April 2014

The Heartbleed Bug and Together We Served

By now you have probably heard about the internet bug Heartbleed which compromised the security of many of the servers on the web. The bug affects the OpenSSL framework used by many online businesses to privately exchange data.

We would like to take this opportunity to assure you that TogetherWeServed (TWS) took immediate and proactive steps to patch this security hole across all our servers. We have also replaced our HTTPS certificates and are undertaking a wide ranging security audit to identify any remaining weaknesses.

As an additional precaution we recommend that you change your password on TWS. If you are using a password on TWS that you also use elsewhere we recommend you choose a password for TWS that is unique. To change your password:

1. 1) Login to your TogetherWeServed.com website.
2. 2) Access your profile by clicking the My Profile Tab
3. 3) Choose "My Settings" top right (Enhanced Look) or top left (Classic Look).
4. 4) Choose "Change your Password" (second option in the list).

All passwords are salted and hashed following best security practices - TWS keeps no record of your original password.

Incredible Enemy Compassion over Nazi Germany

On Dec. 20, 1943, Second Lt. Charles "Charlie" Brown was desperately trying to keep his heavily damaged plane, a B-17F bomber known as 'Ye Olde Pub,' aloft over Germany. This was the crew's first mission and they had been in the second wave of bombers targeting Focke-Wulf airplane manufacturing plant near Bremen in northwest Germany when they ran into very heavy flak during their bombing run. The anti-aircraft fire blew out the Plexiglas nose, destroyed one engine and damaged two others. There were holes all over the fuselage and the tail was half gone; they couldn't keep up with the rest of the bombers. Suddenly, they were attacked by a wave of eight Messerschmitt fighters, followed by another seven. His crew fought back and downed one or two of them, but then Brown, who was wounded along with most of his crew lost control of his plane. It flipped over and spiraled down, causing Brown to lose consciousness. The Germans figured the bomber was spiraling to it death and left. What they could not have known was Brown had finally regained control with just hundreds of feet to spare. Of his crew members, one was dead and six wounded, and Brown was alone in his cockpit since his co-pilot copilot Spencer "Pinky" Luke along with two other unharmed men, were tending to the others. Blood of the wounded crew was splattered throughout the plane's interior. When Brown asked for a damage report, one of the crew replied, "We're chewed to pieces." Directly below them was a German airfield.

On the airfield German pilot Franz Stigler, a former commercial airline pilot whose father and brother had both died while serving their country, was refueling and re-arming his Messerschmitt Bf-109. When he heard Brown's B-17 Flying Fortress roaring overhead, barely 200 above the ground, he looked up, dismayed at how low it was. Oberleutnant (Lieutenant) Stigler had already shot down two B-17s that day and one more added to his total would mean he would receive the Knight's Cross, Germany's highest military award. He took off in his fighter as soon as he could.

Soon after taking off, Stigler located the B-17 and he approached from behind and above the bomber. At that distance he could see the tail was half shot away. Stigler dropped lower, closing, watching for the tail-gunner's machine guns to rise, meaning he'd been spotted, but they never moved. He got close enough to see that the tail-gunner was dead or dying, his blood running down the gun barrel. Stigler edged his fighter alongside the stricken bomber. He had never seen a plane with so much damage still able to fly. There were so many holes in its fuselage he could see crew members tending to their wounded. Stigler remembered a former commander who, during the campaign in North Africa, told them: "You are fighter pilots first, last, always. If I ever hear of any of you shooting at someone in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself." Stigler considered that shooting these men down now would be the same as machine gunning them in parachutes.

Pulling in behind the Pub and concerned he would come under fire, Stigler had his finger on the trigger, one eye closed and the other squinting through his gun sight. He took aim and was about to fire when he realized what he wasn't seeing: This plane had no tail guns blinking. This plane had no left stabilizer. This plane had no tail-gun compartment left, and as he got closer, Stigler saw the terrified tail gunner himself, his fleece collar soaked red, the guns themselves streaked with it, icicles of blood hanging from the barrels.

