I want to acknowledge the memories of our sailors, our soldiers and all others in service to our country and military over the past 3 centuries.  Individually my family: my Dad Charles and his service in the Air Force in the Korean War, Uncle Glen for his time in the Army in Viet Nam, my Uncle John who served in the Navy in WW2, my cousin Patrick who was career Air Force and is now retired, my father-in-law Charlie and his service in the Army during the Korean War, my great-aunt Stella, a WAC serving in WW2, and of course my great-uncle Billy who is the focus of this web site and project.   My husband and I will be attending the services at the Lexington Cemetery here tomorrow, something I have come to truly enjoy.  I've met some amazing people with their own stories to share. 

May all of you have a wonderful holiday weekend and enjoy this time with your families remembering the reason for this holiday. 

-Tammi

If this JPEG is too difficult to read, message me through the Contacts form on the Strong Contacts page and I will send you a PDF via email.  Thanks!!!

We have many wonderful museum ships across the country from the east coast, to the west and even in Hawaii.  These ships are aircraft carriers, light cruisers, battleships and one or two Fletcher-class destroyers even.   I believe in keeping these ships alive and active, in maintaining them as repositories of our history at war and using them to educate and inform people, from toddlers to gray haired grannies and grandpas.  This takes visitation and it takes money from tourists who pay the fees to get on board and who purchase items from the gift shops.   So I’d like to focus on a ship every so often, give you an idea of what’s there to be seen and invite you to visit and support them.  You can’t help but be moved emotionally by walking the decks of these amazing ships and walking with the spirits of the men and women who served on them.  To begin, let me introduce you to the USS KIDD DD 661.   

My husband Greg and I visited the USS KIDD DD 661 Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in May of 2011.  I had always envisioned visiting a Fletcher-class destroyer like the one my Uncle Billy was on, and set about trying to locate a suitable ship.  After searching Google I learned there aren’t many left.  The ships that have survived sinking, the scrap yard or sale to foreign countries can be counted on one hand, and only a couple are available for the public to visit.  Of the ships still around, the KIDD is the only ship of its kind and era that is still in close to original condition.  Aside from the repair job she underwent after a kamikaze attack and a very few adornments from the Korean War era she is the same ship launched at the Federal Shipbuilding and Dry-dock Company of Kearny, New Jersey on February 28, 1943.  

KIDD is docked on the Mississippi River there at 305 South River Road, next to the River Center and just a stone’s throw from the Louisiana Old State Capital.  To set up a visit I first contacted then director of the museum, Mr. Maury Drummond, who directed me to his assistant Mary Fish.  It’s already humid and sultry in Baton Rouge in May, but being overcast the day we visited helped keep down the heat.   On an all metal ship, that was a small blessing.  I had explained in advance my reasons for visiting, such as needing to see where Billy worked in the CIC and chartroom area, and to scope out the ship for possible use in a future documentary.  Mary was exceedingly accommodating and gave us VIP access to the ship.  We got into areas most visitors never have access to.  This provided me with an amazing perspective on life aboard the ship while she’s underway, which I needed in order to understand more about my uncle and the last 6 months of his life on STRONG.  The area my uncle and his crew worked in was not much bigger than a large walk in closet.  At full capacity and under battle conditions there might have been 16 men in that space; hot, cramped, loud and unpleasant on the best day.  To orchestrate navigating the ship and executing battle orders under these conditions is unimaginable.  This is what I wanted to see and understand.  This was a necessary step in the journey to bring life back to the STRONG, and give the ship and her men the proper platform for telling their stories. 

We were able to take some amazing photographs that day and I will share some of them with you.  I won’t go into the larger story of KIDD, her battle history and such as someone else has already done that.  Links are posted below.  I heartily encourage any of you who want to feel closer to your sailor to plan a visit to the USS KIDD DD 661, for starters.  The new director is Alexandra Juan, and I’m sure a phone call to her staff there at the museum would insure wonderful experience for you as well (225-342-1942).  

