1, November 1940

On the 75^th anniversary of the commissioning NAS Alameda, we thought a brief history of the base and its prominent place in Naval history.  

In June 1, 1936, shortly before the Army discontinued operations, the City of Alameda ceded the existing airport to the United States government. Pan Am moved its Clipper terminal from Alameda to Treasure Island for the 1939 World’s Fair, or Golden Gate International Exposition, leaving the airfield and seaplane lagoons unused. In 1938, Congress passed appropriations for construction of a naval air station on that land. This new facility was to have two carrier wings, five seaplane squadrons and two utility stations. By 1940, appropriations were increased to include construction of two seaplane hangars and an aircraft carrier bething pier.

Operations began 1 November. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fleet Air Wing 8 began patrol and scouting missions. April. 1942, the USS Hornet (VC8) was loaded at Alameda to include the 16 B25s which would take part in the Doolittle Raid on Japan.

Alamedas intrinsic role in the Pacific continued to grow with the institution of several schools on the base. Alameda NAS provided training for the fleet radar operators, Link celestial navigation and aviation storekeepers. In addition, as the war continued, a series of auxiliary airfields developed, of which Alameda became the headquarters. Those fields included:

• Arcata Auxiliary Airfield
• Clear Lake Outlying Field
• Concord Outlying Field
• Crescent City Outlying Field
• Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Air Station
• Fallon Auxiliary Airfield
• Half Moon Bay Outlying Field
• Hollister Auxiliary Airfield
• King City Auxiliary Airfield
• Livermore Auxiliary Airfield
• Monterey Auxiliary Airfield
• Oakland Auxiliary Airfield
• Paso Robles Outlying Field
• San Francisco Auxiliary Airfield
• San Luis Obispo Outlying Field
• Santa Rosa Outlying Field
• Treasure Island Auxiliary Airfield
• Tulare Lake Outlying Field
• Vernalis Auxiliary Airfield (Vernalis, California)
• Watsonville Auxiliary Airfield

Alameda remained an important base through the Korean and Viet Nam Wars, closing in 1997.

A very brief history of the U.S. Navy. I really mean brief.

The Navy

            Fleet Week has come and gone. There is nothing quite like driving on 80, heading to Pinole and have the Blue Angels buzz the freeway. The normally slow traffic comes to a halt. Why Fleet Week in October, you ask”? Well, here’s why.

October 13, 1775, The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution founding the Navy. After the Revolutionary War, however, the Navy was disbanded. President John Adams reestablished the Navy with the Naval Act of 1794 to help combat piracy in the Mediterranean and protect the U.S. merchant ships. That Navy consisted of six frigates.

            From those six ships, the U.S. Navy grew to a supreme force. It battled the French in the Quasi Wars, the British in the War of 1812, and provided a blockade, which brought the South to its knees during the Civil War. However, by 1878, the Navy consisted of a mere 6000 men and a few outdated ships.

            During the 1880s, Congress provided for a massive buildup of naval resources. New ships were built and included armored cruiser and battleships. The Navy quickly grew from twelfth in size to the fifth largest Navy in the world. A couple of decisive battles during the Spanish American War, the Navy continued to grow and by the end of the Great War, the United States Navy was larger than the Royal Navy.

To be continued.

POW/MIA Recognition Day

 

September 18, 2015 marks POW/MIA Recognition Day. While not a national holiday, POW/MIA Recognition Day is a national observance. Observed on the third Friday in September, POW/MIA Recognition Day honors all personnel who were prisoners of war or those mission in action.

 

 

According to www.timeanddate.com: "There are 1,741 American personnel listed by the Defense Department's POW/MIA Office as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, as of April 2009. The number of United States personnel accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 is 841. About 90 percent of the 1,741 people still missing were lost in Vietnam or areas of Laos and Cambodia under Vietnam's wartime control, according to the National League of Families website (cited in the United States Army website).

