The Twilight Warriors

by Robert Gandt

  My thanks again go to sailors Felix Novelli, Ray Stone, and Ed Coyne for sharing their wartime experiences aboard USS Intrepid.

  For his help with research and in finessing the finer points of military nomenclature, I am indebted to submarine officer, historian, and stickler for accuracy Julian K. “Joe” Morrison III. His brother, Capt. Vance Morrison, USN (ret.), receives big thanks for threading the labyrinths of Washington’s archives to retrieve many of the photographs. Cdr. Robert “Boom” Powell, USN (ret), offered valuable comments on the early drafts. Researcher John Bowen helped track down some of the more elusive photographs needed for the book.

  Another round of thanks to my editor at Broadway Books, Charlie Conrad, for his belief in this project and for his expert guidance with the structure and tone of this story. Thanks to Jenna Ciongoli of Broadway Books for her cheerful and efficient help with assembling the parts of the book.

  As he did for Intrepid, Robert A. Terry created the splendidly detailed maps. Dr. Harry Ohanian, master modeler, shared with me his incredibly real vision of the mighty Yamato. Artist Robert Bailey gave permission to use his dramatic painting, Imperial Sacrifice. Jason McDonald, of MFA Productions LLC, donated transcripts from www.dayofthekamikaze.com. Turner Publishing Company kindly gave permission to quote from Roy D. Erickson’s memoir, Tail End Charlies.

  For their generous support for this book, I thank my friend and co-author of Intrepid, Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and executive vice president Dave Winters.

  My gratitude again goes to my agent Alice Martell, of the Martell Agency, for her cheerleading and wise counsel, and to her efficient assistant, Stephanie Finman. As always, my ultimate thanks and a full measure of love to Anne Busse-Gandt, my wife and staunchest supporter.

  THE HONORED DEAD OF

  CARRIER AIR GROUP 10

  Ens. Bailey Badgley

  Ens. Ernest M. Bailey Jr.

  Lt. Alvin DeMaine Blackman

  Ens. William Pearson Brede Jr.

  Ens. Donald H. Croy

  ARM3c Thomas S. Dally

  ARM3c Charles E. Ford

  Ens. Arthur Fulton

  Ens. Robinson W. Harris

  Ens. Elmer H. Hasse

  Ens. Horace W. Heath

  ARM3c Cecil B. Hollinhead

  Lt. Oliver W. Hubbard

  ARM1c Lee B. Hurst

  Ens. Loren F. Isley

  Ens. Charles W. Jensen

  AOM2c Bernard A. Konitzer

  AOM3c Charles M. Lowell Jr.

  Lt. (jg) Richard W. Mason

  Lt. (jg) Lawrence B. Mead

  2nd Lt. Carl R. Miller, USMC

  Lt. (jg) Willard J. Miller

  Lt. (jg) Spence P. Mitchell

  Ens. Willard E. Norgren

  Lt. Mark L. Orr

  Lt. (jg) Stanley Powell

  Ens. Arthur H. Rogers

  ARM1c Theodore Schevon

  ARM3c Harry D. Weiner

  Ens. William L. York

  NOTES

  Prologue

  1 The predeployment party at Alameda is drawn from Roy D. Erickson’s memoir Tail End Charlies! 69–71, and from interviews of VBF-10 and VF-10 pilots.

  2 Descriptions of Rawie and Hyland are based on official biographies in the CAG-10 1945 cruise book, The History of Bomber Fighting Squadron Ten, and from multiple VBF-10/VF-10 interviews October 31, 2008.

  1 The Next Island

  1 Spruance, Nimitz, King aboard Indianapolis: Thomas B. Buell, The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, 321.

  2 “You did a damn good job”: Buell, Master of Sea Power: A Biography of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, 466.

  3 The Japanese would fight back with every weapon: ibid., 441.

  4 Vice Adm. Ohnishi and the tokko warriors at Mabalacat drawn from Rikihei Inoguchi and Tadashi Nakajima, The Divine Wind: Japan’s Kamikaze Force in World War II, 3–11.

  2 Tail End Charlies

  1 Erickson profile and the descriptions of flight training at Pasco, Washington, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, are from Erickson’s Tail End Charlies! 19–40 and 49–63.

  2 Details of carrier qualification aboard USS Core are from interviews with James South, Charles Schlag, and Wesley Hays, and Erickson recollections in Tail End Charlies! 54–61.