 From there, branch out and visit the many other wonderful floating museums we host in this country.  It’s a shame we don’t have the funds or support to keep every ship in the fleets as repositories of our military history.  But the ones we do have constantly need our support, our visitation, and dollars if you have them.  Knowledge of our history is priceless, maintaining it, not so much.  It’s worth it, and I hope anything that happens as this project goes forward can benefit these ships and their museums.  I believe our sailors would appreciate that.  Just one more way they will always be remembered.

Main web site: http://www.usskidd.com/

History of the ship:  http://www.usskidd.com/hist661.html

Additional info:  http://destroyerhistory.org/destroyers/index.asp?r=7300&pid=7303

List of museum ships: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Museum_ships_in_the_United_States

-Tammi

There were many heroes the night Strong went down, even some not on the ship.  In the wee moments after she was struck by the torpedo on July 5th, 1943, another destroyer captain in DESRON 21 rescued 240 men while taking fire from shore batteries.  It took just around 7 minutes to accomplish this feat before Captain Ephraim McLean had to pull away from the sinking Strong in order not to become a casualty himself.  As it was, Chevalier was damaged when she rammed into Strong in the dark in order to get close enough to rescue the crew.  It didn’t help that in the melee of ships scrambling in the dark to get into position, the USS O’Bannon hit Chevalier causing a surge forward, and she slammed into Strong a lot harder than planned, and this increased the list of the sinking ship in the water while ripping a hole just above the water line in Chevalier’s hull.  While joined, the Strong’s men scrambled aboard Chevalier any way they could, via lines thrown across to secure the decks or cargo nets thrown down the sides to aid men coming in from the oily black water.  On that dark and disastrous night, Captain McLean helped 240 men live to see their future.

I’ve recently become acquainted with a grandson of “Eff” McLean, Mike Hoffman.  Mike has shared an article, some photos and a couple of web links with information about the career of this man who, “smiles easily, talks softly and avoids fuss.”  I have posted the article, “New Boss of Naval District” from the Philadelphia Inquirer by Hugh Scott, dated November 11th, 1956 on the Memories of Strong web page.  The photos that accompanied the article are there as well.   While the article is wonderful and gives great details on the life and military history of McLean, you will notice that he listed the wrong date for the Strong sinking and I believe we can overlook that (he has it happening in June, not July).  I’m also going to share a couple of links that Mike has provided.  One link is to a YouTube video produced by Mike about his grandfather.  The video is titled “United States Navy Heroes, USS Chevalier DD 451”, and is 13 minutes of tribute to a man he admired.  About 3 minutes in you will see a depiction of the Strong sinking, and do keep in mind that the night fighting represented is not from the actual event.  We are working to see if any such film exists, possibly from one of the light cruisers.  There is a still shot on the Memories of Strong page that was taken from Helena and perhaps it’s possible there could be film.  The second link is a page describing the Naval history of Captain McLean, and I invite you to have a look at both. 

Without the quick thinking and courage under pressure of McLean, many Strong families would not have seen their men again and those of you younger than 69 or so would not have been born.  So thank you Captain McLean, we truly appreciate what you accomplished that night over 70 years ago in spite of the danger to your own ship and crew.  It made a difference.  And thanks Mike Hoffman, for sharing.

-Tammi

Youtube video link:     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wbjTUtoiN4

Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register: http://www.dmairfield.com/people/mclean_er/index.html

I love opening my email that's attached to the web site.  It's like an Easter egg with great information inside and 99% of the time the message is from a person who had a man on board the Strong DD 467.  The email I opened yesterday was from a gentleman searching for a friend named Hedrick, and he happened upon the web site.  After having a look around, he felt compelled to send a message to the families of Strong and beyond, and it's a message worth sharing.  Below, the tidings of Dr. Robert F. McVicker:

"My father was navigator on a B17 for 28 combat missions over Germany, and father in law was XO of an oil tanker in the Pacific, kamikaze filled theater, both to the end of the war. In an unrelated search for a friend named Hedrick, I found Ensign William Hedrick, the story of the USS Strong, and the recounted memoir of its loss and struggle of the survivors. As the son of a WWII airman, and a descendant of that GREATEST GENERATION, I would request that you please send my sincere appreciation and thank you for their service to any surviving USS Strong crew, and, absent that (my Dad is long passed, and I suspect so have the crew), please relay these tidings to the families of all generations since.

