May 27, 2024 • 34 mins
Military families from the Civil War to World War 2 and beyond. Last Rights aboard the USS Indianapolis. The buildup to The Battle of Savo Island
Follow The Jesse Kelly Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheJesseKellyShow
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is a Jesse Kelly show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Another hour of the Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day.
All three hours today are honoring the fallen, reading names,
reading stories. I'm gonna get to the Battle of Tsavo Island.
It's a naval battle in World War two. I'm gonna
get to that in just a few I'm gonna go
through some emails, some more names you've sent in to
(00:38):
make sure I'm trying to get all this. One gentleman
wanted to one of the names read of the thresher,
the USS thrasher. I'm not gonna read, he said, in
the name of everyone who was on the ship. I'm
not gonna read the name of everyone who was on
the ship. When it comes to these boats that go down,
I get it. It's just it would end up being
too long. But respect for sure, honor the fall and
(01:01):
including the civilian employees who died. It was a training accident,
it was depth tests. It was an ugly affair, but
respect for those guys. Here's another one, speaking of the
Civil War, Jesse, if I recall correctly, on Memorial Day,
you feature stories of war heroes other than those awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor. If you do that this
(01:21):
Memorial Day, then I request you please feature Nathan Bedford Forrest,
the third great grandson of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest.
I think it's especially relevant due to the recent removal
of the Reconciliation monument in Arlington National Cemetery, so on.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so forth.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
For those who don't know Nathan Bedford Forest, he was
not only a general for the Confederates, for the South
and the Civil War. He was a beast of a general,
not a good human being. He pretty much started the KKK.
He really really like most of the South, believe it
(02:02):
or not. Yeah, they were okay with slavery, but they
didn't have any slaves. Ninety nine percent of the South
they were okay slaves, don't have slaves. It didn't it
wasn't something that occupied their mind. Nathan Bedford for his
loved slavery.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
He he just loved it. He thought it was the best.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So probably not a top tier human being, but he
was a top tier general. He was a nightmare for
the North.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Sherman.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean, you can go look up quotes of Sherman.
Sherman General Sherman just dog tosted him. Nathan Bedford Forrest
was a beast of a general again, and that's all
I care about out of my general, right, I don't
need him babysitting my kids. Probably not gonna have him
talk to my neighbor.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That wouldn't go well.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
But if I needed him leading men in combat, he
was awesome anyway. So it's funny how close these threads are,
these these families who serve. And We've talked about this
so much. I'm not gonna do any politics, so don't worry.
I'm not going into any of today about these traditional
military families. They really are the backbone that has gone
(03:07):
through the American military throughout our history. I just told
you about Nathan Bedford Forest from the Civil War. Well,
this is the Air Force Cross earned by Nathan Bedford Forest,
the third flying in Europe in World War Two in Europe.
Here it is the President of the United States of America,
(03:29):
authorized by Act of Congress July ninth, nineteen eighteen. Aaymen,
nineteen eighteen. That's World War One, not World War two
nineteen eighteen. Takes pleasure. Oh no, it was World War Two.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
The Act was nineteen eighteen. Anyway, takes pleasure in presenting
the Distinguished Service Cross to Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forest,
the third United States Army Air Force. I remember there
wasn't an Air Force back then. For extraordinary heroism in
connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving
(04:02):
as chief of staff for the Second Air Force and
an observer in a B seventeen heavy bomber of the
Eighth Air Force. We'll go over that in a second,
while participated in a bombing mission. While participating in a
bombing mission the thirteenth of June nineteen forty three against
enemy ground targets in the European theater of operations, while
(04:26):
in command of a bomber division of an operational bombing
mission against a vital military target, the formation was subjected
to heavy anti aircraft fire and enemy aircraft attacks, during
which a number of the planes in the division were
shot down and the plane in which General Forrest was
flying was damaged before reaching the target. In the face
(04:50):
of the strongest opposition yet encountered on a bombing mission,
and with complete disregard for personal safety, General Forrest led
his command to the target in accomplished his mission, from
which he did not return. His leadership skill and extraordinary
heroism on this occasion were an inspiration to all officers
and men of the Air Force in this theater and
(05:12):
reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed forces
of the United States of America. General Forrest has been
officially reported as missing in action. Obviously he's gone, he's dead.
But how about that Lets through some more of these
emails and stories before I do this Battle of Tsavo Island.
This is just various things that you've sent in. Some
(05:35):
of these have stories attached, some.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Of them don't.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Lance Corporal Nicholas Daniels, Afghanistan, two thousand and one lowered
our flag this morning with my boys six and four
and will raise it at noon. They know his name
in what this day means? I love that I had
the privilege of going through a short portion of the
training pipeline with Dylan Elchin. He was killed when an
(05:57):
Ied cut his m RAP in in the Goosni Province
twenty nineteen. He was quite a man and was supposedly
and was supposed to get married when he returned from
deployment and m RAP as a big armored vehicle yep.
To the untrained diet we look like a tank with tires.
All right, that's an m wrap USS Liberty. No one
(06:18):
gives a crap about the USS Liberty sailors who were
so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh gosh, this never mind.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
This guy just hates Jews, the USS Liberty sailors who
were brutalized by Israel. Can you be a man, or
as I believe, just a Jewish shill? You don't care
about these men? Okay, Chris, what do you do now?
I'm kidding. Today is the Sunday before Memorial Day. I
seem to recall at some point Jesse was going to
mention the names of war heroes on the show. I
(06:45):
want him to have this info about my dad, which
was researched and put together by a friend who's currently
in the Air Force Reserve. I never knew this about
my dad. World War Two soldiers didn't talk about the
warmatch when they got home recently. All I ever knew
is he was a decorated P forty seven fighter. Oh
that's sick P forty seven fighter pilot, and he met
(07:07):
my mother in England when he was stationed there. I'd
like to get Jesse to mention my dad, Captain chet
Vitali of Dedham, Massachusetts, on the air three hundred and
sixtieth Fighter Squadron, three hundred and fifty six Fighter Group,
eighth Air Force assigned to the air and so on
and so forth, multiple sorties over Germany, so on and
so forth. Look the eighth Air Force, guys, I thought
(07:32):
that last guy, Nathan bedverd Force.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The third was eighth Air Force.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Just understand, whenever you hear eighth Air Force when it
comes to World War Two, it was the Army Air Force.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I should know.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
The Air Force itself wasn't really a thing. It wasn't
a thing then, but it was the eighth Air Force
in World War Two. They were stationed in Europe. They
were the ones doing all those bombing campaigns, all those
bombing runs over Germany, so all those B seventeen formations.
