Dreadnought

So your between 72-80 years of age then?

Dreadnought

Vaughn,
Sir,
I have found your web page and from what I can see you certainly are of merit. I stand corrected and at your service if need be.
Please do not take the posts as disrespect of your status. It is just that there are not many with your credentials (WWII survivor) that I/We have met in this forum. Unfortunatley there are a few certain individuals that tend to impersonate people of military status and or experience. If you would please do visit the Battleship forums as im quite sure you can add insight to ongoing discussions as well as raising your own interests. My apoloigies Sir and Welcome. Im sure that you have much knowledge you can share with us pertaining to your experience.

To view this gentlemans web page I post this link.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/P...0/hampton.html

Bluesman

Great post, Dreads. Total class. And I second your opinion of vaughn.

__________________
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it, and if one finds the prospect of a long war intolerable, it is natural to disbelieve in the possibility of victory."
- George Orwell

sparten

Dreadnought, I realized he was the real deal as soon as I read the info he gave!

Damn that Anthony Chase fellow though.

Since WWII involved millions of peoples, it would not be surprising that many different viewpoints of the atomic bombings, were held by them. I have almost a dozen family members who took part in WWII, and they can never agree on it (in fact they had a pretty intetesting argument on it a few months ago).

I have always been coloured by my uncles viewpoint (he was in BCOF after the war), "it was not strictly necessary to win the war, but it was the right decision keeping in mind the information available at the time." Another put it better, "it ended the bloodiest war in human history".

Welcome sir! God you were only 16 when you went to war! Makes me feel positivly useless.

__________________
"Any relations in a social order will endure if there is infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy, which qualifies life for immortality." ~ George William Russell

Dreadnought

Thanks Blues,
Shew, I am currently expecting a foot in my ass as if I spoke to my 80 year old naval retired father with disrespect. And yes at 80 he still can. Dam those old salt boots

Dreadnought

Vaughn,
Were you still in Buckner Bay on either day/night when USS Maryland (BB46) or USS Pennsylvania (BB38) were torpedoed?

vaughn

I spotted the questioning posts and was figuring out how to properly answer the questions when it seems it's not neccessary. I turn 80 come October and plan on being around for several more of my ships reunions.

