A lot of words about my father

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by Franco

to be continued

I sure hope so!!...wow...what a "page turner" that is...

The nickname "The Mighty Moo", according to lore in and around the town of Cowpens came from her foghorn...for whatever reason, it had more of a bellow than most of the day...can't wait to show ya around Cowpens...wish your dad could have made it to The Mighty Moo Festival...parade, BBQ, street vendors and the like...but they also pay tribute to the veterans who served aboard The Moo...Pop would have been right at home...

[Franco]

A Japanese plane scored a torpedo hit on the heavy cruiser CANBERRA on the 13th, and the same thing happened to the light cruiser HOUSTON the next day. We started a retreat on the 15th, with the two cripples slowing us down. While other ships stood between the damaged cruisers and the enemy, the COWPENS and her sister ship CABOT furnished air cover. Japanese planes kept after the wounded ships, and the ensuing air battles were the fiercest to date for COWPENS. Her planes accounted for 17 of some 80 enemy planes shot down on the 15th and 16th. The HOUSTON was hit a second time by a torpedo, but all ships made it back to Ulithi.
There was little rest for the weary. Word came through on the 25th of October that the Japanese Fleet was on it’s way to the Philippines, and the now famous Second Battle of the Philippine Sea was well underway when the carriers got there. Three of the task groups destroyed the Japanese carrier force to the north, while the COWPENS flew combat air patrols and fighter sweeps over airfields in the Visayan Islands. Later, the COWPENS helped chase the remnants of the enemy battleship force back through The Sibuyan Sea. COWPENS torpedo planes scored three hits on a heavy cruiser to help finish her off, and damaged other enemy ships. With the threat to our landings removed, the carriers once more retired to Ulithi.
It had been planned for the carriers to hit the Japanese home islands next, but the occupation forces ran into tough going in the Philippines. The Japanese were able to send in both land and air reinforcements. The carriers were called back to halt this flow. The task group, including the COWPENS, started this phase by hitting a convoy of 12 freighters off Lingayen Gulf, damaging four. Bad weather and Kamikaze attacks complicated things. Next it was a convoy of 20 ships between Cebu and Leyte, none of which escaped undamaged.
The force then headed for Central Luzon to concentrate on the enemy's air strength and shipping. This series of attacks saw COWPENS' planes destroy 38 enemy planes by bombing and strafing. The force beat off an air attack the afternoon of October 28th, shooting down 21 planes before retiring to Ulithi.
At this point Captain Taylor was relieved by Captain G. H. DeBaun; giving the COWPENS her third and last commanding officer of the war period.
The Philippines continued to occupy the attention of the COWPENS and the other fast carriers throughout the rest or 1944. The task force shuttled back and forth from Ulithi to hack away at enemy aircraft and shipping until the Army built up its strength ashore and could look after itself. It was during one or these forays that the carriers encountered a severe typhoon. For the COWPENS, the storm proved more vicious than the enemy. There had been a lot of rough weather, but the typhoon that struck off the Philippines on December 17th vas the worst of all. Winds up to 100 miles an hour buffeted the COWPENS. She wallowed in the monstrous seas for seemingly endless hours rolling as much as 45 degrees in the worst of her agony.
