Deep Trench, Small Plane, George Bush
Almost 50 years ago, during the summer of 1944, Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) George Bush was shot down during a dawn raid against Chichi Jima, the main island of the Bonin Islands. This isolated paradise lies midway along a chain extending from Guam to Japan, which is 600 miles to the north. The islands are on the western edge of one of the world’s largest and deepest underwater canyon systems known as the Bonin Trench.
Bush's two crew members and his TBM “Avenger” torpedo plane were lost. Bush himself was rescued by the submarine USS Finback (SS-230).
In 1985, James Egan and his company, Ferrumar Resources, began a project known as the “Bonin Trench Expedition” to locate and film the salvage of the “Barbara III,” Bush’s plane. Egan says that, thanks to futuristic technology from Control Data Corporation, the single-engine World War II aircraft is pinpointed now “inside a one square mile sector of the ocean floor.”
The problem is that square mile is at the bottom of an abyss more than one mile deep. Sponsorship for the hunt remains the greatest challenge, even with the consortium of high-tech companies already gathered. The total cost of location, recovery, and restoration could exceed $10 million.
Bush’s plane eventually would be donated to a museum or other suitable site. But the Bonin Trench Expedition hopes to accomplish a great deal more than finding and recovering Bush’s plane. There may be many promotional, scientific, historical, research, and development opportunities for the companies involved, including sophisticated documentary film and video production. Egan hopes to locate the plane before the end of 1994.
For more information, contact Ferrumar Resources Corporation, P.O. Box 19408, Alexandria, Virginia 22320, or phone or fax 703-765-3748.
New Director Takes Helm at Naval Academy Museum
In December 1993, Dr. William B. Cogar took over as Director of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum from Dr. Kenneth J. Hagan, who retired from the position after a vigorous and eventful watch.
With Ph.D. degrees from the University of Kentucky and Oxford University, England, Dr. Cogar, a Naval Academy professor since 1983, has taught naval history, military history, and western civilization. His publishing credits include New Interpretations in Naval History, the Biannual proceedings of the Academy’s Naval History Symposium published by the U.S. Naval Institute.
Dr. Cogar plans to continue the “creativity, energy, and accomplishment” shown in the bold course embarked upon by his predecessor. Some of the tremendous advances that have been made over the years include the Class of 1951 Gallery of Ships, the exhibit of museum artifacts valued at more than $3.5 million at the “Art Maritim 93” in Hamburg, Germany, and the publication of the first volume of the catalog for the Beverley Robinson Collection of naval prints.
A Call for Papers
Old Dominion University, the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation, and the Douglas MacArthur Memorial are cosponsoring a special symposium on the 50th anniversary of General Douglas MacArthur’s return to the Philippines in 1944. This symposium on World War II will be held at the MacArthur Memorial Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, 20-22 October 1994, and will focus on such topics as: Strategic Decisions; FDR, King and MacArthur; MacArthur’s Australian Allies; Japanese Occupation of the Philippines; Invasion: The Liberation of the Philippines; and Effects of MacArthur’s Return.
Time allocated for each paper will be 20 minutes. The deadline for submission of a 600- to 800-word proposal with current curriculum vitae is 1 February 1994. For further information, please contact Dr. W. Preston Burton, MacArthur Memorial, MacArthur Square, Norfolk, Virginia 23510; call 804-441-2965, or fax 804-441-5389.
Funding from the Naval Historical Center
For established U.S. naval history scholars, the Naval Historical Center will offer two Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper Research Grants of up to $2,500 each to individuals undertaking research in the field. A Ph.D. or equivalent and U.S. citizenship are required. The deadline for submitting applications is 28 February.
The Center will award the Rear Admiral John D. Hayes Fellowship of $8,000 to a pre-doctoral candidate. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited graduate school and have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except dissertation by 10 June 1994.
Proposals relating to the USS Constitution, or the early history of the Federal Navy, are particularly invited.
The Center welcomes internship applications from undergraduate history majors who wish to spend up to four weeks engaged in applied history projects at the Washington Navy Yard. Limited funds are available. Applications should be filed at least two months before the desired beginning date of the internship.
To mark the bicentennial of the USS Constitution and the establishment of the Department of the Navy, the Center plans to offer an award of $750 for an article and $2,500 for a book, related to the frigate’s history, or the Navy (1789- 1801) bicentennial theme, and based on original research, published or accepted for publication between 1994 and 1998. Nominations should be made by 30 June 1998, and must include one copy of the article or book, or, if the work is not yet in print, of the manuscript along with evidence that the work has been accepted for publication. Awards will be announced in December 1998.
For forms or correspondence for any of the above, write: Senior Historian, Naval Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, 901 M Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20374-5060.
— L. Stallings
The Mid & the Admiral
The painting of a Navy war hero in her high school inspired Midshipman Christine Miller to begin her career last year at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Vice Admiral John D. Bulkeley, USN (Ret.), graduated from the same high school in Hackettstown, New Jersey, in 1928. His Navy career spanned 59 years.
And what a career. The Medal of Honor winner was the “bold buckaroo” running the PT-boat that secreted General Douglas MacArthur and his family away from the Philippines in early 1942. It was Lieutenant Commander Bulkeley’s PT-boat squadron that escorted the minesweepers clearing the lanes and beaches at Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944. “Clearing the Lanes” is the Naval Institute’s newest historic print.
Later, before World War II ended, Bulkeley’s ship sank two German ships. Still later, destroyer Captain Bulkeley spearheaded MacArthur’s invasion at Inchon, Korea. During the Kennedy administration, Admiral Bulkeley, commanding the U.S. Navy Base at Guantanamo, Cuba, angered President Fidel Castro so much that the Cuban leader offered $50,000 for his capture or death.
