Showing posts with label Adm. Alfred Pride. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adm. Alfred Pride. Show all posts

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Navy Barbers Point Golf Course Intended As Commemoration Of MCAS Ewa Field History

Navy Barbers Point Golf Course Intended As A 

Commemoration Of MCAS Ewa Field History





President Roosevelt, General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz visit MCAS Ewa 1944




David and Myrna Junk at Barbers Point Stables, 2011

Some important historic background on historic MCAS Ewa and 

the Navy's Barbers Point Golf Course

By John Bond  Ewa Historian

The Barbers Point Golf Course is speaking to Consideration F used in evaluating properties for nomination to the National Register: (f) A property primarily commemorative in intent if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own exceptional significance;





The Navy Barbers Point Golf Course, first nine holes, were designed as an historic preservation concept, which was confirmed in a 2011 interview with LCDR Wynn Junk's son David Junk. The BP golf course design was to create a recreational memorialization of historic MCAS Ewa sites, including 1941 Ewa Field.

The entire original 1941 Ewa Field runway with the construction of the golf driving range and first nine holes Barbers Point Golf Course carefully preserved historic features which actually made the course links less than ideal but intended as an historic experience for golfers.




In many cases golf course dirt was placed over the later 1942-45 runways rather than bulldozing them. This served to historically preserve them as well as saved a lot of bulldozing costs as the original construction was done by mostly volunteer laborers who worked when they were off duty.

At around the time the Barbers Point Golf Course was built, the original MCAS Ewa base commander's home had been turned into the golf course club house and golf shop. It was in this home that many famous aviators, including Charles Lindbergh, had dinner and drinks. Despite protests, the Navy had the historic building torn down for a new parking lot around 2005.


David Junk confirmed in an interview in 2011 at the Barbers Point Stables, where he had worked as a stable boy during the early 70's, that his father, who was the Barbers Point Special Services (MWR) officer in charge, that his father fully understood the importance of preserving MCAS Ewa historic sites and the 1941 battlefield runway site as his intention.

Other Barbers Point veteran sources have also confirmed that the first nine holes were an "in house" Navy Special Services project and that local NASBP base tenant commands were asked (required?) to supply "volunteers" to help construct the first nine fairways and greens.




The later second nine holes were done later and were away from the 1941 airfield. They were done by the then hired in-house golf course management working with a contractor. (I have interviewed the past and current Barbers Point Golf Course managers about the course history. I also have other email histories of Navy aircrews of Patrol Wing Two who describe the original golf course project.)

The later second nine hole addition to the golf course received more professional design attention but also preserved key areas of MCAS Ewa history, including the Headquarters area of General Roy Geiger, a USMC aviation pioneer and later commander of Fleet Marine Force Pacific. Also preserved was a runway directly in front of the former MCAS Ewa Officers Club, an historic Mooring Mast Field roadway and Site 5128, a Public Works area. 


*******************************************************************

Interview with David Junk

by John Bond,  Ewa Historian



David Junk was interviewed by Ewa historian John Bond on May 26, 2011 9:30 AM at Barbers Point Stables. He was accompanied by his wife Myrna Junk. Taking photos was Thomas Reese.

Major points about David Junk's father's role as director of the Special Services program at Naval Air Station Barbers point in the 1960's was confirmed, among them:

At the direction of LCDR Winfield Junk, USN Ret, the Barbers Point Golf Course was intentionally designed to incorporate the 1941 Ewa Airfield and later MCAS Ewa with the intention of preserving it as an MCAS Ewa memorial golf course and remembrance of the December 7, 1941 attack by the Naval Air Forces of the Japanese Empire.

Former MCAS Ewa Pride baseball field, still very actively used today by Ewa baseball teams and clubs, was named in honor of then retiring Admiral Alfred M. Pride, US Navy, who was the Captain of the U.S.S. Belleau Wood (CVL-24) during WW-II. 





