USS
CHIVO (SS 341)
USS Chivo (SS-341) as she was in 1947
(click thumbnail for larger photo)
This lifeguard story has remained largely untold outside of official naval records and a small town newspaper story until 1999 (viva [long live] the Internet) when Jim Hunicutt posted a message on a submarine bulletin board asking for any information about the USS Chivo and rescue of C-47 [sic] in the fall of 1947?
While most of the story has since been related in responses from former crewmembers to Jim’s post, the full story of the rescue has never emerged in any articles. While there does exist a story article on the Internet with a similar title, that article itself tells no more about the rescue episode than “After our stop in Fiji, while enroute to Guam, we were diverted to pick up the downed fliers. [T]hey were carrying rakes, hoes, and seed for Korea when they went down.
The story of this lifeguard rescue deserves more than just
cursory mention. That will now be done, based upon my recollections of the
occurrence and those of some former shipmates, Bill Harvey, Bill Whitney
and Gino D’angelo.
In August 1947 Chivo deployed to
West Pacific – Hawaii, Fiji, Guam, Saipan and Sasebo and Yokosuka,
Japan.
After calling at Suva, Fiji, USS
Chivo departed on Saturday, September 20, 1947 enroute to Apra Harbor,
Guam.
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Two employees of the Suva Water Department came to the pier on Saturday morning September 20, 1947 to offer their “bon voyage” to Chivo (click thumbnail for larger photo) The pretty native girl on the left was Claire Gibbs, whom I had met the evening before at a community dance and who worked for the Suva Water Department, and had invited to come down to the docks to see us off.. The other girl was a friend and co-worker of Claire's with a pure Irish name to match her red hair. |
After Chivo reached a position
approximately 600 nautical miles southeast of Truk Is., on Tuesday,
Later that day ComSubPac advised Chivo that survivors in a life raft had been located by a search B-29 aircraft from Guam and that the aircraft had parachuted a “Higgins Boat” down to the survivors and that they had successfully transferred from their rafts to the Higgins boat. The Chivo continued its high-speed traverse toward the East Carolinas Is.
What Chivo did not know at that time
was that the survivors in their raft had drifted South of their last
known position — but then after the Higgins boat (a vessel specially
equipped with a sail, centerboard, hand powered LF “Gibson Girl”
radio transmitter, water canisters and food rations) was attained by the
airmen they had rigged the sail and began a slow sail back toward the
direction of Guam. Both
vessels were now on generally convergent courses.
Around sunset on Wednesday, Chivo—believing it was getting close to the calculated position where the airman might be found--set up a Radio Direction Finder (RDF) on the bridge to hopefully tune in on any radio signals coming from the crews Gibson Girl transmitter. Also, extra lookouts were posted. Darkness that night was complete, with good visibility but no discernable horizon.
No emergency radio signals were being received on the RDF. (I was manning that particular equipment). After several hours futilely looking toward the dark seas several persons on the port side of the bridge, including me, spotted an intermittent white light about a mile distant on Chivo’s port beam.
After we were convinced that we had seen the white light on two or more occasions, the OOD ordered a change of course toward where we had seen the white light, although we were still several miles from the air crew’s calculated position.) Moments later a Lookout spotted an unlighted “whale boat” (the Higgins boats were of a like design to the Navy’s venerable Whale boat) just a few yards ahead on our starboard bow.
It was six airmen from the C-54 and they were under sail in moderate seas. We had nearly run over them in the darkness, as they had no lights showing. Chivo was maneuvered so as to place the Higgins boat (sans sail) on the leeward side of Chivo and effect the retrieval of the survivors.
As I recall, the seas were much less
than tranquil that night and there were several times when we all held
our breath as the airman were either hauled aboard whenever the Higgins
was below our deck plates or when one would jump aboard as the
Higgins boat rose to the level of our deck.
Each aircrew member was wearing a Mae West life vest and some
were armed with .45 cal automatics.
Almost immediately after the first few survivors came aboard Chivo we began asking them about another boat or raft nearby with other survivors not in their boat? We were still thinking about that “white light” that we had seen earlier and that we had suspected was also with survivors aboard.
The pilots told us that the six
individuals were all that comprised the aircraft’s crew and knew
nothing of any other raft or vessel that might be in the area.
No one aboard Chivo, who had seen the mysterious white light,
although once certain each had seen it, ever learned what that
mysterious light might have been or whether it had truly been there in
the first place.
As many of us who were on the deck when the rescue was finished thought to be appropriate for the rescue of the airman, we asked them if they would provided to us with personal items as our “booty” for the open sea rescue.
A couple of the officers were given any sidearm the aircrew had and several others of us were given the Mae Life Jackets worn by the crewmen during the ditching and eventual rescue.
I received the Mae West life vest from the co-pilot, which I still have in my possession, some 54 years later. I am looking for an appropriate repository for that vest but so far have not found any lifeguard group or submarine museum that wishes to have it. Here is a scanned image of that life vest:
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Co-pilot’s Mae West life vest. Manufactured by United States Rubber Co., June 23, 1944 (click thumbnail for larger photo) |
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Radio Communiqué from Commander Submarine Marianas Area (click thumbnail for larger photo) |
The message pictured here is a
scanned image of one of an original carbon copy of that message.
I have no recollection of who transcribed the CW radio message.
It could have been me, Gino D’angelo or another member of the
radio gang. All that I
remember is that I kept one of the triplicate copies of the message and
have retained it.
In recollecting the incident both
Gino and Bill Harvey recall that the C-54 had been carrying farm
implements to Asia. One
recalls the aircraft’s destination as China, the other as Korea.
When Chivo arrived at Apra Harbor in
Guam there was no Navy or Army Air Force entourage was at the pier to
greet us—a fact that made the Captain understandably unhappy.
As I recall, however, the Air Force did later throw a party for
the crew at Harmon Field the headquarters for the 20th Army
Air Force.
Here, in part, is how this story was
told by The Bakersfield Californian in October 1947 in the then
hometown of Bill Harvey:
