The account of Torpedo Squadron Eight’s participation in the invasion on August 7 was drawn from author interviews with Gene Hanson, Bert Earnest, Jack Stark, and Smiley Morgan. Other sources include the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary, the Torpedo Squadron Eight After Combat Action Reports (official source) submitted by Swede Larsen after each mission, Wolfert’s Torpedo 8 (pp. 28–38), and the private diary of Pete Peterkin, in which he describes many of the invasion day preparations aboard the Saratoga, including the successful launch of every plane in the squadron.
The morning attack by Swede’s element of Torpedo Eight on the coastal native village on Malaita was described in detail in author interviews with Hanson and Earnest, both of whom participated in the attack. They also described the subsequent confrontation aboard the Saratoga between Swede Larsen and several of the pilots, including Taurman and Earnest. For many years after the war, attorneys representing the victims of the bombing and strafing attack sought legal redress against the United States government for what they viewed as an atrocity.
The descriptions of the August 7 missions led by Bruce Harwood in Torpedo Eight’s attacks on Guadalcanal were re-created from AP correspondent Clark Lee’s They Call It Pacific (pp. 328–333), and from author interviews with Smiley Morgan, who participated in those attacks.
The description of the controversial decision made by Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher to withdraw the American carriers from Guadalcanal on August 8, and the events culminating in the annihilation of the Allied screening force in the Battle of Savo Island, was drawn from Lundstrom’s Black Shoe Carrier Admiral and The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, and Vandegrift’s Once a Marine.
The portrayal of the aftermath of the Savo Island battle on August 9, in which General Vandegrift gave his inspirational talk to his officers in the rain, was drawn from Once a Marine (pp. 131–134). The reaction of Admiral Yamamoto after receiving news of the invasion, and the outlining of the steps he immediately undertook to retake Guadalcanal, was drawn from Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign (pp. 91–94) and Frank’s Guadalcanal (pp. 142–146).
The reactions of the Torpedo Eight pilots to their part in the invasion as the Saratoga headed away from Guadalcanal were drawn from author interviews with Hanson, Morgan, and Earnest.
The Galloping Dragon
The seemingly wayward cruising of the American carriers August 8–19, 1942, as Admiral Fletcher waited for the opportunity to re-engage the Japanese navy, was chronicled in Reynolds’s The Saga of Smokey Stover and Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign.
The description of the 1st Marine Division’s hellish first two weeks on Guadalcanal and Tulagi was distilled from Vandegrift’s Once a Marine, Frank’s Guadalcanal, and Martin Clemens’s Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher’s Story.
For the narrative of the August 21 attack by Japanese shock troops led by Colonel Kiyonao Ichiki against the Marine positions along Alligator Creek, the author relied on material in Frank’s Guadalcanal, Vandegrift’s Once a Marine, Tregaskis’s Guadalcanal Diary, Roger Butterfield’s Al Schmid — Marine, and Meirion and Susie Harries’s Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army.
The account of the death of Torpedo Eight pilot James Hill Cook was recounted to the author by Cook’s friend and roommate Smiley Morgan. Additional details were found in the private diary of Pete Peterkin, and in the author’s interview with William Magee, who also witnessed the fatal crash.
The narrative of the August 23 mission from the Saratoga to Guadalcanal, in which Butch Schindler, Admiral Fletcher’s gunnery officer, delivered baked goods to General Vandegrift, was drawn from author interviews with Newton “Del” Delchamps.
The description of the flight led by Commander Harry Don Felt on August 23, in which the Saratoga air group attempted unsuccessfully to find and destroy a Japanese naval force in the middle of a brutal storm, was re-created from the narrative that appears in Lee’s They Call It Pacific (pp. 339–347). Lee also provided details of his interaction with Butch Schindler after reaching Guadalcanal, and his eventual accommodations in Swede Larsen’s plane. Bill Dye’s attempted flight back to the Saratoga with Del Delchamps in the tail compartment, and its subsequent return to Guadalcanal after encountering the same storm, the account of Swede dressing down Delchamps over the bomb hoist, as well as Delchamps’s account of his tussle with the Japanese souvenirs, were provided in an author interview with Delchamps.