 John Bond, Myrna Junk, David Junk at Barbers Point Stables, 2011


photos by Thomas Reese






Wynn Junk (top center) and Torpedo Squadron 21, USS Belleau Wood

LCDR Junk was in Torpedo Squadron 21 aboard the Belleau Wood where he was then a combat pilot and later awarded the Navy Cross, among other commendations. He is buried today at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Admiral Pride later became Commander, Air Forces, Pacific Fleet and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

These recreational areas were created by design as a reuse of former MCAS Ewa, which had been closed down in 1952 with Marine aviation transferred over to the present Kaneohe air base location.

David Junk worked at the Barbers Point Stables as a teenager when it was also the site of major local rodeo events which his father actively promoted with national rodeo stars. David later became a champion local rodeo star, steer wrestler and later retiring as a US military veteran. 

The Barbers Point Stables were ingeniously created as a reuse of historic WW-II Wildcat and Hellcat aircraft bunker revetments and still operates today as a quasi-military recreational horse stables.

The first nine holes were created entirely under the direction of “Cowboy Commander” Win Junk with local NAS Barbers Point volunteers from various squadrons under Navy Patrol Wing Two. Great care was taken to preserve the entire 1941 runway which was used for Special Services activities which included go cart races, model airplane flying and horseback riding. 




Ewa Field hangar blown up in 1969 for "Tora, Tora, Tora" action scene







 "Tora, Tora, Tora" scenes shot at former MCAS Ewa 1969


Unfortunately in 1969 the Navy allowed the very historic 1941 Ewa Field hangar, then used as a base gymnasium, to be blown up for a key action scene in the filming of “Tora, Tora, Tora.”  


The later second nine hole addition to the golf course also further preserved key areas of MCAS Ewa history, including the HQ and aircraft parking area of General Roy Geiger, a USMC aviation pioneer as well as National Register eligible site 5128 (public works facility) and "Sailor Road", the single remaining roadway that existed from the 1925 Ewa Navy Mooring Mast Field (Today called Gambier Bay for the WW-II Navy carrier USS Gambier Bay.)

It is also clear that in 1958 when the Cold War Facility 972 (Patrol Wing Two headquarters) was built that key December 7, 1941 sites were not disturbed or built over. The US Navy at that time had not thrown out their base history files allowing later Hawaii Navy real estate “amnesia” and the subsequent NavFac Pacific insider land deals. 

Previously the US Navy actually had a deep respect for their WW-II history and their bases. At Ewa Field US Marines died in combat and MCAS Ewa subsequently produced a large number of ace fighter pilots and Medal of Honor recipients during the WW-II Pacific Campaign.






Ewa Field hangar before it was blown up in 1969 for "Tora, Tora, Tora."



Winfield Higdon Junk  - buried at Punchbowl National Cemetery 



Winfield Higdon Junk Awards and Citations  Navy Cross Awarded for actions 
during the World War II 


The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Lieutenant Commander [then Lieutenant] Winfield Higdon Junk, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane in Torpedo Squadron TWENTY-ONE (VT-21), attached to the U.S.S. BELLEAU WOOD (CVL-24), in action against enemy Japanese forces in the Philippine Islands, on 19 and 25 October 1944. Leading four planes in a raid on enemy shipping in Manila Harbor on 19 October, against fierce enemy opposition, Lieutenant Commander Junk aided in the damaging of a large tanker and a cargo ship. Flying in low over his target in the face of severe anti-aircraft fire during the Battle for Leyte Gulf on 25 October, he pressed home a close-range attack against an enemy Task Force to score a direct and damaging hit on an aircraft carrier.

General Orders: Commander 2d Carrier Task Force Pacific: Serial 0852 (December 22, 1944)
Action Date: October 19 & 25, 1944, Company: Torpedo Squadron 21 (VT-21) Division: U.S.S. Belleau Wood (CVL-24). LCDR Junk was the 118th Navy Pilot to fly a jet and the FIRST Navy Jet Pilot to enter the Air Force's Test Pilot Program in Mojave, CA.