You ever seen the movie Memphis Bell. Great movie. I
think it's okay for the kids. I think in my
(08:07):
ah kids, check with mom and dad first. Anyway, it's
a great older World War two movie. But kind of
along those lines, it is a fictional movie. I know
the plane itself was real, but the movie's fictional. But anyway,
go watch anything about the B seventeenth. Anyway, the Eighth
Air Force, they were the ones doing those missions, flying
out of England, bombing Germany, and look, I give the
(08:30):
Air Force a lot of crap just because it's fun
and it's funny. Those guys were so suicidally brave, Like
half of them died. More men from the Eighth Air
Force died in World War Two than Marines died in
the Pacific fighting the Japanese. You simply understood if you
(08:52):
were on one of those crewise, it was almost accepted
that you probably aren't going to come back. At some
point in time, you're not going to come back. One
of the names I read earlier, he was a bal
turret gunner. You've seen the bal turret, that really cool
looking bal turret that's underneath the B seventeens. Well, the
ball turret gunners didn't even get parachutes. They didn't There
(09:16):
wasn't room in the little ball turret for the parachute.
There was a little strap you could strap yourself in,
but there was no room for that. And we think
of air combat, we tend to think of jets and
the speed and the missiles and top gun. These planes
are not going that fast. You're up close and personal.
The bal turret gunner would be routinely attacked because the
(09:39):
fighter planes that were attacking these bomber planes they understood
that if you attacked from under the plane, if there
was really only one gun on that B seventeen that
could shoot back at you, and it was the bal turret.
So they'd regularly take these guys out. Oh yeah, good point, Chris.
And it's freezing cold. You might very well, and this happened,
(10:03):
you might very well not even die. You might get
shot out of your ball turret and spend the last
minute of your existence plummeting to Earth. And these plains
would routinely go down. These guys are just crazy, crazy brave.
All right, up, I'm gonna read a couple more of
these stories and then I'm gonna get into the Battle
(10:24):
of Tsavo, Ireland. All right, Hang on, what truth attitude,
Jesse Kelly. It is the Jesse Kelly Show. On a
memorial day, a sacred day where we honor the fallen,
and only the fallen. This day belongs to them exclusively.
(10:45):
It does not belong to veterans and first responders. It
belongs to those who gave their life for this country
in the military. Lieutenant Conrad Wilke, Korea. Captain Rankin B.
Kellogg World War Two, Europe, Russell Chase, Vietnam. Lieutenant Corporate
(11:05):
or Sorry, Lance Corporal Scott T. Modine, Iraq. First Lieutenant
Christopher G. Bowl Cold War he was shot down over Korea.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
There's a couple other things I wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
To read that just various things people have sent in.
And then it's time for us to begin another history story.
You're ready for that Battle of Savo Island. Let me
do a couple of these. Lieutenant Thomas Conway, Navy Cross.
Thomas Conway was a Catholic priest who was assigned to
the heavy cruiser during its top secret mission in July
nineteen forty five to deliver parts of the atomic bomb
(11:39):
Little Boy to the US Army Air Forces base on
the island of Tinian in the Northern Marianas. After completing
the mission, the Indianapolis headed to Guam and was then
ordered to join other surface forces in the Philippines Let
Gulf Campaign to train for the invasion of Japan. Just
(11:59):
after midnight on July thirtieth, nineteen forty five, as the
Indianapolis was en route, two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine
sunk or struck the cruiser. About three hundred of the
eleven hundred and ninety six crewmen aboard went down with
the ship. The remaining eight hundred and ninety went into
the water, where they were stranded for five days and
(12:20):
four nights, facing exposure, dehydration, and repeated shark attacks. For
three days after the sinking of the ship, Lieutenant Conway
swam from group to group of the survivors. I'll get
back to that in a moment, encouraging them, inspiring them,
offering baptism or last rites. Three and a half days
(12:41):
in the water, nothing to drink, nothing to eat, The father,
Lieutenant Conways succumb to exhaustion. Because no distress signal was
sent and the ship's failure to arrive in lat Gulf
was not reported, the Navy only learned of the sinking
four days later, when the survivors were spotted by a
crew of a P one Venture on a routine patrol.
(13:02):
Of the eleven and ninety six crewmen. Only three hundred
and sixteen were rescued gah Le. He was denied the
Navy Cross for seventy six years because no senior officers
Conway served with were alive to endorse the bid. We've
gone over the Indianapolis before and what happened to it,
(13:23):
But just a special shout out to this particular man.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
All these shipwreck stories.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
They're so similar, and that you don't have any water,
you don't have any food. The sun is baking you
and the sharks are eating you. And I just want
to point out the bravery it takes to leave your
group and swim to other groups in the water. All
you have is groups in these shipwreck scenarios. That always
(13:52):
works out this way. Guys group up in one boat
or one raft. If you want to fight off the sharks,
you have to be in a group, and they rotate
men in and outside of circles. You know, you'd circle
up as a group. And remember you don't necessarily have
ropes and things like that. You may have some, but
as I said, you picture shipwrecks, or like the Indianapolis,
(14:13):
you picture, well, we're all at least here in this
one spot, and no, no, that's not how the ocean works.
You may never see your friends again. They may be
fifty miles away in a couple of days because the
currents took them in places you didn't. All you have
is your group, and you try to stay with your
group and with your group and with your group. You
don't want to swim fifty feet over by yourself to
(14:37):
another group. Why, Because you've watched a seventeen foot tiger
shark swim around your group all day long, and the
only reason he hasn't swallowed you yet is because you've
been with your group. This dude spent three days swimming
back and forth. You don't swim back and forth. Three
days swimming back and forth. It's freaking amazing. Navy Petty
(15:01):
Officer second Class James Suh Bronze Star with Valor for
heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy
while serving as Platoon Petty Officer Sealed Delivery Team Vehicle
or Sealed Delivery Vehicle Team one while deployed to Afghanistan
in support of Operation and during Freedom. On the twenty
(15:21):
eighth of June two thousand and five, as part of
a quick reaction for his petty Officer, Suh was sent
to reinforce a Navy Seal Special Reconnaissance Element engaged in
a fierce firefight against the numerically superior anti coalition militia
near Asa Dabad, Konar Province, Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I probably screwed that up.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
The Special Reconnaissance Element was under siege from enemy fire
in extremely rugged and unforgiving terrain. Demonstrating exceptional resolve and
fully comprehending the ramifications of the mission, Petty Officer Suh's
element launched a board a helicopter for direct insertion onto
an active battlefield to engage and destroy the enemy in
order to protect the lives of their fellow seals. While airborne,
(16:06):
Petty Officer Suh continued to work with members of his
team to develop the plan of attack to support both
a quick reaction force and an urgent execution of intended
deliberate assault. As a helicopter hovered in preparation for a
daring fast rope insertion, the aircraft was struck by an
enemy rocket propelled grenade fired by anti coalition militia. The
(16:28):
resulting explosion and impact caused the tragic and untimely loss
of life of all on board. Petty Officer Suh's bravery
and heroism and the face of severe danger while fighting
the global War on terrorism was extraordinary By his courageous actions,
zealous and zealous initiative, and loyal dedication to duty, Petty
(16:49):
Officer Sah reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the
highest traditions of United States Naval Service. That was, in
case you're wondering, that was the you know, the Loan
survivor the Marcus Latrell story, that Navy seal who just died,
all of them who died on board. There they were
in the helicopter that went out to try to save
(17:11):
Latrell and his teammates. And the reason they didn't end
up being being able to save any of them is,
as you just read, they were trying to get in
RPG gets planeted right in that bad boy, and they
all died and a lot of them burned to death.
It was really really bad. It was really really bad.
All right, all right, let's do so, let's do a
historical story World War two.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You ready for that?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Hang on feeling a little stocky, Follow and subscribe on
social at Jesse Kelly DC. It is The Jesse Kelly Show.
On a Monday, a Memorial Day remember I'm this is
my last day this week.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I'm going on vacation. You can email me while I'm gone.
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Jesse at jesse kellyshow dot com for those just now
tuning in. Very much not like our regular program. Yeah,
I know, we always do some history and stuff, but
there's no politics today.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
There's not even any ads today. It's this is just
a show.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
We've we try to do this show as best we can,
and I know I want to be clear that I
understand that it's not good enough. I don't feel like
anything we do is good enough to truly truly honor
these men. Me Chris Michael. We put our heads together
and try to do it the best way we can.
We tell some history stories, we read some names, uh,
(18:29):
and just try to honor them the best we can.
Major William R. Watkins, the third kia Iraq, Captain Eric B.
Dos Iraq, Captain Christopher Adams, Saudi Arabia terrorist attack, the
first Lieutenant Edward Hoyle, the third training accident. I'll keep
going over those throughout, but now we're gonna set all
(18:50):
this other stuff aside for the time being, and let's
tell another little history tale, little turning point in the
war action. Let's do a little may battle. We don't
do a ton of these in the Pacific, So let
me set this up. Pearl Harbor happens. Okay, you got that,
You understand the situation around that. For those who don't,
(19:14):
let me give you a little one minute explainer. Japan
had attacked China. In fact, this is going to come
into play for our story here, so just stay with me.
Prior to World War Two, the Japanese were on the move.
They had modernized rapidly in the eighteen hundreds. They did
an amazing job. Honestly, it's really one of the incredible stories.
(19:36):
They went from being a very backwards nation technologically to
being awesome. They just decided they were going to get
good at it. They went around the world studying how
these people did this and these people did that, and
they just came back and said, Okay, we're going to
do this now, and they just became good at it.
So they modernized, and they had a very militaristic approach
(19:57):
to life. Anyway, that samurai cull stuff, and so they
kind of took that with their modern army and decided
to start using it. We have a samurai mentality a
samurai culture. We have a modern military. Let's take some
stuff to just let you know, just to tie in
the samurai thing. You know Yamamoto, you know the name Yamamoto.
(20:20):
Everyone knows that name. He was the big shot admiral
in the Japanese Navy who came up with the idea
for Pearl Harbor. He was revered, worshiped in Japan. He
was a movie star pretty much there. His dad was
a samurai. That's how close that line is, right, his
dad was a samurai.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
So anyway, Japanese military starts fighting and they're doing a
bunch of fighting. They're fighting the dirty Ruskies, they're fighting
the Chinese. This is a very experienced military by the
time they attacked Pearl Harbor. That's going to come into
play for our story here, because our story is a
rough one for America. They were in experienced military before
(21:02):
Pearl Harbor. Okay, So Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. They then,
over the coming days and weeks, they take all kinds
of islands all over the Pacific. You know the stories
they take the Philippines, they're taking they're taking all kinds.
They're taking everything they can get and what are they doing?
What's the plan? The overall Japanese strategy is, we will
(21:24):
take all these things. We will grab the natural resources.
That's really what they were after. They wanted oil, they
wanted rubber, they wanted they needed all these things because
they were buying it from America and America cut them off.
We will take all these places, we will grab all
their natural resources. We understand that after we sucker punch
(21:46):
America that they're going to be upset about it. However,
they are pillow soft because they are Westerners. They will
not have the stomach to fight with us. Because we
are the same. We will die for the Emperor. Americans
are soft, They're not going to have what it takes,
and so will. What their plan was was let America
(22:10):
come fight. They knew they were going to lose some people.
They knew America was going to lose some people, and
they assumed. Really, it wasn't I mean, it wasn't that
dumb to assume this. I guess they assumed that at
some point we would sue for peace. Hey, we're losing
too many guys. This is too expensive. Hey, Japan, here's
the deal. You can't keep all the islands but we
(22:33):
understand you took a bunch, why don't you just keep
a few and then we'll take a few back. And
in the end, if you look at it that way,
Japan would have got it would have ended in a
better spot than they were before the war. And that's
really all Japan wanted. They wanted to expand their empire,
get some more raw materials. Now, obviously they really really
(22:54):
really underestimated Americans. They underestimated too, the sucker punch aspect
of it, the resolve that would create in America.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Look, I come from an older and dirtier mentality, meaning, look,
if you think you're gonna get in a fight, there
ain't no wait until he hits first.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I'm just telling you this has been the philosophy in
my family forever. If a fight's inevitable, you hit first,
and you hit hard, and you try to make sure
you're gonna win. And if you're gonna sucker punch somebody, Okay,
I wouldn't recommend it, that's not something I do myself.
But if you're gonna sucker punch somebody, it's really really,
(23:40):
really really really critical that that sucker punch is successful,
because if it's not you've created a resolve in them
that you're going to pay for afterwards. Japan thought they
were gonna be real slick with that attack Pearl Harbor. Oh, whoops,
did we forget to declare war? I guess the ambassador
didn't get the memo in time. They thought they'd be
(24:03):
slick with that. What they did was open up a
whole can of worms. Okay, they attacked Pearl Harbor. They
open up this can of worms. Now, America, now we
need to start attacking back. And remember this back at home,
there was so much anger from the American people, white
(24:24):
hot anger. You've seen the pictures by now of the
recruiting lines around the block after Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Americans were furious.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
The Americans were demanding pelts on the wall. They were
demanding Japanese pelts on the wall. Hey, where are the winds?
Where are the But in the wake of Pearl Harbor. See,
we look at this in with twenty twenty hindsight. Now
we know we win the war and everything blah blah blah.
It's not like after Pearl Harbor we just started at
(24:57):
attacking the Japanese and winning. Seated to get our teeth
kicked in pretty routinely by this military for six months
or so after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military at the beginning,
at the start of World War Two, they were simply
(25:17):
more skilled than our military was. They had more experience.
