Research Visit to the National Museum of the Pacific War

By Glenn | October 23, 2024 |
View of the George W. Bush Gallery at the National Museum of the Pacific War (Author's photo.)

Last week, I spent a morning in Fredericksburg, Texas, searching through the archives of the National Museum of the Pacific War. I was there to research my forthcoming book on the crew of USS Franklin, still today the most decorated in US Navy history. My first trip to the museum was strictly as a tourist…

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USS Franklin Supports Peleliu Invasion, September 1944

By Glenn | September 16, 2024 |
A Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter makes condensation rings as it awaits the take-off flag aboard USS Yorktown (CV-10), 20 November 1943. The plane is from Fighting Squadron Five (VF-5). Yorktown was then hitting targets in the Marshall Islands to cover the landings in the Gilberts. VF-5 would serve onboard Franklin in 1945. By that time, flying Corsairs.

At the beginning of September 1944, USS Franklin, the flagship of Task Group (TG) 38.4, was leading strikes against Iwo Jima and its sister island, Chi Chi Jima. TG 38.4 was one of four task groups making up Task Force 38, commanded by Admiral Marc Mitscher, who reported to Third Fleet commander Admiral William Halsey.…

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Burials At Sea by USS Franklin, 1944

By Glenn | September 8, 2024 |
Undated page from USS Franklin decklog showing burial at sea on 31 October 1944 of those crewmembers killed the day before by a Kamikaze attack.

Recently, I received an email from the brother of a crew member killed during the 30 October 1944 Kamikaze attack on USS Franklin. He had always wanted to know the latitude and longitude of the ship when his brother was buried at sea. The ship was part of the US Navy’s Task Force 58, assigned…

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