The Bugle Call
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
The Bugle Call PRESIDENT JSeptember 2019, Volume 9, Num 7 Warminster, Pennsylvania Gordon Larson 215-672-3137 Ann’s Choice Residents and Guests are invited to attend Veterans Group Programs and Events- VICE PRESIDENT (Meetings are open to ALL with no charge) Mary Hurly Veterans Group Meeting 215-420-7472 NEXT MEETING: SECRETARY September 17, 2019 at 7:30 pm, on Tuesday, October 15 Bob McQue The Veterans Group will meet in the 215-394-8401 Ann’s Choice PAC Ann’s Choice PAC on Tuesday evening, TREASURER The Johnsville Naval Air Development October 15, at 7:30 pm. Rose Torgerson Center (NADC) has a rich history of A representative from the Bucks County 215-672-1416 advanced research and development. Dept. Of Military Affairs will update us on PAST PRESIDENT One was the human centrifuge used to the programs and assistance the office can Rudy Stroh research the limits of human tolerance 215-443-5782 provide to veterans. for “G” forces. Construction of the human CB1 DIRECTOR & Program Committee Volunteers COLOR GUARD centrifuge building began in 1947 and The Veterans Group Board is seeking a LEADER few volunteers to help plan the monthly Jack Robbins was completed by programs during the year. We have a 215-444-0140 1949. By the late CB1 DIRECTOR 1950s astronauts for the US Space program at each Veterans Group meeting Jerry Wright Program began training at Johnsville, and in January through April, June, September 215-674-2328 continued until 2004. and October. We have resources and CB2 DIRECTOR contacts from previous meetings which can The goal of Johnsville Centrifuge and Josie Larson be used again for future meetings. And 215-675-5290 Science Museum is to restore and exhibit new ideas for program topics are always James Morgan the training capsule used for the Mercury, welcome. Contact Gordon Larson (215- 215-682-0187 Gemini and Apollo programs and other 672-3137) or Mary Hurly (215-420-7472). artifacts from the NADC. Michael CB3 DIRECTORS Volunteer and Service Opportunities Keith Lawrence Maguire and Mark Calhoun from the 215-444-0116 museum will give us an update on the There is a continuing need for help with Don Leypoldt museum. the program to drive veterans to the Horsham VA Center. Volunteers do not 215-833-2956 All members are encouraged to wear have to be veterans themselves in order to SGT AT ARMS their Veterans Group shirts to the Frank Gorman assist veterans getting to their meeting. 215-674-1418 appointments. Call Judy Wright at 215- SERVICE Share Your Story 674-2328 for information about the OFFICER Did you serve during World War II or program or to schedule a ride. Herb Craft the Korean War? Do you have any Volunteers are 215-672-2960 letters you wrote to family back home also needed to CHAPLAIN which describe what you were doing Chuck Donnelly help with the 215-675-3307 during the war? Would you be able to Deployable Flags SHIRTS / spend fifteen to thirty minutes talking Program to line our MEMBERSHIP about your recollections of those times? streets with flags. Ken Kastle If you answered ‘yes’ to any of those For more 215-323-4888 questions, please contact the newsletter information or to Don Lawrence editor, John Hodges, at (215) 323-4969 volunteer call Jerry 215-572-5654 or at BC-412. Wright at 215-674-2328. PROGRAM Volunteers are also needed at meetings Bob Swan New Members 215-674-1935 A big welcome to David Paddock (1964 to help residents with mobility devices. For VALET SERVICES – 1967, US Marines, Vietnam)who more information or to volunteer for this Russ Neiger recently joined the Ann’s Choice Veterans service call Russ Neiger at 610-930-3077. 610-930-3077 Group. September 2019 The Bugle Call Page 2 Jack Edgar Aboard the USS Queens a landing craft used extensively in amphibious Ann’s Choice resident Jack Edgar grew up in North landings in World War II. The craft was designed by Catasauqua with his parents and older brother. His Andrew Higgins. Four of them were carried on davits father owned a local drug store selling tobacco, patent on the side of the ship. These were lowered and medicines, candy and treats from the soda fountain. manned for the transit through the canal. Jack recalls Jack graduated from Whitehall High School in 1940 that a cold lunch was lowered from the fantail of the and went to West Chester University in the class of Queens. