![]() Holmquist received the Silver Star for this mission in which the Rasher sunk five enemy ships and damaged four others. We were able to penetrate their escorts and were able to destroy the carrier." We made an approach on a Japanese aircraft carrier being escorted by destroyers. "On one of our patrols, were getting ready to invade the Guam and Saipan area. When he went back to duty, he was assigned to another sub, the USS Rasher. In July 1944, Holmquist took a mandatory shore leave in Australia, where he made friends with whom he keeps in contact to this day. The submarine would go on to rescue pilots and POWs and sink thousands of tons of Japanese shipping during the war - all the while dodging Japanese destroyers, airplanes and mines. The Bowfin and her crew lived up to the moniker. 7, 1942 - earning the nickname, "The Pearl Harbor Avenger." The Navy assigned the 20-year-old radio operator to a fateful position.Ĭhristened the USS Bowfin, the submarine took to the water for the first time on Dec. He asked for submarine duty in part because of the extra pay, but also "because with submarines, either you survived or you didn't survive." Holmquist joined the Navy after the Pearl Harbor attack and became one of the submariners who carried American resistance all the way to Japan's doorstep. military forces on the offensive were Navy submarines. Wake Island, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore all fell in just over two months.ĭue to the "Germany First" strategy agreed to by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, more help would come slowly. In the opening year of World War II, America was on the defensive, if not retreat, throughout the Pacific theater.įollowing the Japanese attack on the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, British and American forces in the Pacific were reeling. "You'd try to get the headphones off before the charge went off, but sometimes you couldn't get them off," Holmquist said as he pointed to his pair of hearing aids. Operators then knew what was coming next. ![]() The click was the first sonar sound in the ignition sequence of the depth charge. "I operated all the sonar stuff and when we were being depth-charged, you'd hear a click." "The destroyers tracking us and dropping depth charges were the worst," the former submarine radio operator said. Holmquist still vividly recalls the "click" made by Japanese depth charges before they exploded. Though 70 years have clouded some memories, Jacksonville's Robert W.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |