Good Saturday morning my friends. My name is Col. Jim and this is my Old Place. This time of year, there is plenty of time for reflection up here at the Old Place. The days are cool and cloudy and the woods are somehow quieter. Today, I am reading from a thin, blue binder and remembering an old friend. The author paints a vision of a young sailor standing on the smoking, listing deck of a US destroyer. A Japanese torpedo has just blown off their stern leaving the ship, dead in the water in the middle of a major sea battle and taking 19 of his shipmates to their deaths. I could almost smell the cordite and hear the explosions. As I close the binder, I see a patch glued to the front of it depicting a leaping Wild Indian shooting a bow and arrow. The arrow is pointed down. I like to believe that is because he is shooting at that Japanese submarine, the preferred prey of our WWII destroyers. That patch is the unit insignia of Destroyer Squadron 23, “The Little Beavers” activated on May 11, 1943. Under the command of Commodore Arleigh “31 Knot” Burke, DESRON 23 earned a Presidential Unit Citation fighting 22 engagements while destroying a Japanese cruiser, nine destroyers, one submarine, several smaller ships, and approximately 30 aircraft. That young sailor was a small, “Foote Note,” if you will, among the many young men who served. Wilbur V. Rogers was not even old enough to drink when with seabag hoisted over his shoulder he gazed up the gang way toward the USS Foote, the ship that would be his home for the next two years. Rog served in the Main Battery Director targeting enemy aircraft with the deadly twin 44 mm cannons. As Rog shared, his sea stories his shipmates and their lives and battles came alive! “James, you could get those guns to fire together or to alternate. I never liked it when they fired together. If I could get them firing alternately that meant there was always lead in the air!” As Rog told me about what history calls, the Battle of Empress of Augusta Bay, I felt like I was there. “It was 3 O’Clock in the morning and we had just executed a hard left turn to come up on the starboard quarter of the USS Converse. A minute later a Japanese torpedo struck us at an angle behind the aft 5 inch gun mount. We were making 31-knots and immediately went dead in the water. All we could do was watch as our stern section drifted away, turned slowly and began to sink.” Ultimately, the USS Foote was repaired and returned to the war taking Rog and his crew mates to the siege called, “Okinawa’s Ring of Tin.” So, you ask, what’s it got to do with safety? When one thinks of the sacrifices made by our military and their families, the answer to that question becomes clear.
34 years ago, my father-in-law, Charlie Munley, introduced me to his best friend, yep, it was Rog. At the time Rog was working for Marathon Oil, a company known for it’s safety program. As we got to know each other Mr. Rog gradually became the grandfather I never had. Rog took me on personal guided tours of our USS Kidd, also a Fletcher class destroyer and of course took the time to point out all of the “safety” features. This story is over long and a very difficult one for me to end. “We all get old if we live long enough,” Rog once said. Well I guess that’s true. Rog was the last surviving crewman of the USS Foote and as such, according to US Navy tradition, has the right to be called, “USS Foote.” Today I learned that at 92 years, USS Foote had passed away. He is now reunited with our mighty God and with his sweet Ona Vee. To say that I will miss him is not enough. Rog’s life, his character and his patriotism are a testament to what is good about our country and why we should fight to keep it that way. So rather than mourn, let this be my prayer, for all of us who remain, “Fair winds and following seas” shipmate! Until we meet again. Sitting in a rocker at the Old Place, I am Col. Jim.