Stigler was no longer energized. He was alarmed. He pulled alongside the plane and saw clean through the middle, where the skin had been blown apart by anti-aircraft shells. He saw these terrified young men attempting to tend to their wounded. He drew equal to the B-17 and saw that the nose of the plane, too, had been blown away. How was this thing still in the air? He maneuvered toward the disabled bomber's wingtip.

At first, Brown didn't notice the small German plane. He was thinking, thinking, thinking. He had six wounded men in the back. Some were strong enough to jump out, but the critically injured would never survive the cold German forest. He'd have to keep flying, try to make it to England, but the others should jump. He then noticed the German fighter.

Flying along the wingtip of the Pub, a relaxed Stigler nodded to Brown but he was in such a state of shock he did not return the greeting. Running through Brown's mind was how daring the German pilot in flying that close to even a badly crippled enemy bomber. Stigler signaled to Brown to land in Germany. Brown, in pain and still recovering from oxygen deprivation, refused. Stigler reconsidered and then tried to get Brown to swing northeast toward neutral Sweden, only 30 minutes away. He didn't think the B-17 could make it back to England. Again, Brown refused, sticking to his course. Stigler continued to escort Brown's Flying Fortress through the skies over Germany???partly because he didn't want anyone to shoot them down. When they were finally over the North Sea, Stigler saluted and turned away. He didn't think much of their chances.

Brown himself did not think much of their chances either but a crash-landing was never seriously considered since all pilots of B-17's were under strict instructions that if a crash-landing became necessary as a last resort, survivors were to destroy the aircraft and activate the explosive charge in the highly secret Norden bombsight. Since it appeared to Brown most of the crew would not survive a parachute jump into northern Germany in the winter, and possibly all of them would perish in a crash-landing, Brown would fly back over land to let any of the crew bale out who wished to do so, and would then try and fly the aircraft back to England. All agreed to stay on board and take their chances.

Brown managed to get his B-17 back to base. For getting his plane and crew back under such conditions, a Colonel told him he would be nominated for the Medal of Honor. However, during debriefing, he and his crew kept talking about the crazy German who had escorted them to the sea. Immediately after, he and his crew's participation in the mission was classified Secret and ordered not to discuss it with anyone. He never officially received so much as a pat on the back.

Stigler returned to his base and reported that he had shot-down the B-17 over the North Sea. To have done otherwise he would have been court-martialed and possibly shot for letting an enemy go free. By the end of the war he'd flown 487 combat missions and had 28 confirmed kills. He never received the Knight's Cross. He served through the end of World War II and, unable to ever feel at home in Germany living in fear that he'd be found out, relocated to Vancouver, Canada, in 1953.

Brown served right up until the beginning of the Vietnam War and eventually settled with his wife in Miami. Still deeply traumatized by the incident, he thought about searching for the German until finally, in January 1990, knowing the odds were against him, he took out an ad in a newsletter for fighter pilots, looking for the one "who saved my life on Dec. 20, 1943." He held back one key piece of information: Where the German pilot had abandoned his B-17.

At home in Vancouver, Stigler saw the ad. He yelled to his wife: "This is him! This is the one I didn't shoot down!"

Franz had always wondered if the great risk he'd taken had been worth it, if the American had made it home. Brown had always wondered what the German had been planning to do to him, and why he had let him go.

He immediately wrote a letter to Brown.

Brown was too impatient to actually read it. He called the operator and had her look up Franz Stigler's number, then placed the call immediately.

"When I let you go over the sea," Stigler said, "I thought you'd never make it."

"My God," Brown said. "It's you."

Tears were streaming down his face. Stigler had answered Brown's secret question without Brown having to ask it.

"What were you pointing for?" Brown asked.

Stigler, too, was crying. He explained everything: that he could tell that Brown had no idea how bad the plane was, that he was pointing first to the ground, to Germany, and then pointing away, mouthing "Sweden," that he was trying to escort them to safety and that he abandoned them only when he saw the gun swing from the turret.