Like I said, That's why I brought it up. They've
been fighting the dirty Ruskies, they'd been fighting in China.
These were seasoned veteran troops. They were really good. Their
pilots were good, their planes were good, they were good
on the water. Their navy was outstanding. That's going to
(25:38):
come into this. They were excellent about fighting at night.
We'll go into that a little bit more as we
go along here. They were good. That brings us to
how do you fight this war? And this is going
to come into play for our battle of Tsavo Island.
How do you fight this war? What is important? We
(25:59):
quick came to the realization. In fact, most of the
modern militaries came to this realization. The Japanese did to
the British did to that the aircraft carrier that was
your prize, that was your everything. It was everything. If
you had them, you were great. If your enemy had them,
(26:20):
you better be afraid and you better sink them if
you can create a mobile airfield, so we have bombers,
fighter planes, reconplaints, a mobile airfield where you can move anywhere.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
There's an ocean.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
That is everything, and the value of those aircraft carriers
is going to come into play for our story here.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
So just keep that in mind and we'll continue in
a moment. Hang on.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day,
all three hours today, honoring the fallen, telling his history
stories war battle. We already told one about the Civil War.
If that'll interest you it all. If you miss any
part of the show, the whole three hours will be
on the podcast free as it always is. iHeart Spotify iTunes.
(27:10):
Just go download a podcast of it. If you miss
me while I'm gone, I'll be back next Monday. If
you missed me while, I'm gonna go download podcasts of
the show. Back to what we were talking about, we're
now doing the Battle of Tsavo Island. So at the
beginning of World War two, nations figured out very quickly
that the aircraft carrier was everything. The Japanese obviously, Pearl
(27:32):
Harbor for them was a huge success, and we think
of it as this huge disaster, and I'm certainly not
dismissive of how horrible Pearl Harbor was. But the truth
is America famously caught the luckiest of lucky breaks. And
if you're one of the conspiracy theorists, it was done
on purpose. But either way, all of our wonderful aircraft
(27:54):
carriers happened to be out at sea doing maneuvers when
the Japanese attacked Pearl Hart. Yeah, they blew up a
lot of stuff. And I'm not being dismissive of the
Arizona and the Oklahoma and these ships they got attacked,
but these were these were not aircraft carriers. World War
two was going to be a war that was decided
(28:16):
by aircraft carriers. You wanted them, and aircraft carriers were
hugely expensive. They took a very very long time to make.
They it required an inhuman amount of material to make them.
They were everything. And so that brings us to Guadalcanal.
(28:38):
So here's the setup. Military historians will argue this point,
but for most people, when you ask most people what
the turning point in the Pacific War was, because as
I said, that Japanese were beating us up really good
at the beginning the first six months. Most people will
say it was the Battle of Midway. That's you can
(29:00):
say that the Battle of Midway is where we finally
stopped the Japanese advance. That's true, that's where their advance
was stopped. However, other people will say it was actually
the Guatdalcanal campaigns that changed the tide of the war
because we went from stopping their advance to taking things
(29:25):
back from them the very first time. But it was
a real touch and go thing. So let's set this up.
Guatdal Canal is there. We want the airfield. Remember it's
an airfield war. The war in the Pacific is all
about airfields. You want floating ones and you want land
based ones. It's all about the planes, baby, the fighters,
(29:46):
the bombers. That's what it's all about. So we wanted
the airfield on Guadalcanal. It's known as Henderson Field. Doesn't matter.
Now here's the issue again. We look at these things
in hindsight, at least I do. I don't want to
put words in your mouth. I look at things in hindsight,
and I have to remind myself when I think of
the World War Two, the US Navy, the US military,
(30:08):
I just think of this unstoppable juggernaut that was huge
and had everything, And that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
It wasn't that way in the beginning. When we decided
to launch this Squaddal Canal campaign, we did so, and
we were woefully unprepared, and we knew we were unprepared.
We knew we were. The idea was, hey, we're not
really ready for this, but they're not gonna be ready
for us either.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
If we attack.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Now, yeah, we're not gonna have all the stuff we need,
but they're not gonna have all the stuff they need either.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So speed.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Maybe let's go and there. Look, that's a philosophy of warfare.
Speed kills. Julius Caesar was famous for this. He believed it.
I believe it. It's very effective. Hey, yeah, you're not
gonna have all your stuff, but go there's he So
we launched this Guatdalcanal campaign.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
But here's the problem.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
If you're going to land a bunch of Marines on
Guaddalcanal and have them fight, that's good. Good for you.
Let the Marines go do what they do. But marines,
all troops, they require a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
They eat and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
They have to eat. They need ways to acquire drinking water.
They need ammunition, a lot of it. They need equipment,
a lot of it, artillery shells, they need medical supplies,
they need the logistics involved in landing an amphibious force
on hostile terrain you don't control. It is a nightmare
(31:44):
and it takes so much practice to get this right.
Remember this is the beginning of World War Two. We
haven't been island hopping for years. We are learning how
to do this. So here's let me just give you
the thirty thousand of you. Here's how it goes. The
Marines are saying, hey, we need a lot of stuff.
(32:05):
We're fine, we'll go beat everyone up on Guadalcanal. That's fine,
but you are going to give us all of our stuff, right,
all the bombs and medical stuff. You aren't going to
give us that right. And the Navy, and this is
I'm not talking on the Navy. This is one Avril
who made this call. And really it was the smart call.
This is not me insulting the Navy. The Navy said, ah,
(32:26):
I don't know about all your stuff. The Marines said, no,
we we need you to stay at Guadalcanal with your
ships for five days to unload all the stuff we
need unloaded. We need five days from you, Navy. You're
gonna give us five days, right, And the Navy said,
we are in hostile territory here. The Japanese control the skies.
(32:51):
The Japanese are all over the seas. No, you will
not have five days. We will give you three. Unload
whatever you can after three day, and then we are
taking our aircraft carriers and we are leaving because we
can't afford to get caught out here with our pants
down and lose an aircraft carrier or two. Frankly, our
(33:12):
aircraft carriers are a lot more important than the Marines
who were on the ground. And look, when you're one
of the Marines on the ground, you don't want to
hear that. No wants to hear that. But they weren't
necessarily wrong. You don't risk an aircraft carrier for some marines.
You just don't. You can't at this point because you
can't replace them. You can replace the marines. The aircraft
(33:33):
carriers are one of a kind. So that's going to
come into play here for the Battle of Tsavo Island.
They got three days and then the aircraft carriers left now,
it's not that all naval support left, our aircraft carriers left.
We'll finish this story next hour. Let's honor the fallen.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
B B.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
B B B b b
Speaker 1 (34:33):
B
This is a Jesse Kelly show.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Another hour of the Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day.
