Chapter 28 - 1944 Stanley and Edwin at the Battle of Leyte Gulf - The USS Reid Sunk by Kamikazes

Chapter 28 Version 2

1944

“We were at the Admiralty Islands we all got shore there at a place called Manus. From here we went to New Guinea – I got some coins for a bracelet there at a place called Hollandia. Also went to Lae. Next was Cape Gloucester in the New Britain Islands. When they hit the Philippines, I was in the invasion of Leyte and Luzon.” wrote Stanley on a page titled Places of Interest. These were places of interest as many of these previous landings were supported by Stanley’s cousin Edwin on the USS Reid. The Reid had been at Pearl Harbor since early July of 1944 and left Pearl on August 29^th to go to Wake Island where she supported air strikes on September 3^rd.

The Rocky Mount steamed into Pearl Harbor on August 26^th with the strategists in Washington not sure where to strike next. The beating given to the Japanese at the Battle of the Philippine Sea offered the opportunity at a large Philippine invasion that Admiral Nimitz was ready to consider. The Philippines were now vulnerable. Admiral Halsey was using air power from the carriers in the Philippine Sea to pound shipping and island military targets in the area. Halsey noted that targets on Leyte Island located in the puzzle shaped group of Philippine islands, located between the larger islands of Luzon in the north and Mindanao in the south, were not showing signs of resistance. He recommended that Nimitz take advantage of the situation and invade Leyte to cut the Japanese forces in two as they were fortifying Luzon and Mindanao in preparation for an invasion there. This would be done without additional island hopping. Islands like Yap that were to be invaded would be bypassed. The Rocky Mount sailed for Manus on September 15^th.

The Leyte invasion was to be General MacArthur’s triumphant return to the Philippines and so the multiple command and communications ships needed for this massive assault were assembled south of the equator in MacArthur’s Southwestern Pacific area realm rather than from Nimitz’s Central Pacific domain. There were five AGC communications ships involved in the Leyte operation. AGC-9 Wasatch under the command of Vice Admiral Kincaid was running the operation.  AGC-2 Blue Ridge under Rear Admiral Barbey was the flagship for the Northern Attack Force. AGC-8 Mount Olympus commanded by Vice Admiral Wilkerson was the command flagship for the Southern Attack Force.  AGC-1 Appalachian was involved with Rear Admiral Conolly commanding Attack Group Able. Finally, the Rocky Mount AGC-3 with Rear Admiral Forrest Royal was in charge of Attack Group Baker. The invasion of Leyte would involve a massive movement of about 500 ships and end up as the last great sea battle in history.

The landings on Leyte Island began on October 20, 1944. The Japanese responded by implementing a plan of their own called Sho-Go. Four major ship movements would be made to Leyte Gulf to crush the invasion force. The central force would come from Singapore and refuel in Borneo before moving through the Philippine Islands through the San Bernardino Strait north of Samar Island. The central force would then travel south to Leyte Gulf.  The southern force would be made up of two groups of ships – one from Borneo and the other from Formosa that would meet in the Surigao Strait south of Leyte Island and steam north into Leyte Gulf. The final group of Japanese ships would approach from Japan from the north.

The Japanese plan was to use the northern force coming from Japan to lure Halsey away from Leyte Gulf. This part of the Japanese plan worked perfectly. Pilots who had engaged the Central Force in the Sibuyan Sea reported that this force was neutralized. Halsey took the bait and was lured northward. The Japanese Central Force turned around at night and emerged into the Philippine Sea through the San Bernardino Strait largely intact including the two largest battleships ever built , the Yamato and the Nagato, and headed southward toward Leyte Gulf.

The Japanese Southern Force made their way through the Surigao Strait to find the Allied ships waiting for them. A classic crossing the T  formation was used to meet the Japanese attackers. The single file line of Japanese ships coming through the Surigao Strait would need to turn so that their guns could be effectively fired. This made up the base of the T. The Allied ships were already turned at the top of the T. The Japanese’s only hope was the Central Force arriving from the north to wreak havoc from an unexpected direction. The Central Force was spotted and engaged by a much smaller force of Allied ships and aircraft off Samar Island north of Leyte Gulf. The Central Force, believing that the Allied forces attacking it were much larger than they were, turned back before they could wreak havoc with the troop transports and supply ships on October 25^th.

Halsey’s blunder in going after the Japanese Northern Force was masked by the Japanese Central Force turning back before getting to Leyte Gulf. Halsey could also point to the destruction of the Northern Force at Cape Engano as accomplishing the mission of decimating the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The landings on the eastern side of Leyte Island were a success. The Rocky Mount steamed back to Hollandia, New Guinea on October 24^th.  The Japanese, now seeing their Western Pacific Empire starting to collapse, called upon a new tactic to take Japan to victory – the kamikaze.

In November, the USS Reid with cousin Edwin patrolled off Leyte. On December 7^th, the Reid escorted the damaged destroyer Lamson toward Leyte Gulf a few days before meeting its fate at the hands of twelve kamikazes.

“In Reid ' s final two weeks in the waters around Leyte, the crew was able to sleep only an hour or two at a time. They were called to battle stations (condition red) an average of 10 times a day. It was a period of near constant combat. While escorting reinforcements for Ormoc Bay near Surigao Straits 11 December 1944, Reid destroyed seven Japanese planes, when the following took place:

Reid was protecting a re-supply force of amphibious craft bound for Ormoc Bay off the west coast of Leyte. At about 1700 hours, twelve enemy planes approached the convoy. The Reid was the nearest ship to the oncoming planes. Planes 1 and 2 were shot down by the 5-inch battery, and Plane 3 exploded about 500 yards off the starboard beam. Plane 4 hooked a wing on the starboard rigging, crashing at the waterline. Its bomb exploded, causing considerable damage forward. Plane 5 strafed the starboard side and crashed on the port bow. Plane 6 strafed the bridge from the port side and crashed off the starboard bow. Planes 5 and 6 apparently had no bombs or their bombs were duds. Plane 7 came in from astern, strafed Reid and crashed into the port quarter. Its bomb exploded in the after magazine, blowing the ship apart. All this action took place in less than a minute. The ship was mortally wounded but still doing 20 knots. As the stern opened up, she rolled violently, then laid over on her starboard side and dove to the bottom at 600 fathoms. It was over in less than two minutes, and 103 crewmen went down with her. The survivors were strafed in the water by Japanese planes before rescue. [2] Her 150 survivors were picked up by landing craft in her convoy.

Reid received seven battle stars for World War II service.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reid_(DD-369)

Many of the sailors killed on the USS Reid were part of the “black crew”. This is what the engine room crew was called, probably from their appearance when shoveling coal to generate steam was a part of their job. Edwin Wojnar was a Fireman First Class when he went down with the Reid on Dec 11, 1944. Both Edwin and cousin Joe were rated as Firemen Second Class when they finished basic training at Sampson NTS. Edwin as assigned to the USS Reid and Joe went on to 16 weeks of Machinist Mate School in Boston. Edwin’s name is honored on a bronze plaque at the military museum at Sampson State Park along with other navy veterans who did not return from their wartime assignments.  While General MacArthur returned to the Philippines at Leyte, Edwin did not return.