[ARC5] command set trivia
David Stinson
arc5 at ix.netcom.com
Thu Oct 10 17:56:36 EDT 2013
Thank you, Gordon! Very cool.
For those who might be interested:
Suddenly, shortly before 08:00 on December 7, Japanese planes roared
overhead, shattering the Sunday peace and punctuating it with the explosion
of bombs and the staccato hammering of machine guns. Capt. Van Valkenburgh
sped forward from his cabin and arrived on the navigation bridge where he
immediately began to direct his ship's defense. A quartermaster in the pilot
house asked if the captain wanted to go to the conning tower-a less-exposed
position in view of the Japanese strafing-but Van Valkenburgh refused to do
so and continued to man a telephone, fighting for his ship's life.
A violent explosion suddenly shook the ship, throwing the three occupants of
the bridge-Van Valkenburgh, an ensign, and the quartermaster, to the deck,
and shattering the bridge windows. Dazed and shaken, the ensign stumbled
through the flames and smoke and escaped, but the others were never seen
again. A continuing fire, fed by ammunition and oil, blazed for two days
until finally being put out on December 9. A subsequent search recovered
only Van Valkenburgh's Annapolis class ring.
The captain posthumously received the Medal of Honor-the citation reading in
part: "for devotion to duty ... extraordinary courage, and the complete
disregard of his own life."
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