LCDR Winfield H. Junk, USN Retired "The Cowboy Commander"  May 28, 1920 - Dec 16, 1977
Wynn Junk and Torpedo Squadron 21, USS Belleau Wood
               
*The Wynn Junk Memorial Trophy*
Sponsored by the Hawaii Horse Show Association Established in 1978, this perpetual trophy is still in existence and awarded to the Western Performance Horse scoring the most points in Open Trail, Open Western Riding, and Open Stock Horse. After retiring from the Navy, Junk moved to the Windward side of Oahu where he spent many years managing barns, training, showing, announcing, and judging. He opened a Tack Shop in Kailua called "Wynn's" and was Vice President of Hawaii's Quarter Horse Association for many years.


1944-45 MCAS Ewa - the forward area all became Barbers Point Golf Course


Myrna Junk, David Junk and John Bond at Barbers Point Stables, 2011





Historic areas of MCAS Ewa preserved by Barbers Point Golf Course

CRITERIA CONSIDERATION F: COMMEMORATIVE PROPERTIES

A property primarily commemorative in intent can be eligible if design, age, tradition, or symbolic value has invested it with its own historical significance.

Understanding Criteria Consideration F: Commemorative Properties

Commemorative properties are designed or constructed after the occurrence of an important historic event or after the life of an important person. They are not directly associated with the event or with the person's productive life, but serve as evidence of a later generation's assessment of the past. Their significance comes from their value as cultural expressions at the date of their creation.

Therefore, a commemorative property generally must be over fifty years old and must possess significance based on its own value, not on the value of the event or person being memorialized.



Ewa’s Pride Field – Historic Open Recreational Space and Baseball Field



http://barbers-point.blogspot.com/2015/06/ewa-pride-field.html



Alfred Melville Pride, Pioneer Naval aviator and Captain of USS Belleau Wood, WW-II "Devil Dog" Aircraft Carrier



http://barbers-point.blogspot.com/2015/06/Admiral-Pride-USS-Belleau-Wood.html

http://ewafield.blogspot.com/

http://barbers-point.blogspot.com/

http://ewabattlefield.blogspot.com/

http://ewa-battlefield-nomination.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Save-Ewa-Field-270728152937385/

Alfred Melville Pride, Pioneer Naval aviator and Captain of USS Belleau Wood, WW-II "Devil Dog" Aircraft Carrier

Alfred Melville Pride, Captain of USS Belleau Wood,
WW-II "Devil Dog" Aircraft Carrier

Why Ewa's very popular "pride" baseball field is named for a US Navy admiral

by John Bond Ewa Historian - additional research through naval archives


Pride Field was named such when MCAS Ewa closed in 1952 and became under the Navy as Naval Air Station Barbers Point. It may have had a name when Marine aviator and baseball legend Ted Williams played there in 1945 but it is unknown.

However the naming of the baseball field after Alfred Pride is very fitting once you learn the remarkable history behind him and the USS Belleau Wood. It is also quite possible Admiral Pride attended the naming ceremony and perhaps threw out the first game pitch as he was winding up incredible Navy career in Hawaii at the time.

Admiral Pride was a very famous pioneer naval aviator, aircraft-carrier commander and Seventh Fleet Commander during the early Cold War era. NAS Barbers Point was the major supporting Pacific airbase and Pride was then Commander, Air Forces, Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.

The naming is also very likely due to LCDR Wynn Junk, who was then the Barbers Point Special Services director (now known as MWR), who during WW-II was stationed on and had flown aircraft from the USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) when Alfred Pride was the carrier commander. Belleau Wood saw major Pacific war combat and was directly involved in air support of Marine beach landings.

The USS Belleau Wood was named for a famous WW-I US Marine battlefield and Capt. Pride was highly regarded by aviators under his command during WW-II. So by the 1960's honoring Admiral Pride with a popular baseball field seemed like a perfect commemoration by everyone. The NAS Barbers Point side also had a baseball field called "Pointer Field."

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Alfred Melville Pride (1897 - December 24, 1988) pioneer Naval aviator and USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24) The ship's mascot was the US Marine Corp's "Devil Dog" and participated in some of the heaviest air combat of the Pacific Islands war. The USS Belleau Wood received the Presidential Unit Citation and 12 battle stars during World War II.


