Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave ---
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The 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy brings thoughts of the men, and more recently women, who served in wartime within Kewaunee County’s first 173 years. Each has his or her own story. What follows is a smattering of those stories reflecting the Navy in the county during the years of its existence.
Fort Sumpter was fired upon in April 1861. Wolf River – which became Ahnepee in 1859, Ahnapee in 1873, and, lastly, Algoma in 1897 – saw its first permanent settlers on June 28, 1851, while the place was still part of Door County. Three months short of 10 years, Ahnepee saw its first two men leave for naval service in what became the Civil War. Both men changed the course of history.
CIVIL WAR
Henry Harkins was a Lake Michigan mariner who
captained his own boats and served on others. He was the man ferrying
passengers and freight up and down the Ahnepee River, and while serving in the Civil
War, Harkins was among the survivors of the Cumberland on which he
manned the guns. Historian George Wing later wrote that Harkins went down on
the Cumberland when it was sunk by the Merrimac in Hampton Roads.
Fortunately, Harkins survived. He also served as an officer under Admiral David
D. Porter and Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, Jr. in the Mississippi River
fleets. It was Selfridge who commanded the gun division on the Cumberland
before serving under Porter in other engagements.
The USS Merrimac is ramming the Cleveland; Wikipedia
DeWayne Stebbins enlisted in Co. A, 21st Wisconsin, however
he was given a naval commission as a Master's Mate. Eventually he was promoted
to Master and transferred to the Kickapoo, a double turreted monitor
that joined Farragut's Fleet at Mobile. Later, Stebbins was transferred to the
steamer Michigan where he remained until discharged. Years later he
became president of the Wisconsin Battleship Committee.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_MonitorNote: A
Master’s Mate is defined by Wikipedia as a term in the 1860 British Navy
referring to a senior Petty Officer who assisted with technical and
navigational duties. It was a stepping stone to becoming a Lieutenant or
Master. The term is no longer used.
Wikioedia further defines an 1860s turreted monitor - shownabove - as a low-profileironclad warship with a rotating gun turret housing the artillery. Its design was significant in Civil War naval warefare.
SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
On June 19, 1898, Algoma Record reported
that G.I. McDonald and Vojta
Jacobusky were well-known young Algoma men who served in what is often lumped
together as the Spanish American War. Their trip to Milwaukee for enlistment
was made sailing aboard Harbor Master Jacobusky’s pound boat. Marshall Frank
Chapek happened to be at the harbor as the men were leaving and learned they
planned to join the Navy. However, McDonald changed his mind and joined the Army
and what happened to Jacobusky is uncertain. They were the first Algoma
residents who had intentions of serving on the front.
WORLD WAR l
Storekeeper 2c Carl Oscar Koch of Algoma saw Atlantic duty in World War l. Engineer 2c Walter Herman Marquardt served as an electrician aboard the USS Dakota. Walter’s parents had expected him home for Thanksgiving 1918, however he failed to appear. As was later learned, his work was of such importance that his furlough failed to come through. Marquardt did not get a furlough until July, and then it was only for 48 hours.
Frank James Meunier of Rt. 4, Algoma was serving
in LER Co. F, 7th Reg Navy. Writing to his folks, he told them about
his first day at Great Lakes training center, where in just one day, he learned
a lot. He wrote, “We do our own dishing and food, and certain ones wash after
each meal.” He talked about being examined and vaccinated. After that, a serum
was injected into their arms to protect against contagious diseases. It would
be another week before further serum injections..
WORLD WAR ll
World War ll saw Midshipman Raymond Brandt in the Navy V-12 program and in the school of medicine. John Bruemmer was commander of a 157’ LCI who underwent over 100 attacks in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Elba. His LCI was the flagship of a group of LCIs commanded by Commander H. Milton. Bruemmer taught celestial navigation in the summer of 1945 and taught at a pre-flight school in Georgia after the end of the war. The V-12 program was a Navy college training program designed to increase the number of commissioned officers.
Alvin Buege was a Chief Petty Officer who was sent to Naval Aviation school. Kewaunee’s William Bunda was a Carpenter’s Mate who enlisted in naval construction and was in Hawaii when his brother Milo was killed in action in July 1944.
David Depas, another CPO, died of a blood clot and was interred in the Allied-held area in the Pacific. He enlisted long before Pearl Harbor and spent 18 years in the Navy.
