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Last
updated on
February 09, 2008 09:57:48 AM
Pacific. See What's New.
Added the USS DENNIS (DE
405) Crew List.
See 77.4.3 Crew Lists
for all Crew Lists.
Added the following newspaper articles:
See more in the
Articles, Reports & Documents
section.
Added "Treasury Salute" radio program audio files from March 10,
1947. This documents the action of Commander Ernest E. Evans, USN
and USS JOHNSTON (DD 557) at Samar.
These files will play with Windows Media Player.
Added a Pacific Theater
Awards list.
 Added
a watercolor painting of USS GAMBIER BAY
(CVE 73).
See more in the Special Features
section.
Added "We
Asked For the Jap Fleet – and Got It" by LT Robert C. Hagen, USNR,
as Told to Sidney Shalett.
USS JOHNSTON (DD 557) article, first published in The Saturday Evening
Post, May 26, 1945.
See more in the
Articles, Reports & Documents
section.
Added the biographies of the six Escort Carrier Admirals who
served at Leyte Gulf. See Task Group
77.4.
Task Unit 77.4.1 (Taffy I)
Task Unit 77.4.2 (Taffy II)
Task Unit 77.4.3 (Taffy III)
* =
Detached 1645, October 24, 1944
Added a book recommendation
page.
Added five new Navy Cross citations:
See more in the Task Unit 77.4.3
Awards
section.
Added two new photographs of my Great-uncle
Virgil Cox, USNR, plankowner, crewmember, and survivor
of the sinking of USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73).
Added LT Glen W. Coleman, USNR,
Bronze Star citation and photographs.
See more in the Task Unit 77.4.3
Awards
section.
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 Rear
Admiral Clifton "Ziggy" Sprague, USN was the OTC of Task Unit
77.4.3, radio call sign "Taffy III". As a result of his
leadership off Samar his six escort carriers, three destroyers, and
four destroyer escorts saved the day at Leyte Gulf. Taffy III
was one of three task units assigned to
Task Group 77.4.
 Vice
Admiral Takeo Kurita, IJN was the commander of the
IJN Centre Force at Samar.
His force was comprised of four battleships, six heavy cruisers, two
light cruisers, and eleven destroyers.
 If
reading about the battle in detail is your passion then go directly
to my online eBook, "The Battle Off
Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf". This eBook is unique
in that the entire action is depicted in time-line order with
commentary by the author.
 The
Combat Action Photo section is a great place to get a feel for
the battle. There are currently 35 photographs of the surface
action that occurred on the morning of 25 October 1944 between
Admiral Ziggy Sprague's Taffy III and Admiral Kurita's IJN Centre
Force.
 Less
then two hours after the surface action concluded the surviving
warships of Taffy III were set upon by Kamikaze aircraft. The
Kamikaze Strike Photograph section contains 22 photographs of
this action.
 Aircraft
from the embarked composite squadrons played a major role in
repulsing the IJN Centre Force at Samar. The
Composite Squadron section details
the aircraft which fought in the Battle Off Samar.
Several fine monuments have been constructed to pay tribute to
the men of Taffy III. The Monuments
sections contains photographs and information on these perpetual
memorials dedicated to the men who fought and died for our freedom.
 I
am creating an IJN Warship
section. In addition to photographs, this section will
include the warship characteristics included in the back of my book.
I expect this section to take a while to complete.
There are many historical photographs
relating to Taffy III located in the
Archive Photo Section. These photos are dated before and
after the Battle Off Samar. This section also contains
photographs of the CVEs from the other Taffy units.
A wide variety of
articles, reports, and documents can be found in the
Articles, Reports & Documents
section. Many are official Navy records and some are personal
obtained from family members.
 The men who fought in the Battle Off Samar
earned a plethora of awards. Find out who was awarded the
Medal of Honor and other awards in the
Task Unit 77.4.3 Awards
section.
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This web site and
my book
are dedicated to the memory of
my great-uncle:
Virgil Cox
1922-1995
Seaman First Class, USNR
Plankowner, crewmember, and survivor
of the sinking of
USS GAMBIER BAY (CVE 73) |
 Purchase the
Fourth Edition of my
book, "The Battle Off Samar - Taffy III at Leyte
Gulf" at Lulu.com.
My book is now available in two versions
Soft cover: 198 pages, 8.5" x
11.0", perfect binding, 60# white interior paper, black and white interior
ink , 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink. $13.50 plus S&H.
Hardcover:
198 pages, 8.25" x 10.75", casewrap, 50# white interior paper, black and
white interior ink , 100# exterior paper, full-color exterior ink. $25.98 plus S&H.
See
my book section for more info.
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 Since I do this on my own, please report
any
errors or problems to the
webmaster.
I rely upon you, my viewers, to check my work. Thank you for your
assistance!
I try to make BOSAMAR.COM as user-friendly as possible. Your comments and
suggestions are always appreciated! Feel free to drop me a
message. I can usually respond within 3 days or less.
If you would like more insight as to
who I am check out, "A note from the author."
Last but not least, thank you for visiting my
website! Honor the Missing in Action and Killed in Action of Taffy
III. |
