We lost two legends this year.. One you know.. one well..

This has been a sad year for me, it seemed liked more and more we are loosing more of the fabric of our country and our lives.  It started this year when we made a casual email to our dear friend of 32 years to get together at our favorite pub in downtown Fredericksburg.  But to our surprise we got an email back from Lynn's (yes he's a guy a named Lynn)wife Pam, she informed us that he was extremely congested, he had not slept (well hardly), he had been back and forth to the doctor and had had numerous tests, and the verdict was Pulmonary Fibrosis.  Well our jaws dropped being both medical we knew this was not a good diagnosis, there is no cure and death is usually the outcome.  Lynn was a Navy Intelligence Officer in Viet Nam, he also had come in contact with Agent Orange.  As a genealogist and friend I had started a while back to do his family history, as well as his wife's, and Im still working on it to give to Pam to pass on..

We lost another Viet Nam veteran this year, Senator John McCain another Navy Officer who served on a Aircraft Carrier deck as well in Saigon and was also exposed to Agent Orange.  For several years glioblastoma, a lethal brain cancer has not been on the VA’s list of presumptive diseases, but since it is being diagnosed at an  accelerated rate over the past few years among Vietnam veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange, there has been increased pressure to add it to the list for benefits.  Senator McCain work hard for VA rights and benefits, hopefully now more Representatives will pick up the mantle to carry on the fight. I say that because its harder and harder for veterans to get the benefits like for Agent Orange, Lynn and Pam finally applied a year ago and they didn't get it until November of this year and now with his death on December 7th, that will be that.

All of this happening this past year has been reflected in my own research work and how important these records are for the family to see the service of a loved one. By getting their military service records, you have a record that will include their health records, service records and awards.  Some service members are really good at keeping these records some are not. Take my own family my father who I talked about in the last post, kept only part of his records, his entry and exit that was it.  However I contacted the National Archives.  Everything you need to request records for deceased veteran either as family member of veteran.

I will have to admit they send you an awful lot, every physical, every service review, every promotion,  and every muster roll which is done every 3 months.  Alot of the records I set aside, what I was interested in was the citations for his medals and awards and for his main service ships and duty, as well his physicals. They are a trove of information.  So if you need or are curious about a service members records even as far back as the Revolutionary War, I recommend joining Fold 3, or the Daughters of American Revolution (DAR). 

Also having the records brings joy to those who didn't know or want to learn more about a friend who recently had passed away.   This past weekend we attended Lynn's Memorial Service, Pam had included people who served with him as well as  his commendations and service medal for Valor in Viet Nam. It was nice to see them, his family and wedding pictures and to meet other friends we had not seen in awhile, Lynn was the one that what held us all together.  Through genealogy research its a way to keep the pages of the story together. 

Pam and Lynn 2016

Here's to happy hunting and a bounty of research for 2019..

Today is the Day of Infamy.. and the worse day of my Dad's life.. let me explain.

First let me say that alot of men and woman had a bad day that day.. for my dad whenever I asked him what was Pearl Harbor like.. he would just say well I never got a cigarette or cup of coffee. then he smile and walk off or get away so he wouldn't have to talk about it. 

Seaman Bernard James Cantley, at home in Bloomingrose West Virginia

My father Bernard James Cantley enlisted in the Navy on the 16 of July 1940, before Pearl Harbor in Richmond, Virginia.  He was born on December 1, 1919, in Bloomingrose, West Virginia, a small hollow off the beaten path outside of Charleston.  His father worked as a farmer and  Coal Miner.  My dad was one of 7 children, he lost one brother in 1929 of appendicitis,due to the fact the family did not own a car and couldn't get to the hospital.  My grandfather supported his family during the depression by continuing to work as a Coal Miner in a mine near the Boone and Logan borders and the older boys,  my father and his brother worked for a Works Project Administration  (WPA) project in Boone. Working for the New Deal was one way to make a living without Coal Mining.  Daddy always said that there was only three ways to make a living in West Virginia, moonshine, coal mine or moving on down the line.  So that's what my dad did, he enlisted in the Navy. 

He went to thorough basic navy training and then given the rank of Seaman 1st class, he stationed on the USS Medusa upon his completion. The USS Medusa's career was spent with the United States Pacific  Fleet.  When she was commissioned in 1924, the ship was home-ported at San Pedro, California and assigned as a Training Squadron 2 Base Force upon that commission.

