THE LIFE AND DEATH OF USS HORNET

[Applause] la to Washington and the world from Tokyo on April 18th 1942 came the most startling War news since December 7th news of the bombing by us planes of the capital of the Empire of Japan news soon followed by a statement from the president that the planes had taken off from a mysterious base identified only as shanga but what and where this shanga was remained for a year a closely guarded military secret and then in April 1943 when news came again from Tokyo this time Grim news that the enemy had assassinated some of the Brave Soldier pliers who had soared to Destiny from shanga it was finally revealed that mysterious shangula had been a United States aircraft carrier the now famous USS Hornet to everyone in in America who learned about shangrala but especially to those workers who had built the Hornet and thus considered it their ship the story of The Hornet has a special meaning these were the men and women who in 1940 had worked on her Hull at newort News Virginia other thousands of them had rolled her Steel in Gary and in Pittsburgh still others in connecti had built her great turbin while bethle and Pennsylvania had milled the close tolerances of her guns age or race or Creed had made no difference it was skill and speed the effort and determination with which each worker made the big things and made the small that counted on the Hornet she was launched in December 1940 ahead of schedule one of the Hornet workers said she had character that ship she was rugged built from the ground up like a heavyweight champ she was a special ship to us because we had worked on her for over a year and a half a man who builds a ship gets to have a pride in her just as strong a pride as have the officers and men who take her into action we knew that we had made her a good ship and that she would do a job wherever she would fight and that's the way we felt about the Hornet they finished fitting rout 9 months ahead of schedule thousands of products from workers and suppliers in every state of the land went into the Hornet almost every worker in the country was in one way or another a partner in fitting out the Hornets the Navy had planned everything so that wherever in the world she was to go into battle the right tool would be found ready at the right time and in the right place and the sons and brothers of many an American worker were to man The Hornet were to fly her planes and fire her guns and drive her into battle on October 20th 1941 the officers and Men of the Hornet stood to attention smartly in Navy fashion as their Captain took command and as the secretary of the Navy spoke to them of the job to be done we're holding this little ceremony which makes up the Hornet the seventh of its name a ship of the Navy I think you officers and Men of the hornet are especially to be congratulated that you man a ship which represents the last word the latest development in the most recent arm of our service and so as you become a part of the fleet as a civilian head of that organization I give you a fervent God bless you and God go with you then at Sea on her Shakedown Cruise came weeks of training NeverEnding flight operations for the squadrons and for the ship's company The Hornet her Plains and her men were learning to fight as a team learning to rely on each other and on the machines American workers at home had built for them the planes took off from dawn Until Dark day after day to fly patrols to hunt for the enemy but above all to practice again and again the complex operations which combine air fighting with sea fighting landing at Sea is a fine art which depends on perfect teamwork between the pilot and the signal officer once in a while a plane went into the gallery but practice makes perfect in training aviators and the captain kept the planes coming aboard until Landings under all conditions became second nature to the Flyers and to the men of the ship Hornet was getting ready to engage the enemy and then in April 1942 Colonel Jimmy dittle of the army and his bomber Squadron came aboard and the Hornet headed west the 16 big B25 bombers were lashed securely to the deck the Hornets men got along famously with the army they realized the importance of the army Flyers Mission the sailors liked the idea of the colonel returning to the makado with Captain Mitch's respects a medal with which the emperor at once decorated the [Music] captain on the 18th of April 800 mil from the shores of Japan on the carrier's deck as she bit into the choppy waves the Army planes were made ready for their takeoff each of them weighed 27,000 lb and had a Wings spread of almost 68 ft only a few feet less than the width of the ship itself a crew member telling his part of the story later said on the takeoff the wing tips hung over the port side and then the starboard cleared the island structure by only 3 or 4 ft the planes were Airborne even before they reached the end of the flight de Colonel dittle dipped his wings to Admiral Hy to us disappeared into the [Music] clouds we gave them all a cheer wished them good luck cuz we knew where they were going Tokyo the mission these bombers then completed brought war and destruction to the cities of the enemy and as the carrier and its Task Force turned away into the Pacific there arose the famous legend about Hornet the legend of shanga and later