Welcome

As long as I can remember, I have loved history, especially American history. I grew up on TV and movie Westerns and enjoyed stories about the colonists overthrowing the British in the American Revolution and the Texicans and Tejanos fighting Santa Anna. I was in the second through fourth grades when we lived in San Antonio, and we often went on field trips to the Alamo and the other historic missions.

By my early teens, my family had moved to Atlanta where, one Sunday afternoon, I flipped through the four or five TV channels. I came across a movie already in progress which showed a US Navy crew battling a horrendous fire on their carrier. From the uniforms and helmets, I could tell it was set in World War II. I recognized one of the actors, William Bendix, who had starred in the TV show, “The Life of Riley,” some years before. And Richard Boone, who played Paladin in “Have Gun Will Travel,” as well as Sam Houston in John Wayne’s version of “The Alamo.”

When it was over, I went on to other things. But for some reason, the scenes from the fires on the ship stuck in my mind.

Fast forward fifty or so years. I’d graduated from college with a degree in History and Political Science, but chose the American Cancer Society as my employer where I would spend more than three decades working with other staff and volunteers in funding research and providing education and patient services to the public. As I moved into management, I developed an interest in the study of management and leadership.

In my spare time, I read history and my attention slowly turned to World War II in the Pacific. Much of this had to do with the proximity of the Museum of the Pacific War located in Fredericksburg, TX, near me. I’ve made many trips there and have attended at least ten or more of their annual symposia as well as other events

In the last few years, I learned about the actions of the men of the Essex-class carrier, the USS Franklin, CV-13, who have the distinction of being the most decorated crew in the entire history of the US Navy. Oh, and by the way, the captain tried to court martial more than a hundred of them. I remembered the movie I’d seen as a teen and, thanks to IMDB.com, discovered it was “Battle Stations!” loosely based on the events on the Franklin.

As I learned more about the actions which took place on March 19, 1945, less than six months before the war ended, I became more and more interested in not only the actions of the crew that day, but why they were 50 miles off the coast of Japan. Most of the accounts I read focused on the brave actions of the men that day. Others focused on the strategy of the war, but none why the ship was there. And then there was the “leadership” angle. What caused the ship’s captain to want to court martial more than 100 of his men when other no other ship’s captain had even contemplated doing what he did? What were the other acts of leadership that day? What lasting impacts did the actions of that day have?

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Since I was genuinely curious about the actions of the day and how the Franklin fit in to the bigger picture, I’ve decided to research and write a book answering those questions. I want to add to the scholarship by discussing the evolving naval strategy during the winter of 1945 and the leadership implications, something I haven’t seen elsewhere.

I’ll use this blog as a journal to chronicle my progress. I also will throw in other history related topics (my father was a decorated veteran in the European Theater), and I have other interests related to history, as well.

Stay tuned! “Same Bat-Time! Same Bat-channel!”

Oh, hey! Have you signed up for my monthly newsletter yet? I will not share your information but I will provide you with some extra content and I may ask for feedback about certain stories or topics. I’ll send out the first issue in September. You’ll be able to unsubscribe at any time if it’s not to your liking.