The speech below was given by LCDR Richard Halbig, USN OIC - CPF MHLD DET AK, at the USS Juneau Memorial Service on Friday, November 13, 2015. This is his memory of the day the USS Juneau went down. . . .
Good Morning
I would like you to join me for a moment in using your
imagination as I draw you a picture. This picture or analogy will hopefully help
you relate to the plight of the USS Juneau during the cruiser night action of
November 13th 1942, 73 years ago.
One account of the
action as noted from the beach by an American War correspondent “the action was
illuminated in brief, blinding flashes by Jap searchlights which were shot out
as soon as they were turned on, by muzzle flashes from big guns, by fantastic
streams of tracers, and by huge orange-colored explosions as two Jap destroyers
and one of our destroyers blew up… From
the beach it resembled a door to hell opening and closing… over and over.
Now, imagine yourself as one of 13 averaged sized men
standing in a small bar. Surrounding you
in groups are 16 other men who are very angry.
10 of those men could rival the starting line of the Seattle Seahawks
and their wearing pads. Now, shutter the
windows and kill the lights. This just
sets the scene. Now start firing shot
guns next to everyone’s ears while starting a strobe light with irregular
flashes, just to confuse things a bit.
Now the Leaders of both groups start yelling commands to
fight those around them, only you can’t understand what is being said, nor can
you hear most of the words. You know
your friends are being hurt badly or even killed, and that is about all you
know.
You’ve been ordered to engage the enemy, But in the
confusion, you don’t know friend from foe and now you’ve been punched in the
gut and taken a glancing blow to the face.
Your injured, Can barely hear, you’re alone in a sea of
confusion, concussion and blinding flashes followed by intense darkness.
You are still in the scrum, and kicking and punching wildly,
occasionally connecting, but you are unsure of the effects your blows have, and
you know those you face are much bigger and stronger than you are, but you
fight on courageously.
You move through the fighting over to someone slumped
against the wall to find a friendly who is in even worse shape than you
are. He is bleeding from the eyes, nose,
and ears. His eyes are glassy, but he is
still breathing raspy breaths.
The two of you hear a command to assemble at the front of
the Bar (this in an effort to bring your
13…….. I mean 9 remaining friends back together).
You and your beaten (mortally wounded) comrade start limping
through the scrum, which seems to have lessened in intensity.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, you are struck savagely by an
enemy wielding a Metal Bar. You are hit with such force that you can hear
your own skull crack which causes you to immediately
spasm in uncontrollable death
throws.
As you fall, you lose touch, and truly don’t have any idea
of the outcome of the fight you were just in.
Now, let me tell you
what the USS Juneau accomplished.
The battle of Guadalcanal is most often described as a land
battle, but in reality, it was an air, land, and sea Campaign whose goal was
the first roll back of the Japanese Empire since their major aggressions in the
1930’s and before.
Guadalcanal was the beginning of their contraction back to
the Japanese Island Chain.
It was also the first major clash between the seasoned,
experienced, and almost entirely successful Japanese Imperial Army and the
mostly untested and inexperienced United States Marine Corps.
More than just the Marine
Corps and Navy took part in the
battle. Members of all the services took
part in the many battles of Guadalcanal.
In fact, Petty Officer Douglass Munro of the United States Coast Guard
was awarded the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) for his actions during the Marine
landings of September 24th.
In the night action I drew the allegory to a moment ago, the
Japanese had 16-18 ships, 2 of which were Battleships; the others were heavy
cruisers and destroyers
In contrast, we had 13 ships including 1 heavy cruiser, 4
light cruiser and 9 destroyers. (we were
outnumbered and heavily outclassed). –
As such 6 of our ships died, and 6 others took heavy to severe damage.
We gave as well as we took though. Our smaller, meager force did wound the
enemy. We sunk 7 of their ships
including one of their Battleships (an Enormous dreadnought of the sea). We also heavily damaged 3 other ships.
The numbers though do not tell the entire story. The true outcome of the battle was the
decision made by the Japanese leader after the night actions. The Japanese withdrew their Naval forces from the Guadalcanal
area that day, which prevented them from accomplishing their mission –To
bombard Henderson Air Field and to
land 7,000 troops along with their supplies and heavy equipment Reinforcing the troops already on the
island.
This delayed the Japanese on the island from attacking (for
days) until they could reinforce. This
allowed United States Marine Corps General Vandergrift to strengthen his tenuous hold at Lunga Point
and defend against the Attacks that did come a few days later.
ALL Battles, Campaigns and Wars are won due to many variables.
TIME is always among those important variables, and that is what the USS
Juneau bought with its blood and the lives of her sailors.
-Of her crew of 697, only 10 would ever know of the success
her sacrifice purchased. Those 10 were
pulled from the water 8 days after their ship had died.
-The 687 men who died on the USS Juneau were among the 5 Thousand US Navy and Coast
Guardsmen and the 4 Thousand 3
Hundred US Army and Marine Corps casualties of the battles of
Guadalcanal.
Please join me in a moment of silence to honor our fallen
comrades from the ship that bears the name of this great City.
LCDR Richard Halbig, USN
OIC - CPF MHLD DET AK
