Military Presence and History

Throughout the South I have been pleased to see both a military presence as well as obvious support for our military.  It contrasts with some West Coast experiences like San Francisco refusing the battleship Iowa from WWII and the island realtor who will never fly the American flag on patriotic holidays, substituting instead a peace flag.   Must sees in Charleston are Patriots Point, Fort Sumpter and the Civil War submarine, the Hunley.

Patriots Point is located across from the historic Charleston and is comprised of the WWII aircraft carrier Yorktown, the destroyer Laffey and the cold war era submarine Clamagore.  Also featured is the Medal of Honor museum and the "Vietnam Experience" exhibit.

View of the aircraft carrier Yorktown and the destroyer Laffey at Patriots Point 

The Yorktown was the first stop at Patriots Point.  It was commissioned in 1943 and named after the ship lost in the battle of Midway, served in until 1975  when it was decommissioned, towed to Charleston and dedicated as a museum.  We toured the ship, from the engine room (that would be horrible duty) to the bridge, which is where I would want to be.

My favorite was the galley used to feed the 3500 personnel

The recipe for the revered Chocolate Chip Cookies was

112 pounds of chocolate chips
165 pounds of flour
500 eggs
100 pounds of granulated sugar
87 pounds of shortening
75 pounds of brown sugar
12 pounds of butter
3 pounds of salt
3 cups of vanilla extract
1 quart of water
1.5 pounds of baking soda

The smell of those baking would be like home.

While doing research on the ship I discovered a story I miss while touring.  As a dog person, it was quite a tale.

Although it is not known exactly when Scrappy arrived on the YORKTOWN, it is acknowledged that he was roaming the docks of Pearl Harbor alone when the ship pulled in to port in 1943. YORKTOWN sailors spotted the dog and smuggled him aboard the ship in a trash can, knowing that the ship’s captain Jocko Clark would not approve of having an animal aboard. But the crew enjoyed him, and he became the YORKTOWN crew’s mascot. The little gray dog’s real name was Scrapper Shrapnel, but most called him by the nickname “Scrappy.”  He was an Airedale; and although small, Scrappy was bold -- challenging the roaring planes on the flight deck for territory. The crew had a small life vest and helmet made for him. With Scrappy aboard, the tensions of warfare were eased.

The highlight of the Yorktown tour was meeting three men, one of whom served on the ship and was present for her commissioning.

Hal Syfrett, now 92,  served on the Yorktown

I also met two volunteers who were Marines in WWII.  The man on the right is 90 and served in a rifle company on Okinawa, the one on the left 94 was a fighter pilot.  The right hand gentleman asked if I liked Marines, and when I said I loved Marines he demanded a kiss.  I obliged and kissed them both.  What a naughty pair those two were!

WWII Marines

Perhaps because it was my era, the Vietnam Experience exhibit was the most poignant.  

Recreation of a Camp

As one toured the camp the loudspeakers constantly played the sound of helicopters, landing and taking off, an ongoing backdrop to life in the camp.

Advanced air support provided significantly improved medical intervention compared to prior wars.

The display included a River Patrol Boat from the Brown Water Navy which refers to naval activity on rivers which are often brown from land run off.  The Brown Water Navy was used extensively in the Civil War and revived in Vietnam.

River Patrol Boat

The simplicity and poignancy of the loss of south Carolinians was depicted in the dog tag display.

Fallen South Carolinian Dog Tags

Sadly, the Cold War era submarine is in need of considerable maintenance for which no funding exists.  We toured it and my thought that the submarine service was not for me, even though my height would be an advantage, was reinforced.

The boat tour to Fort Sumpter was pleasant and the historical background was laid out by a lively Park Ranger named Antoine.  There were many school groups on board and he had them engaged.  I thought that if I had had history teachers who brought the stories alive, I would have loved history.  It is only with age that I have developed an interest in the subject, perhaps a feature of perspective???

Fort Sumpter was the most defensible fort in the Charleston Harbor area, serving as part of the coastal defense system. As South Carolina seceded, followed by other southern states, the Confederacy took over most of the forts and naval yards but Fort Sumpter remained in Federal hands.    When Union officer Major Anderson consolidated his troops at Fort Sumpter, the Confederacy demanded his departure and gave him one hour to leave.  When he refused the shelling began and when fire threatened his ammunition and the fight appeared hopeless after 30+ hours, Anderson surrendered.  This marked the beginning of the Civil War.

  

Charleston Harbor was also the site of the first successful submarine attack in history on February 17, 1864, when the H.L. Hunley made a daring night attack on the USS Housatonic, sinking her in shallow waters. The Hunley, built in Mobile, was a privately financed vessel hoping to gain the $50,000 bonus for sinking the Union Housatonic so that blockage runners could enter the harbor.  Although the Hunley survived the attack, she foundered and sank while returning from her mission.

It was not until 2000 that she was brought to the surface.  Her location had been found and documented by a man named Spence in 1970 but no further efforts were undertaken to verify and retrieve the vessel.  In 1995 a NUMA dive team, headed by novelist Clive Cussler claimed discovery of the sub.  Litigation was undertaken regarding competing discovery claims but later dropped.

The raising of the submarine and subsequent restoration is a wonderful story.  Many experts have collaborated including marine archeologists, genetic detectives, genealogists and specialists in the preservation of relics.  The sub was placed in a fresh water tank with electrical current for over a year and is now in a Draino like fluid to remove the calcium encrustation from the iron surface.  There were 8 men who died in the last voyage and their remains were recovered and their likenesses and physical descriptions recreated from the skeletons.  DNA allowed some genealogical identification as well.

The Raising of the Hunley

The Hunley was only 40' long  and 4'3" high 

The still encrusted Hunley

Apart from the commander of the submarine, Lieutenant George E. Dixon, the identities of the volunteer crewmen of the Hunley had long remained a mystery. Douglas Owsley, a physical anthropologist working for the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, examined the remains and determined that four of the men were American born, while the four others were of European birth, based on the chemical signatures left on the men's teeth and bones by the predominant components of their diet. Four of the men had eaten plenty of corn, an American diet, while the remainder ate mostly wheat and rye, a mainly European one. By examining Civil War records and conducting DNA testing with possible relatives, forensic genealogist Linda Abrams was able to identify the remains of Dixon and the three other Americans: Frank G. Collins of Fredericksburg, Va., Joseph Ridgaway, and James A. Wicks. Identifying the European crewmen has been more problematic, but was apparently solved in late 2004. The position of the remains indicated that the men died at their stations and were not trying to escape from the sinking submarine.

Crew member facial reconstruction

On April 17, 2004 the remains of the crew were laid to rest at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.  Tens of thousands of people attended including some 6,000 reenactors and 4,000 civilians wearing period clothing. Color guards from all five branches of the U.S. armed forces—wearing modern uniforms—were also in the procession.

The last funeral of the Civil War