Kenneth Salada
"My uncle Kenneth was a member of the flight deck crew. He was on the flight deck when the USS Franklin was bombed. Kenneths body was never found. I would like to say thank you to all of the active service men and those who have fought in the past to preserve the freedom I enjoy and the country I love.
I also extend praise, honor and prayer for those who have died preserving our freedoms.Thank you."
Jack R. Symons
My father, Jack R. Symons was a member of an Airedale Unit on the Franklin
March 19, 1945. I am seeking anyone who knew him. I am also seeking
information about that day for I feel there is untold information about the
Franklin and that day. We are obviously running out of time with the years
passing by. Regretfully my father's generation were taught not to share or
complain of pain from their past. My father and our family were greatly
affected by his experiences that day. Also there is a sense that the guys
from Vietnam complain too much. I feel they are from a generation that was
more open and we had technology that was able to reveal the true story and
not seen through the rose colored glasses of the generation of my father.
The unbelievable pain that the guys in WWII cannot be described, for I
remember the two times my father spoke of the war, both of that day on the
Franklin. He only talked for about 10 minutes and both times he ended up
crying profusely. I also remember times him having terrible nightmares and
waking up screaming even into the 1980's. I am deeply regretting not
speaking with him more about his time in the Navy. My father passed away in
1988 I miss him dearly and just want to preserve his memory.
Victor W. Wise
Service Dates=02/33/1943 - 03/19/1945
Does anyone remember S/1 Victor Wayne Wise during his service aboard the USS Franklin? I have a large picture of the USS Franklin, and the book published by the survivor's of the Franklin which contains original documents from 1943 - 1946. Excellent information for families of the men who served aboard the USS Franklin. I have placed a memorial marker in Arlington Cemetery to honor Victor W. Wise, and on the marker is USS Franklin. Please contact me if (anyone) remembers my brother, Victor W. Wise.
Posted My William Knight Roberts
My ship, the Destroyer, USS Sigsbee was in various units of TG 58 during
support operations near Okinawa in March and April of 1945. I recall seeing
the USS Franklin several days after she was hit. It was hard to believe there
were survivors as the ship appeared to be completely burned out. I had not
read details of the March 19, 1945 attack until today when I found this Web
Site. (It was nice to learn there were survivors and of the heroic actions of
the Chaplain and crew). Shortly thereafter on April 14, 1945 the USS Sigsbee
DD 502 was hit by a Kamikaze plane at approximately 27 degrees -04'N latitude & 129 degrees 53'E longitude. My story is detailed at the following Web Site
members.aol.com/sigsbee502/index.html>
William Knight Roberts, GM 3/c
By Jack L. Henzie
I was no sailor. I was a 12-year-old kid in 1945, when I saw the unusual sight of my dad driving down our street in the husbanded 1938 Oldsmobile, at an hour when he was supposed to be at work. I ran up the street toward the car, and he pulled to the curb and opened the passenger door to admit me. I'd never seen my father weep before. He was a tough old World War I veteran who had suffered gas attacks and bouts in the veterans hospitals with the aftermath thereof. He was now an air raid warden who wore his white helmet with great honor. He didn't cry; but now he did.
He had just come from Aunt Edith's house, where he'd read the telegram with her that her youngest of three sons had been killed in Franklin.
Freddy was closest to me in age of all my cousins. I came along at a weirdly late date in family history. Freddy Parker's older brothers, Larry and Don, had been in the war nearly from the onset; Larry, a quartermaster's mate on a destroyer in the Atlantic, where he took part in nearly every landing made from Oran on; and Don, an infantryman in the Pacific who had mucked it out in New Guinea and had come home with every creepy crud one could get in the South Pacific.
Freddy, the youngest of the three, spent most of the war going to school and helpinig his mom and dad out filling the void left by his older brothers' absence. He and I and his little black and white mongrel, Billy, became very close during the war, because all the rest of the guys in the family and our neighbors were off here and there fighting the war.
When Freddy finally was graduated from, of all names, Franklin High School in Los Angeles, he enlisted in the Navy. The war was, at that time, obviously, almost over. He was an artsy sort of guy and succeeded in getting himself a rate as a photographers mate, and was posted to the Alameda Naval Air Station near San Francisco. He sent home wonderful photographs of navy fighters and stuff, that I really adored, as a kid.
