January 2018 Newsletter

Freedom’s Voice The Monthly Newsletter of the Military History Center 112 N. Main ST Broken Arrow, OK 74012 http://www.okmhc.org/ “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History” Volume 6, Number 1 January 2018 Wreaths Across America Important Date March 15 – Oklahoma Vietnam Veterans Day The MHC will host its annual Oklahoma Vietnam Veterans Day observance in the evening of Thursday, March 15. The February newsletter will contain detailed information. In the meantime, please mark your calendars, and plan to attend this important, patriotic event. MSGT Vincent Donaldson (U.S. Army, Ret.), Susan Virdell, Dan Eiler, Teresa Eiler and Lindsey Donaldson Wreaths Across America is a national volunteer organiza- tion. “Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, our mission to Remember, Honor and Teach is carried out by coordinating wreath-laying ceremonies at Arlington Na- tional Cemetery, as well as over 1,200 additional locations in all fifty U.S. states, at sea and abroad”. In 2017, Wreaths Across America Day was December 16. Lindsey Donaldson (MHC volunteer) organized a group of volunteers to lay wreaths on veterans’ graves in Floral Haven Memo- rial Gardens in Broken Arrow. MHC docents, Mitch Reed and Janet Viel and MHC volunteer, Susan Virdell, were among the volunteers. The MHC congratulates Ms. Donaldson and all other volunteers for their patriotism and generosity of time in performing this important, patriotic activity. MHC Christmas Party The MHC held its annual Christmas party on December 21. MHC Presi- dent, Tom Mancino, addresses the attendees. From left to right: Peter Plank (Board Secretary) Dennis Hoch (docent), Jean Bailie (MHC Execu- tive Assistant), Tom Mancino, Ken Collins (docent, in the doorway) and Claudia Price (volunteer). MHC volunteer, Susan Virdell, laying a wreath on a veteran’s grave – Wreaths Across America Day TU Honors Hometown Hero Museum Hours and Admission Fee Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 – 4:00; Saturday: 10:00 – 2:00 Closed Sunday and Monday and major Federal holidays Adults – $5.00 Members and Children under 18 – Free For more information, call (918) 794-2712 www.okmhc.org Support the Military History Center We believe the MHC provides a valuable service to the lo- cal community, especially to veterans and students, by “Pro- MHC docent Dennis Hoch, Oscar “Junior” Nipps and TU Vice moting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military His- President and Director of Athletics, Dr. Derrick Gragg tory”. We ask for your financial support to help the MHC con- tinue our educational endeavors and to help our ongoing mis- At a basketball game on January 14, University of Tulsa paid sion of promoting patriotism and honoring our veterans for tribute to World War II veteran, Oscar “Junior” Nipps, as their the sacrifices they have made, and are making, to keep Amer- South Pointe Auto Mall Hometown Hero. As a trooper of the 5th ica free. Cavalry “Black Knights” Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, he was For more information, please contact the Military History one of the liberators of the Philippines in 1945. When Junior was Center at (918) 794-2712 to learn how you can be a financial introduced, the crowd burst into sustained cheering and ap- supporter, or click on the link below to go to the MHC website plause. Patriotism is alive and well among TU fans. at www.okmhc.org/donate/. The MHC congratulates Junior on receipt of this special Monetary donations, as well as gifts in kind, are tax de- honor. He is a native of Broken Arrow, who spends most of his ductible, subject to IRS regulations. spare time at the MHC, where we affectionately refer to him as our living artifact. Hero of Samar The Tet Offensive Fifty years ago, this month, at dawn on January 30, 1968, on the first day of the Tet holiday truce, Viet Cong forces, supported by large numbers of North Vietnamese troops, launched their largest and best coordinated offensive of the Vietnam War up to that time. They pushed into the center of South Vietnam’s seven largest cities and attacked thirty provincial capitals from the Delta to the DMZ. Among the cities taken during the first four days of the offensive were Hue, Dalat, Kontum and Quang Tri. In the north, all five provincial capitals were overrun. At the same time, enemy forces shelled numerous Allied airfields and bases. In Saigon, a 19-man Viet Cong suicide squad seized the U.S. Em- bassy and held it for six hours until an assault force of U.S. para- troopers landed by helicopter on the building’s roof and killed them. Nearly 1,000 Viet Cong were believed to have infiltrated Gunners Mate Third Class Paul Henry Carr Saigon, and it took a week of intense fighting by an estimated 11,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to