I was going to hold this until December 17, but this is the weekend of the annual Army-Navy football game and I decided to go ahead and publish.
I
read a book - “Halsey's Typhoon” - after meeting and befriending
a man who joined the Navy as soon as his age allowed and boarded the
same ship - USS Monterey (CVL-26) - that President Ford had served on during a terrible storm. Halsey's Typhoon caught the fleet by surprise and cost the
lives of nearly 800 men in December, 1944. My friend boarded while the ship was undergoing repairs of storm and fire damage at Bremerton WA and went on to survive kamikaze
attacks in the waning months of the war. Lieutenant Ford left the ship at Bremerton on orders to the Navy Training Command.
Monterey was repaired; other ships were not so lucky. USS Hull (DD-350), USS Spence (DD-512) and USS Monaghan (DD-354) were lost. 98 men were pulled from the sea from those three ships (92 from Hull and Spence), 55 by the USS Tabberer (DE418).
USS Tabberer went from keel to commissioning in an astonishing four months - a tribute to American manufacturing during World War II. I'll come back to its story in a few paragraphs, but first:
A
small, spare obituary appeared in the Ocala FL newspaper in 2003; A man
died, and that was that. But what a man. Because of him, 55 men
lived, most begat families, all had the utmost respect for a man who
defied direct orders from none other than Admiral “Bull” Halsey
to save men in peril on the sea. If you are ever in Ocala FL, stop by
and read a plaque in the Silver Springs Shores Presbyterian Church
honoring a quiet hero who lived, virtually unnoticed, in our midst.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Henry
L. Plage, LCDR USNR
OCALA
- Henry Lee Plage, 88, a retired pharmaceutical distributor, died
Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2003, at Oakhurst Nursing and Rehabilitation
Center.
A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., he moved here from Inverness in 1980. Mr. Plage was a member of Silver Springs Shores Presbyterian Church. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Mr. Plage was a recipient of the Legion of Merit.
A native of Oklahoma City, Okla., he moved here from Inverness in 1980. Mr. Plage was a member of Silver Springs Shores Presbyterian Church. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Mr. Plage was a recipient of the Legion of Merit.
----------------------------------------------------------
I'm inserting a photograph of Henry Plage here. My friends in Ocala may not recognize him from this one from 1945, so I'm also inserting a photograph taken from a more recent video on the History Channel.
From
the Congressional Record:
HONORING
HENRY LEE PLAGE
HON.
CLIFF STEARNS
OF
FLORIDA
IN
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday,
November 14, 2002
Mr.
STEARNS:
Mr.
Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to share with my colleagues a
story of heroism and to honor the bravery of Lt. Commander Henry Lee
Plage who lives in my hometown of Ocala, FL. During World War II, he
and his crew saved dozens of men from the water of the Pacific after
a raging typhoon sunk three ships.
Henry
Lee Plage started his military career as a member of ROTC at Georgia
Tech and he joined the Navy in 1937 after his graduation. Following
the attack on Pearl Harbor, Lt. Commander Plage immediately requested
sea duty. His first assignment was commanding a submarine chaser.
With only 4 days to get ready, he assumed command of a crew of 55. On
February 18, 1944, the USS Tabberer (DE–418) was launched. She was
commissioned on May 23, 1944, with Plage in command. By October the
ship had joined Admiral Halsey’s 3rd Fleet, helping to supply
crucial air cover
for General MacArthur’s Land troops. On December 17, 1944, the USS
Tabberer was east of the Phillippine Islands along with the 3rd
Fleet, scheduled to refuel, when the weather began to deteriorate
rapidly. The reason, Typhoon Cobra was heading directly toward them.
The
high winds and choppy seas prevented the USS Tabberer from refueling
and by the evening of December 17th, the full force of the typhoon
was upon them. The Tabberer had to fight extremely rough seas—and
by the 18th sustained winds had reached about 145 miles
per hour, with wind gusts up to 185 miles an hour. Before the Typhoon
had moved through, the USS Tabberer had lost its mast and radio antenna.
Three destroyers from the fleet, the USS Hull (DD–350), the USS
Spence (DD–512) and the USS Monaghan (DD–354), had gone down.
Tabberer, after Typhoon Cobra
About
9:30 p.m. on December 18th, the Tabberer rescued its first survivor
from the water.
It was then that Lt. Commander Plage learned that the USS Hull had
capsized. Plage and the Tabberer immediately began an intensive
search and rescue effort. These efforts continued for 3 days and
nights. In all, the USS Tabberer pulled 55 men from the Pacific
Ocean. All were from the USS Hull and the USS Spence.
Typhoon
Cobra claimed nearly 800 lives. Only 92 survived (my note: from the 3 ships lost; other ships lost men as well.), 55 of these rescued
by the crew
of the USS Tabberer. Lt. Commander Plage remained on sea duty after
the war and gave the Navy 14 years of service before retiring in
1954.
It
is an honor for me to share this story of heroism and survival and I
ask you all to join me
in commending Lt. Commander Henry Lee Plage and the crew of the USS
Tabberer for their dedication in saving the lives of 55 men from that
terrible storm.
---------end Congressional Record---------
---------end Congressional Record---------
For more on the storm and interviews with Henry Plage:
Growing up, I spent my young life in the presence of special men and women who had come together from all walks of life to fight and win a war that did nothing less than save the world. Some of these were in my own family, many were teachers and coaches. We walked among them and never knew their stories. From age 10, in Ocala FL, I personally knew their most special kind; a survivor of Bataan, a Marine who island-hopped and fought in nearly every engagement in the Pacific, a teacher whose dreams caused him considerable anguish. A grade school classmate later distinguished himself in our generation's fight in Vietnam and died a dozen years after, a delayed casualty of that bitter conflict. Two of my college professors were World War II veterans, another served in the Korean conflict. Today, they all remain my heroes.
As my own shadow lengthens, I look back in awe at men like Henry Plage and feel more than a little humble and more than a little guilty that my own accomplishments don't hold a candle to theirs. I count myself fortunate to have known a few of them but even more fortunate that I inherited the privileges they left to me.
This weekend, the football teams from West Point and Annapolis will square off in one of the iconic contests of the sport. They will strike each other and block and tackle and compete ferociously, and they will leave the field as one brotherhood, willing to die for each other if need be.
As my own shadow lengthens, I look back in awe at men like Henry Plage and feel more than a little humble and more than a little guilty that my own accomplishments don't hold a candle to theirs. I count myself fortunate to have known a few of them but even more fortunate that I inherited the privileges they left to me.
This weekend, the football teams from West Point and Annapolis will square off in one of the iconic contests of the sport. They will strike each other and block and tackle and compete ferociously, and they will leave the field as one brotherhood, willing to die for each other if need be.
go army ... Go Navy.
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