All three hours today are honoring the fallen, reading names,
reading stories. I'm gonna get to the Battle of Tsavo Island.
It's a naval battle in World War two. I'm gonna
get to that in just a few I'm gonna go
through some emails, some more names you've sent in to
(00:38):
make sure I'm trying to get all this. One gentleman
wanted to one of the names read of the thresher,
the USS thrasher. I'm not gonna read, he said, in
the name of everyone who was on the ship. I'm
not gonna read the name of everyone who was on
the ship. When it comes to these boats that go down,
I get it. It's just it would end up being
too long. But respect for sure, honor the fall and
(01:01):
including the civilian employees who died. It was a training accident,
it was depth tests. It was an ugly affair, but
respect for those guys. Here's another one, speaking of the
Civil War, Jesse, if I recall correctly, on Memorial Day,
you feature stories of war heroes other than those awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor. If you do that this
(01:21):
Memorial Day, then I request you please feature Nathan Bedford Forrest,
the third great grandson of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest.
I think it's especially relevant due to the recent removal
of the Reconciliation monument in Arlington National Cemetery, so on.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so forth.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
For those who don't know Nathan Bedford Forest, he was
not only a general for the Confederates, for the South
and the Civil War. He was a beast of a general,
not a good human being. He pretty much started the KKK.
He really really like most of the South, believe it
(02:02):
or not. Yeah, they were okay with slavery, but they
didn't have any slaves. Ninety nine percent of the South
they were okay slaves, don't have slaves. It didn't it
wasn't something that occupied their mind. Nathan Bedford for his
loved slavery.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
He he just loved it. He thought it was the best.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So probably not a top tier human being, but he
was a top tier general. He was a nightmare for
the North.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Sherman.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
I mean, you can go look up quotes of Sherman.
Sherman General Sherman just dog tosted him. Nathan Bedford Forrest
was a beast of a general again, and that's all
I care about out of my general, right, I don't
need him babysitting my kids. Probably not gonna have him
talk to my neighbor.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
That wouldn't go well.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
But if I needed him leading men in combat, he
was awesome anyway. So it's funny how close these threads are,
these these families who serve. And We've talked about this
so much. I'm not gonna do any politics, so don't worry.
I'm not going into any of today about these traditional
military families. They really are the backbone that has gone
(03:07):
through the American military throughout our history. I just told
you about Nathan Bedford Forest from the Civil War. Well,
this is the Air Force Cross earned by Nathan Bedford Forest,
the third flying in Europe in World War Two in Europe.
Here it is the President of the United States of America,
(03:29):
authorized by Act of Congress July ninth, nineteen eighteen. Aaymen,
nineteen eighteen. That's World War One, not World War two
nineteen eighteen. Takes pleasure. Oh no, it was World War Two.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
The Act was nineteen eighteen. Anyway, takes pleasure in presenting
the Distinguished Service Cross to Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forest,
the third United States Army Air Force. I remember there
wasn't an Air Force back then. For extraordinary heroism in
connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving
(04:02):
as chief of staff for the Second Air Force and
an observer in a B seventeen heavy bomber of the
Eighth Air Force. We'll go over that in a second,
while participated in a bombing mission. While participating in a
bombing mission the thirteenth of June nineteen forty three against
enemy ground targets in the European theater of operations, while
(04:26):
in command of a bomber division of an operational bombing
mission against a vital military target, the formation was subjected
to heavy anti aircraft fire and enemy aircraft attacks, during
which a number of the planes in the division were
shot down and the plane in which General Forrest was
flying was damaged before reaching the target. In the face
(04:50):
of the strongest opposition yet encountered on a bombing mission,
and with complete disregard for personal safety, General Forrest led
his command to the target in accomplished his mission, from
which he did not return. His leadership skill and extraordinary
heroism on this occasion were an inspiration to all officers
and men of the Air Force in this theater and
(05:12):
reflect the highest credit upon himself and the Armed forces
of the United States of America. General Forrest has been
officially reported as missing in action. Obviously he's gone, he's dead.
But how about that Lets through some more of these
emails and stories before I do this Battle of Tsavo Island.
This is just various things that you've sent in. Some
(05:35):
of these have stories attached, some.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Of them don't.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Lance Corporal Nicholas Daniels, Afghanistan, two thousand and one lowered
our flag this morning with my boys six and four
and will raise it at noon. They know his name
in what this day means? I love that I had
the privilege of going through a short portion of the
training pipeline with Dylan Elchin. He was killed when an
(05:57):
Ied cut his m RAP in in the Goosni Province
twenty nineteen. He was quite a man and was supposedly
and was supposed to get married when he returned from
deployment and m RAP as a big armored vehicle yep.
To the untrained diet we look like a tank with tires.
All right, that's an m wrap USS Liberty. No one
(06:18):
gives a crap about the USS Liberty sailors who were
so on and so forth.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Oh gosh, this never mind.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
This guy just hates Jews, the USS Liberty sailors who
were brutalized by Israel. Can you be a man, or
as I believe, just a Jewish shill? You don't care
about these men? Okay, Chris, what do you do now?
I'm kidding. Today is the Sunday before Memorial Day. I
seem to recall at some point Jesse was going to
mention the names of war heroes on the show. I
(06:45):
want him to have this info about my dad, which
was researched and put together by a friend who's currently
in the Air Force Reserve. I never knew this about
my dad. World War Two soldiers didn't talk about the
warmatch when they got home recently. All I ever knew
is he was a decorated P forty seven fighter. Oh
that's sick P forty seven fighter pilot, and he met
(07:07):
my mother in England when he was stationed there. I'd
like to get Jesse to mention my dad, Captain chet
Vitali of Dedham, Massachusetts, on the air three hundred and
sixtieth Fighter Squadron, three hundred and fifty six Fighter Group,
eighth Air Force assigned to the air and so on
and so forth, multiple sorties over Germany, so on and
so forth. Look the eighth Air Force, guys, I thought
(07:32):
that last guy, Nathan bedverd Force.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
The third was eighth Air Force.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Just understand, whenever you hear eighth Air Force when it
comes to World War Two, it was the Army Air Force.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
I should know.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
The Air Force itself wasn't really a thing. It wasn't
a thing then, but it was the eighth Air Force
in World War Two. They were stationed in Europe. They
were the ones doing all those bombing campaigns, all those
bombing runs over Germany, so all those B seventeen formations.
