My
great-uncle Virgil Cox
was a
plankowner, crewmember, and survivor of the sinking of the
GAMBIER BAY. I
remember sitting at his kitchen table at a very young age as he and my father exchanged
stories of their past military experiences. My father's stories about his service in
the Army during the Korean War, though exciting, didn't seem as thrilling as my uncle's
real
stories about the U.S. Navy in World War II. The Navy seemed like a very interesting
place....
On November 6, 1978, during my senior year
of high school, I joined the U.S. Navy's Delayed Entry Program. For
some reason I decided to sign up for submarines. I went to Boot Camp on 28 June 1979,
a mere three weeks after my graduation from Wakefield High School.
My assigned unit in basic training was the "Milwaukee Brewers Ball Company
#136". The afternoon before reporting to Great Lakes was spent
meeting my new Company Commanders and shipmates and touring two
local breweries (Schlitz and ?????) in Milwaukee where we drank
beer....complements of the Navy. That evening we attended a Milwaukee
Brewers baseball game.
During my first sea duty command I
served as a yeoman-striker on board the ballistic-missile submarine
USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (SSBN 600)
where I earned my Enlisted Submarine
Breast Insignia or "dolphins" as we call them in the submarine service.
In a Temporary Duty status I supported USS SAM HOUSTON (SSBN 609)
in November/December 1980.
ROOSEVELT was decommissioned in February 1981 and I was transferred to
Naval Technical Training Center,
Meridian, Mississippi where I attended
Yeoman "A" School. Upon graduation I was sent to
PRE-COMMISSIONING UNIT FLORIDA (SSBN 728)
which was
under construction at General Dynamics, Electric Boat Division,
Groton, Connecticut. Shipyard life was very boring so I volunteered in a
Temporary
Duty status to make one strategic deterrent patrol (#52) onboard
USS ANDREW JACKSON
(SSBN 619) BLUE, out of Holy Loch, Scotland. My first shore duty
assignment was as a courier at Headquarters, Allied
Forces Northern Europe, Kolsaas, Norway from April 1983 to April 1985.
In April 1985, due to my father's poor
health, I separated from the Naval service and moved back to the U.P. to spend time with him
and the rest of my family. It
was during this period that I read Edwin P. Hoyt's "The Men of the Gambier Bay"
with great interest. This book gives a fine account of the
GAMBIER BAY
throughout it's brief life.
I
spent
February 1988 through April 1990 serving aboard the ballistic-missile submarine
USS
NEVADA (SSBN 733)(BLUE) at Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, Washington. I made four
strategic deterrent patrols on her (#s 3, 5, 7, and 9). In 1992, while assigned to
Nuclear
Field "A" School, Naval Training Center, Orlando, Florida, my interest in
the GAMBIER BAY renewed itself. It was during this period that I read with
great dedication Adrian Stewart's "The Battle of Leyte Gulf," Hoyt's "The
Battle of Leyte Gulf," and Samuel Eliot Morison's "United States Naval
Operations in World War II, Volume XII, Leyte", which in my opinion, is the finest
account of this action ever written. By now, totally engrossed in my study of the
Battle
Off Samar, I started writing a book about this battle.
1996 was a very busy
year for me. In February of that year I transferred to shore duty at
Naval Submarine School in Groton, Connecticut (I was also NAVSUBSCOLs Webmaster). Having
surfed the internet since June 1994, I had always desired to start my own web site. What
better topic could I have chosen than the "Battle Off Samar Home Page".
On May 22, 1996 I posted the first few pages on the internet and was immediately amazed at
the positive response I received.
In September 1996 I was
contacted by Mike McKenna of the
USS ST LO and VC-65
Survivors Association. He provided me with several
combat action photographs,
kamikaze
strike photographs, action reports, and steadfast
guidance. My web page and my book
would not have been possible without his superb and loyal help.
After nearly
six years of research and writing, in July 1998 my book "The Battle Off Samar - Taffy
III at Leyte Gulf" was self-published in Groton, Connecticut. Two-hundred
copies were printed locally and 166 were sold to enthusiasts from all over the country.
The one other big event in the summer of '98 was the
creation of the Escort Carrier Sailors and
Airmen Association web site. The tireless planning of Tony
Potochniak was the catalyst and my knowledge of HTML made it a reality.
Low-budget, the site was piggy-backed on my BOSAMAR site.
The original plan for my book was to have a second
printing completed in December 1998 but fate knocked on my door.....I once again received
permanent change of station orders.......this time to USS HELENA (SSN 725).
I
knew my new sea duty assignment would not support
a second printing of my book. I left shore duty and Groton, Connecticut in February
1999 and went to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, New Hampshire to report to my new
submarine assignment. I did not return home again until June 1999, when at that time
we packed up our belongings and moved to San Diego, California, HELENAs
new homeport.
My BOSAMAR
web site remained static during my many absences at sea. In September 1999 out of
necessity, I moved my web site to a new, faster, server, compliments of Tony
Potochniak and the Escort Carrier
Sailors & Airmen Association which finally purchased a large amount of
server space and a domain name of its own.
In June 2000
HELENA departed
San Diego on a six-month Western Pacific deployment. Unable to
perform updates to the ECSAA web site, the
ECSAA Board of
Governors replaced me with a new webmaster,
without notification.
For insight into my dismissal as
ECSAA Webmaster, please read my FAQ on the
subject, especially If you are a member of ECSAA.
Upon my return from deployment in
December 2000, out of necessity (read above), I moved my
BOSAMAR web site for a
second time, the first year (December 2000 to December 2001) funded by the generosity of the
ECSAA Board of
Governors.
I obtained the BOSAMAR.COM domain name and an independent, fast
server.
In March 2001, I was contacted by
the late John Ibe from the USS ST LO and VC-65
Survivors Association who sought the rights to print my book, "The Battle Off
Samar - Taffy III at Leyte Gulf", in support of Taffy III
Organization's Bob Hope Military Tribute Memorial project in San
Diego. Mr. Ibe purchased 500 copies of the
Second Edition of my book.
On September 17, 2001 I reported to
Naval
Base
Point Loma (San Diego) for what was to be my last shore duty
assignment. Due to Navy manning policy
changes (outsourcing) at Point Loma, I was transferred to
Deep Submergence Unit,
Naval Air Station, North Island, San Diego, in January 2003.
I
retired from the Navy on 1 May
2004. Looking back at my 24-years, 5
months, and 7 days of active duty
Naval Service I can say that no matter what you choose to do in life....do
it well....give it your all....because in the end....you get what you
give. And now in hindsight....it all goes by much too quickly.
|
"It is not the critic who counts, not the
man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer
of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who
is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust
and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes
short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great
devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best,
knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at
worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that
his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know
neither victory or defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt (Paris Sorbonne,
1910) |
In
December 2004 I was hired by the
U.S. Department of the Treasury -
FedSource in Brea, California and served in
civil service for 4 years until our agency was closed via a Reduction in
Force.
In February 2010 I started my own business.
Thank you for visiting my web
site. Pay tribute to the brave men of Taffy III
in any way you
can. Honor the Missing in Action and Killed in Action of Taffy
III.
I look
forward to serving you.
I 