thedrifter
07-24-08, 05:57 AM
Tales from aboard
Veteran recalls time spent on aircraft carrier
BY Andy Fillmore
Special to the Star-Banner
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 5:40 a.m.
FORT MCCOY - The long and storied history of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CVS-12) includes nine World War II battle stars, a Presidential Unit Citation and recovering the Apollo 11 and 12 manned moon mission capsules.
It also includes Victor Wiehe, 90, becoming a pipe smoker.
"Other ships in our task force would report by radio, 'Hey, look at that guy smoking a cigarette on the flight deck,' the night was that dark black (at sea)," Wiehe said.
There was concern about enemy ships also seeing the cigarette glow.
"I could light the pipe below deck, and it could not be seen as a cigarette could," Wiehe said.
Wiehe, born in New Bremen, Ohio, already had a family with two children when he entered the Navy in 1943. He got basic training at Great Lakes, Mich., then was deployed to the Pacific Theatre of Operations from San Francisco.
First assignment
Wiehe was assigned to fueling planes on the Essex class USS Hornet during World War II.
"We had Grumman Hellcats, and also Corsairs for the Marines when they were on board," Wiehe said. "Once we pumped 50,000 gallon of fuel."
The USS Hornet (CVS-12) was the eighth U.S. ship named Hornet. The 894-foot CVS-12 was commissioned in 1943, served in World War II, and carried about 90 aircraft, according to the Historic Naval Ships Association's Web site, www.hnsa.org. The standard crew compliment was 3,448.
Aircraft from CVS-12 destroyed 1,410 enemy aircraft and about 1.3 million tons of enemy shipping. Ten pilots made "ace in a day," meaning each pilot shot down five or more airplanes in a single day. Also, the CVS-12's planes were instrumental in stopping and sinking the Japanese super battleship Yamato. The vessel launched the first strikes in the liberation of the Philippines in 1945, according to www.hnsa.org. and www.<0x000A>uss-hornet.org.
According to the USS Hornet organization Web site, the ship came under air attack 59 times without being hit.
Ship is damaged
Wiehe said, however, that a June 1945 typhoon bent down about the first 24 feet of the flight deck, making a return to United States for repairs necessary. Before disengaging to return home, the ship would "turn backwards," he said, to facilitate aircraft takeoffs and landings due to the forward damage.
According to www.<0x000A>navsource.org, the ship was modernized in 1956 and converted to anti-submarine duty.
In 1969 The USS Hornet recovered astronauts from Apollo 11 and 12, including Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to set foot on the moon. President Nixon visited Armstrong and the other members of the Apollo 11 crew while they were quarantined on the USS Hornet.
The ship was decommissioned in 1970 and struck from the Naval Register in 1989. The USS Hornet was then docked in Alameda, Calif., and designated a museum ship and a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Wiehe returned to Ohio after World War II. By then, his family included six sons.
"We got to where we were saying 'another boy,' " he said.
Move to Florida
Around 1965, he decided to move to Wildwood, where he lived until 2005 when family members told him about the Veterans of Foreign Wars Retirement Home in Fort McCoy.
Wiehe suffers from macular degeneration, a vision condition, but can comfortably navigate around the facility.
"I like it here. I have a private room and can go to bed when I want to," he said.
And next to his bed is his trusty pipe.
Ellie
Veteran recalls time spent on aircraft carrier
BY Andy Fillmore
Special to the Star-Banner
Published: Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 24, 2008 at 5:40 a.m.
FORT MCCOY - The long and storied history of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CVS-12) includes nine World War II battle stars, a Presidential Unit Citation and recovering the Apollo 11 and 12 manned moon mission capsules.
It also includes Victor Wiehe, 90, becoming a pipe smoker.
"Other ships in our task force would report by radio, 'Hey, look at that guy smoking a cigarette on the flight deck,' the night was that dark black (at sea)," Wiehe said.
There was concern about enemy ships also seeing the cigarette glow.
"I could light the pipe below deck, and it could not be seen as a cigarette could," Wiehe said.
Wiehe, born in New Bremen, Ohio, already had a family with two children when he entered the Navy in 1943. He got basic training at Great Lakes, Mich., then was deployed to the Pacific Theatre of Operations from San Francisco.
First assignment
Wiehe was assigned to fueling planes on the Essex class USS Hornet during World War II.
"We had Grumman Hellcats, and also Corsairs for the Marines when they were on board," Wiehe said. "Once we pumped 50,000 gallon of fuel."
The USS Hornet (CVS-12) was the eighth U.S. ship named Hornet. The 894-foot CVS-12 was commissioned in 1943, served in World War II, and carried about 90 aircraft, according to the Historic Naval Ships Association's Web site, www.hnsa.org. The standard crew compliment was 3,448.
Aircraft from CVS-12 destroyed 1,410 enemy aircraft and about 1.3 million tons of enemy shipping. Ten pilots made "ace in a day," meaning each pilot shot down five or more airplanes in a single day. Also, the CVS-12's planes were instrumental in stopping and sinking the Japanese super battleship Yamato. The vessel launched the first strikes in the liberation of the Philippines in 1945, according to www.hnsa.org. and www.<0x000A>uss-hornet.org.
According to the USS Hornet organization Web site, the ship came under air attack 59 times without being hit.
Ship is damaged
Wiehe said, however, that a June 1945 typhoon bent down about the first 24 feet of the flight deck, making a return to United States for repairs necessary. Before disengaging to return home, the ship would "turn backwards," he said, to facilitate aircraft takeoffs and landings due to the forward damage.
According to www.<0x000A>navsource.org, the ship was modernized in 1956 and converted to anti-submarine duty.
In 1969 The USS Hornet recovered astronauts from Apollo 11 and 12, including Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to set foot on the moon. President Nixon visited Armstrong and the other members of the Apollo 11 crew while they were quarantined on the USS Hornet.
The ship was decommissioned in 1970 and struck from the Naval Register in 1989. The USS Hornet was then docked in Alameda, Calif., and designated a museum ship and a U.S. National Historic Landmark.
Wiehe returned to Ohio after World War II. By then, his family included six sons.
"We got to where we were saying 'another boy,' " he said.
Move to Florida
Around 1965, he decided to move to Wildwood, where he lived until 2005 when family members told him about the Veterans of Foreign Wars Retirement Home in Fort McCoy.
Wiehe suffers from macular degeneration, a vision condition, but can comfortably navigate around the facility.
"I like it here. I have a private room and can go to bed when I want to," he said.
And next to his bed is his trusty pipe.
Ellie