Anytime you embark on a journey you must adapt to the road, so to speak. Things happen, people cross your path that can alter the journey and sometimes change the focus. As I began this project to honor my great-uncle Billy, in the beginning it was all about him. I wanted people to know him as a person who had so much to look forward to, so much potential that was lost when STRONG went down. This focus enabled me to learn much about him that I would have never known, as it brought me into contact with family members I had never met before, but whose help I needed if I were to obtain information. What I learned was priceless, and I wouldn't trade meeting these people for anything.

The road also brought me family members of other STRONG men. Building the web site in 2012 was absolutely the best move I have made on this road, and in this journey. So many people have found me while researching their father, grandfather, uncle or whatever these men were to them. I'm constantly amazed at this. The sharing of information warms me to no end. Every family has a story or two, and the fact that they share them with me nearly leaves me speechless. That's not easy, just ask my family.

I got another hit from a new family member this week past, the daughter of Roy Edwin Smith, CMC (chief machinists mate). Roy survived, having been picked up by the Chevalier. At the time he was listed as “unwounded”, but as every man who made it can tell you there were issues below the skin that were as devastating as those seen in broken limbs and wounds that produce visible scars. Roy's daughter Carol tells me a bit about his life after STRONG, and her family's efforts to learn about him:

“I am the daughter of CMC (Retired) Roy E. Smith, who served on the USS Strong 467 from 5-29-1942 thru 7-1943. He was on the ship when it was scuttled in the Solomon Islands, after being torpedoed by the Japanese. My Father was retired on a medical disability within one year after returning from the incident in the Solomon Islands. He died in 1966. I didn't get to grow up with my Dad due to the death of my Mother when I was very young. My Father sent us to live with his brother and although I saw my Dad from time to time, I really knew very little about him. Thanks to the Dept. of Military Personnel Records, I was able to obtain my Dad's personnel records and thus began a journey of really getting to know my Dad and his 20 year career in the Navy. My Father never spoke a great deal about the sinking of the USS Strong. I was delighted to be able to learn more about this moment in his life through his records. It was a truly significant event in my Father's life that I can now share with my children and grandchildren, none of whom ever met him.

I would like to add my Father's name to the USS Strong DD467 Family tribute. I am grateful that you have set up this site for folks like me to turn to in order to learn more about the USS Strong 467 and her gallant crew. My daughter is an avid scuba diver and I know we will watch with great interest to see if the USS Strong can be located. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to share my feelings about this great ship and be able to expand my knowledge about it. I am adding your website information to a scrap book that I have put together for my family about the USS Strong and my father's time on board.

Sincerely yours,
Carol (Smith)”

Roy was a plank owner, on the ship before commissioning and to the end. I so look forward to learning more about him, and to helping his family get to know their father, grandfather and great-grandfather. And as always, any stories, letters or photographs you may like to share about your STRONG man would be appreciated and possibly the focus of a future blog. Also, Stephen Harding is well into the book about STRONG, but is always willing to learn new things that may add to the story.

The reunion in Groton, Connecticut is about 3 weeks away. I've learned that another man who survived STRONG will attend, someone who has never attended a reunion before. I look forward to meeting Donald Fawcett and his family, and to introducing him to Jim Merriman. Jim is the only survivor to attend every year. These men haven't been in the same place together for 71 years. It will be amazing.

And to Carol and others, it's my pleasure.

-Tammi

Over the years I’ve searched for any information on the daily events in the life of a destroyer man. There are a few books out there with some details, such as Tin Can Sailor by Raymond C. Calhoun, and South Pacific Destroyer by Russell Sydnor Crenshaw, Jr. These guys actually lived and served on the destroyers they write about, so when I found the book that is the subject of the blog I was excited to get a different perspective from a civilian observer and perhaps some details that a sailor might overlook in the telling. Details such as going dark at 1800 hours so the enemy can't sight your ship at sea at night. A guy caught lighting up a cigarette on deck faces mighty stiff punishment. The men wrote “sugar reports”, love letters home to their sweethearts that once the censors got hold of them, had to be scanned for sensitive information. Sometimes the stuff written turned a censor mighty red-faced, but as long as it didn't give away military secrets, most went on. You had to be careful while on deck, as it wasn't unheard of for a wave to come up and sweep a man off the ship. And you can't see the North Star once you get past the Equator, something most of us in this hemisphere find hard to imagine.

