USSMCKEAN

MEMORYS OF WWII

MAURY WILLIAMS

USS MCKEAN

PFC Raymond Brinkley (my best buddy) and I were

aboard an APD (Destroyer-Troop Carrier) on the morning of 18 November, 1943, off Empress Augusta Bay (Bougainville) when we were attacked by enemy planes flying out of Rabaul. I think there may be some old guys still

around who will remember:

"At around Zero Three Hundred Hours I came abruptly awake at the sound of a high-pitched voice coming from the direction of an open portal in the superstructure about ten feet aft of the forward gun turret (we'd slept next to it). The voice alerted me that something was up. The radio guy was apparently talking to the duty officer of the bridge. I've

forgotten his exact words but the mention of "Two bogies!" "off the starboard bow!" "near water level!" got my attention!

I shook Brink awake and asked if he knew what in blazes a "bogie" was. He shook his head, wondering what I was talking about. I motioned to the radio room. We strained our eyes in the darkness the next few moments to see what was going on. Brink spotted the faint outline of the first bogie, a single-winged "Val" skimming just above water, "look at that!" The plane was making a starboard side pass-around and quickly disappearing behind our fantail. We ran across the deck to the port rail in time to see a fiery explosion. The Jap had obviously set his sights on a more tempting target than our own ship and was beat to the trigger. The heavens were soon lit by ack ack and machinegun fire, coming from every ship in the convoy. We decided that this was going to be one hell of a night!

The awesome spectacle was destined to continue for the next several hours. Brink and I stayed out of the way of the nearby gun crew, which had gone into action almost immediately after the first plane exploded. Tracer rounds were arcing through the dark sky in every direction, no apparent coordination between gun crews or ships. It was a mad and

haphazard affair, the rounds coming across our ship's deck so close that we had second thoughts about being up there on deck, possibly being wasted by friendly fire. Still, we considered the dangers below deck to be much greater than those posed by "friendly fire." We were determined to stay put. Within minutes our guns began hitting planes as they

came in low. It seemed impossible that any of them could get through all of that withering gunfire. Our APD was in the first position forward on the right of the convoy, so all the action was aft and port.

At one point we counted five planes burning simultaneously in the water. The attack continued with all the excitement and pyrotechnics that had first got the affair started, until, at the first sign of early-morning light, a torpedo ripped through the starboard bow of the APD in our wake, some 500 yards astern. The USS McKean, a sister ship to our

own, was a World War One destroyer transporting the men of I-Company, Third Battalion. With the passing of each minute the McKean burned ever more fiercely. Several mighty explosions rocked the ship as she slowed to a crawl and fell out of position. As time went by the doomed ship burned ever more brightly, black, oily smoke belching out of her

insides and explosions rocking her from bow to stern. Like our own ship she had many people aboard, some of whom were guys we'd trained with ever since the formation of our division. A lot of their names were unknown to us but they were Marines, our comrades.

We watched the awesome spectacle and just stood there at the rail saying nothing. Sometime before dawn, while many men floundered in the ocean swells, the U.S.S. McKean exploded a final time and went down to a watery grave."

After the war I learned that the attack involved 57 torpedo planes, 17 of them shot down. I'm attaching an old photo of the McKean, made before it was converted into a troop carrier. It would be good to hear from anybody who was there, either swabby or jarhead! Tell us where you were, what you observed, what you thought. Semper Fi!

ALL MATERIAL OWNED AND COPYRIGHT BY

MR. MAURY WILLIAMS

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			MEMORYS OF WWII BY MAURY WILLIAMS



				USS MCKEAN

PFC Raymond Brinkley (my best buddy) and I were aboard an APD (Destroyer-Troop Carrier) on the morning of 18 November, 1943, off Empress Augusta Bay (Bougainville) when we were attacked by enemy planes flying out of Rabaul. I think there may be some old guys still around who will remember: "At around Zero Three Hundred Hours I came abruptly awake at the sound of a high-pitched voice coming from the direction of an open portal in the superstructure about ten feet aft of the forward gun turret (we'd slept next to it). The voice alerted me that something was up. The radio guy was apparently talking to the duty officer of the bridge. I've forgotten his exact words but the mention of "Two bogies!" "off the starboard bow!" "near water level!" got my attention! I shook Brink awake and asked if he knew what in blazes a "bogie" was. He shook his head, wondering what I was talking about. I motioned to the radio room. We strained our eyes in the darkness the next few moments to see what was going on. Brink spotted the faint outline of the first bogie, a single-winged "Val" skimming just above water, "look at that!" The plane was making a starboard side pass-around and quickly disappearing behind our fantail. We ran across the deck to the port rail in time to see a fiery explosion. The Jap had obviously set his sights on a more tempting target than our own ship and was beat to the trigger. The heavens were soon lit by ack ack and machinegun fire, coming from every ship in the convoy. We decided that this was going to be one hell of a night! The awesome spectacle was destined to continue for the next several hours. Brink and I stayed out of the way of the nearby gun crew, which had gone into action almost immediately after the first plane exploded. Tracer rounds were arcing through the dark sky in every direction, no apparent coordination between gun crews or ships. It was a mad and haphazard affair, the rounds coming across our ship's deck so close that we had second thoughts about being up there on deck, possibly being wasted by friendly fire. Still, we considered the dangers below deck to be much greater than those posed by "friendly fire." We were determined to stay put. Within minutes our guns began hitting planes as they came in low. It seemed impossible that any of them could get through all of that withering gunfire. Our APD was in the first position forward on the right of the convoy, so all the action was aft and port. At one point we counted five planes burning simultaneously in the water. The attack continued with all the excitement and pyrotechnics that had first got the affair started, until, at the first sign of early-morning light, a torpedo ripped through the starboard bow of the APD in our wake, some 500 yards astern. The USS McKean, a sister ship to our own, was a World War One destroyer transporting the men of I-Company, Third Battalion. With the passing of each minute the McKean burned ever more fiercely. Several mighty explosions rocked the ship as she slowed to a crawl and fell out of position. As time went by the doomed ship burned ever more brightly, black, oily smoke belching out of her insides and explosions rocking her from bow to stern. Like our own ship she had many people aboard, some of whom were guys we'd trained with ever since the formation of our division. A lot of their names were unknown to us but they were Marines, our comrades. We watched the awesome spectacle and just stood there at the rail saying nothing. Sometime before dawn, while many men floundered in the ocean swells, the U.S.S. McKean exploded a final time and went down to a watery grave." After the war I learned that the attack involved 57 torpedo planes, 17 of them shot down. I'm attaching an old photo of the McKean, made before it was converted into a troop carrier. It would be good to hear from anybody who was there, either swabby or jarhead! Tell us where you were, what you observed, what you thought. Semper Fi!

	ALL MATERIAL OWNED AND COPYRIGHT BY MR. MAURY WILLIAMS

		HOME