Ullsperger’s VPB-52 unit was one of three Cataline squadrons to receive a Presidential Unit Citation for night bombing raids. It was one of the oldest fleet patrols. Before going to the Pacific, the squadron was based at the Canal Zone, at Natal. Brazil and in Bermuda.
Squadron personnel were awarded about 130 distinguished medals since they arrived in Hawaii during June and July 1943. From there they went to Northwestern Australia from which base patrols were flown over the Indian Ocean. Pioneer night bombing began in the Bismarck Sea and off the coast of Dutch New Guinea.
In spring 1944, the squadron tore up airfields at night on Woleai in the Caroline Islands and on Wake Island off the northern coast of New Guinea. Air-sea rescue offered protection for Army Air Force attacks on its over-water flights to New Guinea, the Halmahera and Caroline Islands. The same protection was provided for downed fliers and provided for the Marines in strikes against Kavieng and Rabaul in the Bismarck Archipelago.
Seaman 1c Gerald Holtz was a survivor of the Pinckney, another boat smashed and burned by a Japanese suicide squad off Okinawa early in the war. The enemy plane carrying the 1,000-pound bomb crashed into the Pinkney’s deck just aft of the flying bridge and the resulting explosion ignited fuel tanks and spread flames far down into the ship. Most of the 36 men killed died on impact.
Mate 3c Perry Drossart was an aviation mechanic serving on the cruiser Quinery with Levi Frisque who left Casco with Drossart. Illness saved Frisque’s life as when the ship sailed, he was hospitalized. Drossart was killed when the shup sunk.
Naval Reserve Aviation Radioman 2c Robert C. Perry, 419 4th St., Algoma, served as an air crewman aboard torpedo planes from an Essex class carrier in Navy Air Group 14. Perry was a radio operator and gunner in an Avenger, which attacks with bombs, rockets, torpedoes and 50 caliber machine gun fire.
At 23 years old, Perry completed 35 combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal. Air Group 14 fought in every major Pacific encounter from May until November. Its pilots destroyed 158 Japanese planes in the air and scores on the ground. Its planes sank 92 ships, totaling 238,000 tons, and damaged 200 others, including two battleships.
Radioman 3c Joseph Muhofski of Kewaunee was the county’s first war fatality. In the crew of a seaplane operating off a battleship, Muhofski was killed off Hawaii during raids on December 7. A day after memorial services at Holy Rosary, Joseph’s parents received a letter with a Christmas gift. Joseph was enthusiastic about his work although he said the Navy feared a surprise attack and was increasingly watchful.
MM 2c David L. Brice talked about his Navy experiences during a trip home. Brice served as a guard on the Normandie when it caught fire. On his first night at sea, he saw an enemy sub but his crew was unlucky and failed to fire at it. A month before being home, he saw an American destroyer blast a German U-boat with depth charges.
Serving in two World Wars, Ernest Ponath was unique. Twenty-three years after being discharged from the Navy following World War l, Ponath went to Milwaukee to re-enlist. At his first discharge, Ponath was a Seaman 1c and he retained the class at re-enlistment. Ponath’s World War l training began on May 3, 1917. Discharge was August 23, 1919.
Seaman 1c F.W. “Fritz”
Opicka enlisted in the Navy on June 5, 1942, and was sent to a destroyer in
the Atlantic after finishing basic training at Great Lakes. Opicka had been
teaching at Casco Graded School.
On the morning of March 2,
one of the lookouts reported something on the horizon that looked like two
liferafts. When it was determined they were real, the boat sailed in for a
better look. The 43 men and 3 women aboard seemed to be Americans singing Yankee
Doodle and cheering, however they came from an English vessel. The rescued
were taken aboard and given the best available. They had been torpoded four
days earlier and spent the days and nights afloat since. With the exception of
one woman with a fractured ankle and two men with some injuries, they were
alright.
On March 6, the destroyer discharged the rescued at
Bermuda, which, Fritz said, was a
beautiful place with homes built of coral rocks on spacious, wooded lawns. The
only vehicles on the island were military but there were thousands of bikes and
horses. Stores held wonderful clothing made in England of Scottish wool, which
was the best in the world, although not expensive.
A postscript revealed that Fritz was almost killed when his ship collided with another that day. He was just steps away when a life raft fell, missing him by 6’ thus saving him from a broken neck and back.
In 1943 he was honored at the Naval Training Station in Dearborn, Michigan, for 35 years of service,a 35th anniversary directing a concert that included the full concert band, a 60-voice chorus, the swing band, orchestra and the largest model electric organ made. Musical selections ranged from the classical to modern brought together under one baton.
