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U.S.S. STEPHEN POTTER ASSOCIATION 8TH REUNION- SEPTEMBER 1995 BOSTON,
MASSACHUSETTS
MEMORIAL SERVICE -George Cline, Officiating
In visiting and talking with different people at this
Reunion, the one word which was discussed more than any other was MIRACLE;
the miracles that happened during the time that we were on the USS STEPHEN
POTTER during World War II.
The POTTER was commissioned in San Francisco and after a
shakedown cruise we sailed on to Pearl Harbor. We had a happy ship, a good
ship. The men were happy and that means a lot on a ship at war. We had a
crew that was very, very young. I was only 18 at the time, having served on
the destroyer STRONG with Carroll Byrum and some of the others. When she was
sunk in the Kula Gulf, we came back and were assigned to the STEPHEN POTTER.
There were very few men on this ship who had ever even been to sea before.
We came out of the corn, tobacco, and peanut fields and we came from the
shoe factories. We came out of high school and out of college.
Most of the young men who came aboard ship were men just like
me when I first went aboard the STRONG. When I became 17, on 5/17/42, I
grabbed a flag and took off to the recruiting station like many other young
boys were doing right from high school. Do you know that a few days ago I
found out that there was one man on the STEPHEN POTTER who was only 15 years
old? Fifteen years old! And I believe there were 2 who were only 16 and
became 17 after we went to sea! Now, this is how young we were. And the
officers many of them were young. We had a few experienced officers, like
our Captain and Rural Meadors, the Chief Engineer. We had so many men on
there that did not know what was going on, but our officers did. Now, of
course, at the time, we didn't think they knew too much but later on we
found out that they knew more than we thought. And, folks, we went to sea!
We learned to fire the guns, to right. We drilled, drilled and then we
drilled some more. We learned to shoot the torpedoes, although I don't think
we ever had to fire upon the enemy with those.
One of the first MIRACLES I think we had was when the
Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. With as many ships as were sunk, as many
bombs, torpedoes and so forth, that were fired at our ships and our planes;
we only lost two major ships. The ARIZONA and the OKLAHOMA did not return to
service. During this time, it was a miracle that we did not lose any more
men than. One of the greatest MIRACLES, I think, was the Japanese not coming
back for the third wave and blowing up our fuel supply. Had they blown up
the fuel supply, we would have been, you might say, paralyzed.
Now, these stories I'm telling and these points I'm making
are not necessarily in the order that they happened. These are just some
things that stand out in my mind. One of the first engagements we were in
with the STEPHEN POTTER, around the first of 1944 was the Marshall Islands.
With the help of God we got through there and didn't have any problems that
I can recall. After that engagement one morning as we were steaming at full
speed, I remember someone telling me we were going to Truk Island. Now, Truk
Island was to the Japanese what Pearl Harbor was to the Americans. We had
always heard it was very strong, had a lot of ships and planes up there,
because it was one of the main supply points. Well, another MIRACLE
happened. We sailed in and we sank everything that could be sunk, shot down
planes, destroying everything. We came out of there with, as far as I know,
no injuries. Now, that was a MIRACLE. That was a MIRACLE, indeed!
We went on to take Guam, Saipan and Tinian and that was a lot
of fighting, much fighting. You know, at times it just seemed like the skies
were afire with planes and shells bursting in the air, the projectiles going
off and it just seemed like there was no way anyone could get through. But,
you know, once in a while one of them did get through and some of our ships
were hit. Some of them were sunk. I remember a time with the carrier
FRANKLIN. We had just secured from General Quarters, I believe it was, and
did you know that at that time, a plane slipped in and I believe she dropped
a bomb. I don't think it was a suicide, but she dropped a bomb and hit right
on the main deck, the flight deck, and she began to blow. She blew and smoke
and fire came out, big balls of fire came out of her and there was just no
way that we thought that ship could be saved. But she was. I think it was
in the afternoon that day that we picked up 117 survivors from this ship who
had jumped over the side when the fire and heat got too much for them and
they had to abandon her. This old FRANKLIN she just kept on going. I
believe it was one of the most historic actions in the whole war. She was
towed for awhile and came back to the states and then reconditioned to go on
and right again.
The carrier BUNKER HILL had almost the same thing happen
to her. She got hit then she blew and it just looked like she was going to
rollover and go down into the depths of the sea. But she did not. She was
saved and we picked up many men (the official Navy history of the
Potter gives a number of 107 crew members of the Bunker Hill and 83 from the
Houston were picked up by the ship). This was in the Philippine Sea near
Formosa. As we would go beside these big carriers, do you remember the odor
there was from the men who had been killed in a flash? You could see the way
that the fire hit them and they were just in that same position, running or
however they would have been. Folks, it was a terrible thing. But you know,
the STEPHEN POTTER went right through the whole thing and as far as I know,
without injuries. Those MIRACLES right there just seem like they were
unreal, that these ships could still be saved after sustaining such damage.