USS Medusa - AR-1 Repair Ship

The Medusa continued to support her fleet duties out of the San Pedro until mid-August 1941, when she was moved to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. She was there on 7 December 1941 when an Imperial Japanese Navy carrier aircraft attacked. At the time her commanding officer ashore, her repair officer, Lieutenant Commanding Officer, John F. P. Miller, took the command. Also at the time of the attack which started at 6am the USS Medusa was tethered to the USS Curtiss. 

On the Japanese second attack, all regular anti-aircraft guns were manned and supplied with ammunition and were firing. It was on this attack that the plane, having been set afire, deliberately crashed into the USS Curtiss just abaft the after stack. Immediately following this crash several planes concentrated n this immediate area. One bomb hitting the USS Curtiss on the fantail, two falling approximately twenty-five feet off the starboard bow of the my dad's ship the USS Medusa, and two more falling just off the port quarter of the ship hitting the destroyers on our port hand. Both of these planes were brought down. One cut in two just before starting to level out and crashed on the east bank on this loch. Neither of these planes released their bombs.

Immediately following this attack word was received that an enemy submarine was loose in the harbor. Upon receiving this word orders were given to ring up ammunition and powder to supply the five inch guns. Up to this time all effort had been concentrated on supplying ammunition to the three inch gun and the machine guns.

According to a copy of an after action report, the submarine was sighted as it rounded the stern of the USS Curtiss and started up this loch (see map above) At first only its periscope was visible and it was immediately fired upon. Gun #1 was loaded and ready for firing with the exception of the primers which were stored in the pyrotechnic locker and by the time these were procured it was too late to use this gun. However, the machine guns and gun six opened fire on the submarine with three inch anti-aircraft projectiles as solid shot was not available. The submarine went behind our stern and then either by turning around or by backing down started out of the loch back to the main channel. When it came into the training field of gun #5 part of the conning tower was visible above the water. As it neared the stern of the USS Curtiss a destroyer (USS Monahagan) came down the main channel and made to ram it. The Submarine's conning tower was on the starboard side of the destroyer. After passing over the submarine the destroyer released a depth charge and the submarine was no longer visible above the surface of the water.

From the seaman reporting it appeared that the submarine had been hit several times with the projectiles from our three inch guns and from the guns firing at it from the USS Curtiss. Most of the guns was unable to fire more than three rounds at the submarine because of the small field of vision, having the bridge hide the submarine directly after it was first sighted and on the submarine's return trip the destroyer cut into the line of sight after the three rounds had been expended.   At the same time all the Browning Automatic Rifles were broken out and rushed up to the signal bridge with what ammunition was in the armory. Most of the attention was again concentrated on the planes in the air which were making isolated attacks and were forming into formation to leave the scene.More ammunition was then brought up and the ready boxes of all guns were filled to capacity, as well as for the machine guns on the signal bridge.

Noted there was only one casualty during the battle and that a laceration caused by falling shrapnel on the left arm of BESS, D.M., Sea2c, U.S.N.,  (Seaman 2nd class) a member of the crew for Gun #2. Gun #5 expended 43 rounds of ammunition and suffered no casualties, although the breech stuck three times.

It was also noted that the conduct of all the men in the forward battery and under the forward battery supervision and on the forecastle was admirable and beyond all reproach. This was especially noticeable in the crew of Gun #5 which did all the firing done by the forward battery and whose crew, the most part of which, is made up of men who have never fired before.

My father had shot before coming from West Virginia, he knew how to shoot.  I don't recall if he told me which Gun area he helped man but he did mention it.. But as I said he was just trying to take it all in and keep his fellow seaman safe, yes without a cigarette or cup of coffee.  Im sure that may sound facetious to some, but in our family and with all Cantley's that was a stable of life (till my generation, that is)  Because of one of those staples my father lived a short life, he died at 56 of generalized cancer, which started in the lung.  But he was my hero, he was my walking buddy, my dad.  He was career Navy, he then retired and stayed in the reserves and worked for US Navy Supply Corp till the cancer became to much.. So on this day I always remember all those brave seaman who served to protect their shipmates and United States.

CHIEF PETTY OFFICER (CPO), BERNARD JAMES CANTLEY, STOREKEEPER CLERK (SKC)