George Washington personally presented Barry with Commission Number One, making him commander of the Federal Navy.
While the Navy has honored Barry by naming four destroyers after him, the American public has largely forgotten him. Instead, droves of tourists continue to visit the Naval Academy crypt that contains the remains of John Paul Jones.
"Barry certainly was an important figure in our Navy," Cheevers said. "We have been criticized over the years for having so few Barry things in the collection, but we [must] sit back and take whatever is given to us."
-Earl Kelly
End of an Era
Dr. Edward Marolda retired 26 September from the Naval Historical Center after having spent 38 years working there, the last 13 as the Navy's senior historian. In announcing his retirement, he noted to colleagues, "It has been an especially satisfying career (to actually get paid to do something you love!) and I am proud of the things we have accomplished to improve the naval/military profession and provide the American people with solid and well-reasoned history."
During his retirement, Marolda will do some adjunct teaching at the university level, consulting work with the Navy, and book research and writing from Virginia. He joked that he had "no desire to sweat in either Florida or Arizona."
In Ike's Wake
Many weeks after Hurricane Ike stormed the Texas coastline on 13 September, thousands of residents are still homeless. The plight of the region's coastal museum ships pales in comparison, nevertheless, they too are in a recovery phase.
Seawolf Park, home of the Cavalla (SS-244) and Stewart (DE-238) and just minutes east of downtown Galveston, faced the near worst of the storm. John McMichael, the park's curator, reported: "The Cavalla and the Stewart were both lifted from their original berths and moved. When they settled, they settled in different locations and the Stewart is sitting with a 17-degree starboard list, the Cavalla has about a 3-degree port list. Both ships will be closed until we can get them righted and sitting with a zero list."
Neither ship suffered internal damage or leakage but outbuildings and a storage facility are gone. In early October, the museum was still closed.
Also in October, 13 Texas state parks, including the Battleship Texas State Historic Site, nearly 50 miles inland and just off the Houston Ship Channel, remained closed, down from 37 closures at the event's height. Rusty Bloxom, the Texas' (BB-35) ship historian, said the old battlewagon survived Ike with no damage. She rode up the storm surge, estimated at 15 feet, on her four monopoles and, as the water abated, rode back down into her berth. She is "none the worse for the experience and has had a powerwash to boot." The ship's store, which is also the ticket outlet, was flooded to the ceiling and declared a total loss. The Texas was expected to open within the first week of October once a temporary ticket-vending location had been set up.
Two other Texas museum ships are located on the Gulf Coast. Steve Phillips, president of the USS Orleck (DD-886) Naval Museum in Orange, reported that the storm did not damage the ship or affect operations. Rocco Montesano, executive director of the USS Lexington (CV-16) Museum on the Bay in Corpus Christi said their operation was shut down for four days, but not because of storm damage. At one point Ike was headed for Corpus Christi. To prepare for the possible strike "We shut down and buttoned up. We moved aircraft from the flight deck into the hangar bay, took down gangways, bunting, and everything else that could be blown away." The ship was hit by a three-foot tidal surge, but suffered no damage. Although she opened as soon as everything could be replaced, Montesano reported that the number of visitors is way down: "We draw a lot of visitors from the Houston area. Tourism is about the last thing on their minds."
Guards Relax, History Burns
London's Metropolitan Police disclosed in late September that the 21 May 2007 fire that nearly destroyed the famed 19th-century clipper ship Cutty Sark was caused by an industrial vacuum cleaner inadvertently left on over a weekend by renovation workers. The clipper suffered (pound) 10 million ($18 million) worth of damage while in her dry dock at Greenwich, southeast London.
The police stated that the cause was accidental, with no evidence of arson, but criticized two security guards who failed to carry out a fire check because they had "put their feet up" for the night. The official police report stated the guards were considering leaving work early and had written a false log up to 0700, which stated, "all is in order." The fire was reported before 0500. When interviewed by police they gave "vague and inconsistent accounts" and were immediately fired.
The result could have been much worse. Before the fire much of the ship's interior and fittings had been removed from the site for refurbishment, and firefighters were able to save her iron fabric. Renovation is scheduled to be completed by early 2010.
The construction management company in charge of the site faces possible government prosecution and suit by Cutty Sark trustees.
Iwo Jima Icon Gets Papers
More than 60 years after his death, Marine Sergeant Michael Strank, one the six Iwo Jima flag-raisers, was posthumously awarded his citizenship document in late July. Born in Czechoslovakia, he became a U.S. citizen after his father was naturalized in 1935 but never received his citizenship papers.
Strank was killed in action on Iwo Jima on 1 March 1945, five days after he was immortalized in Joe Rosenthal's iconic image of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi.
The certificate of citizenship was presented to Strank's younger sister, Mary Pero, at a ceremony at the Marine Corps Memorial—which depicts the flag raising—in Arlington, Virginia.
Call For Papers
The History Department of the U.S. Naval Academy invites proposals for papers to be presented at its 2009 Naval History Symposium in Annapolis, Maryland, from 10-12 September 2009. The 2007 symposium was extremely successful, with more than 300 participants and 138 papers presented.
Proposals on any aspect of naval and maritime history are welcome. Paper proposals should include an abstract not exceeding 250 words and a one-page vita. Panel proposals are encouraged and should contain an abstract and vita for each panelist. Mail proposals to: Commander C. C. Felker, History Dept. (12C), 107 Maryland Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 21402-5044; or send electronic proposals to: [email protected]. The deadline is 10 January 2009. Final versions of papers are due by 1 August 2009.
A limited number of travel stipends are available to scholars residing outside the United States and graduate students within the United States. Indicate your desire to apply for a travel stipend in the cover letter or email that contains your proposal. The program committee will award prizes to the best papers presented at the symposium, and a selected number of papers will be published at a later date.
Information on the 2009 symposium can be found online at www.usna.edu/History/symposium.