First Combat Escort Patrol

“Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”
20 September 2017

This week in 1942, the PC 552 commenced its first combat escort patrol. What did you do this week?
The months and years of planning and executing paid off. The ship was conceived and built and launched; a crew was drafted, trained, and on board ship. The ship’s training was complete and it was time to engage. The very next day, it engaged a suspected German U-boat by launching depth charges. No proof of success but dirty water was observed.

The following day, the ship launched another attack against another contact. This time, an oil slick was observed. Whether or not a U-boat was sunk was a matter of opinion. U-boats were under water when attacked and sunk if the attack was successful. Attackers guessed whether a U-boat was sunk by looking for signs such as oil slicks and detritus such as clothes or life preservers. U-boats knew this and so when attacked, would mimic being sunk by releasing oil or shooting detritus through their torpedo tubes which would rise to the surface.

There was rarely any certainty. The ship this time was not officially credited with a kill but the convoy made it through without casualties, the real mark of success.

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Surviving the Empire of Japan

13 September 2017

“Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”
13 September 2017
This week in 1945, the PC 552 was transferred back from the war in the Pacific to the Atlantic Coast. What did you do this week?
The USS PC 552 came back from Victory in Europe fully expecting to join the war in the Pacific against Japan and they were transferred to the Pacific theater on 20 June 1945; two days before arriving home. They survived Europe but would they survive Japan? They didn’t know.

On 06 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on a Japanese city which had no effect on the Japanese war effort. The Soviet Union attacked Japanese troops in Manchuria. The United States dropped another bomb on 09 August 1945 which finally convinced the Japanese to surrender on 15 August 1945. Suddenly, the crew of the PC 552, who fully expected to face war again, found itself part of a peacetime navy for the first time. This beautiful photo is of the US Navy forces docked in Tokyo bay the evening of 27 August 1945. That is Mount Fuji the background.

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New Guns and Plenty of Ammunition

23 August 2017

“Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”

During this week in 1943, the PC 552 received “new guns and plenty of ammunition” at Tompkinsville, NY. What did you do this week?

John Churchill was known as “Mad Jack” for a good reason: people thought he was nuts. He was renowned in the British Army for being the only soldier allowed to carry a longbow and basket-hilted Scottish broadsword (no officer was properly dressed without a sword, in his opinion). He’s thought to have achieved the only longbow kill of the war, shooting down a German scout in France.

He led commando raids in Norway and Yugoslavia (while playing the bagpipes, of course), survived being shot in the neck, captured or killed dozens of enemy soldiers and wreaked havoc before being captured. Mad Jack escaped, was captured again, then when the lights at his prison camp went out, he walked out of the camp (which was still being guarded) and walked 90 miles to find an American unit. After VE-Day, he fought in Burma, and when the war ended, he became a surfer. Source: Rothschild, Mike, “27 Unsung WWII Heroes You May Not Know About”.

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The Frightening New Weapon

09 August 2017

“Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”

During this week in 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What did you do this week?

The painting shown is a famous one about what was then called “the thousand yard stare”. It is the blank, unfocused gaze of someone who has seen too much. This was not limited to World War II but it has been called different things in different ages. It was a symptom of what was called “soldiers heart” after the Civil War, “shell shock” in World War I, and “battle fatigue” in World War II. Now we call it PTSD. Think of what these men experienced, then think also of what their families experienced. The cost was huge.

Wars are nasty for everybody and rational people want them stopped by any means necessary. In some circles, it has become fashionable to claim the atom bombs were some sort of atrocity. The men of the PC 552 who were spared the war in the Pacific did not think so. Neither did their families, neither did the millions of Chinese spared additional atrocities, nor the millions of Japanese civilians spared surviving (or not) in a war zone.

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D-day, June 6, 1944

 

Americans picking up their dead on D-day

“Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”

 

Yesterday, 73 years ago, the Allies launched the Battle of Normandy which began the slow trek to the heart of Nazi Germany. It remains the largest amphibious assault in the history of the world.

The PC 552 was in the front lines of the US Navy. Its job was to manage the timing of the assaulting lines and provide suppressing fire. It first released the 741st Tank Battalion which promptly sunk and the ship had to pick up scores of drowning men while dodging enemy fire. The ship was almost destroyed by German 88 artillery.

The men who recorded their thoughts were consistent:
i. They assumed they were NOT coming back alive.
ii. The drowning men of the 741st haunted them to their last days.
iii. They couldn’t understand how all those bullets missed them.

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Lt. Donald McVickar

31 May 2017

Companion book: “Normandy: A Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity”

Lt. Donald McVickar was the first commanding officer of the PC 552. He boarded the ship on 29 July 1942 and was transferred 28 Nov 1942, just four months later. It is he who commanded the ship on its shakedown cruise and during its first attack on a suspected German U-boat.

I suspect he went on to command the destroyer escort USS Eisner (above) and attend Harvard after the war but I don’t really know. What I do know is that I was unable to find out what his rank was when he left the PC 552.

This information can be found at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC), I Archives Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63138. If you visit this facility, you may request this information. Please make sure to note this is for nonprofit historical research. Please help these sailors be remembered.

We need his rank upon leaving the ship.

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You may contact me directly at: uss.pc.552@gmail.com

The Leopoldville

The Leopoldville at the bottom of the English Channel

21 December 2016

Companion book: “Normandy: a Father’s Ship and a Son’s Curiosity” coming out 2017

This week in 1944 the U.S.S. PC 552 looked for survivors of the HMS Leopoldville disaster on Christmas Eve. What did you do this week?

HMS Leopoldville
Starting Christmas Eve, the HMS Leopoldville was sunk outside of Cherbourg Harbor and the PC 552 had to look for survivors. In many instances, an important event will be noted in the Deck Log with a few terse sentences. This is one.
The Allies were desperate to get as many troops and supplies across the English Channel to the European Theater of Operations as possible, as fast as possible. In the process, corners were cut.
The HMS Leopoldville sailed from England officered by the Royal Navy, crewed by Belgians, captained by a non-English speaking Belgian, and crammed with 2,223 American fighting men. It was a former luxury liner designed to carry 360 passengers.
Speed was the number one consideration. No lifeboats were hung over the side, there were inadequate life jackets, and no lifeboat or abandon ship drills were practiced.
When the HMS Leopoldville took a torpedo, the Royal Navy officers and the Belgian crew took off, leaving the Americans to their fate, having no knowledge of what was going on. 802 Americans died, although no Britons or Belgians died. Most Americans who did not die were hospitalized after making it to Cherbourg, effectively wiping out a complete regiment.
This incident was kept secret for decades in the interest of Allied unity.

“That Christmas Eve, when I with so many others jumped into the sea. filled with oh so many boys crying out to God and Mother. is just something I do not wish to recall.” Pvt. George Baker.

This is what the PC 552 dealt with on Christmas Eve, 1944.
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We will be sending these posts out each Wednesday. Please enjoy these posts about the U.S.S. PC 552, its crew, and its times.

Email: USS.PC.552@gmail.com