OT: 65th Anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea

[Bruce Scott]

Thought this may be of interest on this Memorial Day weekend:

The Battle of the Coral Sea, regarded as the battle which saved Port Moresby and protected Australia from the invading Japanese, was remembered in a moving service beside the Brisbane River earlier this month.

Marking the 65th anniversary of the decisive battle in which neither navy saw each other, the service brought more than 400 ex-service men and women, serving defence personnel, VIPs and family members together at the Coral Sea Memorial, an imposing column of stone summounted by an American eagle, on May 5.

One US veteran travelled 13,800 nautical miles from Alaska to lay a wreath on the memorial and remember the 137 shipmates who perished when the carrier USS Lexington was attacked by aircraft and sunk during the battle.

He was joined by two other Lexington crew members and a group of ex-service personnel from the Pearl Harbour Survivors Association.

The commanding officer of the visiting Arleigh Burke destroyer USS Lassen and a team from his ship also attended the service.

The impressive list of dignitaries included the Governor of Queensland Ms Quentin Bryce, the US Ambassador to Australia Mr Robert McCallum and federal, state, local government and other ex-service representatives.

Sailors from the Defence Force School of Signals outside Toowoomba provided the catafalque party. The 7th Fleet Band joined the Brisbane detachment of the RAN Band to provide the music while the RAN detachment of the Federation Guard flew in from Canberra.

The ceremony began with Governor Bryce inspecting the Federation Guard and both bands before Navy chaplain Bill Pearson opened with prayers, an invocation and the saying of the Lord’s Prayer.
Wreath laying followed and was led by the Governor followed by other dignitaries.

In her message of welcome Maylou Badeaux, the president of Queensland Australia American Association, said, “we are also honouring all the US and Australians who died. They are patriots and heroes all.â€

[El Chivo]

yeah, and we set them up for Midway, heh heh heh!

(Midway is my favorite battle-of-all time)

[airedaleman]

Thank you, Bruce, for passing that along, and thank you to all our Australian friends...

(Sorry I missed ANZAC Day in April. but will try for next year, if I'm still around.)

[junkbug]

Thanks for the reminder Bruce. The War really came close to home for the Austrailians, exactly at the time when most of their best troops were chasing (and being chased by) the Afrika Corp across North Africa.

Very few people I have met in the USA under the age of 70 seem to appreciate this fact, with the possible exception of long time Alaska residents, who also faced very real possibilities of on the ground Japanese forces.

When I was in gammer school, the thing about that action that was emphasized the most was the damaging of the Yorktown, which was rescued from the brink, and patched up enough to participate in the Midway battle. If memory serves me well, it went back into battle (at Midway) with gaping torpedo holes in its hull patched largely with wood.

I too am thankful for all their courage and examples.

Take care.

Sean

P.S. What do you know about Martini Cadet rifles being issued to territorial "reservists" with newly made Hague Convention compliant full metal jacketed ammo. Wasn't the Battle of the Coral Sea instrumental in causing this?

[Rexster]

Good reminder for us all! People in the USA do tend to concentrate a bit much on the Battle of Midway, and forget the Battle of the Coral Sea. For that matter, people tend to forget the naval aspect of the later Solomons campaign, too, other than the PT 109 story. Wow, I was just realizing how long ago I it has been since I read books about this stuff. I really should revisit the Pacific War; it has been too long.

[El Chivo]

When I used to read about WWII the Coral Sea battle was generally considered a loss for the USA, probably because we lost a carrier and took a big hit on the Yorktown. Until now I didn't realize the Japanese were on their way to invade Australia, I thought it was just a matter of the two navies locating each other and fighting it out.

Even though we lost engagements in those months, we started a war of attrition with the Japanese that they could ill afford to fight, and the results showed up later on.

I think a lot about those few who stemmed the tide during the early months, especially the aviators who had to go up in slow and heavy planes against the Zeros. It was they who knocked off the cream of the Japanese pilots and died doing it.

[donw]

one of the worse engagements in the history of the U.S, Navy.

if you get the opportunity, watch footage of the sailors fighting fires on those carriers...it'll break your heart. those brave souls were facing hell itself in nothing more than dungarees and shoes...

thank the Good Lord above for souls like them.

[Ysabel Kid]

Excellent post Bruce - thank you for sharing!!!

[Jaguarundi]

Thanks for post'n about the Aussie service !

[bronyaur]

Thanks for that post. My grandfather, Thomas Antonio White, served aboard the Lexington during that battle. I wasn't old enough to have ever spoken to him about when he lived near me and I saw him often. He moved away when I was about 12 and he died when I was 17.