 God Bless America, and all those men and women who defend her.

 Robert F. McVicker MD"

So thank you Dr. Bob.  Come back any time, and thank you for sharing your story.

-Tammi   

Anticipation is more than a hit song by Carly Simon.  It’s what I’m living with every day now, and patience is not one of my favorite virtues, but I’m learning.  That said, I’m also learning that there are many aspects to completing research for a well written, well rounded account of an historical event.  While I’m a person who loves to share and to educate others, I’m finding that one of the most important tasks is safeguarding your resources.  I tend to be very eager and impulsive, and with this project I feel a bit like Alice fallen down the rabbit hole.  Thanks to Stephen Harding I’ve ended up at the ultimate tea party.  Learning and sharing information is a huge geek-out moment for me, and the blog gives me the most awesome forum.  People are reading it, and again that appeals to the ego of someone like myself who is a newbie at this with a lot to learn.  Dialing back my enthusiasm a notch or two is essential to this process.  I wish it were possible to share the intimate details of what we are about to experience, when we experience it.  Sharing too much could endanger the endeavor, so in the interest of keeping the information and the project safe I will pass along some tidbits along the way while keeping things fairly general. 

Part of the process that I can share involves translation of the Japanese script that was on many of the artifacts Hugh Barr Miller, Jr. brought back with him from Arundel Island.  I was allowed to take photographs of the artifacts, many with Japanese script covering the surface.  I’ve included a couple of photographs of these artifacts, but only those without script.  Protecting the work means keeping the items safe from outside translation or contamination from others not involved with the project.  Within the script could be information that adds depth and character to the story.  In the interest of extracting the information, a translator has been secured who will endeavor to unlock any mysteries within the script.  So far some really wonderful information has come to light, including personal insights into the men in the Japanese troops.  When the book comes together and all the pieces are woven together it will produce an amazing story.

Many of you are somewhat familiar with more external aspects of the story of Miller’s ordeal on Arundel Island.  Through the research and story-telling abilities of an author experienced in making history come alive on paper, we will all see a whole new side of the story of both the ship and the man.  This is the journey we are undertaking and the result will provide closure for many of us who have worked on this for many years, even decades. 

On a more current note, I have nearly completed the cleaning of some rather moldy documents from Miller's family, and am securing them in archival plastic. No translations needed here, but you can't work with documents that have the potential to make you sick.  Lots more data to extract here and it must be done safely.

- Tammi

I’ve been at this long enough that I appreciate it when I meet people who share my mindset; people who may have a family member they never knew or knew for a short time, someone who was lost to the circumstances of war.  Over the decades of research there have been many, but few who came close to my actual situation, a true kindred spirit.  A recent article in the January issue of Air Force Times comes so close it’s scary.

My buddy Andy Hoder (son of Stanley Hoder of Strong) found this article and sent it to me, claiming that the similarities were uncanny and he was not kidding.  Titled A Homecoming: Returned letters, Purple Heart open book on deceased WWII vet’s life, the article covers a box of letters and mementos found by a stranger, a woman’s life long journey to know an uncle she never met and a woman working in a museum whose mission was to reunite this family with the precious box.  Sgt. Kendall Morrow was a waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress with the 351st Bomb Squadron, 100th Bomb Group when his plane was shot down over Germany December 11th of 1943.  His niece Nancy Cederman was born two years after his death and recalls her Aunt Averill, sister to Kendall, talking about him her entire life.  I had a similar situation with my great-aunt Stella, sister to Billy.  Another cousin of my fathers related to me that his mother and aunts, other sisters of Billy’s, would discuss him at length.  Recalling memories of their brother would make them cry and the loss of this beloved brother was something they never quite got over.  Cederman’s aunt, “….grieved for Kendall her whole life.  Her whole life.  Every time she talked to us, she talked about him.  All that stands out is her sorrow from losing him.  All of her stories were about his death.”  When her aunt died in 2012, she thought the last connection to Kendall was lost.  This is where Linda Hastreiter comes on.

