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 5th war patrol.
The following
is a list of the crew, and the awards that they received from the 5th
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:
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