"Good luck," he'd said to Brown from his cockpit. "You're in God's hands."

They met at a 379th Bomber Group reunion, together with 25 people who are alive now - all because Franz never fired his guns that day. For the rest of their lives, Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler became close friends. Both also felt that they should tell their story to as many people as would hear it, not for money but to make people realize that there's always another way that the world could be infinitely better than it was. Stigler and Brown both had heart attacks and died in 2008, six months apart. Stigler was 92; Brown, 87.

In their obituaries, each was listed the other as "a special brother.

The complete story can be found in a book written my Adam Makos and Larry Alexander entitled A Higher Call.

Project Delta - Special Operations in Vietnam

Since the beginning of warfare military leaders knew their greatest chance of winning on the battlefield is to know where the enemy is, how great in strength and what they were planning to do. It was certainly no different with Vietnam commanders. To gain useable and timely intelligence on local enemy forces, Vietnam infantry commanders created "unauthorized" or off the book reconnaissance units to penetrated deep into enemy-held territory. So successful were these forays by these small, well-armed Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols (LRRPs) that General William Westmoreland approved the formation of a LRRP unit in each infantry brigade or division.

But there was one reconnaissance unit operating in Vietnam several years before LLRP units existed. It was Project Delta, a clandestine special reconnaissance operations considered the most successful Special Operation units of the Vietnam War, yet few Americans have ever heard of them, or know that this unit's operational model was precursor for the renowned Delta Force.

Established at Nha Trang in 1964 the mission of Project Delta (officially designated Detachment B-52) was to conduct special reconnaissance missions throughout Vietnam when ordered by COMUSMACV and the Vietnamese Joint Central Staff. Mission orders generally followed requests for assistance by division or larger commands. Project Delta would then fall under operational control (OPCON) of the requesting unit.

Missions were as many as they were varied including operational and strategic reconnaissance into long held Vietcong areas to collect intelligence for tactical or strategic exploitation, direct air strikes on normally inaccessible targets or when a heavy concentration of an enemy was spotted, conducting BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment) in enemy controlled areas, inserting hunter-killer missions at night using helicopter borne personnel with sniper scopes and Starlight scopes, recovering allied POW's and downed airmen, capturing enemy for intelligence exploitation, tap into wires on enemy communications lines, plant mines on transportation routes, mislead enemy counterintelligence by using deceptive missions, mock ordnance devices, and dummy infiltrations, and conducting photo reconnaissance and psychological operations. The operations were near known enemy base areas and infiltration routes in the border areas. These operations remained classified until 1996.

While the operational strength of B-52 varied and fluctuated during its history, typically it was comprised of 11 officers and 82 enlisted men from the U.S. Army Special Forces, a 105 man CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group) Nung Security Company responsible for compound and TCC security, a Bomb Damage Assessment (BDA) team consisting of four US and 24 CIDG 20 officers and 78 enlisted men from the Vietnamese Special Forces, a 123 man CIDG Roadrunner Company and the 81st Airborne Ranger Battalion (RVN) made up of 43 officers and 763 enlisted men. The 81st Airborne Ranger Battalion was the reactionary force for Project Delta. With the dire need for additional troops in Saigon during Tet 1968, the Airborne Ranger Battalion fought in Cholon and in the jungles northeast of Saigon.

In most cases elements of the 281st AHC were attached OPCON for aviation support. Additionally U.S. Air Force personnel were assigned as Forward Air Controllers as well as Australian SAS and South Korea Special Forces personal.

The Recon Teams (combined USASF and VNSF) and Roadrunner Teams (VNSF equipped with enemy uniforms, accouterments and weapons) were the primary source of intelligence collection for Project Delta. Insertion of these Teams for infiltration was accomplished in a covert manner by helicopter with techniques developed initially by the 145th AVN PLT and Project DELTA and refined by the 281st AHC.

