Where could you get a better deal than
this?
Left, J. M. Joseph SC2/c, Silver Star, right, Angelo Defino S1/c, Purple Heart.
Joseph, known as Indian Joe,
is visited by Angelo on the Reservation in Arizona.
Date is unknown.
Elizabeth Johnson wife of Jim at his grave site.
Year unknown but must
have been shortly of his death.
Note, grass has not yet grown back.
Charlie Dewey
At the barbeque, Grand Isle, VT.
March 1989
Passed 2/19/07
At right, crew member James Lynn
Yandell, continuing to left, wife Rigoberta,
grandson, James Franks, and son in law, James F. Minor.
Crew Member Couples in Later
Life
Jeanne and Doug Aitken
Danville, CA
2007
Anita and Bonnie Stephens Barbara and Calvin Borror
Carmella and Bob Eaton
Lancaster, CA
Frank & Stella Boffi
Orlando,
FL
Velma & Leo Helling Centralia, WA
Betty and Alvin Safranek
Val and Lyle Plambeck
Williamsburg, VA.
Tom English's Eightieth Birthday Party
MaryAnn,
Tom's ladyfriend, with Tom
Left of Tom, L to R: Edward, Ryan, Briana, Jack, Brian,
Doug Eggen That jumper still fits Hadley framed model given to Doug by his children. 2004 Editors Note The British Royal Navy discovered this many years before us.
After you turn forty
Year unknown.
at Family Reunion, Columbus,
OH
JUNE 2003
2007
2007
2004
San Diego, CA.
1995
Fargo, ND
Rose and Art Lowery
1993
Brenna holding Erin, Yianni [back], Kathleen [front]
Right of Tom, L to R: Alex Marie, Nicholas,
Andrea holding Aiden, Colleen
2006
Have you readers ever wondered why Chief Petty Officers don't wear
the bell bottom uniforms?
or so years old your body just doesn't look like the dapper young sailor.
So, the answer is a modified officer's uniform without all the gold trim.
Antelope Valley Press Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Note: Errors in story as written include, the Hadley and USS Evans together
destroyed 38 aircraft.
The Evans was not sunk but was towed home to be decommissioned and later
scrapped, just
as was the Hadley. Bob Eaton was not a Fireman, he was a Fire Controlman.
Funny, some
things go around twice. In 1943 The Redding (Calif) Record Searchlight
reported him as attending
Fireman School, which was really Fire Control School.
Antelope Valley Press Lifestyle Sunday July 28, 2005
The AV Press has completed it's series honoring WWII Veterans. Your
webmaster and two others were
selected for this picture. Bill Clutterharm is the A.A.F. officer above. His
aircraft, a B17, was assigned as
Air Sea Rescue for the mission of Col.Tibbets raid on Hiroshima. His
aircraft had also operated from a
base on Ie Shima which we of the Hadley know well.
Bill made his last fight ? April 2007
Ty Hughes-Killen was a Women Air Force Service Pilot. These girls were
hired to fly ferry or test flights,
as to relieve regular A.A.F. pilots for more grueling duties. Thirty-five years
after the end of the War
they were granted regular veterans status.
The Second Life of USS Undaunted ATA 199
Year is 1999.
USS ATA 199 in it's civilian garb as it now, still alive and well.
Year is 2005
ATA 199, later USS Undaunted and now
simply the Undaunted.
This ship has been in the Naval service and
as a civilian tug for over sixty-five years.
Note forward leaning pilot house, converted to a pusher.
See Lincoln Grahlfs story in
HISTORY DOCUMENTS FROM CREW MEMBERS IN
HISTORY SECTION.
Modern Day Okinawa
These pictures were all taken by
your Webmaster during his worldly travels
as a Field Support Rep. for the SR71 Blackbird, 1978 - 1986.
They all are indirectly connected to May 1945 and USS Hadley.
Taken from the auto ferry in route from
main island to Ie Shima.
In the background is Iegusugu Pinnacle, which was heavily defended.
Taking this island resulted in 172 KIA and 744 WIA. It is only 11 square miles.
Note smoke stack of sugar mill, the only know export product.
This is exact spot where Hadley was towed. It is the only
location on the entire
perimeter
of the island that has a sandy bottom. The dock did not exist at that
time.
Monument to Ernie Pyle on Ie Shima, killed by a Japanese
sniper on 18 April 1945.
Ernie Pyle, W.W. I Sailor & W.W. II Hero
He was world famous as the GI's Correspondent, who
followed and slept
in the
This is a portion of the Kerama Anchorage. It is
where we were tied alongside
Cornerstone of Peace
This fountain and the accompanying flame form the centerpiece
from which
Memorials line the pathway at the Cornerstone of Peace. They list the
names - Japanese,
Tomari International Cemetery Called the American Cemetery (Was destroyed 1945 and re-established 1955)
This was his original burial place. His remains were later relocated to
Punchbowl National Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii
mud with the troops thought out the North African and Italian Campaigns
and then later in
France/Germany.
When V-E day was near he came to
the Pacific and Okinawa and was part of group
who came ashore on
this small Japanese Island. There he met his death, shot be a sniper.
the USS Zaniah AG70 and later went into the ARD28 floating dry-dock.
Picture taken from Zamami Shima.
This was location of U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery until 1949.
Many of our KIAs were buried there until they were moved back to American soil.
the Battle of Okinawa. It was a way of the people of Okinawa to project the
Spirit of Peace
to the world. The names of all those that lost their lives in the Battle of
Okinawa, regardless
of their nationality, military or civilian status, are inscribed on The
Cornerstone of Peace walls
as a prayer for eternal world peace.
