The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 11

Louisiana, A-13 Editorial. A-1 6 SaUg Ecton Calk Sunday October 23, 1994 A-11 Battle of Leyte Area veterans recall sights, sounds of scene 50 years ago -I Bciotoan 1 By Jim Leggett Staff reporter The concussion of gunfire off the USS California and other ships was so intense on the Leyte beachhead that Kelly Ward had to fly his scout up to 5,000 feet to get relief from the resulting turbulence. The scene was 50 years ago last Thursday. Lawrence Morgan of Marksville, a rifleman with the i cvtc Dulag JV fire as Ward does. Aboard an LVT (landing vehicle, tracked) hauling troops ashore he remembers going near the big ships and "just about being blasted out of the water.

"I remember how scared I was. I was frightened out of my skull," Pharis said. After putting troops of the 96th ashore, he said, he continued to haul supplies ashore. He later went to Okinawa and ended his war service as an Armed Forces Radio announcer. He used his experience as a KALB announcer to get that assignment, he said.

Fred Collins, 73, of Pineville was assigned to a Marine Leyte ulf VVlfw Camotes Sea 1st Cavalry Division 24th Division 0 96th Division 7th Division 0 77th Division 1st Cavalry Division, was happy about battleship and other naval gunfire across the 17-mile front. So were other central Louisianians who hit the beaches of Leyte 50 years ago to pave the 7 z4 Glass artillery battalion whose 155-millimeter guns were to be in support of the Leyte land invasion. "The thing went smoothly," he said. He said he got into a bit of trouble when he paraphrased way for Gen. Douglas MacArthur to make his famous return to the Philippines.

Morgan was among soldiers of Rachal Associated Press All types of landing craft and ground vehicles Philippines. The landing received only minimal line the beach during the landings on Leyte, the resistance, but the troops had to face strong first landing in the campaign to recapture the Japanese units farther inland. his division fought the Japanese in the mountains for the next two months. Robert Rachal of Lena was a weapons platoon sergeant in the 96th Infantry Division and was in the first wave to hit the beaches of Leyte. He remembers, "They softened up the beach so well the resistance was nearly nil." He remembers having his unit's sector of the beach secured within 12 hours of the beach assault.

It was the 96th's first venture into combat, but Rachal said, "We were so well briefed, and we were a good strong division. We were prepared for anything except for being scared of being killed. We knew our jobs." The remainder of the campaign in Leyte was rough, but Rachal found Okinawa rougher. He was wounded there. Jean Pharis, a former district attorney and Pineville city judge, remembers the heavy naval gun four Army divisions that hit the beaches of the island deemed critical to taking back the Philippines.

"There wasn't much that could survive that bombardment," Morgan remembers. MacArthur's famous return message and said in a letter read by censors, "By the grace of God and a few Marines, I have returned." It was the Marine addition that got him, he said. (MacArthur's message actually was, "People of the Philippines. I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil soil consecrated in the blood of our two J.L.

Glass of Forest Hill was aboard the USS Pierce which delivered troops and their equipment to Leyte. He kept a log of the amphibious transport's Morgan movements about the Pacific, and it shows the ship left for Leyte on Oct. 12. He said his ship could carry 2,000 troops and their equipment, and it also carried landing craft to get them ashore. The ship departed Leyte that day but was to come back again.

C.G. Clauss of Oakdale was a 17-year-old deck hand aboard the USS Calver, an amphibious personnel attack craft. Of his experiences in the Pacific, including Leyte, he said, "I saw no heroism, no parachuting behind enemy lines but just plain hard work and guts to get the job done." Will Fletcher of Montgomery wrote of his experiences on Leyte in a letter to his grandsons. Serving in an anti-aircraft unit, he wasn't in the first waves ashore, "but the fighting was far from over when we landed near Tacloban. I was a sergeant then.

chief of gun crew. Try to imagine setting up a 40-millimeter automatic cannon while being strafed. But we established gun emplacements and began the ter-i rible work of war shooting down planes." Ralph Deason of Leesville served in the 168th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion. He remembers capturing a Japanese 20-mil-limeter anti-aircraft gun on Please see BATTLE, A-12 "We had a good bit of resistance, but the Navy and air force bombardment did a pretty good job." To this day, Lawrence has a detailed map of Leyte, and he knows exactly where he was as Naval vets tell of battle 1 JLlftX-l By Jim Leggett Staff reporter Howard Gist Jr. was a communications officer aboard the battleship USS West Virginia in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, so he was in a unique position to get the big picture.

John Stokes was a Navy Hellcat F6F fighter pilot based on the USS Wasp, and he thinks history has overlooked the efforts of his carrier group in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Max West was aboard the USS Natoma Bay, a light carrier called a "jeep carrier" by Navy veterans, and he is happy just to have lived and know he was a part of history. Ernest Huber was aboard the USS Franklin, an aircraft carrier, and he knows what it is like all of its 93 armor-piercing rounds at the Japanese fleet led by Adm. Takeo Kurita and was in a real fix had another Japanese force led by Vice Adm. Shoji Nishamura kept coming at the Americans.

