Crew of the U.S. Navy PC 558
My Uncle is one of the crew pictured here on the US Navy PC 558. His name was Gerald Griffin. I’m not sure which one is him though. If anyone knows, contact me and let me know. Here is a list of the PC 558′s crew members.
According to this link about the sinking of the PC 558, she was sunk by the German submarine, U-230, 28 miles northeast of Palermo, Sicily. Here is an account from the book History of United States Naval Operations in World War II by Samuel Eliot Morison. The PC 558 had sank 2 lethal mini-subs and discovered that they were easy to spot and easy to destroy if were looking for the small domes in the water.
Here is a photo of the crew.
Crew Of The US Navy PC 558.
The PT-378.
The U.S. Navy PT-378
I was really excited to find this photo of my Uncle’s boat, the PT-378. His name is Dwight Spearman. I found the photo on the World Naval Ships website. My thanks go out to the folks running this website.
The conversation about the boat started when Uncle Dwight mentioned that he had been to a store that sold old military gear, mainly for reenactments, and he seen a photo of his boat with the number 378 prominently displayed. I had a hunch if there was a photo of the boat, it would be on the Internet somewhere. When the subject of World War 2 comes up, I always try to pry as much information out of him as I can, so this was another chance to find out more.
He said that after basic training at Great Lakes he and some others had volunteered for PT boat training. Instead, they were sent to Gunnery school where they expected to be sent to larger ships. After training, they found themselves on PT boats. These boats were small wooden vessels that performed many patrol and light duties. They were extremely fast and heavily armed considering their size, but lacked armor protection. When they were detected, the only thing they could rely on was speed and hope to get out of the range of enemy guns.
Dwight Spearman. PT 378 Crewman
The PT-378 would go out on patrol for a usual period of 2 weeks. They would commonly travel in groups of 4. As 4 were leaving, they would commonly see 4 coming back in from patrol. The duties would change as the battle required. Often, they would pick up stranded aviators who were shot down. They were always looking for Japanese naval vessels to make reports of their movements. They would spend their nights circling islands that were known to be inhabited by the Japanese. During the day, the Air Force would watch them, but at night, PT boats would circle with radar looking to stop any movement. There were even more interesting missions too.
Uncle Dwight tells that his most frightening experience was dropping U.S. Army Rangers onto the shores of an island in the Philippines. They got to full speed, then slowly quieted the engines to a dead quiet coast and dropped the Rangers off on the shore. Then, they had to leave very slowly to avoid detection of the sound of the engines. He said he was scared to death to do their part and couldn’t imagine being dropped off on the shore! Some time later, the PT-378 received orders to go back and pick the Rangers up! When they retrieved the Rangers, the Rangers had people with them. They had broken INTO a prison holding political prisoners. They were lower level leaders in the villages in the area that the Japanese had imprisoned and others. These people held valuable information that we needed before invading and removing the Japanese later. Once out in open waters, one of the escapees asked Uncle Dwight where he was from. He said, “Ohio”. He then asked, “How are the Buckeyes doing this year?”. Uncle Dwight and others were shocked to hear that question right after such a dangerous mission. It turned out that this man was a Spaniard. He was a travel writer and happened to be on the island when the Japanese invaded and they had imprisoned him. Uncle Dwight didn’t get a name, but I’m sure somewhere out there, the writer has a more detailed story about his encounter with the PT boat.
Records show that the PT 378 was sold after the war, but Uncle Dwight says that he thought nearly all of them were destroyed near Leyte in the Philippines. There is only one remaining operational PT boat, the PT 658. Of the original 12 PT vets that put her back in operation, only 6 survive today. Here’s a video about this boat.
The numbers of the boats tell their age. For example, the most famous PT boat, President Kennedy’s PT-109, was commissioned early into the war. There were about 1,000 total PT boats, so the PT-378 was put into action a little later than the 109.
I hope this post reaches anyone that may be looking for a photo of the PT 378! If you have some stories about her, make sure you let me know.
Happy Father’s Day
Dad shows his bicycle jacket with patches from many years of bike riding.
Anyone that knows my Dad, Jim Spearman, knows about his love for bicycling and his family. Besides over 40 years of working at the same company, biking and family or anything he could do to combine them, like camping, were pretty much what life in small town Mount Vernon, Ohio was all about. As far as Dad was concerned, there wasn’t really much more that you needed in life than a job, family, a house, and a bicycle.
I remember Dad taking to bicycling in the mid-70′s. I was young, but I remember it was rough times. Cooper-Bessemer had laid him off and he had taken a job with a long commute and lower pay at HPM. A work related accident at HPM caused a back injury that required extensive surgery. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse. The doctor told him that walking or biking were exercises that would relieve the pain. Dad got on his bicycle and it worked. Not only did it relieve pain, it saved us money, he enjoyed it, and he made friends doing it.
Not long after all of this Coopers started to boom with business from the Alaskan Pipeline project. Money started coming in and Dad worked all the overtime he could, cut lawns for extra money, and worked night shift janitor jobs to get caught up. He would ride his bike to and from these jobs, even when they were in the middle of the night. Things greatly improved and a few years later, he had time for more bike riding.
In this photo, he’s holding the numerous patches from organized bike rides he was on. I don’t think any of them were less than 50 miles. Sign-up money usually went to a good cause and you’d receive a patch. The oldest one he had was from 1977 and they kept going up to the present. In his retirement, he still keeps biking whenever he gets a chance. When he’s not spending time with his friends and family, he’s usually on the Kokosing Gap Bicycle Trail.
On Fathers’ Day, I’d like to thank Dad for all the hard work he put in over the years and everything he’s done for all of us in the family. Just as he’s never waivered on his bicycling hobby, he’s never waivered on taking care of the family either. We love you Dad!
