I like solving mysteries, and this project has presented its share of them.  One enduring mystery involved which ship rescued Captain Gus Wellings on July 5th just hours after the sinking of STRONG.  If there is a chance this story may be told in a documentary, book or other form some day, it's important to get these details straight.   

The mystery arises from two sources of information and two different accounts.  In a letter written by Gus on July 13th of 1943, he tells a friend:
 “We were still about a mile from the Point, when much to our surprise a destroyer loomed up ahead headed toward us.  We immediately again flashed our light and they began yelling that they had seen us and would come to our rescue.  Was she a happy sight!  After about five minutes which seemed like hours, they threw us a line and came alongside.  By this time I was pretty weak and one of my firemen who was with us on the floater net practically carried me up the side of the GWIN where I was pulled aboard and taken to the wardroom practically flat out.”

An action report written later by one of  Wellings' officers stated that the Captain was picked up by the USS RALPH TALBOT, one of the other screening escorts, a companion that night to USS GWIN.   So with this discrepancy in mind, and realizing that in the heat of  battle some details may be lost or mistaken, I set out to find a way to find the truth.  It turns out that the deck logs of the ships might have the answers.  To get copies of the deck logs I went to the web site for the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.  A link to the site can be found on the links page.  There, they have a contact form where you can enter a request for specific information, along with your name, address, email and such.  I sent in a form requesting deck logs for RALPH TALBOT and GWIN for a few days prior to July 5th, and a couple of days after.   Once the form was submitted, I received an email telling me it could take 3-4 weeks for my request to be addressed.  It must have been a slow period at the NA, because it was less than two weeks – and not only did they address my request, but they sent me the documents I asked for free of charge.  And fortunately for me, one of the documents had the answer I was looking for.  Turns out that the Captain was correct in being rescued by GWIN, along with a couple other officers and crew.  RALPH TALBOT actually rescued 18 sailors from STRONG that night.  Anyone wanting to see copies of these documents, just drop me a note.  I'm including the July 5th, 1943 entry from GWIN in this post.   

Here's to solving a few more mysteries in the days and weeks to come.

Tammi

I'm Facebook “friends” with the Pacific Wrecks web site run by Daniel Leahy and Justin Taylan. On my links page I list a link to their web site and the page they built as a memorial to my great-uncle Billy.    They do so much more there though, and some of it involves promoting causes in South Pacific islands that are of importance to the people of the island nations  there.  One cause recently mentioned is the amount of unexploded ordinance left behind from World War II from the Japanese and allied troops including the US and Australia.  It seems that when you invade or liberate an island group or small country, that you don't always retrieve your leftovers or take out the trash before you head out.  Thus the place you helped to free of invaders is left with tanks, vehicles, crashed planes and boats, temporary structures that are unsightly or dangerous and piles of unexploded bombs, shells, bullets, mines and other dangerous incendiary devices.   Many people have died or been injured running across bombs that were either on the surface in piles, or buried in shallow pits and are discovered when ground is broken for construction or other uses.   

The Solomon Islands are included in this endeavor, and the problem of unexploded ordnance referred to as UXO, has many aspects.  A report prepared in 2011 details the issues for the entire Pacific theater, titled “WWII Unexploded Ordnance: A Study of UXO in Four Pacific Island Countries 2011”.  To read the entire report click here: http://www.forumsec.org/resources/uploads/attachments/documents/UXO%20final.pdf

The section on the Solomon Islands begins on page 60, with some geographic details such as the population being approximately 535,699 people, with the density being 19 people per square kilometer.  They have approximately 1,135 police personnel for the population, and when you do the math it breaks down to about 1 police officer for every 472 people.  In addition to their basic duties in sometimes very remote areas, these police officers are responsible for helping to report and in some cases retrieve this ordnance, and attempt to properly dispose of dangerous materials.  Not only are most of them not properly trained, but there are just not enough people to pull from regular duties to take care of all the bombs and shells that are lying around above ground or found buried.  

The UXO are a danger in many ways including:
1.  Being volatile and prone to explode on land as well as underwater, due in part to corrosion of the metal casings.  This results in leakage of dangerous chemicals into the waters and the soil.
2.  Materials wash upon shore and contaminate beaches - beaches where there may be tourists or others who don't realize the danger and be injured or killed.
3.  Locals find the shells and attempt to extract the gunpowder for sale or use in "dynamite" fishing (basically throwing homemade bombs in the water causing an explosion resulting in a massive fish kill) and this results in explosion and possible death.
4.  Some of these homemade bombs are used in violent crimes.
5.  UXO found in areas of property development cause work delays and add dollars to costs for remediation that builders can ill afford.
6.  The leakage of UXO underwater is killing coral reefs;  The Solomons support diving tourism in pristine areas and areas with diveable wrecks, so the ordnance can impact tourism dollars.

 The report is worth reading, and the photographs frightening.  I can't imagine having something like this in my back yard, and the people of the island nations live with it every day.  Anyone visiting an exotic and wonderful part of the world needs to educate themselves on the issues important to these places, in order to be a responsible tourist.  As I hope to visit the Solomon Islands some day to pay homage to the grave of my uncle, I appreciate having access to this information.  

Tammi