When he autographed a “Clearing the Lanes” print for the plebe whose life he had changed, Admiral Bulkeley wrote “shipmate.” Midshipman Miller is confident that sooner or later, women who graduate from the Naval Academy will also become naval heroes worthy of the legacy of Admiral Bulkeley.
The Cutter that Won’t Quit
The Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WMEC-38) is the oldest active-duty cutter in the United States, with almost 50 years of service. Constructed in 1939 and commissioned in 1942, her career includes Atlantic icebreaking, Greenland war patrols, and the Bering Sea patrol after the war, delivering supplies to the Alaska territory. She led the first transit of the Northwest Passage and was the first U.S. vessel to circumnavigate North
America. In the 1960s, the Storis seized a Soviet trawler for fishing within Alaskan waters. She is still used to enforce Alaskan fishing rights. Recently refurbished, she is considered to be in excellent condition, with many good years left in her.
The Coast Guard has a number of traveling historic art exhibits, and two World War II exhibits. These open for public viewing at locations around the country during the next several years. For more information call the Community Relations Branch, 202-267-0933.
The Historian’s Office has produced a 6th World War II booklet that looks at the Captain of the Port function of the Coast Guard during the war. The Coast Guard used a large number of men and women to protect ship anchorages, supervise the loading of ammunition, and guard against fires in the major ports. Our Allies and military leaders depended on the safe and timely movement of war cargoes. This is a largely overlooked task performed by the Coast Guard, but one that had enormous strategic consequences.
For this or other similar publications, write: U.S. Coast Guard, Historian’s Office (G-CP-4), 2100 2nd Street SW, Washington, D.C. 20593.
— R. Browning
New University Opens for Military Studies
The American Military University, recently founded in the Commonwealth of Virginia, began its third semester of operations in September 1993. The university’s purpose is to provide graduate education in military studies, using the concept of “distance learning,” which involves direct communication between student and professor through correspondence, fax, telephone, or computer modem.
The university offers a program leading to a Master of Arts degree in Military Studies. Its faculty boasts professional educators, military historians, authors, and retired military leaders who have devoted their lives to the research, study, and teaching of the military arts and sciences. The goal is for students to establish a one-on-one relationship with these professors and to benefit from their combined experience and guidance while conducting self-study and original research.
Students may specialize in one of four areas of study—Land Warfare, Naval Warfare, Air Warfare, or Defense Management. The university’s catalog contains more than 80 courses, with 30-40 courses available each semester. This selection is one of the most extensive arrays of military-oriented courses available anywhere in the country.
For more information, send $5.00 to: American Military University, 9285 Corporate Circle, Manassas, Virginia 22110. Or call 703-330-5398.
News from the Historic Naval Ships Association
“Communicating in Canada” was the title of the association’s annual meeting hosted by HMCS Haida in Toronto last September. The directors of 23 historic naval ships exhibits were there, and a wide variety of qualified experts from Canada and the United States spoke and exchanged experiences related to marketing, preservation, fundraising, and other subjects.
The association and other organizations interested in maritime preservation support the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1993 (H.R. 3059), debated by the U.S. Congress late in 1993. The Act would establish a National Maritime Heritage Program, financed through funds realized from the scrapping of obsolete and unhistoric ships, and provide grants for educational programs and for the restoration of U.S. maritime cultural resources, including historic naval ships.
The former USS Slater (DE-766) has joined the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City, after 42 years of service in the Greek Navy. The association persuaded the Greek government to donate the World War II destroyer escort to the museum, and raised $250,000 to cover the cost of having her towed home from Crete by a Russian tug.
Severe flooding last year caused the 184-foot ex-USS Inaugural (AM-242), tied up on the Mississippi River close to the St. Louis, Missouri, Gateway Arch, to break away from her mooring and sink several miles downstream. The World War II minesweeper will be raised and restored as a floating museum and National Historic Landmark.
The Philadelphia 11, a full-size replica of the Philadelphia gunboat, dating from 1776 and a prized Smithsonian exhibit, has been tested back in its original milieu of Lake Champlain. Seaworthy, but slow and ungainly, the 54-foot-long by 15-foot (beam) vessel was well armed with one 12-pounder, two 9-pounders, eight swivel guns, and a crew of 45 equipped with small arms. The gunboat has proven to be a major educational tool.
Although the carriers Coral Sea (CV-43), Hornet (CV-12), and Bennington (CV-20) have recently been lost to the scrappers, the fight goes on to save the USS Des Moines (CA-134)-Launched in 1948 and decommissioned in 1961, she continues to rest in the reserve fleet at Philadelphia, but if the north-central states get their way, she will eventually be moored at Duluth, Minnesota, for all to see. The Des Moines Ship Project needs to raise $750,000 soon. Write to: 325 Lake Avenue South, Duluth, Minnesota 55802.
— J. Cheevers
From Tarawa to the Persian Gulf
New from the Marine Corps History and Museums Division are two additional Persian Gulf War monographs, With the 1st Marine Division in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, by Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Cureton, USMCR, and With the 2d Marine Division in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, by Lieutenant Colonel Dennis P. Mroczkowski, USMCR.
Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa, the sixth in a series of monographs commemorating the 50th Anniversary of World War II, was written by Naval Institute author Colonel Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret.). It takes a fresh look at the 76-hour assault that began 20 November 1943.
All three publications can be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office.
— A. Ferrante