June 2, 1992 was the day I fell in love at first sight. The moment I saw the majestic sweep of her bow, I was hooked.
I’m talking, of course, about the USS Hornet aircraft carrier, which played a big part in winning World War II. I was on board for a 50th-anniversary celebration of the Battle of Midway, the turning point in the war’s Pacific theater.
I met many men that day who had served aboard the Hornet, and oh, the stories they told! Especially about their commanding officer, U.S. Adm. J.J. “Jocko” Clark, the first indigenous person to graduate from Annapolis, Maryland’s U.S. Naval Academy. He was tough but fair and he led them to victory after victory. Not for nothing was he called the Patton of the Pacific.
One big difference, though: Patton’s men respected but didn’t like him. Jocko’s men, on the other hand, absolutely adored him. They told me about the night during the Battle of the Philippines (aka “The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”), when he ordered all the lights on the ship turned on so the returning aviators could find their way home in the dark.
All of them would have crashed into the sea if he hadn’t, but it was strictly against the rules because the lights made the ship a sitting duck for any enemy submarine that might be lurking. Jocko was putting his whole career on the line, but “my boys,” as he called them, always came first for him.
“There was nothing we wouldn’t do for the Old Man,” Oakland’s Frank MacDonald told me, “because there was nothing he wouldn’t do for us.”
The Hornet, which is now a floating naval museum docked at Alameda Point, will observe the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end with an all-day celebration Aug. 30, and you’re invited.
The focus will be on the war in the western Pacific and China, including the famous Jimmy Doolittle “30 seconds over Tokyo” raid, when Doolittle’s raiders landed on the Chinese mainland after bombing the Japanese capital and were protected at great risk by Chinese patriots; the Flying Tigers (American volunteers who fought for China before we entered the war); Gen. “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell; the irascible American commander in China; and carrier raids on the mainland.
The event is a collaboration between the USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum and two museums in China — the Doolittle Raid Rescue Hall in Quzhou and the Stilwell Research Center in Chong Quing — and two organizations in the United States — the World War II Pacific War Memorial Hall in San Francisco and the Carter Center in Atlanta (Jimmy was a Navy guy, remember?).
Don’t miss the Hornet’s permanent collection of historical treasures, including lovingly restored vintage aircraft such as a TBM-3E Avenger torpedo bomber, an F8U-1 Crusader (the first jet fighter in American service to reach 1,000 miles an hour) and an F-14 Tomcat, the fighter Tom Cruise “flew” in the film “Top Gun.”
You can also see the radar room, where they tracked enemy aircraft, the ready room, where the pilots got their final briefings before battle, the top-secret room where nuclear bombs were stored during the Cold War; the mess hall, the sick bay, the living quarters, and the bridge, where Jocko often directed nighttime battles wearing polka-dot pajamas and fuzzy slippers.
The Hornet kept making history after the war. Twenty-four years later, she was the ship that fished Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins out of the ocean when they got back from their historic trip to the Moon. You can see the airtight trailer where the poor guys were confined for the next three weeks because NASA was afraid they could back some Moon germs with them.
While you’re there, check out a room devoted to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the segregated Japanese American World War II unit that was awarded more medals, man for man, than any other military unit in U.S. history. It’s the only salute to an Army unit on a Navy ship. Another room displays some of Jocko’s personal effects, including his shaving brush — but alas, not his fuzzy slippers.
You can board the ship any time that day between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., although the festivities will last until 7. Tickets are $40 for adults, $25 for seniors and military, $20 for students, and free for children 6 or younger. The Hornet is docked at 707 W. Hornet Ave. on Alameda Point in Alameda. For more details online, visit uss-hornet.org/event/80th-anniversary-of-the-end-of-world-war-ii.
Vendors will also be on board, selling (what else?) Pacific-themed food for the occasion. See you there!
Martin Snapp can be reached at catman442@comcast.net.