As a member of the first Navy patrol bombing squadron to
go to the Aleutians, flying in that theater was always very hazardous. Ouradnik’s group went through something the
airmen who came later didn’t have to contend with.
The squadron went to the Aleutians in October, thus
preceding the attack on Pearl Harbor. At
first they were stationed on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska since the base
at Dutch Harbor was a name more than a fact. It was so understaffed after Pearl
Harbor that the ship’s cook had to assist in beaching planes. Ouradnik said
they were stretched “pretty thin” and had “quite a territory to patrol.”
Joe said temperatures were not as low as many thought,
however they were low enough to make it miserable, especially with the winds
and rain coming horizontally when face masks were needed in addition to their
goggles because faces were stung so badly.
When the Navy sent medium bombers north, Joe flew on those too but later went back to the Catalinas for rescue flying, Sometimes a mission was deluging Kiska with leaflets written in Japanese telling the people to get out of there when “the getting was good.” Joe felt the leaflets worked because when they got into Kiska, the Japanese were gone.
World War l and had 10 years of
submarine duty at the close of that war. He was recalled to active duty in
1942. Plansky had lived in Kewaunee County although his family was living in
Bergland, Michigan, while he was serving in World War ll.
GM 2c Raymond Gerhart and HA 1c Melvin Nessenger were shipmates on the U.S.S. Nevada when the executive officer praised their devPlansky served in otion to duty, courage, loyalty, tenacity and esprit de corps in keeping with the Navy’s highest traditions. The two men took part in the invasion of Normandy, the bombing of Cherbourg, the invasion of southern France and on Atlantic convoy duty after mopping up on Attu in the Aleutians.
After the last convoy, the Nevada went to Belfast where the ship was sealed for four days, meaning there was no contact with the outside world. When the ship left, it rounded Lands’ End, when, on the 5th, the invasion was called off. The vessel spent 12 hours at sea and then went back to shore while mine sweepers were at work in the English channel. When the Normandy invasion got under way, Gerhardt said they could hear the aerial bombardment over 100 miles away.
Gerhardt said air attacks were expected but did not happen because the Germans were so completely surprised, but then “all hell tore loose.” The first job was breaking down the German defense wall, a concrete and steel wall, 12’ high along the Normandy coast except where the rocky cliffs offered protection. The U.S. goal was blowing up the wall to enable landing forces and tanks to penetrate it. He said 10 salvos into the structure did it, and then they switched to beach targets. Gerhart described the marshes along the coast and the way the Germans had flooded them as another protection against invasion.
After a short rest in England, the Nevada was sent to aid the Army at Cherbourg which was being shelled by 10- and 16-inch guns. There they had a 3 ½ hour battle with a shore battery but even as water was splashing them, Gerhardt thought the captain maneuvered the ship “sensationally” and they were not hit.
From Cherbourg, the ship went to Southern France invasion where it shelled Marseilles and Tulon for three days Ray said he’d never forget. They “slugged it out” for two days with the Strasbourg, a French battleship that the Germans rigged to fire at ships or the troops being landed. Gerhart said the “neutralized that target.”
Ammunition was depleted 79
hours later and the Nevada returned to England to reload and return. Each night
the ship was under attack from the new German radio-controlled bombs, although
the Nevada’s new technology ensured the bombs “dropped harmlessly.”.
Gerhart and Nessinger were proud of their ship and said on D-Day the Nevada set a record for accuracy while also saying it was “absolutely necessary” for those at home to keep purchasing war bonds. Pointing to D-Day alone, the Nevada made the Germans a gift over a million and a half dollars’ worth of ammunition.
Gerhart joined the Navy on
December 12, 1939, and shipped aboard the Nevada on March 27, 1940.
Gerhart was at Pearl Harbor when it was hit with 7 bombs and 2 torpedoes. One
hundred and twenty lives were lost.
Nessinger had sick-bay duty when he was on the Nevada. He joined the Navy on November 26, 1942, and shipped out on the ship.
Navy MM2c Dale Maedke sent a 1944 newspaper article from England to Algoma friends. Maedke served on the destroyer tender U.S.S. Melville for a year and a half. Since 1915, the Melville had been doing repair jobs around the world.
As a repair ship, the Melville
stayed at anchor where all kinds of American ships could return from
bombardment and supply trips to the French coast. Maedke said during the
invasion, many vessels tied up alongside the Melville for repairs. Her
most important task was keeping the L.S.T.’s running to France with loads of
troops and equipment. Three or four cargo ships tied up at the Melville daily.