Extraction or exfiltration was accomplished in much the same manner as the insertion. After the Team was identified by means of pre-designated codes the recovery operation proceeded. Depending on the terrain, weather, extent of wounds and enemy situation, the Team may be extracted with ladders, McGuire Rigs or Electric Hoist. In later years the McGuire Rigs were refined into the STABO Rig. If the LZ was hot and the Team was in contact, the Team was usually extracted with the McGuire or STABO and flown to a secured area to be recovered into the aircraft.

During its history, Project Delta identified 68 enemy units, captured vast amounts of equipment and supplies and identified many major enemy installations and supply routes. Enemy losses attributed to B-52 during its operations include 338 KIA, 25 WIA and 69 POWs. Operating in even combat tactical zone in Vietnam, it was OPCON to the 25th Infantry Division, 1st Cavalry Division, 101st Airborne Division, 4th Infantry Division, 3rd Marine Division, and the 5th ARVN Division as well as Company A, 5th Special Forces Group.

After conducting 55-60 separate operations, Project Delta ceased operations on June 30, 1970. Never numbering more than 100 officers and enlisted men at any one time, it would become the most highly decorated unit of its size in the Vietnam War. Among the many decorations Detachment B-52 soldiers received were two Distinguished Service Crosses, 18 Silver Stars, 58 Bronze Stars with "V" devices and 53 Purple Hearts. Project Delta was also the second most highly decorated unit in the conflict with the Valorous Unit Award, the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, the Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal with Palm, and the Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon.

Twenty nine former members of Project Delta are listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Pierre Julien Ortiz - Marine Hero, Swashbuckler, Actor

The first thoughts that come to mind when one thinks about World War II Marines is them landing on bloody beaches and fighting in steamy jungles of the Pacific. But this was not the role of Marine Pierre Julien Ortiz, who served in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. His exploits and dare-devil attitude were things of fiction yet they were all real.

He was an American and a Frenchman with a Spanish name and he lived in remarkable times and did remarkable things. His life was a series of rousing adventures that were the basis for several Hollywood screenplays. He was a ship's mate, a race car driver, a decorated French Foreign Legionnaire with two awards of the Croix de Guerre, a World War II Marine officer with two Navy Crosses and two Purple Hearts, a member of the covert Office of Strategic Services and captured by the Germans only to escape and three years later be captured again - and he was a Hollywood movie actor. He spoke five languages including French, German and Arabic.

On February 1, 1932, at the age of 19, he joined the French Foreign Legion for five years' service in North Africa in Morocco. Within three years he was a sergeant. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre twice during a campaign against the Rif. When his contract expired, he went to Hollywood to serve as a technical adviser for war films.

With the outbreak of World War II and the United States still neutral, he re-enlisted in the Legion in 1939 as a sergeant. He was wounded in action and imprisoned by the Germans during the 1940 Battle of France. He escaped the following year and made his way to the United States.

He joined the Marines in June 1942. As a result of his training and experience, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant after only 40 days. He was promoted to captain in December and, with his knowledge of the region, sent to Tangier, Morocco. He conducted reconnaissance behind enemy lines in Tunisia for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). During a night mission, Ortiz was seriously wounded in an encounter with a German patrol and was sent back to the United States to recover.

In January 1944, he parachuted into the Haute-Savoie region of German-occupied France as part of the three-man "Union" mission with Colonel Pierre Fourcaud of the French secret service and Captain Thackwaite from SIS to evaluate the capabilities of the Resistance in the Alpine region. He drove four downed RAF pilots to the border of neutral Spain before leaving France with his team.

Promoted to major, Ortiz parachuted back into France on August 1, 1944, this time as the commander of the "Union II" mission. He was captured by the Germans on August 16 and spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner of war. He was the most highly decorated member of the OSS.

In April 1954, he volunteered to return to active duty to serve as a Marine observer in Indochina. The Marine Corps did not accept his request because "current military policies" will not permit the assignment requested. He rose to the rank of colonel in the Marine Reserve.