  3 Partying was as much a part of squadron life as flying: interviews with VBF-10/VF-10 pilots, and Erickson’s Tail End Charlies! 51.

  3 You Are Already Gods

  1 “You are already gods without earthly desires”: Inoguchi and Nakajima, The Divine Wind, 19.

  2 Lieutenant Seki’s unconventional weapons: ibid., 57–60.

  3 The kamikaze attacks of November 25, 1944, are drawn in part from the excellent online study at www.dayofthekamikaze.com.

  4 Intrepid’s hangar deck is a scene of horror: Ray Stone, My Ship! 167–79; White and Gandt, Intrepid, 113–20.

  5 Intrepid is headed back to San Francisco: USS Intrepid War Diary, November–December, 1944.

  4 Tiny Tim

  1 Holy shit: Interviews with VBF-10 pilots.

  2 The war news [for Japan] is all bad: Vice Adm. Matome Ugaki, Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki 1941–1945, 536.

  3 the “Golden Mask,” label for Ugaki, from Evan Thomas, Sea of Thunder, 9.

  4 “My thoughts ran wild seeking ways to save the empire”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 531.

  5 Your Favorite Enemy

  1 From the lavatories come a steady litany of gagging and retching: Erickson, Tail End Charlies! 71–72.

  2 Description of kamikaze attack on USS Randolph: interview with Radioman 2/c V. J. Verdolini, Randolph crewman.

  3 The Frances bomber plunges straight into the uninhabited islet: David Sears, At War with the Wind, 284.

  4 Halsey: “It was hard on the horses, but it was effective”: E. B. Potter, Nimitz, 294.

  5 “We welcome Intrepid to the Okinawa area”: Erickson, Tail End Charlies! 76.

  6 “he [R. K. Turner] is known as a ‘mean son of a bitch’ ”: Time, February 7, 1944.

  7 “whose head could conceive more new ideas … than any flag officer in the Navy”: Samuel Eliot Morison describing Turner in Victory in the Pacific: 1945, 89.

  6 First Blooding

  1 Scenes of first strike, March 18, 1945, based on interviews with William Landreth, Felix Novelli, and Wesley Hays, and recollections of Roy Erickson in Tail End Charlies!

  2 “Erickson, turn off those goddamn lights”: Erickson, Tail End Charlies! 80–81.

  3 “From horizon to horizon the ocean was covered with the might of the United States Navy”: interview with Landreth.

  4 Within seconds the Corsair vanishes, and so does Rob Harris: Air Group Ten Action Report, March 18, 1945.

  7 The Mood in Boys’ Town

  1 Frances bomber hits the water 50 feet from Intrepid’s starboard bow: USS Intrepid War Diary, March 18, 1945.

  2 A few minutes past 1300, it is Yorktown’s turn: Morison, Victory in the Pacific: 1945, 94.

  3 Incident of ships’ gunners firing on Japanese airmen in parachutes recalled by Lt. (jg) Fred Meyer in Erickson’s Tail End Charlies! 83–84.

  4 “we were no longer virgins”: ibid., 85.

  8 Shoot the Son of a Bitch

  1 Landreth still adrift in his raft: interview with William Landreth.

  2 Encounter with the elite IJN 343rd Kokutai described in Henry Sakaida and Koji Takaki, Genda’s Blade, 42–45.

  3 “I heard it might not be a good thing to do, as it didn’t help the treatment given to our POWs below”: Erickson, Tail End Charlies! 88.

  4 “Shoot the son of a bitch, Eric!”: Erickson’s Tail End Charlies! 87.

  5 The thirty-four-year-old Hyland gets his first air-to-air kill: Air Group Ten Action Report, March 19, 1945.

  9 We Will Save the Ship

  1 “If you save us from the Japanese, we will save the ship”: David H. Lippman, article in World War II magazine, March 1995.
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  2 Franklin suffers the greatest damage inflicted on any aircraft carrier without being sunk: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 95–98.

  3 Japanese high command detached from reality: ibid., 100.

  10 Thunder Gods

  1 The Ohka carries enough explosive power to devastate virtually any warship: Bernard Millot, Divine Thunder, 140.

  2 “Bees die after they have stung”: Albert Axell and Hideaki Kase, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods, 35.

  3 “We are ready to launch the attack, sir”: Millot, Divine Thunder, 142–43.

