Friday, June 30, 2006

Yasukuni/National Memorial/Dudley Walker Morton


Who is Dudley Walker Morton?
In Wahoo, Morton adopted the unusual attack procedure of having his executive officer man the periscope while Morton plotted the attack. It worked well enough that Morton was credited with sinking 19 enemy ships, a total exceeded only by O'Kane, who was Morton's XO during most of these attacks before leaving Wahoo for his own command.link


Wow, he is a war hero!

Advanced to the rank of commander 15 October 1942, he assumed command of Wahoo (SS-238) 31 December. Between 26 January 1943 and 11 October, Wahoo was responsible for sinking 19 cargo and transport ships for a combined total of 55,000 tons. During Wahoo's third war patrol, Morton was responsible for a controversial incident in which survivors of a sunken Japanese transport were attacked while in the water. Although the boats were armed, Wahoo appears to have fired first, and some have labeled this incident a war crime.

Declared dead 7 January 1946, Commander Morton had been awarded the Navy Cross, three gold stars in lieu of a second, third, and fourth, Navy Cross, and the Army Distinguished Service Cross in acknowledgement of his outstanding professional skills and excellent judgment.

In 1960 Vice Admiral Charles Lockwood, ComSubPac during the war, was asked to write the foreword for former Wahoo crewmember Forest Sterling's book, Wake of the Wahoo. He wrote about Morton, "When a natural leader and born daredevil such as Mush Morton is given command of a submarine, the result can only be a fighting ship of the highest order, with officers and men who would follow their skipper to the Gates of Hell…. And they did," wrote Lockwood.wiki


What? What did he do?

Lieutenant Commander Dudley "Mush" Morton was a submarine skipper who was made into a hero by the American mass media. Under this 1930 Naval Academy graduate's command, his boat, the USS Wahoo, attacked a convoy and sunk two freighters and a transport. The boat then surfaced and machine-gunned the drowning troops who escaped from their sinking transport. In spring 1943, his patrol in the Yellow Sea saw 9 ships sunk, breaking a record for submarines. Morton received a Navy Cross and the Distinguished Service Cross; during his tenure as Wahoo's captain, the boat sunk 19 Japanese cargo and transport ships totalling 55,000 tons.World War II Database

It was revealing to read an account of a war crime committed by crew-members of one American submarine but I suppose that this just goes to show how war can brutalize even the best of men.Unrestricted Warfare/ Review


Wahoo(Dudley "Mush" Morton)
26 January 1943
3 Japanese Ships-Names Unknown
Pacific Ocean.
On his first patrol Morton torpedoed and sank three Japanese ships,one of
them a troop transport with thousands aboard.After surfacing, Morton, who
had an "overwhelming, biological hatred of the enemy", appeared determined
to kill every one of the thousands floating there.The Japanese in the boats
and in the water were subjected to more than an hour of shelling with
4-inch and 20mm rounds which ripped through timbers,flesh and bone,staining
the sea red,and attracting sharks.It was a total massacre.Morton made no
attempt in his subsequent report to hide the massacre.On arrival at Pearl
Harbour,Wahoo was flying a pennant with the boat`s slogan "Shoot the sunza
bitches" printed on it!!!Morton claimed to have sunk 5 Japanese ships
totalling 32,000 tons*,and became an instant hero in the US submarine
service.Admiral Lockwood christened Wahoo the one-boat wolf pack and most
unusually released the story of the patrol to the press.All US submarine
activities were normally kept secret to avoid giving the enemy any useful
information.Not for nothing was the submarine arm was known as the "Silent
Service".The massacre of the survivors from the transport was not
reported,nor questioned by the US Navy Stuff.
Morton was decorated with the "Navy Cross" medal!!SUBMARINE ATROCITIES



And he is honored in National Memorial


Photo of The Memorial East circa September 1995
There are 52 engraved granite stones around the concrete walkways honoring each of the 52 U.S. Submarines lost in World War II.
National Memorial-East
Black Granite Monuments

Photo of the Front of the Center Stone
Names from: MERRITT to PINKLEY

Is this another Yasukuni?
Or is it just one of war memorical?

Notes
I got to know him from the comment section of plunge

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's the same thing. And that's why the US government hasn't made and never will make a formal statement about Yasukuni; because the US, and every other country in the world is doing the exact same thing.

Korea and China also do the exact same thing yet still complain about Yasukuni, but Korea and China are both hypocrites and we shouldn't consider them the standard for what is acceptable, however they are great examples of what isn't acceptable.