After the war, Ortiz worked with director John Ford, a former member of the OSS himself. Two movies were produced depicting the exploits of Ortiz: '13 Rue Madeleine' with James Cagney (1947) and 'Operation Secret' with Cornel Wilde (1952).Ortiz also had parts in such films as 'The Outcast,' 'Wings of Eagles' and 'Rio Grande' in which he played Captain St. Jacques. He also played the part of Major Knott in the film, 'Retreat Hell,' a movie about the Marines at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in during the Korean War in 1950. According to his son, Marine Lieutenant Colonel Peter J. Ortiz, Jr., "My father was an awful actor but he had great fun appearing in movie."

Ortiz died of cancer on May 16, 1988, at the age of 74, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Jean and their son Peter J. Ortiz, Jr.

Ortiz's decorations included two Navy Crosses, the Legion of Merit, the Order of the British Empire, and five Croix de Guerre. He also was made a Chevalier of the Legion d'honneur by the French.

In August 1994, Centron, France held a ceremony in which the town center was renamed "Place Colonel Peter Ortiz." This event was attended by many former members of the local maquis unit in the region, as well as the Marine contingent and Mrs. Ortiz and her son.

Richest Firearm Collection in the World

Thirty miles outside Washington, DC is Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Originally, the land was the site of the Belvoir plantation purchased by Lord William Fairfax in 1738 where he built an elegant brick mansion (Destroyed by fire in 1783, the ruins of the Belvoir Mansion and the nearby Fairfax family grave site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places). Sometime later the land was acquired by the U.S. government and during World War I became the home of the Army Engineer School prior to its relocation in the 1980s to Fort Leonard Wood, in Missouri. Today, Fort Belvoir is home to a number of important United States military organizations including the U.S. Army's Center of Military History.

The building itself is very nondescript but behind a series of highly alarmed doors and long, cement, camera-laden hallways is the highly sophisticated, climate-controlled treasure room where the army keeps its most precious artifacts. Behind these giant doors lay the army's historic collection of weaponry. The room consists of dozens of collapsible "hallways" filled with the richest American firearm collection on the planet. The collection is stacked with priceless items. Entire lineages of weapons are kept here for research as well as preservation purposes.

Another portion of the warehouse consists of endless rows of gigantic, airtight lockers. Every meaningful artifact that has been worn on a military battlefield is stored here, including Gen. Ulysses Grant's Civil War cap. Famous generals' uniforms and Revolutionary War powder satchels, flags, canteens and cannons. And the rows go on and on and on and on. But the crown jewel of the collection is the 16,000 pieces of fine art the army owns. The art is kept on giant rolling metal frames.

The massive collection consists of donated and commissioned pieces. Much of the art was painted by soldiers who experienced their subjects in real life. During World War I, the army began commissioning artists to deploy into the war zone and paint the scenes they observed. This practice has continued to this day. Much of the museum's collection consists of these commissioned wartime pieces. The collection also keeps hold of valuable donated military art and historical pieces dating back to the Mexican American War.

The art tells the story of America's wars through a soldier's unique perspective. Some works are just beautiful beyond words. Every aspect of war is captured in the collection which includes original army propaganda art, including beautiful Norman Rockwell originals that the Army commissioned in the 1940s.

Virtually every American conflict is represented from a first-hand soldier's perspective: Peace and War as well as humanitarian aid missions.

The collection also has a controversial side that has never been displayed. Unique art and artifacts that were seized from the Nazis after World War II are stored here. A number of Hitler's paintings were seized by the U.S. Army at the end of World War II and found a home at the center.

Not a single piece in this massive collection is open to the public because there is no museum to house it. The entire collection could be made accessible to the public, if the funds for a museum could be raised.

The Army Historical Foundation is in charge of raising the funds for the museum. The foundation's president recently told the Washington Post that they have raised $76 million of the $175 million required for the museum and predicts the museum could open in 2018. It is also to be located at Fort Belvoir, six miles west of Mount Vernon.