The United States Congress passed a resolution authorizing National POW/MIA Recognition Day to be observed on July 18, 1979. It was observed on the same date in 1980 and was held on July 17 in 1981 and 1982. It was then observed on April 9 in 1983 and July 20 in 1984. The event was observed on July 19 in 1985, and then from 1986 onwards the date moved to the third Friday of September. The United States president each year proclaims National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Many states in the USA also proclaim POW/MIA Recognition Day together with the national effort."
The POW/MIA flag should fly below, and not be larger than the United States flag. It is generally flown immediately below or adjacent to the United States flag as second in order of precedence. The days the flag can be flown are:

Armed Forces Day—Third Saturday in May

Memorial Day—Last Monday in May

Flag Day—June 14

Independence Day—July 4

National POW/MIA Recognition Day—Third Friday in   

     September

Veterans Day—November 11

Please take a moment to honor our POWs and MIAs.

 

Bill Wilmoth's poetry continues...

NAVY BLUES (*I’ve got…)

 

The years pass so quickly, But old dreams still linger.

They’re with you for life, Like the ring on your finger.

 

Oh, there’s much to remember.  Much more to forget.

How can an’ old sailor explain

That leaving the Navy at the end of his twenties

With regret, homesickness, and pain.

 

I’ll never forget the shipmates I’ve met, Nor forget the

Ones long passed away.

 

The places I’ve been, And the things that I’ve seen,

To name them would take me all day.

 

I’ve finished my Thirty in the Old Fleet Reserve

But, if some bad Premier should get snooty,

I’ll just pick up my sea-bag and report back aboard

A’ready, an’ rarein’ for duty!

 

Bill Wilmoth, USN (Ret)

More poetry

And Bill Wilmoth continues to write poetry, long after his service ended. 



Memorial Day
(2013, Golden Gate National Cemetery)


Atop the flagpole, Old Glory snaps in the breeze
Below, in neat orderly rows
Lie the Soldiers, Sailors, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Marines
Who unselfishly gave their lives so that you and I might live!

Unknown to many of us, others lie there too,
Wives and children, P.O.Ws,
Whole bomber crews of WW II.
Up there in “Y” section lies my eldest son
Who would now be sixty-two (62)!

Noteworthy names you’ll find there as well,
Names like NIMITZ, LOCKWOOD, SPRAGUE and FLETCHER.
They all lie there together as a family,
Not separated by rank, race, color, or creed!

They, with a few exceptions, fought under one flag,
The Stars and Stripes of the United States of America.
When it comes my time to join those buried here,
My best wish would be, wind me in the flag of my country.

That beautiful cloth, blowing in the wind,
That every time I see, it brings tears to my eyes and a lump in my throat.
Remember us all on that Memorial day.
But above all, always remember,
My God, My Flag, My Country


William (Bill) Wilmoth, USN (Ret)

Poetry in the Navy

With 20 years in the Navy and a lifetime of stories to tell, sometimes the only way to truly tell the story was through poetry. Here, Bill Wilmoth reflects on D-Day.

D-Day revisited

(40^th Anniversary)

From the White Cliffs of Dover to the beach called “Omaha”

There were ships both large and small, there on the sea.

They were loaded to the gunnels with all the tools of war

And us, praying that there’d soon be Victory!

Now those of us, who’ve fought in wars know well enough

That victories are not easy to attain.

There’s bound to be some wounded, some dying,

Some killing, and an awful lot of pain.

Now all these years have passed and we’ve all grown grayer.

And hopefully, we’ve all grown wiser too!

As we stand here, on our battle grounds together,

Remembering the hell we all went through.

                                                                   William (Bill) L. Wilmoth, USN (Ret.)

And yes, Bill did, he married that girl...

Here we are, back with Bill Wilmoth, about to marry Ruby.

Well, Ruby and I dated for a while and then I asked her to marry me.  We spent a very short honeymoon up at the Russian River resort and then my ship left, again, for Japan and Korea.  Her parents were unable to attend our wedding so when the ship returned stateside, her parents gave us another wedding (once for practice, twice for keeps) in the little town of St. Helena, California.  Our first apartments were near St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco.  Within a year, we moved to Alameda and cut down on the travel to and from my ship. 