The dramatic combat missions by two separate elements of Torpedo Eight on August 24, 1942, the first led by Bruce Harwood and the second by Swede Larsen, were drawn from a number of sources, including firsthand recollections of Harwood’s mission and its aftermath and author interviews with Bert Earnest, Gene Hanson, Smiley Morgan, Ervin Wendt, Frank Balsley, Del Delchamps, and Ski Kowalewski, all of whom participated in the attack on the Ryujo. Gene Hanson’s handwritten account of this mission was particularly helpful.
In an author interview, Jack Stark provided the description of Swede Lar-sen’s preparations and takeoff for the August 24 mission. The diary of Pete Peterkin also provided important details. The events that took place during and after the Larsen mission are also described in significant detail in Wolfert’s Torpedo 8 (pp. 50–71). The discovery that Jack Barnum failed to launch his torpedo appeared in Swede’s After Combat Action Report (official source). His angry outburst against Barnum was witnessed by Jack Stark.
Important aspects of both these missions came from the Torpedo Squadron Eight After Combat Action Reports (official source), the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary (official source), Hammel’s Guadalcanal: The Carrier Battles, Miller’s The Cactus Air Force, Lee’s They Call It Pacific, and Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign. Other sources reviewed by the author include the CO USS Saratoga to CINCPAC, Report of Action against Enemy Forces in Solomon Islands Area on August 24, 1942, including group and squadron reports, and Tactical Situation and Chronological History of Events (official source), and the newspaper story by Jack Singer, “Jack Singer’s Last Despatch Is Thrilling Account of Bomber-Torpedo Plane Attack on Japanese Ships,” which appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser. Singer, a reporter who was killed when the Wasp was later sunk, rode with Harwood’s plane on the August 24 mission.
For the account of the final moments before the Ryujo sank, including the cause of its sinking, the author relied on Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign (pp. 122, 155), Frank’s Guadalcanal (p. 179), and the official Japanese war history, Senshi Sosho (vol. 49, p. 566). According to the Jap-anese Imperial Navy report, the sole cause of the sinking was the torpedo launched into its starboard side by either Harwood, Earnest, or Grady. Interestingly, every pilot who made the attack on the Ryujo was awarded the Navy Cross except Earnest, who may well have launched the torpedo that sunk her. One possible reason was that he had already won two Navy Crosses in the first five months of the war.
Swede’s words to Bruce Harwood after the August 24 mission appear in Wolfert’s Torpedo 8 (p. 71).
Resurrection Blues
The description of the aftermath of the August 24 battle, including the opposing assessments of its results by the senior American and Japanese commanders, was distilled from Lundstrom’s Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, the USS Saratoga War Diary (official source), and the report by Fletcher, CTF-61 (ComCruPac) to ComSoPac, Preliminary Report of Actions, August 23–24, 1942 (September 6, 1942; official source).
The depiction of the mission flown on August 24 by Fred Mears was principally drawn from Carrier Combat and author interviews with Harry Ferrier. Mears’s description of the dead sailors in the gun gallery aboard the Enterprise can be found in Carrier Combat (pp. 115–116).
The author is grateful to Gene Hanson for providing him with a copy of the humorous “Gedunk Investigative Report,” which was created by John Taurman aboard the Saratoga shortly before his first disappearance.
The story of Taurman’s ditching in
the Pacific and his survival along with his crew on San Cristobal Island was re-created from several different accounts of his adventures, including an extract in Pete Peterkin’s diary, and full narratives in Mears’s Carrier Combat and Wolfert’s Torpedo 8. Gene Hanson told the author of Taurman’s being offered survivor’s leave back in the States, and his turning the opportunity down to stay with the squadron.
An account of Frenchy Fayle’s mission appeared in Wolfert’s Torpedo 8. Other important details were provided in an author interview with Don Velazquez, the son of Edward Velazquez. The author is deeply grateful to historian James Sawruk, who discovered the fact that the Zero shot down by Velazquez during Fayle’s mission was piloted by Yoshio Iwaki, who had eight “kills” to his credit, including three of the six Avengers in the Torpedo Eight detachment led by Langdon Fieberling on June 4.
