Page 117 - Mastheads Aug-Dec 1944

THE MASTHEAD, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1944 PAGE 7
structing an action cut-out panel,
Naval Training to accommodate two complete Rotation of Overseas
systems with selective control of Personnel to Become
Schools 5" / 38 dual purpose fire c_gntrol Nips Are Still Paying for This
Recent commendatory masts held three five~inch mounts, including Increasingly Difficult
by Commander J. ·H. Falge read telephone circuits.
as fpllow,s: Laurel G. Froman, * * * There is every reason to expect
CFC(PA) (Ret.)- For demonstrat- William H. Van Erp, CM(PA)- that rotation of naval personnel on
ing outstanding electrical ability, During the past 16 months, while sea and foreign service duty will
initiative and unusual -energy dur- attached to Naval Training Schools become increasingly difficult to ac-
ing the past year, while serving as as Senior Instructor in NTSch corhplish as the war with Japan
chief fire controlman in charge of (Welders), furnishing wholehearted becomes more intensifed.
the fire control shop in installing assistance and exhibiting unusual Bureau of Naval Personnel is
for NTSch (Fire Control) on-e com- skill as a metal artisan (copper- concerned with the apparent mis-
plete 5" / 38 dual purpose gun direc- smith) by making on his own time: understanding which has arisen
t.or system including mount and in (1) two beautiful brass crosses of among all personnel in connection
setting up a fire control switch- superior, exquisite, fine workman- with the current policy designed,
board, by rebussing and otherwise ship and a brass communion plate wherever possible, to return per-
modifying four panels of a BB sec- for the Treasure Island Chapel, sonnel to the United States for duty
ondary battery switchboard, fabri- these ornamental pieces contribut- ashor-e, with new construction, or
cating a complete gun panel in- ing materially to the beauty and other reassignment, following 18
cluding rotary switch-es, and con- dignity of the altar, and (2) three months outside the continental
fire screens, together with andirons limits of the United States.
and fire tools, all of original de- It has been emphasized that t)"le
sign skillfully executed for three degree to which the policy could be
fireplaces, these artistic, useful ap- carri,ed out would depend on the Above epic photograph taken on December 7, 1941, shows left to right:
pointments adding to the attrac- overall availability of personnel and the battleship West Virginia, severely damaged; the Tennessee, dam-
tiveness of both the Treasure Island aged; and the Arizona, sunk. Story below tells of nation's recovery from
transporation and immediate de-
o n the -southern Russian front Commissioned Officers' Mess and mands for men in forward areas. that fateful day to turn and slash back at the aggressr,rs.
in the spring of 1944 , the Nazis the Treasure Island Hostess House. Intensification of the war in the Three years ago, on December 7, One battleship, the Arizona, had
used hundreds of small children as * * * Pacific has increased the amount 1941, millions of.American families been sunk, four others, all of the
sources of whole blood supply. The Shipping out this week was R. of shipping required for initial were sitting down to their Sunday 30,000-ton class, had b-een severely
children were taken from their M. Benowitz, SKlc(T) . NTS wishes movements of men and for support dinners, when the incredible news
damaged. Three others had been
homes to hospitals and -drained of you a successful tour of duty at of the forces fighting the battles. flashes broke the Sabbath calm.
their blood until they died. your new station. The Bureau will continue to ro- Hawaii had been attacked by a hit. Three destroyers, a target ship
tate overseas personnel wherever huge air armada! The Pacific fleet's and a mine layer were also classed
possible by ordering additional per- great base at Pearl Harbor was as severely damaged. T h r e e
cruisers, a seaplane tender, a re-
f :49 _IJ . 67 . . efY . sonnel to administrative commands wrecked and burning! Our largest
for assignment, over and above the battleships had been sunk! Thou- pair ship and a floating drydock
,&YJ.,~i· . number required to replace new sands of soldiers and sailors had were also struck by Jap bombs,
construction and school quotas, at- been killed-the J aps would soon with varying degrees of damag-e.
·.· : \-;;_ . :: . _; i -:1._,-·, . trition, and other loss-es. The land a large force and capture the (By the time of this report, the
numbers will vary from month to islands, almost unopposed. Hawaii first anniversary of Pearl Harbor,
month. was the-only real obstacle between most of these vessels were bacl,
Rotation of officers on shore duty the Japanese war machine and the in action.) All told, there had been
at outlying stations will continue Pacific coast. What did it mean? 86 ships of the Pacific fleet in the
to be handled through area com- What fearful days were ahead? harbor when the Jap bombers at-
manders, while rotation of officers So people th.ought, scarcely dar- tacked.
in ships will continue to be handled ing to put their fears into words, in We Enter Two-Front War
by the Bureau in accordance with those dreadful hours only three So we were at war with the Axis.
current practice, coordinating th-e years ago. As mor~ complete and Germany and Italy declared war
needs for new construction with the reliable reports came in, the propor- on the United States two days after
policy of rotation, insofar as pos- tions of the disaster diminished a the Pearl Harbor treachery. In the
sible. little. The Japs had not landed- in United S~ates, a flurry of prepara-
fact, they did not follow up their tions began. The draft was swiftly
first smash. Losses in ships, planes stepped up, factories were geared
and men were not quite as devastat- to war production orders, mobiliza-
iing as at first surmised. A wave of tion of everything followed. But
patriotic determination swept over many months passed before the
the land. A sudden stiffening of chance to strike back came, before
purpose and bitter indignation at the naval victories of Midway and
the Jap sneak attack replaced the the Coral sea and the counter-
first puic. offensive on Guadalcanal.
A Time of Peril By the autumn of 1943, Japan
Yet the situation was serious had abandoned hopes of further
enough. Pearl Harbor as a naval conquests, and was digging in to
and air base was practically out of prepare an outer line of defenses.
commission. The navy's full report, The third anniversary of Pearl
issued almost a year later, gave the Harbor finds Japan fighting des-
following summary: perately for her life.

1
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WILBUR
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