Linda is a volunteer for the Iron Island Museum in Buffalo, New York.  The man who found the letters and other items found them in a basement in Rochester, NY.  The letters indicated they were sent to a family in the Buffalo area, so he turned to her for help.  Linda used internet resources and her love for research and veterans causes to track down the family.  Long story short, she connected with Nancy Cederman on Facebook, and they set up to meet.  At the museum, Nancy was presented with the letters, his diary and Purple Heart award among other things.  For her uncle, Nancy felt this was a form of closure.  For her family, she now has some historical documents that tell her about the life of this man, and possibly enough information to write a book about his short life.  His remains were never recovered.  For the entire story and details, click here:  http://www.airforcetimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014301140002

On February 5th I had the opportunity to speak with Linda on the phone, and she is another kindred spirit in many ways.  Her love of the chase, her desire to track down clues and bring a cause to completion is akin to my own.  In her community she is the go to person for bringing closure and has had a wonderful success rate.  If you are in the Buffalo area, check into visiting the Iron Island Museum and read the stories here on the web site about her work to properly bury the abandoned cremated remains of veterans which were stored in a closet of the building that is now the museum: http://www.ironislandmuseum.com/

I never knew Billy, but am well aware that his sisters grieved his loss profoundly.  Stella expressed to me time and again how much she appreciated that I was taking an interest in Billy and his life because everyone else had forgotten him.  I feel close to fulfilling my mission.  Much remains to be done but wheels are in motion to bring some closure for him, and perhaps for others.  I know Stella and the others are counting on me to finish this for them, and for Billy.

-Tammi

 

Anytime you work with old documents there are a lot of concerns to address.  In particular, the documents I have been working with from WW2 era have condition issues such as brittleness, yellowing, ink decay and mold damage.  Many of you may have documents from this time period as well.  Perhaps they have been in an attic, basement or closet for decades, someplace where environmental conditions were not ideal for the preservation of precious papers. Ink fades, paper degrades and much of the information can be lost.  Those precious letters, photographs and other papers saved from your father, grandfather or uncle need to be preserved in a condition that allows descendants to learn from them as well.

If the only issue you have is aging of the paper, the solution is simple.  There are many companies that provide archival grade materials such as those used in museums and libraries.  These materials help to preserve precious documents and photographs.  When I received a box of letters, photographs and other documents that had belonged to my great-uncle Billy, I used two of these suppliers to get hold of acid-free archival boxes and acid-free plastic page protectors.  It's not cheap, but not super expensive either.   You need to shop around and compare prices between companies to get the best price.  It's well worth the cost at any rate, to be able to slow down or stop degradation of paper goods.  The two companies I use are Gaylord Brothers and Light Impressions.  See the links below:

Gaylord Brothers: http://www.gaylord.com/

Light Impressions: http://www.lightimpressionsdirect.com/

There are other archival supply companies of course, but these are the two I am most familiar with.  You may want to check locally to see if any office suppliers carry similar materials, and this would save on shipping.

All of Billy's letters, his officer's commission and hand written poems are now safe in page protectors to insure there will be no further damage from the elements.  These are together in a 3-ring binder that I pull out from time to time when I want to be inspired, and to remember why I'm pursuing this project in the first place.  