You ever seen the movie Memphis Bell. Great movie. I
think it's okay for the kids. I think in my
(08:07):
ah kids, check with mom and dad first. Anyway, it's
a great older World War two movie. But kind of
along those lines, it is a fictional movie. I know
the plane itself was real, but the movie's fictional. But anyway,
go watch anything about the B seventeenth. Anyway, the Eighth
Air Force, they were the ones doing those missions, flying
out of England, bombing Germany, and look, I give the
(08:30):
Air Force a lot of crap just because it's fun
and it's funny. Those guys were so suicidally brave, Like
half of them died. More men from the Eighth Air
Force died in World War Two than Marines died in
the Pacific fighting the Japanese. You simply understood if you
(08:52):
were on one of those crewise, it was almost accepted
that you probably aren't going to come back. At some
point in time, you're not going to come back. One
of the names I read earlier, he was a bal
turret gunner. You've seen the bal turret, that really cool
looking bal turret that's underneath the B seventeens. Well, the
ball turret gunners didn't even get parachutes. They didn't There
(09:16):
wasn't room in the little ball turret for the parachute.
There was a little strap you could strap yourself in,
but there was no room for that. And we think
of air combat, we tend to think of jets and
the speed and the missiles and top gun. These planes
are not going that fast. You're up close and personal.
The bal turret gunner would be routinely attacked because the
(09:39):
fighter planes that were attacking these bomber planes they understood
that if you attacked from under the plane, if there
was really only one gun on that B seventeen that
could shoot back at you, and it was the bal turret.
So they'd regularly take these guys out. Oh yeah, good point, Chris.
And it's freezing cold. You might very well, and this happened,
(10:03):
you might very well not even die. You might get
shot out of your ball turret and spend the last
minute of your existence plummeting to Earth. And these plains
would routinely go down. These guys are just crazy, crazy brave.
All right, up, I'm gonna read a couple more of
these stories and then I'm gonna get into the Battle
(10:24):
of Tsavo, Ireland. All right, Hang on, what truth attitude,
Jesse Kelly. It is the Jesse Kelly Show. On a
memorial day, a sacred day where we honor the fallen,
and only the fallen. This day belongs to them exclusively.
(10:45):
It does not belong to veterans and first responders. It
belongs to those who gave their life for this country
in the military. Lieutenant Conrad Wilke, Korea. Captain Rankin B.
Kellogg World War Two, Europe, Russell Chase, Vietnam. Lieutenant Corporate
(11:05):
or Sorry, Lance Corporal Scott T. Modine, Iraq. First Lieutenant
Christopher G. Bowl Cold War he was shot down over Korea.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
There's a couple other things I wanted.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
To read that just various things people have sent in.
And then it's time for us to begin another history story.
You're ready for that Battle of Savo Island. Let me
do a couple of these. Lieutenant Thomas Conway, Navy Cross.
Thomas Conway was a Catholic priest who was assigned to
the heavy cruiser during its top secret mission in July
nineteen forty five to deliver parts of the atomic bomb
(11:39):
Little Boy to the US Army Air Forces base on
the island of Tinian in the Northern Marianas. After completing
the mission, the Indianapolis headed to Guam and was then
ordered to join other surface forces in the Philippines Let
Gulf Campaign to train for the invasion of Japan. Just
(11:59):
after midnight on July thirtieth, nineteen forty five, as the
Indianapolis was en route, two torpedoes from a Japanese submarine
sunk or struck the cruiser. About three hundred of the
eleven hundred and ninety six crewmen aboard went down with
the ship. The remaining eight hundred and ninety went into
the water, where they were stranded for five days and
(12:20):
four nights, facing exposure, dehydration, and repeated shark attacks. For
three days after the sinking of the ship, Lieutenant Conway
swam from group to group of the survivors. I'll get
back to that in a moment, encouraging them, inspiring them,
offering baptism or last rites. Three and a half days
(12:41):
in the water, nothing to drink, nothing to eat, The father,
Lieutenant Conways succumb to exhaustion. Because no distress signal was
sent and the ship's failure to arrive in lat Gulf
was not reported, the Navy only learned of the sinking
four days later, when the survivors were spotted by a
crew of a P one Venture on a routine patrol.
(13:02):
Of the eleven and ninety six crewmen. Only three hundred
and sixteen were rescued gah Le. He was denied the
Navy Cross for seventy six years because no senior officers
Conway served with were alive to endorse the bid. We've
gone over the Indianapolis before and what happened to it,
(13:23):
But just a special shout out to this particular man.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
All these shipwreck stories.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
They're so similar, and that you don't have any water,
you don't have any food. The sun is baking you
and the sharks are eating you. And I just want
to point out the bravery it takes to leave your
group and swim to other groups in the water. All
you have is groups in these shipwreck scenarios. That always
(13:52):
works out this way. Guys group up in one boat
or one raft. If you want to fight off the sharks,
you have to be in a group, and they rotate
men in and outside of circles. You know, you'd circle
up as a group. And remember you don't necessarily have
ropes and things like that. You may have some, but
as I said, you picture shipwrecks, or like the Indianapolis,
(14:13):
you picture, well, we're all at least here in this
one spot, and no, no, that's not how the ocean works.
You may never see your friends again. They may be
fifty miles away in a couple of days because the
currents took them in places you didn't. All you have
is your group, and you try to stay with your
group and with your group and with your group. You
don't want to swim fifty feet over by yourself to
(14:37):
another group. Why, Because you've watched a seventeen foot tiger
shark swim around your group all day long, and the
only reason he hasn't swallowed you yet is because you've
been with your group. This dude spent three days swimming
back and forth. You don't swim back and forth. Three
days swimming back and forth. It's freaking amazing. Navy Petty
(15:01):
Officer second Class James Suh Bronze Star with Valor for
heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy
while serving as Platoon Petty Officer Sealed Delivery Team Vehicle
or Sealed Delivery Vehicle Team one while deployed to Afghanistan
in support of Operation and during Freedom. On the twenty
(15:21):
eighth of June two thousand and five, as part of
a quick reaction for his petty Officer, Suh was sent
to reinforce a Navy Seal Special Reconnaissance Element engaged in
a fierce firefight against the numerically superior anti coalition militia
near Asa Dabad, Konar Province, Afghanistan.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
I probably screwed that up.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
The Special Reconnaissance Element was under siege from enemy fire
in extremely rugged and unforgiving terrain. Demonstrating exceptional resolve and
fully comprehending the ramifications of the mission, Petty Officer Suh's
element launched a board a helicopter for direct insertion onto
an active battlefield to engage and destroy the enemy in
order to protect the lives of their fellow seals. While airborne,
(16:06):
Petty Officer Suh continued to work with members of his
team to develop the plan of attack to support both
a quick reaction force and an urgent execution of intended
deliberate assault. As a helicopter hovered in preparation for a
daring fast rope insertion, the aircraft was struck by an
enemy rocket propelled grenade fired by anti coalition militia. The
(16:28):
resulting explosion and impact caused the tragic and untimely loss
of life of all on board. Petty Officer Suh's bravery
and heroism and the face of severe danger while fighting
the global War on terrorism was extraordinary By his courageous actions,
zealous and zealous initiative, and loyal dedication to duty, Petty
(16:49):
Officer Sah reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the
highest traditions of United States Naval Service. That was, in
case you're wondering, that was the you know, the Loan
survivor the Marcus Latrell story, that Navy seal who just died,
all of them who died on board. There they were
in the helicopter that went out to try to save
(17:11):
Latrell and his teammates. And the reason they didn't end
up being being able to save any of them is,
as you just read, they were trying to get in
RPG gets planeted right in that bad boy, and they
all died and a lot of them burned to death.