Those interesting in donating to the building of the museum can learn how by visiting the following site: https://armyhistory.org/donation-opportunities-programs/

Bravest Submariner Who Earned 5 Navy Crosses

Ask any Marine who was Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller and each would quickly respond by saying. "Why, he was the greatest, bravest and most highly decorated Marine in Marine Corp history." Another would inevitable say, "He was not only a tough, no nonsenses Marine he is also the only one awarded five Navy Crosses." Both would be right. During his career, Puller fought guerrillas in Haiti and Nicaragua, and participated in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and the Korean War where he earned his five Navy Crosses, an Army Distinguished Service Cross and a Silver Star.

Now ask any Sailor who was Rear Admiral Roy Milton Davenport and while some submariners might know the answer, the majority of Sailor would not even venture a guess. Yet, like Marine "Chesty" Puller, he too was awarded five Navy Crosses making him the first individual (Puller was the second individual) and only Sailor so honored.

A student of Christian Science, Davenport was dubbed the "praying skipper" and was known for his daring attacks against Japanese ships, often executed on the surface to gain additional speed. In all, he was credited during the Pacific War with sinking eight Japanese ships and damaging 10. While none of the men under his command were lost, he and his crews experienced many close calls and escapes. He credited his religious faith for his successes.

Davenport served as a submarine executive officer on the USS Silversides (SS-236) under Lt. Cdr. Creed Burlingame and later commanding officer of the USS Haddock (SS-231) and USS Trepang (SS-412).

USS Silversides (SS-236) first action was May 10, 1942 when the submarine used her 3-inch (76 mm) gun to heavily damage a Japanese gunboat near Japanese home islands. During this 75 minute action, an enemy machine-gun bullet killed one of her deck gunners, TM3 Mike Harbin, the only man lost in action aboard Silversides during World War II. Harbin was buried at sea later that evening.

Seven days later, while maneuvering through an enemy fishing fleet and approaching her targets, Silversides' periscope became entangled in a fishnet marked by Japanese flags held aloft on bamboo poles. The sub continued her approach, fishnet and all, and fired three torpedoes at a cargo ship. Two hits tore the victim's stern. While that ship was sinking, the second cargo ship was also hit, but its fate could not be determined. Patrol boats were closing in as the submarine, probably the only American submarine to make an attack while flying the Japanese flag, quickly left the vicinity. After damaging a freighter and tanker in the same area, Silversides terminated her first war patrol at Pearl Harbor on June 21, 1942.

Beyond the expected and usual depth charging after attacks on ships, there were close escapes. Once, a Japanese airplane dropped three bombs directly on Silversides. The sub survived; although during escape, it went into a hard dive with bow planes jammed, exceeding its design depth. At the last moment, Davenport removed a cotter key, enabling the sub to level off to avoid being crushed.

On another occasion, a torpedo, half stuck in the firing chamber required re-firing. If unsuccessfully re-fired, it could have sunk the sub. Another time, Davenport had to wrestle a pistol from a drunken gunner's mate who felt that he had been robbed in a dice game. The sailor was removed from the sub in a straitjacket. After four patrols aboard Silverfish, Burlingame recommended him for a command of his own.

When Admiral Robert English relieved the commander of the USS Haddock (SS-231) for circulating "subversive literature" (a poem critical of English and his staff), Davenport was given command of the submarine.

Davenport's first patrol on the Haddock was also his first action as her commander. On April 3, 1943 off the Palau Islands, Davenport encountered a passenger transport protected by a corvette. The two "fish" launched at the corvette ran under without exploding. Davenport then turned to the passenger transport her with a spread of torpedoes. Following torpedo tracks, the persistent corvette dropped 24 depth charges, many directly over Haddock that caused damage to her conning tower and radar. At a depth of 415 feet, it had almost imploded. To close the hatch to save the boat from sinking, Davenport hit the hatch with a sledgehammer. The conning tower held, and Haddock escaped. Three days later she sank the cargo ship Toyo Maru. After 39 days at sea, Haddock went in for extensive refit to repair a defective conning tower.