As it turned out, the only survivors of Kurita's force, which included the two biggest and modern battleships in the world, were one cruiser and five destroyers. Gist said the West Virginia had the best radar of the battleships, so it was used for target acquisition by the other ships. That means, he said, that he talked to gunnery officers aboard other ships during the battle. "I didn't even see the other ships, but I was communicating with Please see NAVAL, A-12 Huber Ward Gist West Associated Press to have served on a ship that did well in the Battle of Leyte Gulf but did not fare so well later in the war. The land invasion, supported by heavy naval gunfire, had gone well as it launched on Oct.

20, 1944. A few days later came the great naval battle. The West Virginia and the California were in the American force that hammered one of three Japanese forces steaming toward Leyte in the days after the land invasion that featured Gen. Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines. In fact, Gist remembers, the battleship fired A scout plane flies by the side of the battleship California shortly after being catapulted from the stern of the snip.

Kelly Ward of Alexandria flew such an airplane during the battle of Leyte. The Battle of Leyte 4 major clashes PhiHppineCape Engamo islands I Heroism stops powerful Japanese fleet (Editor's note: This is one of a Return to the Philippines in $53 Philippine Sea tkJU 1 i rvQi www i i a oaii Douicuuinu Jy?" Straight cruisers, a light cruiser and 11 destroyers, will try to force its way through the Surigao Strait, south of Leyte, and trap the Americans in the gulf in a giant pincers. Kurita's main force is spotted in the early hours of Oct. 23 by the U.S. submarines Darter and Dace.

The Darter slams two torpedoes into the heavy cruiser Agato, Kurita's flagship, which sinks, leaving the admiral struggling in the water. He finally is hauled aboard the Yamato. 2 more disabled In bang, bang fashion, the Darter hits the Takeo with two "fish," knocking the heavy cruiser out of action, and the Dace fires four torpedoes into the cruiser Maya, which disappears in an enormous explosion. Halsey's carrier planes sight Kurita's attack force on the morning of Oct. 24 in the Sibuyan Sea, west of San Bernadino Strait.

As Halsey orders his fighters and bombers to strike the enemy, Japanese Navy planes based on Luzon wing toward the American carriers. The U.S. light cruiser Princeton is hit with a 550-pound bomb that hurtles through three decks and starts a gasoline fire. Almost six hours later, there is a huge explosion in the ship's torpedo storage room. Hideous carnage Steel debris rains down on the light cruiser Birmingham, which is alongside, her decks crowded with men.

The carnage is hideous. The Birmingham backs off with 229 of her crew dead and 420 wounded. The Princeton is scuttled. Halsey's pilots riddle the super-battleship Musashi with 19 torpedoes and 17 bomb hits. She finally rolls over and sinks, taking 39 officers and 984 men with her.

The heavy cruiser Myoko is crippled and retires from the battle. Kurita's battered fleet reverses course at 3 p.m. to seek respite from the incessant air attacks. Halsey is led to believe by his jubilant airmen that Kurita is retreating. He incorrectly assumes that Kurita's force is too badly damaged to be a serious threat to those at Leyte Gulf.

Halsey's plan Halsey dispatches a battle plan to task group commanders at 3:12 p.m., indicating that he will form Task Force 34 to engage enemy surface forces. Four battleships, two heavy cruisers, three light cruisers and 14 destroyers will make up Task Force 34. Halsey's message also is received by Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, Adm.

Ernest J. King, commander of the U.S. Navy, and Seventh Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Thomas C. Kinkaid.

All assume that Halsey will Please see CLASHES, A-12 series of reports recallina America's role in the events of World War II 50 years ago this week. The author, a World War II veteran, is a former editor-in-chief of Cox Newspapers.) By Charles E. Glover Cox News Service The invasion of Leyte triggers the greatest naval battle of all time. When it is over, the Japanese Navy ceases to exist as an effective fighting force. Incredible heroism by U.S.

Seventh Fleet officers and men on little escort carriers and thin-skinned destroyers stops a powerful enemy fleet from creating havoc in Leyte Gulf. The Battle for Leyte Gulf is not a single, grand engagement, but consists of four major clashes Oct. 23-25 that range across almost 500,000 square miles of ocean. Some 26 Japanese warships, including three battleships, four aircraft carriers and 10 cruisers are sunk. American losses are three destroyers, two escort carriers and a light carrier.

'Victory plan' When it became apparent that Leyte is to be invaded, the Japanese warlords activate the Sho (Victory) plan. It calls for the Combined Fleet to sally forth and annihilate the Americans, both on sea and land. Another integral part of Sho is the willingness to sacrifice air- ggpQL Suriagao Strait craft carriers to lure Adm. William F. Halsey's Third Fleet away from guarding the entrances to Leyte Gulf.

The "bait" for Halsey is four aircraft carriers and two battleship-carriers. The latter are hybrids, with a flight deck running out behind the forward superstructure of a battleship. Vice Adm. Jisaburo Ozawa commands this expendable fleet, which is waiting to be spotted about 500 miles north of Leyte. Sails from Borneo Adm.

Takeo Kurita's powerful center attack force sails from Brunei Bay, Borneo with 15 destroyers, 12 cruisers and five battleships, including the world's largest fighting ships the Musashi and the Yamato monsters, each with nine 18-inch guns. His plan is to attack through San Bernadino Strait, which separates Luzon and Samar, north of Leyte. Another Japanese task force, with two battleships, three heavy MIKinARI AO 0 Northern Force Center Force 0 Southern Force (4) Seventh Fleet Third Fleet Japanese American Jennifer Daviet Staff artist i.