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H. PAUL
BREHM
WWII VETERAN INTERVIEW |
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 July 29, 1945, on board USS Ticonderoga
in the Pacific Ocean:
" TF38.3 TO AG-87:.MESSAGE CONCERNING
YESTERDAYS OPERSTIONS:,.THIS HAS BEEN A TOUGH DEY , FOR TASK GROUP YET,.THE
RESULTS HAVE BEEN GOOD X ANUMBER OF ,.PILOTS HAVE BEEN LOST ALTHOUGH MANY HAVE
BEEN,.RECOVERED X ON THE GOOD SIDE PHOTOS SHOW THE ,.HYUGA THAT BASTARD
BATTLESHIP IS ON THE BO-,.TTOM X THE CRUISER TONE MAY BE AFLOAT BUT ,.SHE IS NO
BARGAIN EVEN IN WOOLWORTHS BASEM-,.ENT , X THREE SUBS MADE THEIR LAST DIVE FOR
THE ,. JAPS THREE MERCHANT SHIPS WERE SUNK,.A DESTROYER WAS LEFT SINKING AND 8
SHIPS ,.DAMAGED X ALOFT OUR PILOTS RAN INTO ,.HEAVY OPPOSITION AND SPLASHED 13
NIP FIGHTERS,.AT END OF DAY OUR CAP SPLASHED A WANDER-,.ING JILL XM,.
"
So announced the teletype on board the United
States Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Ticonderoga on July 29, 1945. The previous
several days had seen the beginning of an air offensive against the last
Imperial Japanese Navy capital ships which lay anchored near their base at
Kure, Japan. During these few days, Allied carrier aircraft from Task Force 38
bombed and sank the Japanese battleships Haruna, Ise and Hyuga and the cruisers
Tone and Aoba. Several medium carriers, submarines and destroyers were also
sunk in these heavily contested raids that not so quietly destroyed what
remained of the Imperial Navy, which until that point had remained a
fleet-in-being despite their inadequate fuel supply. The sinkings are mostly
forgotten today, but the men who carried out these final major acts of violence
witnessed some of the last organized fighting to take place before the atomic
bomb spelled out certain defeat to the Japanese government.
The following conversations were with
Lieutenant Commander (R) H. Paul Brehm, an SB2C dive bomber pilot who took part
in the air attacks on the IJN Hyuga and IJN Tone, both of which were sunk.
Because both ships received multiple hits over a short time, no one person is
credited with their sinkings. Then Lieutenant Brehm however, did place one of
his 1,000 pound bombs into the stern of the Hyuga and another close alongside
the Tone, winning a Navy Cross for "...contributing materially to the sinking
of the hostile vessel." in the case of the Hyuga. Even without these successes,
his mere presence at the scene made him a valuable eyewitness to these events
and others which occurred in 1945 and earlier in 1943 when he served in the
Solomons campaign.
More recently in March of 1999, Paul visited six of
the Japanese crewmen who were on board the IJN Hyuga when she was sunk, and
they jointly attended a ceremony for the Americans and Japanese who died in
these attacks. Both sides were deeply moved and impressed at how much they had
in common. A short while after he returned from Japan, we sat down and talked
for a few hours about the Pacific War, both in the Solomons and off Japan.
Unfortunately in early 2002 Paul passed away due to a sudden illness. He was
buried at Arlington National Cemetery. |
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