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Posted by Bob Stopka in Branford, Ct [108.109.238.229] on Sunday, July 04, 2010 at 14:50:40 :
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Up in Connecticut visiting family for a couple of weeks. Today, made me reflect and say a prayer for those in the armed services protecting our nation, and for those that have done so in the past. I was fortunate, on July 2nd, to have the opurtunity to sit down and visit with my 89 year old godfather. We touched upon many subjects, but much of the time was spent talking about his participation in two famous WWII battles as he remembers them. I though some of you might like to read his personal excerpt...
As told by 89 year old retired US Navy Chief Fran Tolokan, July 2nd, 2010.
(Born Jan 1921)
During the Battle of Midway, June 3-6, 1942 – My godfather, Frank Tolokan was on the USS Benham, DD-397, and was a 5 inch powder handler, 4 decks down, under the 2nd 5 inch mount. This was in the powder and shell storage room, all the way at the bottom of the ship, and unless additional powder or shells at the pre stage powder room right under the 5 inch gun were needed and called for by the gun mount captain, even during a battle, 4 decks down, sometimes the 4 guys there that sent the powder and 5 inch shells up the hoist, were just hanging around. Frank said he would snooze, using his life preserver as a pillow. During the Battle of Midway, when the USS Yorktown was hit, the USS Benham picked up over 700 survivors off the Yorktown. Frank said it was very difficult to find space for all the survivors when they brought them aboard. They were literally having to step over the survivors as more were brought on board. Once those 700 were picked up, the USS Pittsburgh took the survivors off the Benham and brought them to Hawaii. At some point, the USS Hammann then tied up to the Yorktown, to assist in pumping water from the Yorktown, in an attempt to keep her afloat, but primarily to remove water from areas inside the hull that were flooded, which was preventing the saving of other sailors trapped below deck. The battle was basically over at this time. During that time, a jap sub shot 3 or 4 torpedoes into Hammann (sub was far away, waiting for an available target)
The Hammann sunk, and because of everything happening, her depth charges had not been reset, and when the ship went down, the depth charges exploded. Not making light of it, Frank said the men that were floating on the surface had salt water literally blown up their rear. Benham then again made a rescue, pulling 126 survivors left from the Hammond and Benham then sailed to Hawaii. By the time they got to Hawaii there were only 80 survivors left from the Hammond. Uncle Frank and another sailor pulled a sailor aboard and his eyeballs were popped out of the sockets, hanging by strings…Was told it was from the depth charge explosion. Doctor said, lay him on the deck, he is gone..
At the Naval Battle of Guadalcan_al, Nov 15th, 1942, in the early morning of the 15th, around 12:30 am, the Japs came with a Battlewagon, Cruiser, other ships, and 4 troop tranports… This was the big Jap plan to Guadalcan_al – where the Japs took Henderson field… To make a long story short, the night prior, seven US Cruisers attempted to cut off the Jap armada, and was not successful. Even the cruiser with the 5 Sullivan Brothers on board was sunk. The next night, the 4 destroyers, including the Benham, cut off the Jap landing force, around 12:30 am. The US Ships came in between Tulagi and Salvo Island to cut off the Japs… The Benham was hit by a torpedo, at 03:38, below turret 1, blew the bow off at the water line from turret 1 forward, but deck was still in place. Uncle Frank said it looked like a big open mouth from the side. Uncle frank was 4 decks down at his battle station below the 2nd turret. The ship then cracked vertically in the middle from the deck down. It was still connected at the bottom of the hull. The crew lashed cables around the ship, above deck, and tightened them, to hold the front half of the ship together to the back. The forward engine room was out of service and they were running off the back diesel engine. They were able to move 60 miles out to sea, where eventually the ship sank, and Uncle Frank was in the water for 3 hours hanging onto a rope tied around the life raft. Some of the crew was lost to sharks. They were picked up by one of the other 4 destroyers they operated with that night, the USS Gwin, and were brought to New Caledonia.
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See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Benham_(DD-397)
Excerpt
Service history
Assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Benham patrolled off Newfoundland during most of 1939 and then shifted to the Gulf of Mexico. Ordered to the Pacific, she arrived at Pearl Harbor 14 April 1940. After alternating between Californian and Hawaiian waters, the destroyer served as an escort for Enterprise during the delivery of Marine planes to Midway Atoll on 28 November to 8 December 1941, thus missing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Benham served with Enterprise and Saratoga task forces off Hawaii and with Task Force 16 during the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, 8 to 25 April 1942. She continued operating with TF 16 through the Battle of Midway, 3 to 6 June, during which she rescued 720 survivors from Yorktown and 188 from Hammann; landings on Guadalcan_al and Tulagi, 7 to 9 August, and the Battle of the Eastern Solomon’s, 23 to 25 August.
Benham joined Task Force 64 on 15 October as a part of the naval covering force off Guadalcan_al. During 14–15 November, she took part in the Naval Battle of Guadalcan_al. At 0038 on 15 November, she was hit by a torpedo forward, lost her bow, and had to withdraw from the battle. Benham doggedly stayed afloat, making slow headway towards Guadalcan_al during the 15th but, by 1637, further progress was impossible and her valiant crew had to abandon ship. Gwin picked up the survivors, and sank the hulk at 1938 by shell-fire.
Honors
Benham received five battle stars for her service in World War II.
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