Remember when we sailed into the South China Sea? As we
patrolled off the starboard side of the battlewagon, NORTH CAROLINA, that
big old wagon would come up and go down into the sea and just roll a little
ship like us traveling along side. We would just roll with it as she came
down. One of our greatest enemies at this time was the weather itself. There
was a typhoon in December of 1944 that was so strong that we lost 3 ships.
At the beginning of the typhoon, we were trying to refuel our ship. We were
fueling from the big battlewagon, NEW JERSEY, I believe, and after taking on
just a very small amount of fuel, the hoses snapped. The sea was so rough
that we could not stay close enough to receive fuel, so we had to cast off
and try to make it on our own. Yes, we had a small amount of fuel, enough to
go through the storm with, as it happened, but at that time, we just didn't
know. During this time, I was oil king. The oil king takes care of the fuel
oil on the ships. I had pumped all the oil into the main reservoirs from
which we pull. The tanks that normally have fuel oil in them were empty, but
after we could not take fuel on, we had to pump seawater back into tanks to
keep us from rolling. This made us ride heavier and lower in the water and
not be tossed about like a can being thrown into the water that rolls from
side to side. One reason we were called tin cans was because of how we would
roll. We pumped our tanks fore and aft full of ballast and this made us ride
heavier. We did roll sometimes as much as 70 degrees. We took water down our
stacks. Lifelines on the topside as you would hold onto them going forward
and aft were washed or crunched off. Many of the ships lost their motorwhale
boats. A lot of life rafts were washed over the side. Gun turrets just caved
in from time to time, but the old STEPHEN POTTER, she just sailed right on
through all of them. A MIRACLE!
Yes, it was rough, very rough. I have read that the wind was
up to 135 miles per hour in that typhoon and, you know, those 3 destroyers
just rolled over and sank down into their watery graves. Of the 3 ships, 790
men were never accounted for. I believe that in one case there were only 3
men who were saved off one ship and another time there were only 44 men
saved. Altogether, I think other destroyers might have picked up somewhere
around 79 men from those 3 ships. I believe some men stayed in the rough
waters as long as 4 days. We lost something like 200 planes on the carriers
that were washed over the side or just crushed beyond repair. Many ships
were torn in different places. This typhoon did what the Japanese had not
been able to do during the whole war. Yes, it was a MIRACLE that we did not
lose more ships. And think about this -a big task force like we were in, a
fleet of ships sailing, it was a MIRACLE that none collided, for had they
collided, I don't believe they could have been saved. It was so rough, it
was just unreal. But we came out of there and we sailed right through the
depths of the valley of death, without a doubt.
Yes, we sailed through that valley. We came out without
anyone getting hurt. We came out to go and fight again, going back to bomb
close to Formosa. A new cruiser, the CANBERRA, was torpedoed and then
another new cruiser, the HOUSTON, was sent in as her replacement. A Japanese
plane also torpedoed her and it just looked like she was going to go down.
We had feelings for the HOUSTON because the Chief Engineer on the HOUSTON
had been the First Chief Engineer on the destroyer STRONG, Commander
Rosenburg, I believe his name was. Being a destroyer, we tried to protect
the HOUSTON. We shot down planes as they kept coming in, but one plane
slipped and I believe I witnessed that torpedo going into the HOUSTON.
There's a book, Save the Houston, and the MIRACLE that happened. Photographs
in this book show the STEPHEN POTTER and some of our men pulling her men out
of the water to save them. Now, we had all said, "Well, that's it". We were
even going to take her in tow. But you know, that lady, she just kept on
sailing. Water washed over her deck at times, but with the great help of God
and the skill of the men aboard her, they saved their ship. Yes, that was a
MIRACLE. It was a MIRACLE WITHOUT A DOUBT.
Later on as we came into different islands, Iwo Jima and
others, we were in 10 major engagements, like the great turkey shoot
(Marianas Turkey Shoot -Battle of the Philippine Sea). Planes were falling
all around us and again it looked like the sky was on fire, but the old
STEPHEN POTTER sailed right through.
We went to
Okinawa toward the end of the war. I think in over a year and a half, we had
sailed 25,000 miles. And do you remember the MIRACLE we had at Okinawa? I
think there were 9 destroyers, some of them brand new just brought out from
the states, no knowledge, you might say, and they were hit. Within moments
some of them went to the bottom carrying most of their crew. It is said that
at Eniwetok, the suicide planes had hit so many ships
that the harbor looked like a junkyard. A junk yard! And the STEPHEN POTTER
was sailing right on. Oh yes, we had planes that tried to hit us, that
crashed toward us. We managed to shoot them down and they would fall a few
yards off to port or starboard. One 500pound bomb hit so close to the rear
fantail, I've heard that the steering was knocked out momentarily. We went
sailing on.
Something to consider here is how our ships were built. The
big battlewagons had 16 inches of steel armor around them, but the little
destroyers like the STRONG and the POTTER had only enough metal around them
just to keep the water out. We had something much more protecting than a
little bit of armor or a thin sheet of metal around us to keep us together.