Mold damage is a huge issue.  When I met Fitz Miller in Pensacola recently, he shared some documents of his father's (Hugh Barr Miller, Jr.) that had barely survived Hurricane Ivan in September of 2004.  Mold was all through them and the binder was rusted shut.  I had to break the rings with pliers to extract the papers.  I have a bit of work to do before I can even begin to scan or extract any information from them that might be useful for Stephen Harding and his book.  Thanks to a little bit of research and conferring with conservation specialists at the University of Kentucky Special Collections and a web site I was referred to, I know what I need to do.  The web site is below, and offers a lot of free information to anyone with preservation needs:

Northeast Document Conservation Center:  http://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/overview

  As soon as we got home from Pensacola, I knew to put the binder and other documents in the freezer.  Encased in a large plastic bag, I kept them there for most of a week.  The usual requirement for freezing is 2-3 days, but I wanted to make sure the spores were dead as they could be.  I am just beginning to work with these documents, so there is still much to do.

Just because the mold is dead doesn't mean the papers are safe to work with.  No one wants to breathe in mold spores, dead or alive they can cause damage to the lungs. The plan to prepare them involves a nice warm day, a large table, my carport and a few other pieces of equipment.  I will need a pair of latex-free nitrile gloves, face mask and my trusty Dyson vacuum cleaner with a brush attachment.  It's recommended to use a vacuum with a HEPA filter, but the Dyson will have to do.  Each page will need to be vacuumed and then inserted into a page protector.  From that point, they should be safe enough for me to scan and read. 

If you have any other questions concerning documents or other materials of your own, I would be happy to help you find a way to keep them from becoming moth fodder.  The life of paper is short, but there are ways to preserve your family history for generations to follow. 

For more information on preservation of documents, check out this link to the Smithsonian Institute: http://www.si.edu/mci/downloads/RELACT/paper_documents.pdf

Tammi

Hey all,

We're about to turn the calendar over to another year, and I wanted to reflect a little on the events of the year.

January brought an uptick in the activity on my web site, and contact with Maxine Stancill Edwards, daughter of William James Stancill of Strong. This was the beginning of many new family contacts to add to the list.

In February, I was able to help Captain Wellings' daughter solve a mystery about a mission flag for DESRON 2 that was among her father's things. He ended up going back to the Pacific and served as a destroyer squadron commander for a time. I also added David Hermsen to the list, son of John J. Hermsen, S1c.

March, I found out that Anne, Captain Wellings' daughter was planning on making it to the reunion in Pensacola in September. Such a wonderful surprise!

April brought some very wonderful and surprising news that I just can't share as of yet. Lots of stuff pending and riding on good timing, so let's just say that if this much anticipated news comes to pass, we will have achieved something wonderful. Stay tuned......

In May, I again attended the Memorial Day services at the Veteran's Cemetery here in Lexington and ended up getting interviewed by the local news. Surprisingly, they ended up doing the entire piece on the interview, so it was very humbling. We also have a major Hollywood actor who lives right here in the Bluegrass, Steve Zahn. Zahn brings his children to these ceremonies each year, instilling in them a sense of honor, dignity and pride in country. It's refreshing to see how unaffected he is by his celebrity and just content to be one of the people in the crowd paying homage to our vets.

In June I solved another mystery thanks to obtaining some deck logs for two of the other destroyer escorts with Strong on July 5th. I had two reports of who picked up Captain Wellings, and wanted to solve this for any future research purposes. According to the logs, the Gwin picked up the captain and saw to his injuries. Coincidentally, this find would later lead to an amazing connection!

July brought an amazing number of hits to the web site. In one hour I had 545 hits on one day, and it indicated to me that things may be taking a turn. Little did I know how much of a turn. The month also brought me three new Strong family members – I gained Bill Gustavson, son of Clarence Gustavson, Pam Dunfield and Carol Loggia, neices of Fred Purdy, Captain Wellings' 2nd in command. I figure part of the increase in the site activity was due to these family members sharing the site, and for that I'm very pleased.

Back to things taking a turn in July, this was the first time I had contact with Stephen Harding! And things just keep getting better and better as time goes on. So thank you July for being quite a magical month.

In August, I began planning for the reunion and was asked by Steve to conduct interviews that might be included in the book. We discussed plans for the book he planned, and how he's waiting for approval from the publisher to make the announcement.