A lot of my searching for information is on eBay, because I occasionally find items and books that relate to STRONG or to the Pacific campaign that provide some clues. For instance, I bought a shoulder tab from a uniform with the name of the ship to put in a shadowbox for my great-uncle Billy. I also found a cachet envelope dated May of 1942 with the STRONG DD 467 insignia, a rare find. That cachet is on the top of the Memories of STRONG page, and recently there was another one available on eBay. My buddy Andy Hoder whose dad was on STRONG picked it up for his collection. I look every day just in case another pops up for sale, as another family member may want one some day.

Recently though, I put “Kula Gulf” in the search box and found a book. The book was written and published in 1944 by Duncan Norton-Taylor (at the time, employed by Time Magazine) titled With My Heart in My Mouth. Just as we now have journalists embedded with our troops in trouble spots all over the world to report and even show us through the magic of television when pivotal events occur, there were men and women journalists working in the WW2 theaters putting their lives on the line to send reports back home. Norton-Taylor was just one of these brave souls.

These guys literally island hopped to get where the stories were by begging rides on any mode of transport available. One day they may be on a destroyer or light cruiser on maneuvers, the next in a jeep going from base to base. The next day may find them in a rickety and very uncomfortable airplane with only 3 working engines or an LST delivering troops to a hot zone. Assigned and supported by the U.S. military in all places, these folks traveled freely, carrying their belongings and gear in duffels and rarely stayed in one place for long. They were victim to the same living and battle conditions as the men and women they were following – 90% boredom and discomfort with about 10% true action. Most of the time they had better sleeping and dining opportunities as they could tag along with officers at will, but alot of the time they spent in the trenches in hopes of catching some action – and not a bullet. Some such as Ernie Pyles did lose their lives in service to their nation and their news agency, but all who came home had stories to tell.

Norton-Taylor left home in Oxford, Maryland bound for San Francisco. From there he hopped a ship bound for Honolulu, and then to Noumea, New Caledonia. He was essentially a civilian in the employ of the military following the actions of predominantly Naval operations. After moving from one base or ship to another he eventually ended up on the USS ST. LOUIS (code name “Maiden”), a light cruiser with DESRON 21 for part of the campaign at New Georgia, including the bombing of Munda and troop landings at Rice Anchorage. This is what caught my interest, and why I had to have a copy of the book. Duncan Norton-Taylor, along with B.J. McQuaid of the Chicago Tribune (on board USS HONOLULU, code name “Flag”), and Allan Jackson of the International News Photo Service (on USS HELENA) were witness to the sinking of the STRONG on July 5th, 1943.

On witnessing the sinking, he says, “All at once, not far off, on our starboard hand, a cloud of fire and smoke bubbled out, lighted up the unmistakable, rakish shape of an American destroyer. Messages crackled over TBS. It was the destroyer STRONG. She had been torpedoed.” He wrote little more about STRONG, as the rest of the chapter was about events surrounding the official Battle of the Kula Gulf. So my quest now is this: what other written material did he leave behind that might have more information about events during the two or three days he was on the ST. LOUIS? He wrote for Time, then went on to become Editor of Fortune Magazine. I'm charged with more research, phone calls and such to see if he left behind archives of information that might give me a few more clues about the battle. It's harder than you might think to contact the big shot magazine companies, but I plan to exhaust all possibilities.

I highly recommend this book for a perspective of the time, the events and the people engaged in the Pacific theater. If you look on eBay you will find a few copies, but they are relatively expensive. It's a rare book. I got lucky and found more copies on Amazon.com and for far cheaper prices, however checking again I see that they have gone up from what I spent. Or, see if you can find one at a local library or through an inter-library loan system. I find that reading this book has brought up a few more questions and has given me another mystery to solve which will be the subject of a future blog. Once it's solved, I'll have a very cool story to tell – I hope so anyway!

If any of you have connections to Time Magazine or Fortune Magazine, please advise!

-Tammi