combat vs. non combat.

[tdogchristy90]

I’ve been curious about this for a while. Some people focus on those in combat, ie the infantry, and shy away from, say someone who is a mechanic. Now in the Army, I get this. A mechanic may be behind the lines and never see the tip of the spear. How does this translate to something like the Navy where on a vessel everyone kind of gets thrown into combat because the nature of being on a confined ship. So that a sailor whose main job is to wash clothes is all of a sudden firing or loading shells in a combat situation.

 

I’ve wondered this with a focus on states. Do you prefer native born or those who enlisted from said state. (In that example most preferred native born)

 

So what say you about what classifies as combat?

[P-59A]

      I do not collect USN so lets make that clear. Having said that, my Grandpaw was on the USS Oklahoma on 07DEC41. He was on the USS Helena and transferred off before before she was sunk. He was a ship fitter assigned to damage control. He was on a number of ships during the war including the jeep carrier USS Kaylanin Bay during the Battle off Samar AKA Taffy 3. Taffy 3 ships were awarded a Presidential Unit, Navy Unit to all ships who participated in Taffy 3, My Grandpaw earned a BS with a V and PH on that day. The Navy was never big on Valor awards for enlisted, so to earn one had to be above and beyond, This was the case with my Grandpaw. 

     The problem with collecting WW2 Navy is you have no idea what ship the guy was on, when he was on that ship and what happened when he was on it. Unless you have a DD214 or related papers it's a big unknown. All you really know is MOS, Rate and time in Federal service as seen on the uniform. 

     So, lets use my Grandpaw, he was at Pearl Harbor, a historic event on a ship that was sunk. Anyone on the Oklahoma or any of the other ships in that harbor was on the tip of the spear. No one can debate that. He was on a destroyer after getting off the USS Helena that shelled Guadalcanal. Yes they shelled, but nothing bad happened to them. He went on to other ships that did things at places that made the history books, the Great Marianas Turkey shoot being one of many things. I would call the Turkey shoot being the tip of the arrow because it was an airpower battle. Taffy 3 was different from anything else. It goes down in Navy history as the most lop sided victory ever, earned at great cost. That was tip of the spear on steroids. In the Navy you have your duty station and your battle station, it really is all hands when poop hits the fan. You have no place to go in the middle of the ocean so you fight. Soooo, if you have a guy with a valor award odds are he was on a ship that was in the mix when things got tough, then you need to research that guy who was on the tip of the spear. Not everyone on a ship gets a valor award, but guys with valor  awards are more collectable, that does not take from the service on that ship, Research is how you figure it out. I hope this helps.

 

[P-59A]

 

"I’ve wondered this with a focus on states. Do you prefer native born or those who enlisted from said state. (In that example most preferred native born)"

It's the history, not the state that gets my attention.

"So what say you about what classifies as combat?"

Any armed conflict with the enemy. 

[P-59A]

On a side note after my Grandpaw passed I became the keeper of his medals and papers. One of the papers listed the ship he served on, this info was also found on the DD214...for the most part. The DD214 did not list every ship he was on with the dates he was on them nor did it list every medal, but another Navy document did. I ran down every ship for the dates he was on them. This gave me a full understanding of his WW2 service record. He never talked much about any of this. He gave the names of places he was at, but no context. I posted these things on this site, but did not do a ship by ship breakdown. I only touched on the major items. It looks to me like being he was a shipfitter his MOS was in demand and he moved from ship to ship more than other sailors. That put him in more places than most. It's worth the research if you have something of interest. One of the last questions answered was his China Service Medal. None of his WW2 ship service matched up with that medal. It turned out he was awarded that medal when the 7th fleet sailed to Taiwan during the second Taiwan straights emergency in 1958. I know the books on medals do not show it, but I found the documents listing the ship he was on being awarded the China service medal for the battle off Quemoi and Matsu. They also authorized the Armed Forces Expeditionary medal for that action. He has photo's of Chinese in German looking uniforms in his photo album, I never understood that till this year. Before anyone chimes in saying the action off Taiwan was a resupply of Taiwan I suggest you look at the declassified documents leaked by Daniel Elisburg first. Elisburg calls it the first nuclear showdown before Cuba.

[Gear Fanatic]

Do you have the link for this post, would like to read through it.

[P-59A]