WWII Clamdigger -
November 1944, Letter Home

Letter Home from War

Note: Today's allies, the Japanese, were the enemies of that day and are referred to as such in this letter. The language in the letter is presented as it was written [Ed.].

Richard Franklin of Rowayton Avenue wrote of the Leyte Gulf battle:

It was on October 25th early in the morning (going on 9 A. M.) when the Japs were 30 miles away, coming up Surigaci Strait into the Gulf. We had been told to expect them and everyone was a bit on edge. When the general alarm went and all hands were summoned to their battle stations I just stood there sort of numb in Sky Control, for I had the mid-watch at the time. I didn't stand there too long for there was much activity around then, and I had a battery to control. Just throwing out a few commands made my stomach feel better and then I just tingled. I put on a big fat kapok life jacket to help stop the shrapnel, and flash proof clothing (gloves and mask) to protect me from an explosion. Those tight "ties" on the life jacket also gave my stomach support, and I was beginning to get used to what was coming.

Starshells then appeared and I knew the battle had started but no one was getting hurt yet. The Japs were blindly throwing stars out to illuminate our ships and I strained my eyes to see something out there. I felt an anger for I knew their stars were better than ours and that they might have the advantage of getting that first shot in. (The first hit usually decides the battle). But then I thought of other things and felt better. Those guys were coming right into our trap, and we were manuevering to keep them there. About this time we knew that their task force consisted of a couple of battlewagons plus cruisers and destroyers, and our target was that first big baby. After endless minutes our cruisers opened up and not too long after our battle line followed suit. That first salvo settled everyone. We were finally shooting, and crossing the Japs "T" at the same time. That's what we had been waiting for. The "crossing of the T" is the naval manuever that all battle lines try to attain. It's the perfect set-up for it means that we can fire broadsides from all ships and the enemy can fire only ahead from the leading ship in column.

It wasn't long before the salvos were hitting and I felt happier with each flash. I could tell which were hits and which were his guns firing, for his guns gave off a dull amber colored flash. The battle was really raging now as both task forces were giving all they had. I saw a stick of blue splashes close aboard that fell short, but the guysers were tremendous. I'd seen that size before and knew them to be from fourteen or sixteen inch guns. Five other were observed fairly close and I heard one go over my head. Wonderful fires and explosions could now be seen on the horizon and the enemy had turned away. Not soon enough though for we sank every ship in their task force including those two big battlewagons. The fight was over in fifteen minutes but it seemed easily two hours. At the end we were victors and everyone wore a smile. Two Jap battleships had been sunk and by God we contributed much to the kill. That was news! Why the United States Navy had never done that before! They hadn't even gotten one in the whole First World War. We were truly happy, and proud, to have been able to play such an important role in the engagement.