I want you to think about this. You mayor may not agree with this, but this
is the way I think about it, this is what I believe. It was sometime later
before I ever realized this. In Exodus, Moses brought the Israelites out,
and it's said that as they would come into the different cities and so
forth, and go to war with these people, the people of these cities would
say, "There is no way you can defeat these people, they have their God with
them." God was indeed with them at these different places traveling in the
desert. It is written "the cloud of the Lord was on (them) by day and fire
(by night)". Well, I think God was watching over the STEPHEN POTTER just as
He did the Israelites.
History repeats itself, doesn't it? Here is a MIRACLE that I
believe with all my heart really happened. I believe that God sent down from
Heaven a host of angels, an army of angels, that formed a circle around our
ship that no projectile, no plane, no torpedo could get through, because we
had the protection of God with us. Now you think about that. I believe this
with all my heart. Of all the ships that were out there, of all the ships
that were sunk or damaged, other ships shooting into our ships, we didn't
have (as far as I know) a single person that got hurt, as far as the War
goes, on our ship. I don't think anyone on our ship received the Purple
Heart. Yes, we lost a few men. We lost one chief torpedo man who fell over
the side one day and I witnessed that. Maybe a couple of others died from
various causes. But in a year and a half, I would say that out of 325 men;
losing 3 is pretty good odds. But see the MIRACLE was that God was watching
over US just a few weeks before the end at Okinawa, I think God looked down
and said, "I'm going to send my children home. I'm going to send them home
because they've been out here long enough, they need a rest. " And we were
sent home. We came back as men, but many of us had left as children. A lot
of us came back to our sweethearts, wives, and our loved ones. But, you know
many of us little boys just came back to Mommy and Daddy. Think about it.
Yes, the war was over and we weren't there for the end.
STEPHEN POTTER and her crew had been apart of the MIRACLES. I want to say
that you men who put her in commission the second time, as shipmates, we may
not have told you this, but you know we're just as proud of you as we were
when we were first commissioned. From what I've been told, she was in pretty
rough shape after being laid up all that time in moth balls, and it took a
lot of work to get her going again. You took out from San Diego, shook her
down real well, then you went on to Pearl Harbor and out to Korea and
engagements there. It's a MIRACLE that you didn't get hurt, but then God was
still looking after her and her crew. After sailing her around the world,
you might say, she was decommissioned again and later sold for scrap. Do you
know what she really brought for scrap? Our STEPHEN POTTER brought $151,000
plus change. No, we couldn't save her but she had saved us. The MIRACLES
that happened on her I will never forget as long as I live.
I would like to say also that the United States has been
lucky, very lucky. My Daddy fought in World War I and I fought in World War
II thinking there would be no more wars. But then came the Korean War in
which we had to fight those who were our allies in World War II. Then, Viet
Nam. Many of your own sons were in the Viet Nam war. They did well, but you
know, they had a rough time over there. Then, Desert Storm. Yes, we only
lost a few men in Desert Storm. God was watching over them and it's a
miracle that we didn't lose more. I want to add that I believe the fighting
in Bosnia now is very bad, very bad indeed. But folks, let our President,
leaders, generals, admirals, and others, sit at the table and talk peace for
a long time. No one knows better than you sitting in front of me today that
Old Men start wars, but Young Men fight wars.
As the STEPHEN POTTER sailed through the different waters,
God watched over us as we passed through the valley of the shadow of death
and He loved us so much that he kept watch over us to perform these
MIRACLES. According to 1st Peter, we’re strangers, pilgrims on this earth.
We're just passing through and for many of us, our visit will end soon and
we will return to Heaven. I want you to think about this. Of all the cities
that we have bombed and destroyed in these wars that I've just mentioned, I
don't believe that we've ever had an enemy bomb fall on the United States of
America except for Pearl Harbor.
Let us close in prayer.
Almighty God, we thank thee from the depths of our hearts for all that
You have done for us, for all the MIRACLES that You have performed. Lord, we
know that there is not enough space in the universe or time on earth to
share all the MIRACLES that Your Son, Jesus, performed during the very short
time He was on earth. Father, we thank Thee for life itself, we thank Thee
for our health. We know that many of our shipmates could not be here today.
Several of them are sick; we pray that they can be healed. Father, just
reach down from Heaven and lay Your healing hands on them so that they can
be made whole again. We know that we cannot argue Your will; that
sometime we have to move on and make way for others, but we do appreciate
our health and our life here on earth. We know that some would be here if
they weren't sick, because they did love this ship so much, just like many
more of us did. And Father, for all the others who have been mentioned this
morning, some twenty that we know are sick, we pray that You will be with
each and every one of them. For the one who just had a stroke and then a
heart attack, we pray, Lord, that You will lay your healing hands on him
that he may be made whole and that his visit on earth will be extended. For
the ones who will be flying out today to return home, we pray that You give
them a safe flight and a happy landing. And for the ones of us who will be
driving home, we pray that You give us a safe journey on the road. For the
one who has just left knowing that his brother has come to be with You, we
pray, Lord, that You give him a safe journey home. Please watch over him as
he travels down the road. Father, we thank Thee again. And we ask all
these blessings in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. And all God's people said "AMEN"
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