On Davenport's second patrol he returned to the Palaus, where he sank the Saipan Maru on July 21, 1943 and on July 26 fired a total of fifteen Mark XIV torpedoes in four attacks, believing he scored one hit. Credited with one ship sunk and damage to another, he was awarded his first Navy Cross.

In August 1943, Davenport was dispatched to Truk, making a 27-day patrol that would earn him a second Navy Cross. He fired four torpedoes on September 15, claiming two hits and fire aboard the target, which nevertheless tried to ram, leading Davenport to fire two more "down the throat." On September 20, he encountered the large tanker Tonan Maru II and fired six torpedoes claiming "at least three certain hits." Several days later he attacked another ship, missing with two torpedoes and on the 23rd, fired his last eight torpedoes at another, claiming three hits.

For his third patrol, he was credited with three ships sunk and his third Navy Cross. In October 1943, he returned to Truk for another 27-day patrol, and on November 2, attacked a freighter and troopship on the surface firing four torpedoes at the freighter and one at the troopship. The freighter was claimed to have sunk immediately, the troopship to have caught fire then settle. The next night, encountering three Japanese destroyers, Davenport fired four torpedoes at one of them claiming a hit mid-ship and a sinking. And finally, on November 6, Haddock found two tankers, firing three bow torpedoes at each and all four stern tubes at the escort. The stern shots all missed, but Davenport reported hits in both tankers. After reloading, he fired two more torpedoes at each, claiming both tankers sunk. The second Truk patrol earned Davenport credit for five ships including the escort, plus damage to another.

Following that patrol, Davenport, "at his own request," was detached for a rest but returned to duty in May 1944 as the commander of the new USS Trepang (SS-412) where the recipient of three Navy Crosses was credited with sinking five enemy ships.

Setting out from Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol on September 13, 1944, the submarine prowled the waters south of Honshu, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of September 30, Trepang spotted a fast convoy departing Tokyo Bay. Davenport gave chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tankers, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.

Davenport weathered a typhoon and, on October 11, attacked his second convoy of two tankers and one escort. Firing four stern tubes, he claimed three hits. No sinkings were confirmed in Japanese records. The next night, he fired four torpedoes at a Japanese landing craft, believing all missed. Postwar, he was credited with Transport 105.

Two days later, the submarine cruised some 12 miles southwest of the entrance to Tokyo Bay during the nighttime. Soon after she came to the surface, and her radar swept the surrounding seas, four pips showed themselves on the phosphorescent screen???two large and two small???which were identified as two battleships and two destroyers.

Despite the fact that the phosphorescent waters would make his submarine stand out starkly in the night, Davenport closed at flank speed and fired a full spread of six torpedoes. The "fish" sped through the water toward their targets. He claimed success when explosions rumbled across the water, and flames lit up the night. Davenport turned the submarine to present her stern tubes to the enemy and loosed four more torpedoes. These all missed.

Davenport's gallant and skillfully pressed attacks earned him his fourth Navy Cross. He felt that he had damaged a Fuso-class battleship and had sunk a destroyer, but a study of Japanese records after the war did not verify either claim.

The Trepang got underway for its second patrol on November 16, 1944 leading a wolfpack heading for the Philippine Islands leading. The wolfpack included sister ships Segundo (SS-398) and Razorback (SS-394). Since Roy Davenport was the officer in charge of the pack its nickname was "ROY'S RANGERS."

The weather was dark, windy, and rough on December 6 as Trepang's conning tower broke the surface after a day's submerged inshore patrol off Luzon. While shifting course toward deeper water, she detected a group of ships approaching from the northward. Upon closing to investigate, Davenport counted seven large ships and three escorts in the convoy which slowly approached the Philippines.