In addition to repair facilities, the ship had a barber shop, dental office,
and more.
When Seaman 1c Lester Paape had surgery for ruptured appendix, it was on the high seas. The surgeon was tied to an unmovable object while Paape was lashed to his bunk. After 20 days of rocking around and trying not to move so the incision would heal, the Navy felt he needed solid ground and gave him a 20-day leave.
Orville was ok after going to Leyte. He said when they arrived before dawn, all hell broke loose and kept up for several days. He said the ship had not slowed before they got shots at an enemy plane which hit the water. Another plane that came out of the clouds and smoke tried strafing a Merchant Marine ship behind them. The Merchant Marine ship sent that plane into the water. After that, the ship’s bombs began hitting the beach.
Orville said they could see about 3 miles watching the planes dive-bomb into the beach. The following day they went to another beach trying to unload a cargo in “a shooting gallery.” Orville said they kept on shooting at the low-flying planes that were trying to bomb ships in the harbor. Within 15 minutes there were 7 planes on fire near them and 3 burning in the air at one time. Orville had never seen so many tracer bullets. He said it was lucky the ships were not hit as the planes dropped out of the clouds.
Orville wrote about the night the Japanese fleet tried to
come in. Had it happened, he would not be writing. It happened on Navy Day.
Sleep was out of the question and eating was on the fly as each time somebody
tried to eat, the enemy would come “raising hell.” Orville said a lot of the
boys were waiting for action but “were done for a while” because after a week
of sitting in a corner or standing up to sleep, the novelty wears off. Nerves
wore off and so did weight.
Orville was glad to be out of there where they could eat and sleep in peace, have ice cream, watch movies, and get mail. He said he was scared to death and said it all went so fast, he didn’t know everything that had happened.
R.M. 3c Ernest J. “Inky” Bero wrote to tell his
parents about his ship’s participation in the Philippine Invasion. He said
since restrictions were lifted, he could tell them he was in several invasions
and the biggest was in the Philippines.
Inky said the Japanese had the Philippines under their grip more than any other islands so far but “we” took it away from them. His first experience under gunfire was when they tried to land. Although the enemy was using mortar and anti-tank guns, the Navy took care of them fast. Inky wondered what would have happened if a shell landed amidship? He said the enemy used about 11 planes as clay pigeons and seeing them “busted” was the thing to see. Inky was on a gun, right there helping to bring the planes down. He said he was scared for a second or so but then things went so fast that he was too busy to notice. After it was all over, he said it was a queer feeling and felt it was just like a movie although it was a great feeling “when your old ship and the other lads knock them out of the sky.” He said LSTs were fighting ships and the Coasties are a seagoing and fighting outfit like any branch of service.
Lt. John VanDam was serving aboard a ship in the Pacific battle area when he wrote a Christmas letter to his father telling him what a wonderful day Christmas was. He told about midnight mass out in the open on a hillside while sitting on wooden benches, saying it was one of the biggest thrills since being overseas. He described the altar which was decorated with colored paper and a few sheets of white cloth and yellow cloth in the background. The crowd was large and as the priest spoke, all was solemn and quiet.
Lt. VanDam went on to say, “ Here we had the rough and ready men, fellows who know the dirty end of war backward and forward, guys you think don’t give a dam about anything (and they don’t) suddenly quiet, solemn and lost in thought. I’d wager that every soul there, while the priest was saying the mass prayers, was visualizing himself at home and hearing midnight mass in the old parish church. It left me very impressed, Dad, and something I shall never forget.”
VanDam went on. “This morning it was again very busy while on watch and we didn’t finish up until quite late. Later in the afternoon the chaplain of another ship came over and we had Christmas Day mass. He also heard confessions. Tonight we are going to have our big feed and although a lot of it will be dehydrated the cooks promised us that it will be good.
“From weather reports we receive through pony papers, letters and a few flashes, I gather that it has been plenty cold in Wisconsin and that you may have had a white Christmas. Guess weather like that would make me freeze, but good right now. Still, I’d change it if given the opportunity to do so.”
Included in the letter was a story which could not be shared earlier because of censoring.
John told about crossing the equator while he was in a Pacific battle zone. Navy tradition says the equator is the “outer perimeter of a dark, mysterious, watery kingdom over which rules Neptunus Red, the Ruler of the Deep. To every ship that dares to enter this kingdom, the ruler himself pays a visit and welcomes his old subjects and to initiate those present who are making their 1st journey to the realm of salty blue.