dislodge them. Paul Henry Carr was born at Webbers Falls (Muskogee By February 10, the offensive was largely crushed, except at County), Oklahoma, on February 13, 1924. He was living in Hue, but with heavy casualties on both sides. The former impe- Checotah (McIntosh County), Oklahoma, when he enlisted in the rial capital of Hue required almost a month of savage house-to- Navy on June 29, 1942. house combat to regain. Efforts to assess the offensive’s impact On October 25, 1944, he was serving as a Gunner’s Mate began well before the fighting ended. On February 2, President Third Class on the destroyer escort, Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413) Johnson announced that the Viet Cong had suffered complete or Sammy B, as her crew called her. On that day, Task Unit military defeat. General Westmoreland echoed that appraisal 77.4.3, of which Sammy B was a part, engaged a superior Japa- four days later in a statement declaring that Allied forces had nese force off the eastern Philippine island of Samar. Carr killed more enemy troops in the previous seven days than the served as the gun mount captain of the aft 5-inch gun. In Sammy United States had lost in the entire war up to that time. B’s final action, he led his gun mount team in firing 324 rounds Militarily, Tet was decidedly an American/South Vietnamese in thirty-five minutes. GM3 Carr was found dying at his station, victory, but psychologically and politically, it was a disaster. The gripping the last unfired round. Soon afterwards, the Japanese offensive was a crushing military defeat for the Viet Cong and commander lost his nerve and retired from the battle, giving the the North Vietnamese, but the size and scope of the communist Americans a victory and saving the Leyte landing force from po- attacks caught the American and South Vietnamese by surprise. tentially severe damage. The early reporting of a smashing communist victory went GM3 Paul Henry Carr was buried at sea. His name is en- largely uncorrected in the media and led to a psychological vic- graved on the Tablets of the Missing in Manila American Ceme- tory for the communists. The heavy U.S. and South Vietnamese tery. He was posthumously awarded a Silver Star for his actions casualties incurred during the offensive, coupled with the disil- during the battle. The heroic young sailor was just twenty years lusionment over the earlier overly optimistic reports of progress old. in the war, accelerated the growing disenchantment with Presi- Samuel B. Roberts finally sank from the pounding she re- dent Johnson’s conduct of the war. Johnson, frustrated with his ceived from the much heavier Japanese guns. The 120 surviving inability to reach a solution in Vietnam, announced on March 31, crew members spent fifty hours in life rafts before rescue. 1968, that he would neither seek nor accept the nomination of On July 27, 1985, the Navy commissioned the frigate, USS his party for re-election. (History.com) Carr (FFG-52), in honor of the World War II hero. Carr was de- commissioned on March 13, 2013, and eventually sold to the government of Taiwan. GM3 Carr’s memorial in Greenlawn Cemetery U.S. Marines move through the hamlet of Dai Do Checotah, Oklahoma after several days of intense fighting Oklahoma Okie base, meanwhile making arrangements for their rescue. The out- standing courage and self-sacrifice displayed by Lieutenant Cox on this occasion reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States”. When Cox received his newly delivered B-17F a few days later, he named her Oklahoma Okie. In 1943, “Okie” still had negative connotations originating from the Dust Bowl Era. Cox hoped to change “Okie” from a name of shame and ridicule to one of pride. By July 1943, Cox had completed his required twenty-five missions. In addition to the DSC, he was awarded four Air Med- als while flying in the European Theater. Instead of taking a desk job or training assignment, he chose to learn to fly the newest Air Force bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. His next combat assignment was with the 869th Bomb Squadron, 597th Bomb Group, XXI Bomber Command, Twentieth Air Force, stationed on 1LT Leonard L. Cox Tinian in the Mariana Islands. On January 14, 1945, now, Captain Cox, was commander of a B-29 named Pacific Union. His mission Leonard Lorenza Cox was born at Sand Springs, Oklahoma, that day was Nagoya, Japan. on May 10, 1915. His family later moved to Tulsa, where he The early B-29s were plagued by frequent mechanical issues, graduated from high school. He graduated from Oklahoma A&M including unexplained engine fires. The engines were under College (now Oklahoma State University) with a Bachelor of Arts maximum stress on take-off and while climbing to cruising alti- degree in 1939.

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