Miscellaneous Pictures
Post War Photos & Poems
Left, J. M. Joseph SC2/c, Silver Star, right, Angelo Defino S1/c, Purple Heart. Joseph, known as Indian Joe, is visited by Angelo on the Reservation in Arizona.
Date is unknown.
Crew Member Couples in Later Life
Leo and Tina Polek
Married November 20, 2012
Jeanne and Doug Aitken
Danville, CA
2007
Anita and Bonnie Stephens
Year unknown.
Barbara and Calvin Borror
at Family Reunion, Columbus, OH
JUNE 2003
Carmella and Bob Eaton
Lancaster, CA
2007
Frank & Stella Boffi
Orlando, FL
2007
Velma & Leo Helling
Centralia, WA
2004
Betty and Alvin Safranek
San Diego, CA.
1995
Val and Lyle Plambeck
Fargo, ND
Rose and Art Lowery
Williamsburg, VA.
1993
Tom English’s Eightieth Birthday Party, 2006
MaryAnn, Tom’s ladyfriend, with Tom
Left of Tom, L to R: Edward, Ryan, Briana, Jack, Brian,
Brenna holding Erin, Yianni [back], Kathleen [front]
Right of Tom, L to R: Alex Marie, Nicholas,
Andrea holding Aiden, Colleen
Doug Eggen
That jumper still fits
Hadley framed model given to Doug by his children.
2004
Editors Note
Have you readers ever wondered why Chief Petty Officers don’t wear
the bell bottom uniforms?
The British Royal Navy discovered this many years before us. After you turn forty
or so years old your body just doesn’t look like the dapper young sailor.
So, the answer is a modified officer’s uniform without all the gold trim.
Antelope Valley Press Tuesday, July 5, 2005
Note: Errors in story as written include, the Hadley and USS Evans together destroyed 38 aircraft.
The Evans was not sunk but was towed home to be decommissioned and later scrapped, just
as was the Hadley. Bob Eaton was not a Fireman, he was a Fire Controlman. Funny, some
things go around twice. In 1943 The Redding (Calif) Record Searchlight reported him as attending
Fireman School, which was really Fire Control School.
Antelope Valley Press Lifestyle Sunday July 28, 2005
The AV Press has completed it’s series honoring WWII Veterans. Your webmaster and two others were
selected for this picture. Bill Clutterharm is the A.A.F. officer above. His aircraft, a B17, was assigned as
Air Sea Rescue for the mission of Col.Tibbets raid on Hiroshima. His aircraft had also operated from a
base on Ie Shima which we of the Hadley know well.
Bill made his last fight ? April 2007
Ty Hughes-Killen was a Women Air Force Service Pilot. These girls were hired to fly ferry or test flights,
as to relieve regular A.A.F. pilots for more grueling duties. Thirty-five years after the end of the War
they were granted regular veterans status.
The Second Life of USS Undaunted ATA 199
Year is 1999.
USS ATA 199 in it’s civilian garb as it now, still alive and well.
Year is 2005
ATA 199, later USS Undaunted and now simply the Undaunted.
This ship has been in the Naval service and
as a civilian tug for over sixty-five years.
Note forward leaning pilot house, converted to a pusher.
See Lincoln Grahlfs story in
HISTORY DOCUMENTS FROM CREW MEMBERS IN
HISTORY SECTION.
Modern Day Okinawa
This is exact spot where Hadley was towed. It is the only location on the entire
perimeter of the island that has a sandy bottom. The dock did not exist at that time.
Monument to Ernie Pyle on Ie Shima, killed by a Japanese sniper on 18 April 1945.
This was his original burial place. His remains were later relocated to
Punchbowl National Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii
Ernie Pyle, W.W. I Sailor & W.W. II Hero
He was world famous as the GI’s Correspondent, who followed and slept in the
mud with the troops thought out the North African and Italian Campaigns
and then later in France/Germany. When V-E day was near he came to
the Pacific and Okinawa and was part of group who came ashore on
this small Japanese Island. There he met his death, shot by a sniper.
This is a portion of the Kerama Anchorage. It is where we were tied alongside
the USS Zaniah AG70 and later went into the ARD28 floating dry-dock.
Picture taken from Zamami Shima.
This was location of U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery until 1949.
Many of our KIAs were buried there until they were moved back to American soil.
Cornerstone of Peace
The Cornerstone of Peace was erected to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of
the Battle of Okinawa. It was a way of the people of Okinawa to project the Spirit of Peace
to the world. The names of all those that lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa, regardless
of their nationality, military or civilian status, are inscribed on The Cornerstone of Peace walls
as a prayer for eternal world peace.