September brought the reunion in Pensacola. For the first time ever it was attended by Fitz Miller, son of Hugh Barr Miller, Jr., and by Captain Wellings' daughter Anne. They got to meet Andy Hoder, son of Stanley Hoder of Strong, and the one survivor who keeps coming back every year, James Merriman. Many touching and moving moments were had and wonderful conversation and story sharing ensued. It was amazing, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

October brought me two more family members; David Bailey, nephew of Norman Britt Carpenter and Christopher Gates, nephew of Ben Leonard. David shared a taped recording of his uncle Norman's interview from 1982, and gave me a great lead for tracking down some other information.

I also got the okay to reveal that Steve Harding had a contract to write a book in 2014 about Strong and the story of Hugh Barr Miller, Jr. Big news and happy tidings!

The end of October also brought the death of O. Milt Hackett, officer and a gentleman. Smooth sailing forever, Milt.

November came, and in following up on a lead as mentioned above, I located another Strong survivor, Dr. Henry Laughlin. He was the first medical officer on board, and left the ship in May of 1943 before it sunk. Dr. Laughlin had some recollections he shared with Steve Harding about his time on Strong, via his son John. It was said by Norman Carpenter that one of the doctors on board had carried a movie camera around and was constantly shooting, so we were able to rule out Dr. Laughlin. Next, I needed to try and find the second doctor to clear the mystery and see if there could be any film that existed of time on Strong. I had planned to try and track down the second doctor or his family, but strangely they found me first!

December brought me an early Christmas gift, the family of Dr. Albert Horne, second medical officer on Strong. I woke up one morning and there was an email from his son Russell, out of the blue. Russell and I have exchanged emails and it seems that yes, Dr. Horne did shoot film while on the ship. Sadly, none of it made it off the ship and is now part of the wreckage in the Kula Gulf. How amazing that would have been, to have found even a small piece of film. But I did learn that Dr. Horne was one of the last people to see my uncle Billy alive, and that means something.

Lastly in December, another wonderful email. I got a note from a man named Bill Brown who was an 18 year old radioman on Guadalcanal the night Strong went down. He recalls the message coming through, and says that memory still haunts him. I need to talk with this man and ask him a bit more about that night. Just another case of random events that have meaning. I hope to have many more of these messages come through in 2014.

So much more happened, but the highlights were finding more family members, the increased web site activity and the upcoming book. We have so much to look forward to and I can't wait to give you updates all through 2014. Thank you all so much for your continued support, for reading the blog and for all the information you have shared.

Have a wonderful 2014!!!

Tammi

In a recent blog, I mentioned that I’ve had these “I can’t make this stuff up” coincidences.  Shortly after writing that blog, I had another.  These things just render me speechless, and believe me that’s not easy to do.  So here’s the story, and some additional information.

I got an email from a man whose uncle was on Strong.  David Bailey sent me a note about his uncle, Norman Britt Carpenter, who survived the sinking.  Over the years, Uncle Norman told David many stories and David ended up sharing them with me.  One such story was the memory Norman had of one of the ship’s doctors taking home movies on the ship with a 16mm movie camera.  That set me on the path to locate the two doctors who served on Strong, Dr. Henry P. Laughlin (plank owner to May 1943), and Dr. Albert M. Horne (April – sinking in July, 1943).  I was excited about the possibility of there being film taken on board the ship that made it past censors.  It didn’t take long to track down Dr. Laughlin’s family, and it turns out that Dr. Laughlin is still alive, 97 years old and frail but he was willing to answer a couple of questions.  We found out he was not the one who shot film, so that left Dr. Horne.  He was on board the ship for a short time, and the likelihood of any film being sent home prior to the sinking of the ship was miniscule.  It was worth a shot however, to try to locate his family.  I had found and downloaded his obituary as Dr. Horne died in 1997.  The obit listed the names of his children and their cities of residence, so it was some place to start.  I had every intention of finding time soon to begin searching for contact information.  A few days later, I get up and open up my email that’s specifically attached to the contact page on the web site, and out of the blue I get this, from a Russell Horne: 

“I have a photo of my father if you are interested. He was the Medical Office on the Strong. I don't know his exact dates of assignment. Those can probably be obtained somewhere. I am new at this so I am sure I will learn these things as I move forward with this research. He was on the Strong when it sunk in the Kula gulf. Anyway, if you are interested in a pic, please let me know where to email it.