It was really really bad. It was really really bad.
All right, all right, let's do so, let's do a
historical story World War two.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
You ready for that?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Hang on feeling a little stocky, Follow and subscribe on
social at Jesse Kelly DC. It is The Jesse Kelly Show.
On a Monday, a Memorial Day remember I'm this is
my last day this week.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I'm going on vacation. You can email me while I'm gone.
That's fine.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Jesse at jesse kellyshow dot com for those just now
tuning in. Very much not like our regular program. Yeah,
I know, we always do some history and stuff, but
there's no politics today.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
There's not even any ads today. It's this is just
a show.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
We've we try to do this show as best we can,
and I know I want to be clear that I
understand that it's not good enough. I don't feel like
anything we do is good enough to truly truly honor
these men. Me Chris Michael. We put our heads together
and try to do it the best way we can.
We tell some history stories, we read some names, uh,
(18:29):
and just try to honor them the best we can.
Major William R. Watkins, the third kia Iraq, Captain Eric B.
Dos Iraq, Captain Christopher Adams, Saudi Arabia terrorist attack, the
first Lieutenant Edward Hoyle, the third training accident. I'll keep
going over those throughout, but now we're gonna set all
(18:50):
this other stuff aside for the time being, and let's
tell another little history tale, little turning point in the
war action. Let's do a little may battle. We don't
do a ton of these in the Pacific, So let
me set this up. Pearl Harbor happens. Okay, you got that,
You understand the situation around that. For those who don't,
(19:14):
let me give you a little one minute explainer. Japan
had attacked China. In fact, this is going to come
into play for our story here, so just stay with me.
Prior to World War Two, the Japanese were on the move.
They had modernized rapidly in the eighteen hundreds. They did
an amazing job. Honestly, it's really one of the incredible stories.
(19:36):
They went from being a very backwards nation technologically to
being awesome. They just decided they were going to get
good at it. They went around the world studying how
these people did this and these people did that, and
they just came back and said, Okay, we're going to
do this now, and they just became good at it.
So they modernized, and they had a very militaristic approach
(19:57):
to life. Anyway, that samurai cull stuff, and so they
kind of took that with their modern army and decided
to start using it. We have a samurai mentality a
samurai culture. We have a modern military. Let's take some
stuff to just let you know, just to tie in
the samurai thing. You know Yamamoto, you know the name Yamamoto.
(20:20):
Everyone knows that name. He was the big shot admiral
in the Japanese Navy who came up with the idea
for Pearl Harbor. He was revered, worshiped in Japan. He
was a movie star pretty much there. His dad was
a samurai. That's how close that line is, right, his
dad was a samurai.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
So anyway, Japanese military starts fighting and they're doing a
bunch of fighting. They're fighting the dirty Ruskies, they're fighting
the Chinese. This is a very experienced military by the
time they attacked Pearl Harbor. That's going to come into
play for our story here, because our story is a
rough one for America. They were in experienced military before
(21:02):
Pearl Harbor. Okay, So Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. They then,
over the coming days and weeks, they take all kinds
of islands all over the Pacific. You know the stories
they take the Philippines, they're taking they're taking all kinds.
They're taking everything they can get and what are they doing?
What's the plan? The overall Japanese strategy is, we will
(21:24):
take all these things. We will grab the natural resources.
That's really what they were after. They wanted oil, they
wanted rubber, they wanted they needed all these things because
they were buying it from America and America cut them off.
We will take all these places, we will grab all
their natural resources. We understand that after we sucker punch
(21:46):
America that they're going to be upset about it. However,
they are pillow soft because they are Westerners. They will
not have the stomach to fight with us. Because we
are the same. We will die for the Emperor. Americans
are soft, They're not going to have what it takes,
and so will. What their plan was was let America
(22:10):
come fight. They knew they were going to lose some people.
They knew America was going to lose some people, and
they assumed. Really, it wasn't I mean, it wasn't that
dumb to assume this. I guess they assumed that at
some point we would sue for peace. Hey, we're losing
too many guys. This is too expensive. Hey, Japan, here's
the deal. You can't keep all the islands but we
(22:33):
understand you took a bunch, why don't you just keep
a few and then we'll take a few back. And
in the end, if you look at it that way,
Japan would have got it would have ended in a
better spot than they were before the war. And that's
really all Japan wanted. They wanted to expand their empire,
get some more raw materials. Now, obviously they really really
(22:54):
really underestimated Americans. They underestimated too, the sucker punch aspect
of it, the resolve that would create in America.
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Look, I come from an older and dirtier mentality, meaning, look,
if you think you're gonna get in a fight, there
ain't no wait until he hits first.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I'm just telling you this has been the philosophy in
my family forever. If a fight's inevitable, you hit first,
and you hit hard, and you try to make sure
you're gonna win. And if you're gonna sucker punch somebody, Okay,
I wouldn't recommend it, that's not something I do myself.
But if you're gonna sucker punch somebody, it's really really,
(23:40):
really really really critical that that sucker punch is successful,
because if it's not you've created a resolve in them
that you're going to pay for afterwards. Japan thought they
were gonna be real slick with that attack Pearl Harbor. Oh, whoops,
did we forget to declare war? I guess the ambassador
didn't get the memo in time. They thought they'd be
(24:03):
slick with that. What they did was open up a
whole can of worms. Okay, they attacked Pearl Harbor. They
open up this can of worms. Now, America, now we
need to start attacking back. And remember this back at home,
there was so much anger from the American people, white
(24:24):
hot anger. You've seen the pictures by now of the
recruiting lines around the block after Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Americans were furious.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
The Americans were demanding pelts on the wall. They were
demanding Japanese pelts on the wall. Hey, where are the winds?
Where are the But in the wake of Pearl Harbor. See,
we look at this in with twenty twenty hindsight. Now
we know we win the war and everything blah blah blah.
It's not like after Pearl Harbor we just started at
(24:57):
attacking the Japanese and winning. Seated to get our teeth
kicked in pretty routinely by this military for six months
or so after Pearl Harbor. The Japanese military at the beginning,
at the start of World War Two, they were simply
(25:17):
more skilled than our military was. They had more experience.