“The old subjects are called shellbacks and it is their prime function upon coming to the boundary of King Rex’s home, to see the new men, called pollywogs, are properly humbled before such a mighty ruler.
“On the day we crossed I had finished my watch and the day started much like any other. Finished my breakfast and then thought I would hit the sack for a few hours of good old shuteye. How mistaken I was, for after just an hour or two I was quietly (like hell) awakened with a banging on my sack and upon opening my eyes I discovered two of the most devilish sights yet laid eyes on.
“These two creatures were armed with canvas bats and shirts painted all colors of the rainbow. The uniform I had to wear for this was a pair of shorts. Period. The reason for this was soon evident. Immediately upon stepping out on deck, I was drenched with a fire hose. I was brought before the king, a salty character with a mop for a head of hair and seaweed very evident all about him. Algon side, seated at his right, was his wife, a cute hag as weather beaten and dragged out as possible to imagine. On his left was the royal baby, a fat swabbed in diapers.
“On beholding
this royal family, one must perform the act of kissing the baby’s belly which
was well swabbed down with mustard. Meanwhile while his royal servants were
‘gently’ prodding you in the fanny with spears hooked to a battery giving you,
in your damp condition, several good shocks.
Frank Schmidt grew up in a commercial fishing family and joined the Navy to serve in World War ll, experiencing an event few others did. When the atomic bomb was being tested in the Pacific, Frank volunteered to serve on an observation vessel where he witnessed the total destruction of an island before the bomb was dropped on Hieroshima and Nagasaki.
Although women served in World War ll, they received
little credit until long after the war. Women in the Navy included Grace
Busse who served in the Navy Nurse Corps. WAVES, or Women Accepted for
Volunteer Emergency Service, included Marie Liebl and Pharmacy Mate 2c Blanche
Koss. WAVES’ Seaman 1c Dorothy LeCloux was assigned to a field
hospital in England. There were others.
KOREA
Navy veteran Don Kickbush was a Korean vet who participated in an Honor Flight in 2014. His grandson served in the Amry in Afghanistan.
Aviation Ordinance 3c Jacob Blazkovec served in the Korean War aboard the carrier USS Valley Forge, a 27,000-ton carrier that launched the first Navy attacks against North Vietnam in 1950.
Driver 3c Allen B. Albrecht served in a Navy
construction battalion participating in “Nancook 53,” the resupplying of the
joint Canadian-United States weather stations in the Canadian arctic. The
operation became annual in 1947 at the air station at Resolute, Cornwallis
Island.
VIETNAM
Bruce Bisely was a Petty Officer 3c during the Vietnam. He was credited in participation “in over 25 assault missions in enemy infested waters and was subjected to enemy fire on numerous occasions”……..”in each instance he reacted courageously and quickly.” GMC3 Bisely was a 20 mm gunner and an assistant engineer with the Mobile Riverine Force and holds multiple medals.
Casco’s GMT2 James B. Wergin made three cruises to Vietnam aboard the nuclear carrier USS Enterprise. The morning after reaching home following discharge, an explosion on the ship caused 24 deaths and an additional 15 missing and presumed dead. About 85 were injured on the ship which carried about 5,300 personnel.
POST VIETNAM
Since Vietnam, U.S. military have served in Afghanistan
and the wars called, by most, the Gulf Wars.
The Navy provided air power for the war in Afghanistan.
It provided air power, sea control, delivery of supplies, intelligence and some
engagement with the Iraqi Navy. While Kewaunee County men and women are listed
in other military branches, those serving in the Navy fail to show up. Perhaps
there were none at those times.
Oh hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea.
NOTE: The USS Nevada had a storied naval history. Wikipedia tells us, “USS Nevada (BB-36), the third United States Navy ship to be named after the 36th state, was the lead ship of the two Nevada-class battleships.” Wikipedia further says, “At the end of World War II, the Navy decided that, due to age, Nevada would not be retained as part of the active fleet and she was instead assigned as a target ship for the atomic experiments at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 (Operation Crossroads). The ship was hit by the blast from atomic bomb Able, and was left heavily damaged and radioactive. Unfit for further service, Nevada was decommissioned on 29 August 1946, and sunk for naval gunfire practice on 31 July 1948, in Operation Crossroads.”
Sources: Algoma Reord Herald; An-An-api Sebe: Where is the River.
Pictures: Wikipedia
