US Navy  USS Yorktown

My brother, Roger E. Denlinger, served on the Yorktown during WW2, 1942-45. I am writing this story for him because he is too modest to do it himself. He says it upsets him to talk much about his tour of duty on the Yorktown. As his sister, I want everyone to know that he is my hero. I was a teenager at the time of his service, so I remember how much I worried about him during those years, because I knew he was in danger. The following is the letter he wrote to me 10/2001.

Dear Barb,

  How can I ever thank you for making up all that material about the U.S.S. Yorktown and my time spent on it. It was quite an emotional time for me to read over the information you sent.
You have to remember we were in the South Pacific zigzagging across the equator most of the time. It was hot, when we slept in our bunks, it was so hot we didn't wear clothes or use a pillow. If we used a pillow it would be sopping wet when we woke up.


  Since I was in the Navigation Department, I had to climb to the Chart House in the morning, go down for breakfast, then back up, then down for lunch, then back up, then down for dinner then back up, then finally down to my sack. Why up and down so much? We had to help the Navigator take sun lines and star lines to locate our position. We also stood watches; 4 on, 8 off. Quartermaster's duties were; keep the ships log, man the Engine Order Telegraph and steer the ship.


  Kamakaze pilot attacks USS Missouri at Battle of Okinawa. Pilot's body thrown free and given a military funeral by US Navy next day. Also attributed to attack on USS Lexington. You can see why I only weighed 140 lbs. when I was aboard. I was in good condition. I was in the Pilot House when that bomb hit us. The Japanese pilot aimed at the Pilot House.

The only thing that saved us was the sway of the ship. I was really scared. I could see the bomb coming right at us. I ducked down. It only missed the Bridge by a couple of feet.


Written by Quartermaster 1st. Class, Roger E. Denlinger, 10/2001, to his sister, Barbara Denlinger Cameron.

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The flamboyant Jocko Clark—the highest-ranking naval officer of Native American descent in US history—was admired by his men on the USS Yorktwn but not by everyone for his "Call 'em as I see 'em" leadership style.  The accompanying CD includes excerpts of interviews with Admirals J. J. Clark, Arleigh Burke, and George Anderson and other notable naval figures.

 

A very readable account of the USS Yorktown's involvement in the Pacific theater; the battles, plane crashes, torpedo firings, and naval bombings and day to day living of the typical USS Yorktown sailor.

 

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John Jenista
 

The "Dog Pattern" (circle) itself....and some excellent headwork........

Before joining VA-195, I was the Assistant Air Operations Officer on the Yorktown (CV-10), running air plot. One night we were doing night CarQuals (carrier qualifications for pilots) with VF-23. A squadron flying "Big Banshees" (F2H-3's). The next-to-last airplane to land blew a tire upon landing. The last Banshee up was flown by A.D.A. (Pete) Crawford; a pilot who had been a fellow instructor at the Navy's All Weather Flight School with me. I knew him as a steady and extremely competent pilot. I called him and said: "The deck is fouled, your signal Dog, angels ten, expect fifteen minute delay". He rogered, then the flight deck crew started having problems. They couldn't get "Tilly" (aircraft crane) started, so they couldn't get a dolly under the flat tire.

  Other problems kept cropping up, and the fifteen minutes stretched to half an hour. We kept track of Crawford's fuel state, while telling him that it would be "just a few minutes longer". Finally he was down to 'Bingo' fuel, and the Air Boss said "I don't know how much longer this will take, we had better send him to the beach". I therefore called Crawford and said "Your signal Bingo, NAS Moffett, bearing 090, 150 miles, report feet dry". His voice, calm and steady came back..."Roger, my feet are dry right now, I've been Dogg'n in a straight line ever since your first call"! He knew that Carriers would sometimes hold an aircraft overhead until they had barely enough fuel to get home, and then send them away. If we did call him down, his straight line descent would bring him back at the same time as if he made a spiral descent right over the ship. I gave him an A+ for headwork.

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