I was over at Aunt Edith's and Uncle Fred's when a call arrived from Freddy. The dark room guy on USS Franklin, up in Bellingham Washington, had just come down with appendicitis and they had sought out Freddy to fill his berth. Freddy was thrilled for this chance to go to sea before it was all over.
You, shipmates of his, only can tell the rest of the story. Of all the brothers, Freddy was the chosen, about whom no one worried. He made his mother a gold-star mother. All I know about him is that he was buried at sea--if they actually found enough of him to bury.
In August of 1945, my folks and I and Aunt Edith and Uncle Fred were all up at Lake Tahoe when news came that the Japs had finally capitulated under the power of the atom bomb. The war was declared over... and our family had a very difficult time getting ourselves together to go out and celebrate the end of rationing at a good resteraunt.
Finally, on our way up the highway from Meeks Bay to Tahoe City, where we planned to have dinner, we happened on a young lad, bare to the waist and carring an old school bell in one hand and an American flag in the other, walking up the side of the road, ringing his bell, waving his flag, and looking for all the world like the great American boy. We had to pull, again, to the side to collect ourselves once again before driving on.
Any shipmates knowing anything about and who might have anything to share about Freddy Parker and his tour aboard USS Franklin would be grandly welcomed by me and Freddy's brothers and family.
Jack Henzie
USS FRANKLIN
Sailor=STANLEY S. GRAHAM
RName=BOB BARTLETT
Relation=Cousin
TextAreaName=Lt(jg) Stanley S. Graham, a suvivor of the March 19, 1945 attack on the USS Franklin CV-13, was my father's first couison (my secound couison). In the summer of 1945, Stanley took my father and my brothers and I on board the Franklin in Brooklyn Navy Yards. I was only eight years old, but today I vividly remember having to watch the holes in the flight deck so as not to fall through them. I still have a 1943 photo of Stanley and my family. Over the years, I have collected every book I could find that even mentioned the Franklin and have kept the memory of that great ship alive. On Vetrean's Day last year(2000),I visited the cellabrations at Owens Airport in Columbia, SC wearing my USS Franklin hat. An elderly gentlman approached me and said he was on the Franklin. He was E. Ellison Walker, formally an Ensign in fighter squadron VF-5 and had suvived the attack. He is now a retired lawyer. I had a long talk with him and our picture taken. Don't forget, there are still many WW II veterns out there today. We just need to find them.
Sailor = Charles Leslie
Service Dates=1944-1945
Submiited s Charles Meade
Nephuew
My mother's brother Charles Leslie was killed aboard the
Franklin 10/30/44. I was born three years later and named after him. He
lived in Brooklyn NY before joining the Navy. I understand he was on fire
station when the Kamikiaze's hit. He was killed along with firefighting
party. I would love to hear from anyone who knew him.
SubmitButtonName=Submit Query
Dee Simms
Service Dates=Dec 30, 1943
=My father was killed on the uss Franklin on March 19th 1945 any one with any information about his last moments, please send to me. Thanks.
Peter Joesph Kartye
Service Dates=KIA Franklin
Tel=314-544-1383
RName=Bruce Sampson
Relation=Grandson
I am looking for information on Y3 Peter Joesph Kartye. Peter was attached to the ship not long before his death in the attack on March 19th 1945.
My grandmother Hazel, (Peter's wife),spent most of her life trying in vain to find out he met his end. She passed away last October 2002, and it would be of great benefit to my family to try to complete her mission. It is said that Peter would pray on the deck daily at the time of the event. If you have any information please contact me.
Thanks for your sacrifice for this country and my family.
Sailor=Charles Reinholz
Email=goppfather2001@yahoo.com
Tel=
RName=Richard Reinholz
Relation=Grandson
TextAreaName=I am looking for anyone that may have known Charles Reinholz as he was my granfather. Although he survived the ship's demise, he never spoke of that day. I would like to gather as much information as I can about that day. My Grandfather, Charles Reinholz, died in 1987 before he was able to tell me his story. Thank all of you who served, and thank you for your time.Richard Don Simms