Davenport radioed news of her "find" to others in the pack then submerged. The submarine shot straight and true, sending freighter Banshu Maru Number 31 and cargo ship Jinyo Maru to the bottom in quick succession and damaging a third vessel, Fukuyo Maru. However, as Trepang came about to administer the coup de grace to Fukuyo Maru, the third cargo ship obligingly blew up and sank. Meanwhile, as Segundo and Razorback arrived on the scene, Trepang fired all of her remaining torpedoes at a fourth ship which, she reported, blew up and sank soon thereafter. However, this fourth sinking was not confirmed by Japanese records. In the meantime, the other two American submarines were trying to finish off the fleeing remnants of the shattered convoy and managed to sink two ships, one with the aid of American naval aircraft. Trepang, now out of torpedoes, sped back to Pearl Harbor, arriving before Christmas. Davenport received his fifth Navy Cross for what would be his last submarine patrol. He was reassigned for shore duty as an instructor at the United States Naval Academy.

Except for those who earned the Medal of Honor, such as Dick O'Kane, he was one of the most highly decorated submariners of the war with his five Navy Crosses and two Silver Stars.

TWS Member Book Review : Heroes from the Wall

When the author John Douglas Foster was wounded while serving in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, he received more than a piece of metal in his body???haunting memories of comrades opened his soul in a quest to learn more about those who didn't return. Sketching a fascinating portrait of the lives of those who fought and died valiantly, Foster pens a riveting and gut-wrenching read in Heroes from the Wall, ensuring that these heroes will never be forgotten by future generation who didn't know them on the battlefield.

Foster seamlessly captures their quirks of personality, playful antics, heroic actions, compassion and care for others, their caring and sharing with their comrades, tender caring for their family and affirmation of life while engulfed in places of death. Foster writes with candor and resonating tone.

Reviews
An unknown name on a gravestone is as dead as the person in the grave. John Foster has brought dead names on the Vietnam memorial Wall to life through telling the stories behind the names. With careful research and story-teller's eye, Foster reveals the heart, hopes, dreams and ultimate sacrifice that were made by these soldiers and Marines. The reader is given a portal through the reflection on the smooth granite into the reals lives of real people who died too young. These unsung heroes have now been sung.

???Karl Marlantes, author of New York Times best seller MATTERHORN

As a US Marine Veteran of two tours in Viet Nam I was greatly touched by the stories in this book. The book is well written and interesting. I would recommend this book to all who would know how and why people served their country in the Viet Nam conflict

???Sergeant Major Robert S. Ryan. USMC, Retired

John Foster has captured and presented for all to remember the supreme sacrifices that those who fought and died in Vietnam and surrounding countries made. The book is outstanding in the way that the many stories are told! My squad leader at the U. S. Naval Academy, Lt. Commander Barton S. Creed, USN, was the pilot of an A7E aircraft which launched from the USS Ranger for a combat mission on March 13, 1971. He was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. He ejected from the aircraft. Search and rescue helicopters made numerous attempts to pick him up, but to no avail. He never returned. I miss him still and think about him often. John's book pays tribute to the many others who were either killed in action and/or captured and never returned. I highly recommend it.

???Colonel Michael E. Lowe, USMC (Ret.)

I hope that someday this book will be required in schools. This must have been a very emotional book to write. It was certainly emotional to read. I highly recommend this book.

???Angie Maher

About the Author

John Douglas Foster was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended high school in Santa Cruz, California. In 1966, immediately after high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. He saw combat with the Second Battalion, Ninth Marine Regiment in 1967 and 1968. He was wounded during Tet of 1968. After Vietnam, Mr. Foster served as a Marine security guard with the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. He separated from the Marine Corps in 1979. He also received his bachelor's degree from Sonoma State University in 1979. John Foster is currently living in Southern California with his wife, Noelly. He is also a TWS member and there are many Marines on TWS that know his books. All profits from sales are being equally donated to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Fund and the Make a Wish Foundation.