The story of the rescue of Frenchy Fayle and his crew was provided in author interviews with Jack Stark and Don Velazquez. This tale also merited inclusion in Fred Mears’s journal, Carrier Combat, and in Wolfert’s Torpedo 8. All of the surviving pilots of Torpedo Eight remembered Fayle’s decision to accept survivor’s leave rather than stay with the squadron.
The torpedoing of the Saratoga was a seminal event in the lives of the men who were aboard her at that time. The author drew on his interviews with Bert Earnest, Bill Magee, Del Delchamps, Bill Tunstall, Jack Stark, and Smiley Morgan to tell the story of how the attack affected each man. AP correspondent Clark Lee wrote about his own experiences in They Call It Pacific. Pete Peterkin also described the torpedoing in his diary.
The story of Bill Dye’s hair-raising flight from the Saratoga to Espiritu Santo in the overburdened Avenger was told to the author by Del Delchamps. The sketch of the transfer of Yeoman Jack Stark’s filing cabinet from the Saratoga to the Grayson was related to the author by Stark.
Life for Torpedo Eight on the island of Espiritu Santo after the squadron flew off the Saratoga was described at length by Pete Peterkin in his diary. The author also drew upon interviews with Bert Earnest, Frank Balsley, and Jack Stark. In Carrier Combat, Fred Mears recorded his own pungent observations about conditions on Espiritu Santo after flying there with Harry Ferrier.
The Canal
For the description of the plans developed by General Kiyotake Kawaguchi to retake Henderson Field, and their subsequent execution, the author relied on Frank’s Guadalcanal. The account of the Tasimboko raid was drawn from Alexander’s Edson’s Raiders. The verbal description of General Vande-grift’s reaction to Admiral Robert Ghormley’s message of September 11 came from Vandegrift’s own Once a Marine.
The author’s interpretation of the attack by General Kawaguchi on September 12 was refined from the authoritative descriptions in Alexander’s Edson’s Raiders, Hoffman’s Once a Legend, Tregaskis’s Guadalcanal Diary, Vandegrift’s Once a Marine, and Herbert Merrilat’s Guadalcanal Remembered. Further detail was provided in an author interview with Marine Raider James “Horse” Smith.
The description of Swede Larsen’s talk to the squadron on September 13 at Espiritu Santo, when he told them what was at stake in the battle for Guadalcanal, was drawn from author interviews with Jack Stark. For this account, the author also benefited from reading the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary (official source).
The events of September 13, including the moment that Torpedo Eight arrived at Henderson Field shortly before the most intensive Japanese ground attack up to that point in the campaign, was drawn from author interviews with Gene Hanson, Bert Earnest, and Frank Balsley. The sketch of the battle on Edson’s Ridge was derived from Tregaskis’s Guadalcanal Diary, Vande-grift’s Once a Marine, Alexander’s Edson’s Raiders, and author interviews with raiders James “Horse” Smith and Frank Guidone.
Torpedo Eight’s first few days and nights on Guadalcanal were re-created through author interviews with Gene Hanson, Frank Balsley, Wiley Bartlett, and Bert Earnest, and supplemented with the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary (official source).
For the Japanese reaction to the defeat of General Kawaguchi’s force when it failed to retake Henderson Field, September 12–14, including the steps taken by Admiral Yamamoto to regain the initiative in the Solomons, the author utilized Frank’s Guadalcanal and John Toland’s The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire.
The account of the sinking of the Wasp and the torpedoing of the North Carolina was drawn from Frank’s Guadalcanal and Mears’s Carrier Combat.
The Groove
The loss of the American carrier Wasp and its emotional impact on the men of the Cactus Air Force was drawn from Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, Mears’s Carrier Combat, and author interviews with Gene Hanson.
Torpedo Eight’s first combat mission as part of the Cactus Air Force on September 16, 1942, including the squadron’s claim of having torpedoed a Japanese cruiser, was drawn from the After Combat Action Report submitted by Swede Larsen, and author interviews with Gene Hanson, Ervin “Judge” Wendt, and Frank Balsley. The account of the September 17 mission in which Swede Larsen attacked two Japanese warships alone came from his After Combat Action Report and an author interview with Judge Wendt, who flew with him that day.