Topside gear tore loose. Bombs in the forward magazine broke away and rolled about crazily. Men trying to secure them had to jump up and hang to the overhead at times to avoid being crushed to death by the bombs. Tractors and planes broke loose from their lashings and careened wildly about the flight deck. A fighter belly tank caught fire from the friction. The firefighters had to lash themselves to the deck to avoid being washed overboard. They finally succeeded in pushing the flaming plane over the side, but not without a casualty. In the struggle Lieutenant Commander Price, who had escaped death by such a narrow margin six months before, disappeared. He had come back as the ship’s air officer after the relief of Air Group 25.
At the height of the storm the COWPENS surface radar went out of action, and the captain decided to try to fight his way clear alone, for fear of colliding with the other ships. The task group commander assigned two destroyers as escorts. Only one could find the COWPENS. The destroyer HALSEY POWELL guided COWPENS by radio.
The worst was over on the 18th, and the next day the COWPENS rejoined the task group. Christmas was spent at Ulithi while the damage was repaired. In so damaging the COWPENS, the typhoon had done something the Japanese never were able to do.
New Years Day 1945, found the COWPENS once more on the go. More troop landings were scheduled in the Philippines, and again the mission was to knockout the Japanese air strength from a position to interfere. Formosa was again a prime target, and for the job the COWPENS was assigned to Task Group 38.1, under Rear Admiral Arthur Radford.
Our attacks started on January 2nd, but bad weather hampered operations and the carriers moved down closer to the Philippines after three days. By the 7th, our planes were ranging over northern Luzon. But the hunting was poor, and it was decided to try again at Formosa. Still more foul weather sent the task force in search of prey elsewhere. We entered the China Sea, with the COWPENS being the first carrier through Bashi Channel. Although hampered by storms and squalls the force hit Camranh Bay, French Indo-China, and Hong Kong.
This penetration into water so close to the Japanese homeland brought a radio threat from "Tokyo Rose". She promised that the American carriers would be destroyed. But little or no opposition turned up, and it was the continued bad weather and not the Japanese that caused retirement from the China Sea on January 20th.
On the way back to Ulithi, the planes hit Formosa again on the 21st. Here the COWPENS fighter director brought about a neat interception. Fifteen of 18 enemy planes trying to attack the carriers were shot down and the others chased off. It earned the ship a special commendation from the task force commander.
The third air group to fly from the COWPENS, Air Group 46, came to the ship at Ulithi on February 6th, 1945, skippered by Commander C. W. Rooney. The Iwo Jima campaign was coming up and fresh pilots were needed.
To protect the Marines landing at Iwo Jima, it was necessary to stop the Japanese air force at the Empire itself. COWPENS was attached to Task Group 58.3, under Rear Admiral Frederick O. Sherman for the operation. The ships sortied from Ulithi on February 10th.
The attacks on the Empire were launched from a point 125 miles off Yokahama on the 16th. They continued with little opposition for two days before the task force moved back closer to Iwo Jima. Another day of strikes in the Tokyo area came on the 24th. The Japanese again failed to put up much fight, but an accident on board marred the occasion for the COWPENS.
A returning fighter bounced over the barrier and crashed into the planes spotted forward on the flight deck, smashing up 5 of them and causing two men to jump overboard and be lost. After that the task force swept down for more strikes in the Ryukyus before retiring to Ulithi. There, on March 7th, the COWPENS was ordered home.