Russell”

 Thus, the speechless part.  Even more interesting, after a couple of email exchanges it seems that Dr. Horne always had a camera in hand taking film of whatever was going on around him.  I found my movie making doctor!  At present, his family is searching through the things he left behind and have not been able to locate any film he may have shot on Strong.  It’s most likely the camera he took with him and any film are indeed at the bottom of the Kula Gulf.  However, there have been other things to learn from this family.  Before I get to that, let me briefly introduce you to Albert Horne.  From his obituary from March of 1997:

“Dr. Albert Merrill Horne, 86, died peacefully at his home, March 22, 1997, after a prolonged illness. Born September 11, 1910 in Salt Lake City, he was the youngest of six children of George Henry Horne and Alice Smith Merrill Horne. He married Laura Callis November 12, 1940 in Salt Lake City. As a teenager, Albert worked summers on the Nevada and Colorado ranches of his brother-in-law and older sister, Leo and Mary Horne Winder. He graduated from East High School where he was in ROTC.After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Utah, he attended medical school at the U. of U. for two years. He graduated from George Washington University Medical School after 2 further years of medical study. He did post graduate medical training at Cornell /New York University Medical Center. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was the medical officer aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Strong and was among the survivors when in July 1943, that ship was sunk in a nighttime naval battle near Guadalcanal. Subsequently, he was assigned to the Seabees and was on Okinawa when the war ended. After the war, he completed a residency in Radiology in Dallas, Texas. Following that, he practiced in Lubbock, Texas and then in Midland, Texas until his retirement in 1980. He was a member of the AMA, Texas Medical Association, and the American College of Radiology. He belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving faithfully in various positions as stake missionary, branch president and a district high councilor. Albert was a remarkably kind and gentle man who thought of others before himself. He is survived by his wife, Laura; their five children: Merrill (Deborah), Salt Lake City; Steven (Susan), Orem, Utah; Charlotte (David) Williams, Salt Lake City; Russell (Susan), Lubbock, Texas; Daniel (Kristine), Dallas, Texas; nineteen grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Also survived by his sister Zorah Horne Jeppson of Salt Lake City.”

A couple of emails later, Russell had this to tell me:

“As a medical officer, our father had other assignments as there were not always wounded or sick people to care for and sometimes medical officers had nothing to do.  His other assignment was to help the communications officers on board to intercept and to decode enemy communications.  When the Strong was hit, he was below deck, and he and the other communications officers were busy destroying all of their material (which included decoded enemy communications, etc).   As the ship took more enemy fire and began to list, our father was called up on deck to help with the wounded.  Very soon, thereafter was when the Strong was rammed by the Chevalier and our father was able to make it to that ship.  All the communications officers that our father was helping remained below deck and they were killed as they went down with the ship.

Tammi.  I am not sure as to the complete accuracy of this story and my brother, Merrill is the one who was told the story by our mother or our father.  If it is accurate, it is possible that our father was one of the last people to see and/or speak with William Hedrick.”

According to a newspaper interview with Dr. Horne that was published upon his return home, he mentions the lieutenant he was working with in the communications area, and helping to destroy the documents and equipment – that would have been Lt. Benjamin Frazier Jetton, Billy’s superior officer and yes, that meant he was one of the last people to see Billy alive.  This is strangely comforting to know. 

I look forward to learning more from the Horne family, and hold out hope that perhaps there might be a small piece of film from the ship that made it home before the sinking.  Either way, I’m very happy to have another Strong family on board.

  Tammi