IT’S TODAY: “The date that will live in infamy.” It’s the date –
Dec. 7, 1941 – that the United States Navy was attacked by the
Japanese at Pearl Harbor and brought us dramatically into World War
II. Despite the 64 intervening years, the shock has not gone away.
It never will.
VINCE GOODRICH: Writing about World War II in general and the
Navy in particular gives us an opening to tell readers about a
recent column in the Buffalo News about a reunion of surviving
sailors aboard the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts.
Among those attending was Vince Goodrich of Bradford.
Our intention initially was to paraphrase the column, written by
Donn Esmonde, but we were so impressed with this heroic adventure
that we felt it deserved at least two days.
Titled “Real Heroes Among us Cause no Stir,” the column starts:
“They were in town last week. Not many people noticed. They looked
like any other group of grayhairs, adorned with eyeglasses and
hearing aids, moving slowly in comfortable shoes.”
“You can’t tell a man’s past by his walking cane or slow shuffle
or sly smile. So the guys from the U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts came
and went, with little stir.
“That’s the way they like it. Real heroes don’t need a brass
band. They know what they did, they know why they did it, they
don’t need applause or approval. Although it is nice when it
comes.”
Esmonde explains that there were about 220 men on the smallish
ship, a carrier escort, when they unexpectedly ran headlong into
the Imperial Japanese Navy near the Philippine Islands that October
day in 1944.
“American soldiers invaded the islands days earlier. The
Japanese fleet was heading to blast them off the beach. The U.S.S.
Samuel B. Roberts was in a small convoy of ships – outnumbered,
outgunned and in the way.
“They held off the Japanese long enough for our guys to get off
the beach. But the U.S.S. Roberts went down, 91 guys died, and
survivors clung to cork-and-rope rafts in shark-infested waters for
three days.
“That was 61 years ago. Every year, in a different city, there
is a reunion. About 10 guys show up, of the 30 shipmates left. This
year, they came to Buffalo.”
More tomorrow.