Pride's career was remarkable for its time, in that he achieved flag rank without having attended the United States Naval Academy or even completing college.



Admiral Pride on the cover of Time magazine as 7th Fleet commander, late 1950's.


Naval aviators of Torpedo Squadron 21 of the USS Belleau Wood


Top center, LCDR Wynn Junk who retired to become 
NAS Barbers Point Special Services officer.


Capt. Alfred Pride, Commanding Officer, USS Belleau Wood

Alfred Melville Pride (1897 - December 24, 1988) was a United States Navy admiral and pioneer Naval aviator, who distinguished himself during World War II as an aircraft-carrier commander.

He served during the late 1940s as Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics and during the Korean War as Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet. Pride's career was remarkable for its time, in that he achieved flag rank without having attended the United States Naval Academy or even completing college. (He did, however, later complete advanced studies in aeronautical engineering.)

A native of Somerville, Massachusetts, he studied engineering at Tufts University in Boston for several years before dropping out to enlist in the Navy during World War I. He served first as a machinist's mate in the Naval Reserve, but was soon given the chance to receive flight training and gain a commission as an ensign. Pride was sent to France, where he served briefly during the latter part of the war.

In 1921 he transferred to the regular Navy and served on the battleship USS Arizona. In 1922 he served on the USS Langley, a converted coaling ship that became the Navy's first aircraft carrier, and in 1922 he was one of the first pilots to land an aircraft on the USS Langley. He also took part in the fitting out of the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga and USS Lexington, as a member of their original crews. While serving on the USS Langley he devised an arresting gear to prevent landing aircraft from going over the end of the deck. Impressed with his inventive genius, the US Navy sent him to study aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Pride continued his work in Naval Aviation testing for the rest of the interwar period. He went on to study aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1931, he became the first person to land a helicopter on an aircraft carrier. From 1934-1936 he headed the Flight Test Section at Naval Air Station Anacostia, Washington, D.C., at that time the Navy's center for aircraft testing.

 While there, an aircraft he was piloting crashed and he was severely injured and the doctors wanted to amputate his left leg but he refused. The injury left him with a permanent limp, but he resumed flying. After the US entry into World War II, he served at the rank of captain as the first commanding officer of the aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood in the South Pacific, conducting air strikes against the Japanese in the major campaigns from Tarawa, Wake and Makin Islands to Kwajalein, Truk, Saipan and Tinian. He was then promoted to the rank of rear admiral and became Commandant, 14th Naval District, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, then transferring to Fleet jobs, including command of Carrier Division 6 and Carrier Division 4.

He returned to the Pacific in 1953, when he received promotion to Vice Admiral and command of the U.S. Seventh Fleet (December 1, 1953 - December 19, 1955). During this time, he was featured on the cover of the Time magazine (February 7, 1955 issue). Pride served as head of the Seventh Fleet until 1956, when he became Commander, Air Forces, Pacific Fleet.

In 1961 he was retroactively designated the ninth recipient of the Gray Eagle Award, as the most senior active naval aviator from July 1959 until his retirement later that year. His other honors include being a Companion of the Naval Order of the US and a member of the National Museum of Naval Aviation's Hall of Honor.

USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24)


Belleau Wood received the Presidential Unit Citation and 12 battle stars 
during World War II.

The ship was named in memory of the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, in which Marines of the American Expeditionary Forces, defeated the German troops after nearly four weeks of intense fighting. According to United States Marine Corps lore, the German defenders referred to them as Teufelshunde (literally, "Devil Dog") and it was this moniker that became the ship's mascot, and one of the nicknames for US Marines (Devil Dog).

Originally laid down as the Cleveland-class light cruiser New Haven (CL-76), she was finished as an aircraft carrier. Reclassified CV-24 on 16 February 1942 and renamed Belleau Wood on 31 March 1942 in honor of the Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I, she was launched on 6 December 1942 by New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey; sponsored by Mrs. Thomas Holcomb, wife of the Commandant of the Marine Corps; and commissioned on 31 March 1943, Captain A. M. Pride in command. During the war, she was reclassified CVL-24 on 15 July 1943.