aboard the Hornet came the men of torpedo Squadron 8 who would take the battle to the enemy at Midway of the 30 officers and men who flew off the hornet in this Squadron only Enon George gay was to return radio man George field on his left would be killed enen gay said here's our Skipper Lieutenant Commander John Charles Waldren and Horus dos as rear seat Gunner they would be killed and so with Lieutenant Jimmy ows our exec and emelo Mafi my friend enen plywood teats would die so would Hollis Martin and enen Bill Robinson from Boston would meet his end with Ross biib all except me in a hot few minutes we roared off the Hornet for the Battle of Midway on June 4th 1942 I'll never forget the last thing our Skipper said I want each of us to do his utmost to destroy our enemies there's only one plane left to make the final run in I want that man to go in and get a hit may God be with us all good luck happy Landings and give them hell attack was the watch word of torpedo 8 and attack was in the minds of the men of the Hornet who over the radio o listened to the planes of torpedo 8 as they went in for their last attack against four big Japanese carriers Midway was one of the great Naval victories of all time and forestalled an invasion of the continental United States and in this Victory torpedo 8 set an example of Daring and of Faith which should inspire all Americans those who died in the Battle of Midway were true sons of the Navy and true sons of the hornet [Music] after Midway Hornet seldom returned to its base at Pearl Harbor she was always at Sea constantly searching for the enemy the crew exercised daily out on the flight deck in the open air and kept in fine physical shape but when you're on a fighting ship you never can tell when you're going to need all the strength you've got guny officers went over the guns again and again analyzing the Lessons Learned at Midway for having tasted blood at Midway each gun Captain wanted his crew to be the best on the ship there was seldom any time for loafing always a job to be done [Music] sometimes at night below decks for those offat there would be some relaxing in the wardro but elsewhere in the ship the endless training would go on and on and on as they sought for an almost impossible Perfection and then it came October 26th 1942 the day of the battle of Santa Cruz a sailor said we were at Battle station in condition one long before Dawn our planes took off in the halflight just at [Music] Daybreak about 0900 word came from our Air Group to expect a large number of bombers we stood by for the attack [Music] the first of the Japs came into range about 0930 and our Gunners opened [Music] fire there were two different attacks during the day and every plane that got through our fighter screen was shot down by The Hornet's guns 26 of them in 10 hours [Music] [Music] in the first wave a torpedo on the starboard side had smashed our engine room and in the second attack the Japs hit us with everything in the book bombs and Torpedoes at the same [Music] time but our Gunners continued to pump lead into the Japs adding to our score plane by plane threee Japs crashed aboard and started fires with the engine room out our power was gone we lost steerageway and listed heavily to starbo later during a la in the battle we organized bucket brigades we flooded Port compartments but still listed to starboard 18° knowing that we were in range of land-based Japanese bombers and that it would no longer be possible to fight a ship that couldn't be rided our Skipper ordered us to abandon ship we went over the side around 1700 and were taken aboard the rescue ship standing by [Music] you could see our Hornet lying out there deserted and sort of lonely somehow she seemed to struggle to stay alive we hated to leave her but the skipper knew best and just as night came down to make her death quick and merciful our captain ordered our own Gunners to Shell her and torpedo her we knew how he must have felt giving orders to sink our ship when she had fought bravely in so many battles and had in her career shot down scores of planes and damaged or sunk about 50,000 tons of enemy Merchant shipping and over 200,000 tons of warships next day our wounded were transferred from the rescue ships to other ships that would take them home handling the stretch was a good job of seamanship and as each stretcher came aboard some sailor would recognize a shipmate he'd been wondering about since we'd abandoned [Music] ship the Hornet was gone she'd been our home for over a year in her we'd lost something that had been part of us but she would be remembered no matter on what other ships we were to serve we knew that we had fought the Hornet well but we had brought destruction to the enemy at Tokyo and Midway at guad Canal at rata Bay and coral sea and at Santa Cruz she was a great fighting ship and the fighting Spirit of the Hornet lives on in her men as they go out in the new ships now being built by thousands of workers who are fighting the Battle of production here at home in The Same Spirit as the Hornet fought the Jets today the Navy must have many ships and PLS many other ships like the Hornet great ships to drive deep into the Waters of Japan where from these new Shangrila our enemy will feel a gain and again the full striking force of the Navy and of the workers behind it the sting of the hornet oh