The descriptions of the squadron’s living conditions on Guadalcanal, including the impact of the first shelling attack after the arrival of Bruce Harwood’s detachment, the experiences of Smiley Morgan while bathing in the Lunga River, the quality of the food the men ate, the breakout of dysentery among the pilots, and the thriving black market in Japanese war souvenirs, were drawn from author interviews with Smiley Morgan, Bert Earnest, Frank Balsley, William Magee, and Harry Ferrier, as well as an excerpt from Mears’s Carrier Combat. The source for the story of the theft of a case of bourbon from General Geiger was Vandegrift’s Once a Marine.
The passage describing Swede’s September 22 air attacks on the Japanese landing beaches came from the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary and an author interview with Morgan, who flew with him on the mission. For the account of Gene Hanson’s mission in which he led a September 24 attack on a Japanese cruiser, followed by his debriefing with General Roy Geiger, the author utilized a contemporaneous written account of the mission by Hanson, supplemented by an author interview with Hanson, along with the mission’s After Action Report.
The narrative of the September 25 combat mission led by Swede Larsen was drawn from an author interview with Hanson along with the After Action Report. The subsequent confrontation between Swede Larsen and gunner J. D. Hayes was witnessed by squadron mate William Magee. In a 2006 author interview, Magee recalled that his first thought after seeing it happen was that Hayes had just been saved from spending the rest of his life in a penitentiary.
The account of the savage three-day engagement between General Vandegrift’s Marines and the remnants of General Kawaguchi’s force along the Matanikau River from September 25–28, 1942, was drawn from Vandegrift’s Once a Marine, and author interviews with raiders James “Horse” Smith and Frank Guidone, who fought in the battle.
The story of the combat mission led by Bruce Harwood on October 1, 1942, after which three of the Avengers on the mission went missing, was re-created from the After Action Report and from an author interview with Del Delchamps, who was flying in Bill Dye’s Avenger. The aerial search for the three lost Avengers by Evarts, Mears, and Katz was recounted in the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary (official source), as well as Mears’s Carrier Combat. The personal story of the rescue of one of the lost crews was provided to the author by Del Delchamps.
Pete Peterkin’s anecdote about knocking himself unconscious in a newly repaired bomb crater while under a Japanese shelling attack came from his diary. The story of Smiley Morgan’s foot injury, which led to his encounter with General Geiger, was provided by Morgan in an author interview.
The account of Fred Mears’s first mission at Guadalcanal, including the critical wounding of his tail gunner, can be found in Carrier Combat (pp. 125–128).
The sources for the narrative of his second mission to Rekata Bay on October 5 include the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary, the After Combat Action Report of the flight, Carrier Combat, and an author interview with Ski Kowalewski, who flew with pilot Bob Evarts that day.
The tragic mission of October 6, which cost the lives of squadron members Red Doggett, John Taurman, J. D. Hayes, Charlie Lawrence, and John Robak, was chronicled in detail by Pete Peterkin in his private diary. Additional material was drawn from Carrier Combat, Wolfert’s Torpedo 8, the Torpedo Squadron Eight War Diary, the After Combat Action Report for the mission, and author interviews with Gene Hanson.
The sources for the first mission Swede Larsen flew with Aaron Katz on October 8, in which Bert Earnest scored a torpedo hit on a Japanese warship, came from author interviews with gunner Frank Balsley, who flew with Katz, and with Bert Earnest. The author also drew from Carrier Combat and the After Action Report. The account of the confrontation between Swede Larsen and Aaron Katz’s crew after the mission was provided to the author by Frank Balsley in a 2006 interview. The anecdote of Bert Earnest being awarded a samurai sword by General Vandegrift at his command post came from author interviews with Earnest.
The account of the October 10 mission was drawn from Lundstrom’s The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign (p. 291), the After Action Report filed by Swede Larsen, and an author interview with pilot Gene Hanson.
For the description of the increasingly depleted physical and mental state of the men of Torpedo Eight, the author utilized the diary of Pete Peterkin. The tactical situation on land and sea was culled from Vandegrift’s Once a Marine, and Lundstrom’s The First Teamand the Guadalcanal Campaign.
A Dawn Like Thunder Page 50