  4 “All right, you little gods, you’ve had the balls to come this far”: Hatsuho Naito, Thunder Gods: The Kamikaze Pilots Tell Their Story, 44.

  5 “Is it, sir, that you lack confidence in me?”: Inoguchi and Nakajima, The Divine Wind, 144.

  6 Dick Mason disappears after air-to-air action: Air Group Ten Action Report, March 21, 1945.

  7 “I am going to ram a carrier”: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 559–60.

  11 Three Seconds to Die

  1 Loss of Al Hasse recalled by Erickson in Tail End Charlies! 101.

  2 Ziggy South ditches after midair collision: interview with James “Ziggy” South.

  3 Silently they toss Al Hasse’s love letters into the Pacific: recalled by Lt. (jg) Fred Meyer in Erickson’s Tail End Charlies! 101.

  4 Windy Hill goes down off Kyushu: ibid., 106.

  12 And Where Is the Navy?

  1 Hirohito description, his reign called “Showa”: Max Hastings, Retribution, 39.

  2 Adm. Oikawa and his staff have only a few days to decide: Russell Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 86–87.

  3 Adm. Toyoda signs off on his last operational order of the war: ibid., 97.

  4 “Preparations for getting under way completed”: Mitsuru Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 5.

  5 “Kamikaze Yamato, be truly a divine wind!” ibid., 8.

  13 Gimlet Eyes and the Alligator

  1 “His fame may not have gone to his head”: Spruance’s nuanced observation of Halsey, quoted in William Tuohy’s America’s Fighting Admirals, 345.

  2 “I wish that Spruance had been with Mitscher at Leyte Gulf”: Adm. William Halsey, in Theodore Taylor’s The Magnificent Mitscher, 165.

  3 “I am lazy, and I never have done things myself that I could get someone to do for me”: attributed to Spruance, Buell, The Quiet Warrior, xxxi.

  4 Loss of USS Indianapolis as described in Dictionary of American Fighting Ships.

  5 Windy Hill rescued by USS Sea Dog: Erickson, Tail End Charlies! 106.

  14 Love Day

  1 “I felt miserable, and an awful weight was on my heart”: Ernie Pyle, Last Chapter, 99.

  2 “And yet we couldn’t see a bit of firing ahead. We hoped it was true”: ibid., 102.

  3 “ ‘This is the finest Easter present we could have received’ ”: Time, April 9, 1945.

  4 Zeke fighter pilot lands at Yontan, jumps from the cockpit with his gun drawn: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 171.

  5 “Please send us a dead Jap. A lot of my men have never seen one”: “Buck’s Battle,” Time, April 16, 1945.

  6 Nimitz vetoes choice of Lt. Gen. Holland Smith and picks Buckner to command at Okinawa: Hastings, Retribution, 376.

  15 Bourbon and Puddle Water

  1 “May you walk in the ashes of Tokyo”: Buckner quote in Time, April 16, 1945.

  2 Col. Yahara clashes with Lt. Gen. Cho. Keith Wheeler, The Road to Tokyo.

  3 “They were obviously scared to death …”: Ernie Pyle describing Okinawa natives in Last Chapter, 108–9.

  4 Windy Hill learns that he will be aboard Sea Dog another five weeks. Hill recollection in Tail End Charlies! 107–8.

  16 Ten-Go

  1 “Yamato and the Second Destroyer Squadron will sally forth”: Yamato’s orders and the preparations for her last sortie are drawn from Yoshida’s Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 3–17, and Spurr’s A Glorious Way to Die.

  2 Impressions of Yamato crewmen are drawn, in part, from the Nova PBS series “Sinking the Supership.”

  3 “We are fine. Please do put your best effort into your duties”: Kunai Nakatami, quoted in Yoshida’s Requiem for Battleship Yamato.

  4 “It is a great opportunity as well as a great honor to be skipper of a ship in this sortie to Okinawa”: Capt. Tameichi Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain, 268.

  17 Divine Wind

  1 Ugaki is opposed to the Yamato mission: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 575.

  2 Bush and Colhoun under kamikaze attack: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 187.

  3 Ordeal of survivors from Bush: Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 146.

  4 Leutze and Newcomb heavily damaged but still afloat: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 185, and article by John B. Penfold, Our Navy magazine, January 1, 1946.