The USS Cape Esperance was a tight-knit group of people who were more like family than shipmates.  We shared in laughter, tears, good fortune and more.  In our early years of marriage we lived in the old war time housing located behind the old drive-in movie near the Alameda tube.  Our first address was 1057-A, Stalker Way.

  USS Cape Esperance.

During a cruise to Japan, we’d just tied up to the pier at Ford Island in Hawaii, when a messenger from the air station came aboard to inform me that I had an emergency telephone call on the phone on the pier.  Upon going to the phone, I found my wife informing me that I was a father.  The baby’s birth was premature.  She told me it was a boy.  The doctors didn’t know if the baby was going to live or not and could I get home.  The chaplain, division office, and the ship’s captain all talked to my wife.  In just minutes, the captain called the ship’s crew together and informed them of my problem.  He passed his hat and when everyone contributed, he then cut leave orders, 30 days for me and personally drove me over to Hickam Air Force Base and got me on a flight back to Travis AFB in California.

Upon arrival at Travis, I grabbed a cab and headed for St. Helena.  Enroute, I told the cab driver what had happened.  When we arrived at the hospital, St. Helena Sanitarium, the driver said, “Just give me $15.00 for gas.  I was in the Navy myself and I want to help.”  God bless the man.  We named our first son, William Michael.  After the ship returned stateside, we had volunteer babysitters by the score. 

Time passed quickly and after several years on the “Cape”, I was transferred to Fighter Squadron VF-653 in Hangar 20 at NAS Alameda.  After that it was FASRON 8, FASRON 1116, then to the USS Hancock (CV-19).  Surprise, I ended up in the V-1 division (air dept.) and my new skipper was actually my old skipper off the Cape Esperance.  While aboard the “Hannah”, I met one of my oldest and closest friends, George Saunders and his wife Beverly, who years later (1996) would still be close to my family and me.  I remained on the Hancock from 1955 through 1956.  She was really one fine ship.  When she was decommissioned in 1976, I went to her decom-ceremony right here at the piers in Alameda.

In 1957, I was on shore duty again, at NAS Alameda when I was asked if I’d like to be Radm. Robert P. Hickey’s (Commander Fleet Air Alameda, COMFAIR) personal driver.  Great man; great duty.

Upon ending my tour of duty with the Admiral, I transferred to VP-19 (Patrol Squadron – P1V-7s).  About this time the USS Ranger (CVA-61) arrived from the east coast for permanent duty out of NAS Alameda.  I still had a few months of humanitary shore duty coming but sorry about that, sailor, you are now a new member of Ranger’s ship’s company (V-3 Division, Hangar Deck).  I was not particularly happy with Ranger, but did make a lot of good friends while aboard.  I started the 1960 cruise with Ranger but left the ship in Yokosuka upon her arrival.  I flew back stateside arriving at Travis AFB and then home to Alameda where I went to Treasure Island and re-enlisted for a six year tour of duty.  I took 30 days leave.  After 15 days I called to see if my new orders had arrived.  

“Yes,” they said. 

“Where to?” I asked. 

“Ranger (CVA-61).” 

“The hell, you say,” said I. “No way,” I told my wife, packing my bag.  “I’m going to EPTOPAC to get those orders cancelled or changed.”  Lucky me.  I knew a chief yeoman who’d also been on the Ranger.  He knew how I felt about returning to Ranger.  I told him I’d accept orders to any other ship in the Pacific Fleet.  “Ever been on a sea plane tender?” he asked.  “You’re on one now, USS Salisbury Sound (AV-13) based at White Beach Okinawa.”  Not bad duty either.  I was in charge of the damage control hangar deck area.  Very good duty. 

Final Salute 6 JAN 1965

In Late 1962, I got orders to the Mighty Midway (CVA-41).  Good ship, good crew.  I retired off her deck on January 6, 1965, here at NAS Alameda.  It was the hardest day of my life.  Saluting the colors for the last time on active duty, I’ll have to admit it, the tears came and I’m not ashamed to admit it!

  Final Salute 6 Jan, 1965.

© 2015 William L. Wilmoth