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on February 7 1944, majoring in music. and conducted additional amphibious training. After Pearl Harbor, Jack enlisted in the Navy and in On March 2, 1945, late 1943 was sent to Muhlenberg Univ. for V-12 Queens departed training. The V-12 Navy College Training Program was Pearl Harbor, designed to supplement the force of commissioned carrying 1,250 officers during World War II. Then he was sent to Army and Navy Plattsburg with about 4,000 other young men for troops bound for midshipman training. By the middle of 1943, all of Iwo Jima. The them were ensigns. Queens debarked The USS Queens (APA- troops at Iwo Jima on March 26, 103) was one of missing the thousands of ships built in less than 10 months, invasion and fighting to take Iwo served honorably in the Jima. Jack Edgar Atlantic or Pacific theaters, and was remembers that the Queens had cargo Map of Iwo Jima from Jack Edgar. decommissioned soon including beer and candy bars for canteens after the after the war ended. USS Queens (APA-103) at The USS Queens was a anticipated successful invasion. She also transported P-51 Mustang pilots for fighters which were to be anchor, ca. 1945 Windsor-class attack based at one of the airfields. Departing Iwo Jima on transport. They transported troops and their equipment to foreign shores for amphibious invasions April 12 with 1,500 Marines, she proceeded via Guam, Eniwetok and Pearl Harbor to Hilo, Hawaii, where she using an array of smaller assault boats integral to the attack transport itself. The class was well armed with debarked troops April 25. antiaircraft weaponry to protect itself and its cargo of Background on Iwo Jima troops from air attack in the battle zone. The Volcano Islands, or Iwo Islands, are a group of Ships of the Windsor class served exclusively in the three islands south of Japan – Kita Iwo Jima (North Pacific Theatre. After V-J Day, the Windsors, like Sulphur Island), Iwo Jima (Sulphur Island), and virtually all classes of attack transport, transported Minami Iwo Island (South Sulphur Island). fresh troops to occupation missions in Japan and its Japanese preparations former occupied territories such as China and Korea, After the American capture of the Marshall Islands, and later to Operation Magic Carpet, the giant sealift and the devastating air attacks against the Japanese organized to bring millions of demobilizing servicemen on Truk Atoll in the Carolines in January 1944, the back to the US. Japanese military leaders reevaluated their situation. ..The hull for the Queens was laid on March 2, 1944 All indications pointed to an American drive toward the at Bethlehem Steel, Sparrows Point, MD. She was Mariana Islands and the Carolines. To counter this, the launched on September 12, 1944 and delivered to the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and the Imperial Navy on December 16. Japanese Navy (IJN) established an inner line of In 1944, Jack Edgar was assigned to the new defenses extending generally northward from the Queens and boarded her at Sparrows Point. Carolines to the Marianas, and thence to Japan via the Shakedown cruises were in the Chesapeake Bay and Volcano Islands, and westward from the Marianas via Norfolk. She was assigned to Task Force 29 and the Carolines and the Palau Islands to the Philippines. ordered to the Pacific theater via the Panama Canal. After the U.S. seized bases in the Marshall Islands in She took six to eight hours to transit the Panama February 1944, Japanese Army and Navy reinforce- Canal, as Jack Edgar recalled. He commanded one of ments reached more than 5,000 men. The loss of the the 36-foot LCVP’s for the transit. The “Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel” (LCVP) or Higgins boat was continued on page 3 Published monthly January through June and September through November Editor: John Hodges, (215) 323-4969, BC 412, [email protected] April 2019 The Bugle Call Page 3 “Jack Edgar” continued from page 2 complained that the lack of naval gunfire had cost Marianas in 1944 Marine lives during the entire Allied island campaign. greatly increased the Poor weather hampered the shelling and only about 13 importance of the hours’ worth occurred during the 34 hours of available Volcano Islands for daylight. the Japanese; the Invasion and Victory loss would facilitate The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19 – March 26, air raids against the 1945) was a major battle in which the United States Home Islands, Marine Corps and Navy landed on and eventually disrupting war captured the island of Iwo Jima from the Imperial manufacturing and Japanese Army (IJA). The goal of the invasion was severely damaging capturing the entire island, with three Japanese- civilian morale. controlled airfields (including the South Field and the By June 1944, Lt. Central Field), to provide a staging area for attacks on Gen. Tadamichi the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle Kuribayashi, comprised some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of assigned to the Pacific War of World War II. command the defense of Iwo Jima, knew that Japan By the time of the landing, about 450 American ships could not win the battle, but he hoped to inflict were located off Iwo Jima.