Bosun
Posts: 136
Joined: 4/22/2002
From: High Mountains
Status: offline
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I'm blessed to care for our finest in the NM VA. "George" was 4 days out from heart surgery and he shared his account as a carpenter's mate of the Neosho's demise. To paraphrase: on May 7th 1942 we were sailing in the Coral Sea, we knew something was up. About 1000 our lookout spotted a few aircraft to the North. General Quarters. Then a sighting of another group; bigger, much bigger. The meatballs came in for the Sims first. Vals, dozens of them it seemed, you could hear them whine as they dived. We filled the sky with all the flak we could. Hit some too. I saw it. 1st bomb dropped hit smack on the fantail; stopped her cold. Bombs splashed ahead of her. Then 2, maybe more, hit her. She just blew up. I felt the concussion. We saw alot of planes high above dropping bombs(Kates?) none even came close. Then the dive bombers came for us. We fought hard; we even threw wrenches, the Japs were that close! I counted 6 misses; hey! we might make it! WHAM!, WHAM! we were hit. That was it I thought, we were carrying AV gas; we were going to explode! Sailors were diving over the side. I don't think we saw them again. The Japs kept coming, we took 2 more bombs, but our bunkers never did get hit. I saw 2 Japs crash. We all cheered! The guns stopped, the planes were gone. We were slowly settling evenly. The fo'csel was flooded, down by the the head; engine room too, stern going down. The mate on the bridge shouting "Abandon Ship!, Abandon Ship!" It was calm, no one paniced. We all went over the side; lots of rafts, 2 lifeboats. The water was warm, silky almost. We got a bit of distance and waited... She wasn't sinking!!! awash, but not going down! We went back, rowing, swimming. She was our ship! We wouldn't let her down. Below decks were flooded, She was swamped, we found that it was only because the fuel bunkers were intact that she was afloat, all compartments were flooded. We left a few aboard to try the pumps, but the rest stayed in the rafts and boats overnight. We had plenty of food and water; even a couple of Acey-Deucy boards. It was quite that night. The next day was boring. We couldn't save her, but she wouldn't sink. It was hot. Everybody wondered where was our rescue? A couple of fights broke out. Someone saw a shark, that put an end to the fights!
Would we get saved? The night passed. Morning. "Hey, do you hear that?" " Yeah!!!" Planes overhead! Coming down low... white stars on blue wings; sparkling lights, geysers of water and blood! They were strafing us!!! American planes!! Thought we were Japs! Then one came over low and waggled the wings. The Neosho only had her masts above water by now and we were worried that the blood would attract sharks, but none showed up. A DE came and started picking up sailors. I got on a PBY that landed near my raft. I found out later that a couple of Sims' boys were picked up. They had been thrown clear by the explosion. I heard that a DD stood by to sink the Neosho that night, but she was dignified and took herself down. I got survivor's leave and when I reported I found that they wanted to put me on the new"Neosho". I had a fit and got 2 weeks more leave until I got another ship!
God Bless "George" and all who fought for our freedom!
_____________________________
A WILLING FOE AND SEA ROOM...
ANONYMOUS
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Survivor Account of the Neosho - 
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