Okinawa was the only land battle fought in Japan during World War II. The
Okinawa people
were caught up in the fighting, causing great loss of life, the destruction of
many cultural
assets, and severe hardships for the populace.
The total number of names inscribed are 226,052 Japanese and Okinawans; 14,008
from the
United States; 82 from the United Kingdom; 34 from Taiwan; 82 from North Korea;
and 351
South Koreans. A total of 240,609 names are inscribed.
The Cornerstone of Peace will ensure that the names of the Americans killed
there will
forever be on the island where they gave their lives.
The Cornerstone of Peace was constructed during the term of office of Governor
Masahide
Ota. It was dedicated in 1995, in memoriam of the 50th anniversary of the Battle
of Okinawa. It is located in Mabuni, a suburb of Itoman City.
Above text courtesy of James E. Kilgore, below photos courtesy of
Dapo Agboola, US Army.
the Cornerstone of Peace fans out. Note Japan and Pacific Rim islands mapped
out in relief underneath fountain's flowing water. The flame approximates
Okinawa's location on a map of the Pacific.
American, Okinawan, and British alike - of those who died in the Battle of
Okinawa.
The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum is visible in the background.
One view of the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum.
Damaged torpedoes and an anti-tank gun, refuse from the Battle of Okinawa, are
seen
here on display outside of the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum.
An aerial view of the Cornerstone of Peace Memorial. The name-inscribed
memorials can be seen
fanning out in a half-circle from the fountain. Note - Philippine Sea in
background.
Naha, Okinawa
See below
This cemetery was first established by Commodore Matthew C.
Perry
in
1853 during the time of his first visit to the then Lu Choo Island.
Almost all of these are American expatriates, throughout many years,
and there are mainly retired ex-military and their dependents.
Before sailing north to Japan in 1854 Perry left seventeen people
on the island. Here is one of those. Cemetery records indicate
that there are four more of the seventeen here.
Roadside Accommodations
This is a Co-ed Roadside Benjo
Modern Okinawa. Era 1980s.
Poetry written specially for the Hadley and it's Crew
The Hadley
By
Alan A. Wheel (2003)
Dedicated to the men of the USS Hadley
My decks of steel are proudly walked by boys so young, at a time when life so precious seems abundant and eternal.
This day for many of these souls would end and others changed in such a way that only the deep recesses of their minds could ever truly understand what this day would endure.
Life and death walked hand and hand as the thoughts of a country where escaping defeat meant more than life itself, threw the future fathers of their land into what they believe was the gates of eternal life, but to us it was the gates of eternal damnation.
As they cursed the meal they had that day, the crew now prays that they shall live to complain about the next.
As planes now fill the sky and fear now fills their hearts, fore death is being dealt from all around, in numbers that have never been witnessed before or since.
My guns blaze as the relentless foe concentrates on our decreasing strength and dwindling numbers. We fight for our very existence, as there is no end to their need to sacrifice their lives at the cost of ours.
The end has mercifully come and the lives of 23 fanatical and nameless young enemy pilots have ended as well.
The wounds suffered by this ship and many of her heroic crew are mortal, as the ship and the men who sailed her to the edges of hell, shall never forget…
11 May, 1945
Radar Picket Station 15
Dedicated to the men of the USS Hadley
( Okinawa, May 11th 1945)
By Alan A. Wheel
Today the calm of hell we sail shall change us all in great detail.
As others fight for life and home,
Others fly to die alone.
We know not what has breeched their minds,
Nor why they come in death online,
They seek death, which could be mine.
There’s little time to ask the Lord, as muzzles flash and engines roar. The sky is full of enraged young men, who wish to die and to hell I’ll send.
Death and fire surround our lives, as shot and shell now fills the sky.
We’re scared as hell, but still we try,
As planes now fall and young men die.
Desperation grips us now, as waves erupt above the bow.
The choking smoke blocks out the day, and settles on our sweat stained brows.
The end has come, the horror past, but in our minds it will not last.
But with this end my ship has died, upon the seas she’ll
no longer ride.
The Hadley’s gone and part of me, fore on this day…
We all have tried, some have lived and some have died.
Veterans on Memorial Day
By
Alan A. Wheel
Printed in the Bangor Daily News Memorial Day 2003
Obligations, patriotism, bravery, heroism, fear, and nightmarish memories are seldom associated with people in the December of their lives.
Watching two weathered old men helping each other navigate the steps of the VFW, is a far cry from watching them as young boys answering their counties call to war so many distant years ago.
The stories told in history cannot begin to describe the hardships and heartaches placed upon youngsters who only days before were contemplating the need to shave, or deciding which girl to take to the dance.
What thoughts must have raced through their minds as they were witness to the horrors of death and destruction that can only be found in the context of war, a war that shows no mercy, and asks for none.
We, the living are here today only because our parents or grandparents were fortunate enough to escape the jaws of death, a fate that cannot be said for the thousands of everyday people who gave the supreme sacrifice, and are buried alone in some foreign field that was stained with their blood.
We cannot begin to fully understand what sacrifices these brave souls endured in their youth, we can however take time to simply shake their hand, and sincerely thank them for their acts and deeds. You will see the deep appreciation in their aging eyes when they realize that even today someone appreciates their efforts and are willing to share your feelings with them.
I feel that we are honored by their presence, and giving them a hug every day of their lives will still not make up for what they have done for us, our children, and our country.
We currently pay tribute to the men and women serving our country today, and I ask you to never forget the people who went before them.
Including my mom 1st Lt. Ila M. Nolan, WW ll U.S. Army Nurse Corps,
And my dad Cpl. Leonard J. Wheel, WW ll U.S. Army artillery
(A.W.) 2003.
About Alan:
He lives in Levant, Maine and is a published author.
Continue your voyage through the Hadley
story by selecting
CONTACT
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