More Medals Of Honor

MON 19 MAR 1945
Pacific
TF 58 (Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher) pounds airfields on Kyushu, and shipping at Kure and Kobe, Honshu, destroying incomplete Japanese submarine I 205 in drydock, and damaging battleships Yamato, Hyuga and Haruna; carriers Ikoma, Katsuragi, Ryuho and Amagi; small carrier Hosho; escort carrier Kaiyo; heavy cruiser Tone, light cruiser Oyodo, submarines I 400 and RO 67, auxiliary submarine chaser Cha 229 at Kure; and escort destroyer Kaki at Osaka.

Japanese planes single out carriers for attack: off Shikoku, Wasp (CV-18) is bombed, 32°16'N, 134°05'E. while friendly fire hits Essex (CV-9), 32°10'N, 134°20'E. On board Franklin (CV-13) damaged off Kyushu, 32°01'N, 133°57'E, as the ship is rocked by a succession of explosions, Lieutenant Commander Joseph T. O'Callaghan, ChC, the carrier's Roman Catholic chaplain, ministers to wounded and dying men irregardless [sic] of faith or creed, organizes and leads fire-fighting parties, directs the jettisoning of ammunition and the flooding of a magazine, and mans a hose to cool hot, armed bombs rolling on the listing deck. O'Callaghan's courage and fortitude inspire his shipmates. Elsewhere on board, Lieutenant (j.g.) Donald A. Gary calms anxious shipmates trapped in a smoke-filled compartment and after repeated tries through dark, debris-filled passageways manages to find a way to escape. Later, he organizes and leads fire- fighting parties in the blazing inferno of the hangar deck, and then enters number three fireroom to raise steam in one boiler in the face of extreme hazards. O'Callaghan and Gary will be awarded Medals of Honor.

Submarine Balao (SS-285) attacks Japanese convoy MOTA- 43, sinking troopship Hakozaki Maru and damaging transport Tatsuharu Maru off the Yangtze estuary about 90 miles north-northwest of Shanghai, 33°10'N, 122°10'E, and sinking merchant fishing vessels No.1 Katsura Maru and 1 Eiho Maru and No.2 Eiho Maru, 34°40'N, 122°55'E.

Submarine Bluefish (SS-222) damages Japanese guardboat No.1 Shinya Maru, 31°35'N, 137°50'E.

PV-1s (VPB 128) bomb and damage Japanese midget submarine at Cebu; strike is repeated the next day.

Japanese river gunboat Suma is sunk by USAAF mine (laid by 14th Air Force planes on 4 March ), in the Yangtze, 51 miles above Kiangyin, China, 32°00'N, 120°00'E. Mine also claims merchant ship Kozan Maru, on the Yangtze below Chinkiang, 32°05'N, 119°56'E.

USAAF mine also sinks Japanese merchant tanker Sarawak Maru repaired after her brush with Besugo (SS-321) on 24 January 1945, 10 miles off Horsburgh Light, Singapore, 01°25'N, 104°36'E.

Japanese merchant vessel Mikawasan Maru is sunk by aircraft off Iyo.

Japanese escort destroyer Shinnan is damaged by aircraft, 33°47'N, 131°35'E.

Japanese landing ship T.105 is damaged by aircraft, near Ujina.

Japanese merchant vessel Rashu Maru is damaged by aircraft, off Uzaki, Hyogo prefecture.

Japanese merchant cargo ship Teiritsu Maru is damaged by aircraft, 34°16'N, 13°03'E.

Europe
U.S. freighter Hadley F. Brown, in convoy TAG 12, is damaged by mine at entrance to Schelde Estuary, 51°22'N, 02°53'E. There are no casualties among the 27-man Armed Guard, and the ship reaches Flushing under tow soon thereafter.