Rubin MacNeil Raiford - Made it to Surface from Stricken USS Tang

Previously in this blog, I wrote an article on Howard Madison Walker.  Since that time the entire issue with Walker has consumed me, more so, in recent months.  My entire research on Walker has been like a personal journey.  At times I felt as if I knew the real truth of what happened, then the deeper I investigated, the real truth revealed itself.  I believe the evidence that I now have will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Howard Walker never made it to the surface from the stricken USS Tang.

Over the years, I always believed the James DeRose book, Unrestricted Warfare about Walker making it to the surface from the USS Tang.  In Alex Kershaw’s book Escape From The Deep (excellent book by the way, I highly recommend it), it said that Howard Walker made it to the surface as well, and referred to some of the same evidence that James DeRose’ did in his book.  There are two key pieces of evidence that point to the fact that Howard Walker may not have been the African American who made it to the surface from the stricken USS Tang, but rather, another African American on-board named Rubin MacNeil Raiford.

I started to focus on two key pieces of evidence mentioned in the books by James DeRose and Alex Kershaw.  The first was an interview with Jesse DaSilva, MoMM2C, USS Tang, which can be heard at the following site: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.04600/.  The second piece of evidence is a document named the Loss of the USS Tang, pages 250-259.  The USS Tang portion of this report is part of a larger document titled “Medical Study of the Experiences of Submariners as Recorded in 1,471 Submarine Patrol Reports in World War II.”   It can be seen at the following site: http://www.scribd.com/doc/25370597/Medical-Study-of-the-Experiences-of-Submariners-as-Recorded-in-1-471-Submarine-Patrol-Reports-in-World-War-II-IVAN-F-Commander-Medioal-Corps-U-S.

I thought I would finally be able to have enough evidence based on these two sources, to write on behalf of Walker and have his Silver Star awarded, for reaching the surface.  I listened to the interview with Jesse DaSilva, and read the Loss of the USS Tang report, and there was no mention of Howard Walker by name.  The only references were “Negro cook or mess att.”, “negro who had gotten his face smashed by the watertight door…”, and “a negro mess cook surfaced right after Larson….  After listening to the interview and reading the report, I had this nagging feeling, perhaps there was more than one African American steward aboard the USS Tang.  I took out my copy of Clear the Bridge by Dick O'Kane and looked at the sailing list.  There, I saw another steward, Ralph Francis Adams, and a cook named Rubin MacNiel Raiford listed.  Unfortunately, this would be the first and last patrols for them on the USS Tang.  I researched their names and that is when I knew it was possible…Walker may not have made it to the surface.

I had also purchased a book titled Presumed Lost, by Stephen L. Moore.  Written in 2009, it chronicles the ordeal of America’s submarine POW’s during the Pacific War (excellent book by the way, I highly recommend it).  In this book, I discovered some fascinating facts that would lead me to first hand, eyewitness accounts of which African American made it to the surface from the stricken USS Tang.  I contacted the author of the book via email, and received a warm response.  Over the course of our correspondence, Mr. Moore provided me with two key emails from an eyewitness of the USS Tang disaster, and more importantly, one who made it to the surface from the sunken vessel.  The person I refer to is Bill Leibold, Chief of the Boat.  Here is an excerpt from one of his emails that Mr. Moore provided to me:

“To the best of my knowledge, which is based entirely on discussion with fellow Tang survivors while locked up in the P-34 on the nights of 10/25 – 26/44, and later while in the “Kirun Klink”, several days later.  The African-American that reached the surface was said to have a “smashed face” and primarily because of this, the FTR survivors stated that the man was Raiford (Rubin M. Raiford, CK3c).  Hank Flanagan clearly stated it was Raiford.  I believe it was Hayes Trukke and/or Pete Narowanski who said that Walker (Howard Walker, St3c) had sat down by the torpedo tubes and quietly stated, “you guys had better stop talking and do some praying.”  From their statements, I take it that he stayed there.  Raiford had been injured when the WT door from the FWD Battery to the FTR was opened and struck him in the face.  He was treated by Larson, CPhm.”

I still had one question that did not have an answer.  Regardless of who the African American was that made it to the surface, why wasn’t he awarded the Silver Star, as others were, who made it to the surface?  This was perhaps, the most revealing part of the journey for me.  I sent an email to Bill Leibold, who in turn, sent me a reply, which I was not prepared for, which I will explain later.  In an excerpt from his reply to me, he stated the following:

“Your comments lead me to believe that your understanding is that escaping from Tang was the basis for award of the Silver Star Medal and, if this is correct, you are grossly mistaken.  O'Kane was meticulous and followed prescribed regulations in his recommendations for awards to his officers and crew, after discussing performance/actions with fellow survivors.”

I had assumed all along that because crew members made it to the surface from the sunken USS Tang that they would be automatically awarded the Silver Star.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Based on an email response from Bill Leibold it was clear that Dick O’Kane himself had put much thought into the awards.  I went back to the book by Dick O’Kane, Clear The Bridge (outstanding book, this is a must for submarine historians), and found that he and Murray Frazee, O’Kane’s XO, made the selections.  Here’s an excerpt from Clear The Bridge, which explains the award process:

“I believe I see Fraz’s hand in the selections of the men to receive these decorations, but knowing none of this at the time, I made my own selections in 1946.  It seems that Fraz and I still made a good team; there were no duplications and all recommendations were honored.”