  5 Emmons ordered sunk by friendly gunfire: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 195.

  6 U.S. losses in kikusui No. 1 and ordeal of survivors: Sears, At War with the Wind, 326.

  7 Kikusui No. 1 regarded as a resounding success: Ugaki, Fading Victory, 573–74.

  18 Breakout

  1 Scenes of Yamato under way: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/novasupership.

  2 Yamato’s passage through the Bungo Strait: Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 45–47.

  3 Threadfin and Hackleback tracking Yamato task force: Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 185.

  4 “I do believe we learn about our position faster from their side than from ours”: Yamato’s navigation officer, quoted in Yoshida’s Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 43.

  5 Floatplanes catapult from Yamato: Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 203.

  19 Race for Glory

  1 Mitscher profile: Taylor, The Magnificent Mitscher, 189; Tuohy, America’s Fighting Admirals.

  2 Asashimo falls behind task force: Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 54.

  3 “He looked like hell”: Burke’s appraisal of Mitscher’s condition drawn from Potter, Admiral Arleigh Burke, 250.

  4 “You take them”: ibid., 250.

  20 First Wave

  1 Scenes of preparation for Yamato strike based on interviews with Felix Novelli and Wesley Hays, and recollections of Roy Erickson in Tail End Charlies!

  2 More than 250 American warplanes spotted heading north: Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 61.

  3 “We hope you will bring back a nice fish for breakfast”: Turner to Deyo, as quoted by Morison in Victory in the Pacific, 204.

  4 “Commence firing!” Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 64.

  5 Downing of Bill Delaney from http://www.ussbelleauwood.com/air_group_30.htm, and Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 249–51.

  21 Ducks in a Gallery

  1 “Corsairs, you’re close. Stand by for my mark”: Description of VBF-10 attacks on Yahagi from interview with Wesley Hays and Erickson recollections in Tail End Charlies! 110–12.

  2 Rawie impressions from his own account in Air Group Ten Action Report, April 7, 1945.

  3 Herbert Houck’s role in the Yamato operation drawn from his postwar recollection in http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/battleship.htm.

  4 American warplanes strafe Yamato task force survivors: Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 285.

  22 There She Blows

  1 Flooding Yamato’s engineering rooms: Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 82.

  2 Seiichi Ito, “Stop the operation”: ibid., 108.

  3 Resetting torpedo running depth: http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/fries.htm.

  4 Yamato fighting back at torpedo planes: http://www.yorktownsailor.com/yorktown/battleship.htm.

  5 Yoshida marvels that not a single American pilot had crashed into an enemy ship: Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato, 83.

  6 Experiences of escaping Yamato crewmen were vividly described in the Nova series “Sinking the Supership.”

  23 Dumbo and Mighty Mouse

  1 Rescue of Bill Delaney: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 208.

  2 Return
of Intrepid strike group: Jim Clifford correspondence, interview with VBF-10 pilot Wesley Hays, and Air Group Ten Action Report, April 7, 1945.

  3 Kamikaze strikes Hancock: http://www.usshancockcv19.com/gallery.htm.

  4 Loss of Don Croy and recovery of Clarke: Air Group Ten Cruise Book 1945, and Robin Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships, 124.

  5 Mitscher not his old self: Taylor, The Magnificent Mitscher, 285, and Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die, 312.

  6 Nimitz to Turner, “Delete all after ‘crazy’ ”: Morison, Victory in the Pacific, 215.

  24 A Ridge Called Kakazu

  1 Buckner and commanders are surprised by Japanese artillery: Hastings, Retribution, 377.

  2 “I was back again at the kind of life I had known so long”: Pyle, Last Chapter, 112.

  3 “One man for ten of the enemy or one tank”: James H. Hallas, Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill, 6.

  4 Sata Omaichi captured and interrogated: Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships, 129.

  5 “A dead Jap is no longer an enemy”: http://www.ussmissouri.com/sea-stories-kamikaze.

  25 Ohka

  1 Ugaki misled by kikusui No. 1 reports: Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships, 128.

  2 Attack on Cassin Young: Sears, At War with the Wind, 340.

  3 Saburo Dohi profile, flies a Thunder God mission: Inoguchi and Nakajima, The Divine Wind.

  4 Ohka attacks described in Rielly’s Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships, 142, 145.

  5 “No further questions were asked”: recollection by Nakajima in The Divine Wind, 158.

  26 Gunslingers

  1 Mark Orr profile and night mission tactics based on Air Group Ten Cruise Book 1945 and Air Group Ten Action Report, April 11, 1945, and correspondence with VF-10 night fighter pilot Frank Stolfa.