Here's another sea tale from years ago -
~~~~~~~~~~~



SPECIAL DISPATCH TO NEW YORK TIMES

' CUSSED ' LCI SAVES FIFTY FROM DROWNING
BY ROBERT TRUMBULL (COPYRIGHT BY NEW YORK TIMES )

ABOARD AN LCI, KWAJALEIN SOUTH PACIFIC FEBRUARY 4, 1944 (LCI (G) 450)

Navy men on the big sleek warships refer to an LCI (Landing Craft Infantry) as "A Barge with a house on it." These ugly ducklings of the navy are seldom noticed except to be cussed or good naturedly derided, and they do a ticklish job under fire with scant credit. This one happened to have saved 50 men from drowning in the furious white water that pounded the sharp coral ledge around Ennubirr Island, during the marine landings there January 31, 1944
These 23-foot wide-beamed 158-foot craft are designed to snub against a beach and debark assault troops down a ramp. Sometimes, instead of bringing in troops, they are gunboats that knock out enemy positions on the beach. That's what this one was doing that morning, when a strong current pushed her onto the reef. A battleship was bombarding the island, the shells whistling above the LCI. In the roar of the gunfire Lt. (jg) Thomas F. Kennedy, jr., Bryn Mawr, Penn., who has been Captain of this humble ship since she was commissioned at Barber, N.J., couldn't hear the racket of his vessel going aground.
The situation was humiliating, Kennedy thought, but he didn't have time to worry about it then, for 4 Amtrac (troop-carrying amphibious tractors) were capsizing on the reefs 100 yards astern.
MEN EXHAUSTED
The men struggling in the water were near exhaustion, and the Alligators in the wave behind them had struck some.
Dr. R. B. Hardy, marine surgeon, once was pinned under an Alligators, but he was a powerful man--a former All American football player at Harvard-- and managed to break free. Lt. D. N. Boydston was near drowning, later he said that as he was battered under the waves, he seemed to see a picture of his wife.
The LCI threw a line to Dr. Hardy, P. S. Layser, J. R. Boltuc and A. J. Tiedway, the four strongest swimmers among the overturned marines--in fact, the only ones who were not too beaten by the waves to swim. The line was hurled from the LCI's fantail, and the four marines fought with it through the surf to a reef buoy, where they tied the end after losing the line several times on the way.
Now it developed that the wash of the ship was strong enough to break the hold of the other castaways on the line, so Kennedy brought out two more stout ropes, which Layser and Tiedway held in their powerful hands so as to form a square around the outside of the viciously tugging current. By this route all of the stranded men were brought aboard, three of them so exhausted that they had to be carried by Boltuc.
INSTALLS HOSPITAL
Meanwhile Hardy remained aboard the LCI and set up a hospital in the radio room, with Pharmacist's Mate 1/c Sydney Baumber of Boston. All of the marines were aboard by 1 P.M.
After a continuous two-hour battle with the sea, two of them were dead. Kennedy was about to order his lines hauled in for he needed them, when two more Alligators commanded by a Lieutenant Montgomery also capsized on the reef. Three men drowned immediately, and Ensign O. J. Banasik had taken so much salt water aboard that he had to be worked over for three hours before he revived.
In all, 50 men were saved. Hardy and Baumber stripped them all and had them lie on the LCI's broad fantail for examination. Some of them has serious coral cuts of which they were unaware, and the Doctor worked over these. Meanwhile the bombardment of the islands continued.
CREW SHARES
Kennedy put the sickest cases, including Boydston and Banasik on cots in the mess hall. The LCI crew broke out all of the ships cigarettes and gave their guests dry clothes and ammunition for
the weapons they had salvaged.


Two days later Kennedy put the 50 men in small boats with a supply of food and landed them on Ennuebing. Kennedy had time then to talk the matter over with his subordinate officers- Ensign Gerald Connors, of Toledo, Executive Officer; Lt. (jg) Robert Main, of Middletown, OH Engineer; and Ensign Wallace Brady of Bancroft, Wis. Young Kennedy was not at all impressed by the fact that he had saved 50 men to fight another day. Instead he was extremely downcast because going on the reef had prevented his fulfilling his mission of shooting up Ennubirr beach.
" I hope," he said ruefully this morning in his tiny, spotless wardroom, " that we get a chance to redeem ourselves."


Editors Note – After Kwajalein was secured; the ship was pulled off the reef after several attempts. The ship had damaged her props so we had to be towed in convoy back to Pearl Harbor where she was repaired. She then rejoined LCI Flotilla Three, Group 8 and participated in the Mariana’s July 1944 campaign and later gave covering fire for the UDT groups that went in to the shores of Iwo Jima two days before the invasion 19 February 1945. All ten LCI’s that covered the UDT groups 17 February 1945 were severely damaged from Japanese shore installations and had heavy casualties. 39 KIA, 1 MIA, 153 WIA, 5 Died of Wounds, 1 Combat Fatigue, five of the casualties mentioned were not Ships Company; they were UDT, Marine Corps observers and Navy photographers: 3 KIA, and 2 WIA.


Vaughn E. Hampton

TopHatter

Mr Hampton, welcome to our little corner of the Internet. It's truly an honor to have a WWII vet such as yourself here on the WAB.

All the things we endlessly debate and discuss, you were actually there.

I know we'd love to hear all about yourself and your service in addition to what is on your website.

__________________
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams

Parihaka

Seconded. Welcome aboard Sir.

lemontree

Mr. vaughn,
Welcome to WAB. Being a WW2 vet you become the senior most serviceman in WAB. Would be looking forward for more posts from you.

__________________

Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Officer of Engineers

Mr Hampton,

My compliments, Sir, and my much appreciated thanks.

__________________
Chimo

lemontree

Damn right, I am looking for an old 'Willy's' model too, and owners are just not selling them here.
The other good things that came off WW2:-
- Improved medical care - mobile field hospitals.
- Canned beer - originally they came in the tin cans like the old jam/cheese tins - you had to make a hole in the top to drink the brew.
- Creation of special forces/commandos.
- Freedom for woman and increased involvement in work arears.
- The DC-3/C-47 Dakota - the jeep of the air.
- Freedom for nations under colonial powers.

(cannot think of any more for the moment)

Shek

I haven't read the whole book, but Victor Davis Hanson touches on this very subject in "Ripples of Battle". Based on what I have read, it's definitely a recommended read.

__________________
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

leib10

Welcome aboard Vaughn. Your presence here is much appreciated.

__________________
"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes." G-Man

astralis

always an honor to meet a vet. cheers!