[Franco]

This first return to the United States found COWPENS at San Francisco on March 28th. Her overhaul at Mare Island and the subsequent trials kept her stateside until the 21st of May. During these two months the executive officer and every department head, except the first lieutenant and the supply officer, were relieved.
COWPENS had dropped Air Group 46 in the forward area. When the ship again sailed for the warfront, she had her fourth and last group, Air Group 50, under Commander R. E. Kirkpatrick. Upon arrival, COWPENS was assigned to Task Group 38.4, under Rear Admiral Radford again, and took up where she had left off three months before. From the 10th of July until the war ended on August 15th, she pounded Japanese shipping and aircraft from Hokkaido to the Inland Sea. She helped finish off the battleships NAGATO and OYADO. COWPENS planes accounted for two enemy planes in the air and 29 on the ground, sank 31 small ships and damaged 23 others, besides damaging numerous ground targets. Only once was the task force under attack.
The COWPENS was attached to the "show of force" group sent into Sagami Bay on August 27th, the only carrier, and the next day her planes flew passengers ashore to Atsugi Airfield. These are believed to be the first Navy planes to land on Japanese soil after the war.
During the 22 and a half months of fighting in which she participated, the COWPENS hung up this record:

Total number of flights:1063Action sorties flown:20452Enemy planes destroyed in the air:108Enemy planes destroyed on the ground198Ship’s planes lost to enemy AA1Ship’s planes lost to enemy planes:5Total tonnage of bombs dropped:657Total number of rockets fired:3063Merchant ships sunk:39Tonnage of merchant ships sunk7400
The COWPENS was placed in commission in reserve in the Alameda Group of the Pacific Reserve Fleet in January 1947.
The USS COWPENS was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for outstanding heroism in action against Japanese forces during the Pacific war. The citation reads:
"For outstanding heroism for action against the enemy Japanese forces in the air, ashore and afloat in the Pacific War Area from October 5, 1943 to August 15, 1945. Operating continuously in the most forward areas, the USS COWPENS and her air groups struck crushing blows toward annihilating Japanese fighting power; they provided air cover for our amphibious forces; they fiercely countered the enemy’s aerial attacks and destroyed his planes; and they inflicted terrific losses on the Japanese in fleet and merchant marine units sunk or damaged. Daring and dependable in combat the COWPENS with her gallant officers and men rendered loyal service in achieving the ultimate defeat of the Japanese Empire."
USS COWPENS, CVL 25, earned 12 battle stars on the Asiatic-Pacific Area Service Ribbon for participation in the following operations or engagements:
1 starPacific Raids1943Wake Island Raid5 to 6 October 19431 starGilbert Islands Operation13 November to
8 December 19431 starMarshall Islands Operation1943 to 1944Occupation of Kwajalein
and Majuro Atolls29 January to
8 February 1944Asiatic-Pacific Raids19441 starTruk Attack16 to 17 February 19441 starMarianas Attack21 to 22 February 1944Palau, Yap, Ulithi, Woleai Raid30 March to 1 April 1944Truk, Satawan, Ponape Raid29 April to 1 May 19441 starWestern New Guinea Operation1944Hollandia Operation21 April to 1 June 1944Morotai Landings15 September 19441 starMarianas Operation1944Capture and Occupation of Saipan11 June to 10 August 19441st Bonins Raid15 to 16 June 1944Battle of the Philippines Sea19 to 20 June 1944Capture and Occupation of the Southern Palau Islands6 Sept to 14 Oct 1944Assaults on the Philippine Islands9 to 24 September 19441 starWestern Caroline Islands Operation1944Capture and Occupation of the Southern Palau Islands6 September to
14 October 1944Assaults on the Philippine Islands9 to 24 September 19441 starLeyte Operation1944Battle of Leyte Gulf24 to 26 October 1944Third Fleet Supporting Operations Okinawa Attack10 Oct 1944Northern Luzon and Formosa Attacks11 to 14 October 1944Luzon Attacks15, 17 to 19 Oct
5 to 6, 13to- 24,
19 to 25 Nov
14 to 16 Dec 19441 starLuzon Operation1944 to 1945Luzon Attacks6 to 7 January 1945Formosa Attacks3 to 4, 9, 15, 21 Jan 1945China Coast Attack12, 16 Jan 1945Nansei Shoto Attack22 January 19451 starIwo Jima Operation1945Assault and Occupation of Iwo Jima15 Feb to 6 Mar 1945Fifth Fleet Raids Against Honshu and the Nansei Shoto15 Feb to 16 Mar 19451 starThird Fleet Operations Against Japan10 July to 15 August 1945

[willy]

I know it is tough, but finish the story my friend

[willy]

Most of you guys don't know but Franco's Dad passed away last week and I am sure he is having a hard time talking about it.
Bill Meyers was a good man and it was my privelidge to have spoken to him along with Ozzie when we visited the Puhbah.
Memorial Day weekend was a melancholy time in Sebastian Inlet I am sure.

[Monkey Butler]

Didn't know of his Dad's passing. My sympathies to you and your family and a heartfelt thanks to your Dad for his service.

[C YENSEN]

Originally Posted by Monkey Butler

Didn't know of his Dad's passing. My sympathies to you and your family and a heartfelt thanks to your Dad for his service.

couldn't have said it better myself....