What is interesting about the award selections of Dick O’Kane and Murray Frazee was the fact that Frazee had left the USS Tang, prior to her 5^th war patrol.

The following is a list of the crew, and the awards that they received from the 5^th and last patrol of the USS Tang:

*Dick O’Kane – Medal of Honor

Frank Springer – Navy Cross

*Larry Savadkin – Navy Cross

Ed Beaumont – Silver Star

*Floyd Caverly – Silver Star

James Culp – Silver Star

*Jesse DaSilva – Silver Star

*Clayton Decker – Silver Star

Mel Enos – Silver Star

Lawrence Ericksen – Silver Star

*Hank Flanagan – Silver Star

John Heubeck – Silver Star

Dick Kroth – Silver Star

Paul Larson – Silver Star

*William Leibold – Silver Star

*Pete Narowanski – Silver Star

John Parker – Silver Star

Basil Pearce – Silver Star

*Hayes Trukke – Silver Star

Leland Weekley – Silver Star

James White – Silver Star

Paul Wines – Silver Star

George Zofcin – Silver Star

Marvin De Lapp – Bronze Star

Charles Andriolo – Secretary of the Navy’s Letter of Commendation

*These men survived the sinking of the USS Tang and spent the remainder of the war as POW’s.

Based on everything that I have read and researched, I now firmly believe that Rubin Raiford was in fact, the African American who made it to the surface from the stricken USS Tang.  My journey, however, does not end here.  Through my research originally of Howard Walker, I was privileged to correspond with his first cousin, Mr. Selvin Butts of Bowling Green, KY.  Mr. Butts was kind enough to furnish me with a photo of Walker.  I was able to send his photo to Charles Hinman, the Director of Education & Outreach of the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park.  He was kind enough to post Walker’s photo on his site and now one more submariner has a face, along with his name.  Howard Walker’s picture can be seen at the following site:

http://www.oneternalpatrol.com/walker-h-m.htm

Recommended Books About the USS Tang

I strongly recommend the following books about the USS Tang (SS-306):

   

Clear The Bridge, by Richard O'Kane             

The Bravest Man, by William Tuohy          

Presumed Lost, by Stephen L. Moore

Unrestricted Warfare, by James F. DeRose

Escape From The Deep, by Alex Kershaw     

Howard Madison Walker

Photo provided to me by Walker's first cousin, Selvin Butts

Submitted by Paul Sniegon

Howard Madison Walker was born March 6, 1925 and was a native of Bowling Green, KY. He spent much of his childhood with his grandmother, America Hardin. Also living with his grandmother, were three cousins, Selvin Butts, Mary Butts and Dorothy Butts. Walker joined the submarine service because it paid more than other jobs in the Navy, because of hazardous pay. During his time in the Navy, he funneled money back to help pay for Dorothy Butts to attend college at Tennessee State University and to help pay for his mothers house.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a steward aboard one of the most famous submarines of World War II, the USS Tang (SS-306). During his time on the Tang, he was extremely loyal to the Tang’s Captain, Richard O’Kane. If O’Kane said that he wanted to be up at dawn, Walker would get up 15 minutes earlier to have his coffee ready. In his book, Clear The Bridge, Dick O’Kane talked very fondly of Walker and he is mentioned throughout the book. Walker had some very colorful episodes that were also explained in the book. He was a gambler, and from the accounts that I have read, he was very good and made quite a bit of money. On one account, William Liebold, the Tang’s chief petty officer, said that when they were at Midway for a refueling stop, Walker was involved in a craps game and if it hadn’t been for some shipmates going up and dragging him back, he would have been court martialed.

On October 25, 1944 while on their 5th war patrol in the Formosa Strait near Turnabout Island, their final torpedo (24) was fired and then circled back towards the Tang. O’Kane gave orders to try and avoid the impact, but it was too late. The torpedo struck the Tang and during the explosion, a door blew open, smashing Walker full in the face, splitting his lips and breaking his nose, and flattening it to one side. While on the bottom in about 180 feet of water, some of the men decided to try to escape to the surface, using a Momsen lung. Walker was one of those men, and unfortunately because of his damaged nose, the Momsen lung did not fit properly, and as he came up to the surface, had had lost his grip on the line and was not wearing a lung. One of the survivors on the surface, DaSilva started to swim towards Walker and saw him flailing his arms and he was in agony. A few moments later, his head sank in the water and he drifted away. Most likely, he was the victim of an air embolism. In DeRose’s book Unrestricted Warfare, he gives one of the few detailed accounts of Walker’s struggle after his escape from the Tang.

The survivors who successfully escaped from the submarine to the surface, and the ones that were on the bridge when the explosion occurred who were thrown into the water, were later picked up by a Japanese patrol boat and sent to a POW camp where they endured horrific torture and inhumane treatment. At the war’s end, every single officer, living or dead, was decorated with the Silver Star, Navy Cross, or in O’Kane’s case, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Every enlisted man known to have reached the surface after the sinking also was awarded the Silver Star, everyone except Howard Walker, who was referred to as the “negro steward” in the ComSubPac report. He was also referred to as “a negro mess cook” or “the negro “ and “negro cook or mess attendant or cook.” He wasn’t listed by his name. Most recently, the Senate of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky introduced a resolution, SR 108, to honor Howard Walker for his bravery.