Memorial Day

I agree!

Would also like to thank those that have served, Are serving, and will serve.
 
My respect and thanks to any and all who have served this great nation in time of war or peace. I appreciate it.


Ad Astra
 
I'll second all these thoughts we can't thank those in sevice to our country enough :D
 
mamav said:
May we never forget that freedom isn't free.
Click to expand...
Here! Here!
May the Gods Bless Each And Every One Of Them!!!!

Read quite an account of an old gentleman that was on a troop ship that was sunk by the first ever smart bomb in the world.
In The Tulsa Daily World Copyright.
Leaving out some of the photos to make it legal.;)

Here's a link... http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=050530_To_A1_Survi8297 in case you want to read it for yourself, you have to register but it's not a big deal.;)

Survivor recounts once-secret sea horror 5/30/2005
When Louis R. Phelps left his job as a fry cook in Enid at age 19 to join the Army Air Corps in 1940, it would thrust him into a tragedy at sea that was shrouded in secrecy for almost 60 years.
That will be among the stories that Phelps, now 83 and living in Las Vegas, takes with him this Memorial Day to Seeley Lake, Mont., to recover a knife that he bought in Algeria in late 1943 and later lost during World War II.

Although the story of the knife is interesting, the one of the sea tragedy has intrigue.

Phelps, born Dec. 6, 1921, in Enid, "went to fight for his country and would end up being involved in the greatest American loss of life at sea . . . a tragedy that was to remain a secret for many, many years," said his daughter, Carolyn Phelps.

On Nov. 26, 1943, Staff Sgt. Phelps and numerous other U.S. soldiers were traveling aboard the British troop ship HMT Rohna when it was sunk off the Mediterranean coast of North Africa by German bombers.

The Rohna was hit by a remote-controlled, rocket-boosted gliding bomb, what some have called the world's first guided http://adserver.tulsaworld.com/?sht=newsstory336x280missile.

The Rohna sank in less than 30 minutes, killing 1,015 U.S. soldiers, 120 British crew members and three Red Cross workers in the largest at-sea loss of the war, Louis Phelps recalled.

About 900 soldiers survived. Phelps suffered three broken ribs and leg injuries. Many of the others subsequently died from their wounds.

Phelps said he was talking to another GI on the Rohna's deck when the strike began about 4 p.m.

"The bomb that hit us looked just like a fighter plane with the cockpit of it in a huge ball of flame," he said.

The missile, he said, entered above the transport's waterline and "took out several decks of men who were sitting down to chow. . . . The side of the ship just seemed like someone had peeled it outward."

Phelps said the Rohna had about 23 lifeboats, but at least 20 were "rusted" to the vessel and couldn't be used.

"They used hammers and everything else trying to get them loose" in a frantic effort to get off the sinking ship, he said.

When a chaplain yelled for the GIs "to jump" from the tilting ship, Phelps, who was wearing a life belt, went to the low side and could see water rushing into the hole.

He said he then went to the high side and "my God, it looked like a mile to the water."

He spotted a rope hanging down the side of the ship and climbed down it to the water, where he remained at least seven hours before he was pulled out by a rescue ship around midnight, he said.

Referring to the quick disappearance of the Rohna, he said, "I was riding the crest of a wave and saw the nose of the ship sticking up in the air, and by the time I got back up on another wave it was gone."

Back on safe ground, the rescued men were told not to mention the incident, Phelps said.

The sinking of the Rohna stayed virtually under wraps and out of the mainstream news media for almost 60 years.

Phelps said some people theorized that Washington didn't want it known that it was aware that Germany had guided-missile capabilities.

Another theory, he said, was that the United States didn't want to acknowledge the large loss of life caused by what has been called "the world's first smart bomb."

Hundreds of the dead were buried in North Africa, and their families went for decades without knowing what happened to them.

Some still don't know what happened, Phelps said.

It wasn't until October 2000, when Congress approved a resolution recognizing the sinking, that the fate of the Rohna officially became public, Phelps said.

After their rescue, Phelps and other U.S. soldiers stopped in Algeria on their way back to the states.

There, Phelps spotted a 12-inch knife in a scabbard and bought it. He had his name, the date and the name "Rohna" carved into the handle.

Phelps was transferred to fight in the Pacific Theater. He returned to the United States by air in December 1945.

He had placed the knife and other personal belongings on a ship, but they never arrived.

Phelps will regain the knife Monday at a Memorial Day event in his honor at Seeley Lake, Mont.

It has been in the possession of a Seeley Lake museum, which received it some years ago from a resident, Don Weidinger.

Phelps said he wasn't sure how Weidinger came into possession of the weapon.

"I am not sure where he picked it up. It might have been in Hong Kong or Manila when he was serving in the Navy," Phelps said. "I am just glad to have it back after 62 years."

Phelps said Weidinger learned about the Rohna incident from the History Channel.

With Phelps' name and the name Rohna etched into the knife's handle, Weidinger was able to locate Phelps in Las Vegas.

Here's a pic of the knife.
050530_A1_Survi8297_a1rohn30c.jpg
 
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