USS Brownson sinking December 26, 1943
There's a Christmas song with the lyric, "Christmas is the time for giving." It's a beautiful song, but there are some caveats at times. It can be a time for giving us a headache. It can be a time for giving us a heartache. It can be a time for deaths of beloved family members.
Another Christmas song has this lyric, "peace on earth, good will towards men." Ask a soldier, sailor, airman or a marine away from home about that one. Joyce's father's ship went to battle stations late morning and was hit with a bomb by a Japanese Betty bomber at 2:35 pm on December 26, 1943 and sunk by 2:42 that afternoon. Because of the time delay to the U.S. it was Christmas Day here. He was in the water off New Britain in the south Pacific. The Brownson was commissioned in February 1943 and was sunk in December 1943 according to naval records. She was a fine ship with several campaigns in her short lifetime. War is costly in dollars and lives.This video is about the beginning of the battle. At 47 minutes, 45 seconds into the film it shows Japanese planes attacking the ships off the island. The commentator, (actor Lloyd Nolan) mistakenly calls the sinking ship the Bronson, when it was the Brownson, the video shows Joyce's father's ship as it slips below the waves. I often wonder if he thought about that every Christmas? There were also army soldiers and marines that died on Christmas that year. The good news was Joyce's parents met in 1944 and were married Christmas of 1944 and by Christmas of 1945 Joyce had been born, so her father had some very good memories to overshadow the bad Christmas of 1943. Joyce's father was trapped below decks as his ship was sinking and an unknown hand opened the hatch and reached down to pull him out from sure death that day. He knew he was doomed to die until that hand showed up. He never knew whose hand it was. 108 men went down with the ship that day and are on eternal patrol off New Britain.
The surviving crew met for some years after that. I have a book written by the daughter of a survivor with the help of her father and contributions of family members including yours truly. Joyce's father never knew about those meetings or I think he may have attended one of them had he known.
This link is to the brief history of the Brownson.
One last thing here before I end this post. This is a link to a video collage of Bob Hope's Christmas shows for the troops overseas from WW-2 to Vietnam. It is only 10 minutes long and something to see in this Christmas season. Bob was a great man who gave up many Christmases with his family to entertain the troops. I was blessed to catch his show overseas in 1965 and it was a joy to see.
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.
Another Christmas song has this lyric, "peace on earth, good will towards men." Ask a soldier, sailor, airman or a marine away from home about that one. Joyce's father's ship went to battle stations late morning and was hit with a bomb by a Japanese Betty bomber at 2:35 pm on December 26, 1943 and sunk by 2:42 that afternoon. Because of the time delay to the U.S. it was Christmas Day here. He was in the water off New Britain in the south Pacific. The Brownson was commissioned in February 1943 and was sunk in December 1943 according to naval records. She was a fine ship with several campaigns in her short lifetime. War is costly in dollars and lives.This video is about the beginning of the battle. At 47 minutes, 45 seconds into the film it shows Japanese planes attacking the ships off the island. The commentator, (actor Lloyd Nolan) mistakenly calls the sinking ship the Bronson, when it was the Brownson, the video shows Joyce's father's ship as it slips below the waves. I often wonder if he thought about that every Christmas? There were also army soldiers and marines that died on Christmas that year. The good news was Joyce's parents met in 1944 and were married Christmas of 1944 and by Christmas of 1945 Joyce had been born, so her father had some very good memories to overshadow the bad Christmas of 1943. Joyce's father was trapped below decks as his ship was sinking and an unknown hand opened the hatch and reached down to pull him out from sure death that day. He knew he was doomed to die until that hand showed up. He never knew whose hand it was. 108 men went down with the ship that day and are on eternal patrol off New Britain.
The surviving crew met for some years after that. I have a book written by the daughter of a survivor with the help of her father and contributions of family members including yours truly. Joyce's father never knew about those meetings or I think he may have attended one of them had he known.
This link is to the brief history of the Brownson.
One last thing here before I end this post. This is a link to a video collage of Bob Hope's Christmas shows for the troops overseas from WW-2 to Vietnam. It is only 10 minutes long and something to see in this Christmas season. Bob was a great man who gave up many Christmases with his family to entertain the troops. I was blessed to catch his show overseas in 1965 and it was a joy to see.
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