Like I said, That's why I brought it up. They've
been fighting the dirty Ruskies, they'd been fighting in China.
These were seasoned veteran troops. They were really good. Their
pilots were good, their planes were good, they were good
on the water. Their navy was outstanding. That's going to
(25:38):
come into this. They were excellent about fighting at night.
We'll go into that a little bit more as we
go along here. They were good. That brings us to
how do you fight this war? And this is going
to come into play for our battle of Tsavo Island.
How do you fight this war? What is important? We
(25:59):
quick came to the realization. In fact, most of the
modern militaries came to this realization. The Japanese did to
the British did to that the aircraft carrier that was
your prize, that was your everything. It was everything. If
you had them, you were great. If your enemy had them,
(26:20):
you better be afraid and you better sink them if
you can create a mobile airfield, so we have bombers,
fighter planes, reconplaints, a mobile airfield where you can move anywhere.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
There's an ocean.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
That is everything, and the value of those aircraft carriers
is going to come into play for our story here.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
So just keep that in mind and we'll continue in
a moment. Hang on.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
It is the Jesse Kelly Show on a Memorial Day,
all three hours today, honoring the fallen, telling his history
stories war battle. We already told one about the Civil War.
If that'll interest you it all. If you miss any
part of the show, the whole three hours will be
on the podcast free as it always is. iHeart Spotify iTunes.
(27:10):
Just go download a podcast of it. If you miss
me while I'm gone, I'll be back next Monday. If
you missed me while, I'm gonna go download podcasts of
the show. Back to what we were talking about, we're
now doing the Battle of Tsavo Island. So at the
beginning of World War two, nations figured out very quickly
that the aircraft carrier was everything. The Japanese obviously, Pearl
(27:32):
Harbor for them was a huge success, and we think
of it as this huge disaster, and I'm certainly not
dismissive of how horrible Pearl Harbor was. But the truth
is America famously caught the luckiest of lucky breaks. And
if you're one of the conspiracy theorists, it was done
on purpose. But either way, all of our wonderful aircraft
(27:54):
carriers happened to be out at sea doing maneuvers when
the Japanese attacked Pearl Hart. Yeah, they blew up a
lot of stuff. And I'm not being dismissive of the
Arizona and the Oklahoma and these ships they got attacked,
but these were these were not aircraft carriers. World War
two was going to be a war that was decided
(28:16):
by aircraft carriers. You wanted them, and aircraft carriers were
hugely expensive. They took a very very long time to make.
They it required an inhuman amount of material to make them.
They were everything. And so that brings us to Guadalcanal.
(28:38):
So here's the setup. Military historians will argue this point,
but for most people, when you ask most people what
the turning point in the Pacific War was, because as
I said, that Japanese were beating us up really good
at the beginning the first six months. Most people will
say it was the Battle of Midway. That's you can
(29:00):
say that the Battle of Midway is where we finally
stopped the Japanese advance. That's true, that's where their advance
was stopped. However, other people will say it was actually
the Guatdalcanal campaigns that changed the tide of the war
because we went from stopping their advance to taking things
(29:25):
back from them the very first time. But it was
a real touch and go thing. So let's set this up.
Guatdal Canal is there. We want the airfield. Remember it's
an airfield war. The war in the Pacific is all
about airfields. You want floating ones and you want land
based ones. It's all about the planes, baby, the fighters,
(29:46):
the bombers. That's what it's all about. So we wanted
the airfield on Guadalcanal. It's known as Henderson Field. Doesn't matter.
Now here's the issue again. We look at these things
in hindsight, at least I do. I don't want to
put words in your mouth. I look at things in hindsight,
and I have to remind myself when I think of
the World War Two, the US Navy, the US military,
(30:08):
I just think of this unstoppable juggernaut that was huge
and had everything, And that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
At the end.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
It wasn't that way in the beginning. When we decided
to launch this Squaddal Canal campaign, we did so, and
we were woefully unprepared, and we knew we were unprepared.
We knew we were. The idea was, hey, we're not
really ready for this, but they're not gonna be ready
for us either.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
If we attack.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Now, yeah, we're not gonna have all the stuff we need,
but they're not gonna have all the stuff they need either.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
So speed.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Maybe let's go and there. Look, that's a philosophy of warfare.
Speed kills. Julius Caesar was famous for this. He believed it.
I believe it. It's very effective. Hey, yeah, you're not
gonna have all your stuff, but go there's he So
we launched this Guatdalcanal campaign.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
But here's the problem.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
If you're going to land a bunch of Marines on
Guaddalcanal and have them fight, that's good. Good for you.
Let the Marines go do what they do. But marines,
all troops, they require a lot of stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
They eat and.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
They have to eat. They need ways to acquire drinking water.
They need ammunition, a lot of it. They need equipment,
a lot of it, artillery shells, they need medical supplies,
they need the logistics involved in landing an amphibious force
on hostile terrain you don't control. It is a nightmare
(31:44):
and it takes so much practice to get this right.
Remember this is the beginning of World War Two. We
haven't been island hopping for years. We are learning how
to do this. So here's let me just give you
the thirty thousand of you. Here's how it goes. The
Marines are saying, hey, we need a lot of stuff.
(32:05):
We're fine, we'll go beat everyone up on Guadalcanal. That's fine,
but you are going to give us all of our stuff, right,
all the bombs and medical stuff. You aren't going to
give us that right. And the Navy, and this is
I'm not talking on the Navy. This is one Avril
who made this call. And really it was the smart call.
This is not me insulting the Navy. The Navy said, ah,
(32:26):
I don't know about all your stuff. The Marines said, no,
we we need you to stay at Guadalcanal with your
ships for five days to unload all the stuff we
need unloaded. We need five days from you, Navy. You're
gonna give us five days, right, And the Navy said,
we are in hostile territory here. The Japanese control the skies.
(32:51):
The Japanese are all over the seas. No, you will
not have five days. We will give you three. Unload
whatever you can after three day, and then we are
taking our aircraft carriers and we are leaving because we
can't afford to get caught out here with our pants
down and lose an aircraft carrier or two. Frankly, our
(33:12):
aircraft carriers are a lot more important than the Marines
who were on the ground. And look, when you're one
of the Marines on the ground, you don't want to
hear that. No wants to hear that. But they weren't
necessarily wrong. You don't risk an aircraft carrier for some marines.
You just don't. You can't at this point because you
can't replace them. You can replace the marines. The aircraft
(33:33):
carriers are one of a kind. So that's going to
come into play here for the Battle of Tsavo Island.
They got three days and then the aircraft carriers left now,
it's not that all naval support left, our aircraft carriers left.
We'll finish this story next hour. Let's honor the fallen.
Speaker 2 (34:00):
B B.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
B B B b b
Speaker 1 (34:33):
B
Host
Jesse Kelly
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com