After a brief shakedown cruise, Belleau Wood reported to the Pacific Fleet, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 26 July 1943. After supporting the occupation of Baker Island (1 September) and taking part in the Tarawa (18 September) and Wake Island (5–6 October) raids, she joined TF 50 for the invasion of the Gilbert Islands (19 November–4 December 1943).

Belleau Wood operated with TF 58 during the seizure of Kwajalein and Majuro Atolls, Marshall Islands (29 January–3 February 1944), Truk raid (16–17 February); Saipan-Tinian-Rota-Guam raids (21–22 February); Palau-Yap-Ulithi-Woleai raid (30 March–1 April); Sawar and Wakde Island raids in support of the landings at Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura), New Guinea (22–24 April); Truk-Satawan-Ponape raid (29 April–1 May); occupation of Saipan (11–24 June), 1st Bonins raid (15–16 June), Battle of the Philippine Sea (19–20 June); and 2nd Bonins raid (24 June). During the Battle Of the Philippine Sea, Belleau Wood‍ '​s planes sank the Japanese carrier Hiyō.

After an overhaul at Pearl Harbor (29 June–31 July 1944), Belleau Wood rejoined TF 58 for the last stages of the occupation of Guam (2–10 August). She joined TF 38 and took part in the strikes in support of the occupation of the southern Palaus (6 September–14 October); Philippine Islands raids (9–24 September); Morotai landings (15 September); Okinawa raid (10 October); northern Luzon and Formosa raids (11–14 October); Luzon strikes (15 and 17 October–19 October), and the Battle of Cape Engaño (24–26 October). On 30 October, while Belleau Wood was patrolling with her task group east of Leyte, she shot down a Japanese kamikaze plane which fell on her flight deck aft, causing fires which set off ammunition. Before the fire could be brought under control, 92 men had either died or gone missing.

After temporary repairs at Ulithi (2–11 November), Belleau Wood steamed to Hunters Point, California, for permanent repairs and an overhaul, arriving on 29 November. She departed San Francisco Bay on 20 January 1945 and joined TF 58 at Ulithi on 7 February. From 15 February–4 March, she took part in the raids on Honshū Island, Japan, and the Nansei Shoto, as well as supporting the landings on Iwo Jima. She also took part in the 5th Fleet strikes against Japan (17 March–26 May) and the 3rd Fleet strikes (27 May–11 June). After embarking Air Group 31 at Leyte (13 June–1 July), she rejoined the 3rd Fleet for the final strikes against the Japanese home islands (10 July–15 August). The last Japanese aircraft shot down in the war was a Yokosuka D4Y3 "Judy" dive bomber which was shot down by Clarence "Bill" A. Moore, an F6F pilot of "The Flying Meat-Axe" VF-31 from Belleau Wood.[1]

Belleau Wood launched her planes on 2 September for the mass flight over Tokyo, Japan, during the surrender ceremonies. She remained in Japanese waters until 13 October. Arriving at Pearl Harbor on 28 October, she departed three days later with 1,248 servicemen for San Diego. She remained on "Magic Carpet" duty, returning servicemen from Guam and Saipan to San Diego, until 31 January 1946. During the next year, Belleau Wood was moored at various docks in the San Francisco area, undergoing inactivation. She was placed out of commission in reserve at Alameda Naval Air Station on 13 January 1947.



David Junk, son of Wynn Junk, and his wife Myrna discuss the history of how the NAS Barbers Point golf course, stables and baseball field came about in the 1960's 
with Ewa historian John Bond.




Navy Barbers Point Golf Course Intended As Commemoration Of MCAS Ewa Field History


http://barbers-point.blogspot.com/2015/06/navy-barbers-point-golf-course.html

Ewa’s Pride Field – Historic Open Recreational Space and Baseball Field