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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic: how do I find mys Dad's Boat?
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My Dad just died at the Buffalo NY Va hospital and he never talked about the war, he was stationed in the Pacific theater on a pt boat. while in the hosp in early 1945 his Boat went on patrol and all hands were lost ( story was told to me by his sister) I would like to get any info I can on his Boat and service, his Name was John B. Smith from Buffalo New York.............thanks ....Wayne Smith ( son)



Posted By: Wayne Smith | Posted on: Aug 4, 2007 - 8:43pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Hi Wayne;

I would hate to speculate without more info but the dates you gave don't jive with any losses. There were no enemy inflicted losses on a PT in 1945.

The closest date I can put together belongs to PT 300. On December 18,1944 the 300 was on patrol off of Mindoro Island when it was attacked and sunk by a Kamikaze pilot.



Posted By: Gary Szot | Posted on: Aug 5, 2007 - 9:49am
Total Posts: 193 | Joined: Feb 12, 2007 - 1:00pm



Bulkley (AT CLOSE QUARTERS) lists four PTs lost in 1945:

PT73 - grounded and destroyed to prevent capture, Baliquias Bay, PI, 1/15/45
PT77 - friendly fire, Luzon, PI, 2/1/45
PT79 - friendly fire, Luzon, PI, 2/1/45
PT338 - grounded 1/27/45, destroyed as a result, Semirara Island, PI, 1/31/45

Bulkley indicates that only three men were lost on 77 and 79, none on 73 nor 338,

73, 77, 79 were 78' Higgins; 338 was an 80' ELCO.

Al Ross



Posted By: alross2 | Posted on: Aug 5, 2007 - 11:59am
Total Posts: 993 | Joined: Oct 30, 2006 - 8:19pm



You might want to ask Bill Manly of this message board. He seems to have all the statisics.

The only other possibility is PT 323 who was attacked by a Kamikaze on 12-10-44 in Leyte Gulf.



Posted By: Gary Szot | Posted on: Aug 5, 2007 - 5:53pm
Total Posts: 193 | Joined: Feb 12, 2007 - 1:00pm



thanks for the reply , I waded through some of dads papers and found his discharge sheet which says he was on the USS Orestes agp-10 a Pt Boat Tender looking up internet sources that tell me it was bombed by Kamikazes ( val bomber) Dec 30 1944 on the way to Mindoro he was discharged march 1945 from US Fleet hosp #109 after first going to US Naval Hosp #14...doesn't say why he was in the hosp but the dates seem to fit......interesting stuff........thanks again all......Wayne.



Posted By: Wayne Smith | Posted on: Aug 5, 2007 - 6:54pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Wayne
I believe the Tender was actually hit by a Jap plane that had crashed into her starboard side. The Tender was in Mangarin Bay on the morning of December 30th when this happened.

The planes bombs exploded in the ship and caused crewmembers to be blown overboard. Flames spread quickly and even the ready ammo on deck started to expode. When all was said and done, 6 Officers and 14 men were killed, 37 were missing and 7 Officers and 86 men were wounded. PT boats came along side to help take off the wounded men despite the chance of 37,000 gallons of high octain fuel exploding. It took over one and one half hours to fight the fire and bring the flames under control..............



Posted By: Frank J Andruss Sr | Posted on: Aug 6, 2007 - 6:01am
Total Posts: 3497 | Joined: Oct 9, 2006 - 6:09am



Thanks Frank, that was more info then I could find, any info on sources would be appreciated......I found a picture online of the ammo ship blowing up in that convoy killing the entire crew ( SS John Burke) can't imagine what it must have been like to see that......................thanks again ....Wayne .... oh btw my dad was a F2c ( Fireman second class)



Posted By: Wayne Smith | Posted on: Aug 6, 2007 - 8:28pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered



Check out this website. Not sure what you'll find.

http://www.valortours.com/cgi-bin/boardposting.cgi?id=165


Ray


Posted By: Ray Wilbur | Posted on: Aug 7, 2007 - 4:08am
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered