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 Author  Topic: PT Boat Tour #4 - Battleship Cove
newsnerd99

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 18, 2008 - 2:12am
I had always heard of Battleship Cove - my grandfather spent many a week or weekend volunteering at the museum when I was a kid. The closest I ever was to the museum was the odd trip to Boston but I knew it had to be included in the PT trip.



It was a rainy morning so we walked through the PT building. The Elco was up first and while I walked down the catwalk along the boat, I found myself looking over the opposite side at the items tucked away below:





I laugh now that, when faced with a restored PT boat, I caught myself paying attention to the "junk" on the floor next to it. Either way, PT 615 had wet my appetite and now I was getting to see the things I've studied in photos for real.



In between the Elco and the Higgins I stopped to study the PT Boater's KIA memorial wall. I was looking for two Ron 15 names; F1c Leonard Walters and Ens. Clarence Pinkley. Walters died during a surprise encounter with F-Lighters and an E-Boat the night of the Elba invasion. Pinkley was XO on PT 210 when, on patrol with my grandfather on the 209, was mortally wounded by enemy cannon fire during a July 1944 patrol:





As a side note, the family of Clarence Pinkley found pistolpackinmama.net a while back and we've traded information and photos (thanks to Steve Nugent, who's father had been the skipper up until July of 1944.)

We did a walk-by of the Higgins but I knew the best was yet to come in regards to that boat. More later...

Dad and I darted through the rain over to the battleship so we could see the rest of the PT displays:



There were some things I expected to see but a few were a neat surprise. One was a Ron 15 jacket patch that had the dragon and torpedo facing the other direction. I spotted some photos I hadn't seen before that included PT 209. This one is my favorite; it must be Spring of 1944; most of the boats have the (early) deck-mounted rocket racks, some have old tubes and other the new roll-off racks except for the unknown boat in the back, which has two tubes in the front and two racks in the back! For those of you keeping score, the photo shows (from left to right) PT 203, 214, 209, unknown boat (but with a lot of kill flags, maybe 204?) and the 207.



In the display case is a piece of Stanton family history; Pop donated the parallel ruler used on the 209 during its time in the Med:



The Ron 23 display case had more Stanton memorabilia! Pop had donated the ensign and jack flags from PT 243. I knew he was in Samar when the 243 was burned; I also knew he drew some of the work details that were tasked with burning the hulks. What I didn't know is wether Pop was there when his boat went up. At one point though, during the process of stripping the boats, Pop took the flags and brought them home.



Thanks to a suggestion by Gary Szot, I got in contact with the PT museum curator, Don Shannon. Despite the short notice (and that it was on a Sunday morning, Father's Day) Don agreed to come by and meet my dad and I and give us a better look around. We slipped back over to the PT's so we could meet up with him and have a closer look at the Higgins boat and her restoration work.



You can see Don recently finished framing the gun tubs on her. The midship 20mm isn't mounted, only the forward one. The two forward rolloffs are "armed" with Mark XIII's and look sharp. Don stripped the bodies down to the metal and they look great, leaving the nose painted; it looks like the photos I've seen from Pop's collection.



Don then took me below into the crew and officer quarters. To be perfectly honest, I don't know what I'm looking at BUT to me it looks fantastic. I really got a feel for what it was like in those cramped quarters below deck. That was the other thing that grabbed me - for as "cramped" as it was, it was also pretty spacious compared to some of the other cramped quarters I've seen (carriers, subs, etc.). I also got to climb into the engine room:





I can only imagine what it was like to spend any amount of time down in here while they were running. The highlight for me though was seeing where my grandfather, a quartermaster, would have been during most of the patrols: the chart house:



Don is a great guy and was a gracious host. He was complimentary of my grandfather and his trips up to the cove to volunteer as a tour guide. I can't say enough about his taking the time out to come in on an off day and show my dad and I around. You really appreciate what that means when you see all the work he has to do. The Higgins is under construction while at the same time, Don is battling the building she is sitting in:



Some of the interior walls have been removed so he could see where the leaks and water damage was located. Don is in the process of trying to figure out the best way to fix/patch/replace etc. and how to pay for it. All of that comes on top of the regular duties there! Much like the men we met on the trip all weekend, he is doing very important work and I can't say enough good things about him. Thanks Don!

Before I left, I had to jump on one of the 20mm's:




All-in-all, it was a great weekend! It was a great way for a son to spend Father's Day, and I think my dad got to connect with his father in way he hadn't been before. After thinking about all the memories and looking through the photos from the weekend I have to say, I'll do it again in the future!

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Gary Szot

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Gary Szot   Send Email To Gary Szot Posted on: Jun 18, 2008 - 10:54am
James ; I'm glad that you were able to cram so much into so little time. I stated before that I spent about 8 hours at Battleship Cove but I easily could have spent a week there.

You can do all the reading, look at tons of photographs, talk to countless veterans, but nothing compares to the feeling you get when you first stand on the deck of an Elco or a Higgens.

My dad spent more than a year living on one and my only regret is that he passed away before I was able to share this experience with him. This may sound a little strange but It was a mystical experience the first time I stood on deck. It was if my dad was there with me as well as countless number of other PT Vets.

I applaud guys like Don Shannon, Frank Andress, Jerry Gilmartin, Ted Walther and the rest who have made the effort to preserve these memorials so that this history would not be lost.

Bravo!





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