There are many stories to tell of the Daly crew and her past.
None are as profound as the loss of life during battle.
Here are two accounts of the Kamikaze attack in April of 1945 during the
Okinawa invasion as was experienced
and recalled by an Officer and an enlisted man of the Daly.
For the many years that Martin Jablon (now living in Florida) has
received the “Daly News”, he always notes the outlined section on the back
page that pays tribute to the three men killed during the Kamikaze attacks
of April 28, 1945. He says, “it dawned on me a few weeks ago that I was
probably the last person to have spoken to these three men”.
The day was April 28, 1945
This is his story. – We had been at “Okie” (Okinawa) since April 1st
which was D Day, lobbing 5 inch shells from about 4000 yards offshore to
support our ground troops during the invasion landing.
We had previously spent about 45 days at the Iwo Jima invasion area
where among other things, we had picked up eleven survivors from a CVE,
the Bismark Sea, that was damaged and sunk after a Kamikaze struck it in
the main stack.
On April 28, the Daly was assigned radar picket duty, known as “roger
peter five” about 60 miles NE of Ie Shima Island (on the northern tip of
Okinawa). We were losing destroyer “roger peters” at the rate of one a
day; due to the “avalanche” of Kamikazes attacking the destroyers en-masse
(20 –30 planes to a group). On this day about 30 “Kazes” attacked us. The
Daly 5 inch and twin 40mm guns accounted for six hits.
We were already at General Quarters when the next attack came. I was
the officer in charge of the 40mm guns…. I saw Dr. Curby, the ship’s
Doctor, standing at the rail in front of our gun near frame 32-port side…
I said, “Hey Doc, get your butt into the wardroom where you belong at GQ …
It’s your battle station.” He answered, “Jablon, this is such an exciting
time that I don’t want to miss it by being indoors – ‘cause it is probably
something I’ll never see again”.
The doctor did not retreat to the wardroom and remained where he was,
observing the action.
I was yelling to McElyea an ammo feeder to encourage him to work
faster. Scheidt was on the next deck above me “manning” a 20-mm gun and
I kept encouraging him to get the “bastards”.
At this moment a “Kaze” was almost upon us, diving in a direction from
starboard to port. It then struck the 20-mm gun position directly above
me, decapitating Scheidt. As the plane wreckage descended I touched the
bottom of the fuselage. In the next split second a 500 pound bomb,
released from the plane as it crashed, exploded in the water about 100
feet to the port side raining shrapnel on everyone that was exposed to the
force of the blast. Both the Doc and McElyea were killed instantly.
I didn’t realize it then, but I was also wounded. I had received a
piece of shrapnel in my right thigh, which I carry to this day.
Three men died, 16 were wounded that day. There is much more to the
story - about heroism of the crew and the officers and how well they
performed in battle. The ship, also damaged was repaired at Buckner Bay on
Okinawa.
This incident is still vivid in my mind 54 years later and the miracle
is that I am still alive to tell the story. Talk about being scared?
I am proud to have served on the Daly and helped to defend my
country. Martin Jablon, Florida
Part II
Five Long Minutes in 1945…
This story tells of five minutes aboard the destroyer, USS Daly and
was the last minutes of life for three shipmates during a kamikaze attack
off Okinawa.
It was the 28th of April 1945. The Daly was on radar picket duty. The
weather was perfect with the ever-present danger of an air attack.
During the late afternoon a large group of enemy planes dropped from
the sky in a suicidal attack on the Daly. So began the most exciting five
minutes of my life.
Our port guns (40mm’s) and the main battery (5” 38’s) splashed two
attacking planes, a minute later the starboard guns splashed yet another.
The fourth plane attacking from starboard was on fire and vertical as it
dove toward the ship. It came through the rigging amidships, its wing hit
the superstructure and it’s large 500 pound bomb blew up on the port side
waterline.
The explosive force of the bomb caused both death and destruction to
the 519. Shrapnel from the bomb tore and ripped into the ship killing 3
men and wounding 16. Immediately following this a fifth suicide aircraft
came in from astern but was splashed at some distance by the fantail guns.
Five minutes of intense furious action – one enemy plane a minute shot
down. Our casualties of 3 dead included the ship’s’ doctor. Our wounded
were without immediate medical attention.
Forced to retire because of the damage, the Daly was relieved by
another destroyer. Another ship in the company of the Daly scored one
splash before she was severely damaged with a suicide hit to her bow.
(This ship was later sunk by another suicide hit near the end of the
Okinawa campaign).
The two damaged destroyers made their way back to the base under their
own power. During the entire trip, tracers lighted the sky, but the Daly
and her companion were no longer under attack.
John W. Drake, Los Alamos
In Tribute Let Us Remember April
28, 1945
Lt. Theodore Curby Ship’s Doctor
August Scheidt SK 3/c
Wallace R. McElyea S2/c
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Eighty-eight destroyers and thirty destroyer – escorts were damaged in
the Battle for Okinawa. Those figures sum up to nearly a third of the
total for all the warship types damaged in the “iceberg” operation. From
March 26 to May 29, 735 deaths were recorded, with over a thousand more
wounded
Not all the wounded DD’s and DE’s were damaged by Kamikazes. Several
were struck by “ Baka” rockets. Several were hit by suicide boats. A
number were raked by friendly fire; a few were struck by shore batteries.
But overall the Kamikaze were responsible for the a majority of the most
damaging effects.
Source: Naval Institute Press
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