Okinawa was the only land battle fought in Japan during World War II. The Okinawa people
were caught up in the fighting, causing great loss of life, the destruction of many cultural
assets, and severe hardships for the populace.
The total number of names inscribed are 226,052 Japanese and Okinawans; 14,008 from the
United States; 82 from the United Kingdom; 34 from Taiwan; 82 from North Korea; and 351
South Koreans. A total of 240,609 names are inscribed.
The Cornerstone of Peace will ensure that the names of the Americans killed there will
forever be on the island where they gave their lives.
The Cornerstone of Peace was constructed during the term of office of Governor Masahide
Ota. It was dedicated in 1995, in memoriam of the 50th anniversary of the Battle
of Okinawa. It is located in Mabuni, a suburb of Itoman City.
Above text courtesy of James E. Kilgore
Tomari International Cemetery
Naha, Okinawa
Called the American Cemetery
(Was destroyed 1945 and re-established 1955)
The U. S. Military didn’t always send their their dead home.
Poetry written specially for the Hadley and it’s Crew
The Hadley
By
Alan A. Wheel (2003)
Dedicated to the men of the USS Hadley
My decks of steel are proudly walked by boys so young, at a time when life so precious seems abundant and eternal.
This day for many of these souls would end and others changed in such a way that only the deep recesses of their minds could ever truly understand what this day would endure.
Life and death walked hand and hand as the thoughts of a country where escaping defeat meant more than life itself, threw the future fathers of their land into what they believe was the gates of eternal life, but to us it was the gates of eternal damnation.
As they cursed the meal they had that day, the crew now prays that they shall live to complain about the next.
As planes now fill the sky and fear now fills their hearts, fore death is being dealt from all around, in numbers that have never been witnessed before or since.
My guns blaze as the relentless foe concentrates on our decreasing strength and dwindling numbers. We fight for our very existence, as there is no end to their need to sacrifice their lives at the cost of ours.
The end has mercifully come and the lives of 23 fanatical and nameless young enemy pilots have ended as well.
The wounds suffered by this ship and many of her heroic crew are mortal, as the ship and the men who sailed her to the edges of hell, shall never forget…
11 May, 1945
Radar Picket Station 15
Dedicated to the men of the USS Hadley
( Okinawa, May 11th 1945)
By Alan A. Wheel
Today the calm of hell we sail shall change us all in great detail.
As others fight for life and home,
Others fly to die alone.
We know not what has breeched their minds,
Nor why they come in death online,
They seek death, which could be mine.
There’s little time to ask the Lord, as muzzles flash and engines roar. The sky is full of enraged young men, who wish to die and to hell I’ll send.
Death and fire surround our lives, as shot and shell now fills the sky.
We’re scared as hell, but still we try,
As planes now fall and young men die.
Desperation grips us now, as waves erupt above the bow.
The choking smoke blocks out the day, and settles on our sweat stained brows.
The end has come, the horror past, but in our minds it will not last.
But with this end my ship has died, upon the seas she’ll
no longer ride.
The Hadley’s gone and part of me, fore on this day…
We all have tried, some have lived and some have died.
Veterans on Memorial Day
By
Alan A. Wheel
Printed in the Bangor Daily News Memorial Day 2003
Obligations, patriotism, bravery, heroism, fear, and nightmarish memories are seldom associated with people in the December of their lives.
Watching two weathered old men helping each other navigate the steps of the VFW, is a far cry from watching them as young boys answering their counties call to war so many distant years ago.
The stories told in history cannot begin to describe the hardships and heartaches placed upon youngsters who only days before were contemplating the need to shave, or deciding which girl to take to the dance.
What thoughts must have raced through their minds as they were witness to the horrors of death and destruction that can only be found in the context of war, a war that shows no mercy, and asks for none.
We, the living are here today only because our parents or grandparents were fortunate enough to escape the jaws of death, a fate that cannot be said for the thousands of everyday people who gave the supreme sacrifice, and are buried alone in some foreign field that was stained with their blood.
We cannot begin to fully understand what sacrifices these brave souls endured in their youth, we can however take time to simply shake their hand, and sincerely thank them for their acts and deeds. You will see the deep appreciation in their aging eyes when they realize that even today someone appreciates their efforts and are willing to share your feelings with them.
I feel that we are honored by their presence, and giving them a hug every day of their lives will still not make up for what they have done for us, our children, and our country.
We currently pay tribute to the men and women serving our country today, and I ask you to never forget the people who went before them.
Including my mom 1st Lt. Ila M. Nolan, WW ll U.S. Army Nurse Corps,
And my dad Cpl. Leonard J. Wheel, WW ll U.S. Army artillery
(A.W.) 2003.
About Alan:
He lives in Levant, Maine and is a published author.