Donald Gary enlisted in the United States Navy in 1919 as a young man. Twenty-two years later, he was about to retire when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack shocked the nation. He decided to delay his retirement, and, in 1943, he received a commission as Lieutenant Naval Engineer. This meant he was responsible for keeping the mechanical systems in a naval warship working.
In 1944 he was assigned to the aircraft carrier, the USS Franklin. This warship was the fifth aircraft carrier built in the U.S. after the start of the war. The ship, with nearly 4,000 men, 108 war planes and steel armor on its hull that was four inches thick, looked formidable. Soon the USS Franklin, or Big Ben as the sailors nicknamed the ship, saw action in the Mariana Islands, Iwo Jima and Leyte Gulf.
On March 19, 1945, the USS Franklin was ordered to take up a position 50 miles off the shore of Japan to fly bombing raids over the country. No other big U.S. warship had ever attacked the island from such close proximity.
For several hours the thousands of men on board the USS Franklin were busy manning the anti-aircraft guns, launching and landing aircraft, and fueling and arming the planes with large bombs.
While most of his crew manned battle stations, Captain Gehres ordered a portion of his sailors to go below decks and eat a meal in the mess hall. They would need food and rest to be at their best.
The clouds were thick and low. The USS Franklin was relying on its radar to detect any enemy planes flying towards them. Around and around the radar dishes rotated on top of the tower of the aircraft carrier. They had the most advanced radar technology in the world. Several officers on the bridge scanned the skies incessantly looking for enemy planes.
Cascading Disasters
Somehow a Japanese “Judy” dive bomber flying through the low clouds was able to avoid detection. It took the ship by surprise. The alert anti-aircraft batteries which lined the sides of the ship didn’t even have time to open fire.
The Judy swooped down out of the sky and flew over the length of the ship. Thirty-one war planes fully fueled and armed with nearly 16 tons of bombs were on the flight deck preparing to take off. Hundreds of sailors were assisting the planes.
The Judy dropped the first of its two 500-pound armor-piercing bombs at midship. It pierced the flight deck and exploded, setting off a series of secondary explosions among the aircraft waiting to take off. The smoke and the flames from the explosions shot up hundreds of feet into the air. The Judy dropped its second bomb on the aft of the aircraft carrier. Once again, this bomb pierced the deck and also the levels directly beneath it. It exploded in a flight hangar with another 16 fully armed and fueled war planes. The secondary explosions rocked the ship. Pandemonium broke out. Some airplanes carried missiles which shot off in different directions killing many. In less than a few seconds the well-run, state-of-the-art aircraft carrier had turned into a towering inferno.
Hundreds of sailors died in the initial blasts, a great many were wounded from the flames and smoke and unable to help themselves. Random secondary blasts were going off all the time as the fires reached fuel tanks and storage units filled with ammunition. Many sailors, to avoid the fires, were forced to leap into the sea.
The training of the sailors who were uninjured kicked in and they manned their firefighting stations. Powerful hoses shot ocean water at the burning parts of the ship. They seemed pitifully small to put out the horrific flames.
Captain Gehres surveyed the damage and with heartbreak thought about giving the order to abandon ship, but the thought of all the men trapped beneath the decks with no way to get out stopped him. He decided to try to fight the fires even though it seemed hopeless.
The escort ships, USS Pittsburgh, USS Santa Fe, USS Miller, USS Hitchcock, USS Hunt and USS Marshall, drew near to the burning aircraft carrier to help. Some off-loaded the wounded, some rescued the sailors that had leapt into the ocean, and some trained their fire hoses on the burning ship to keep the fires from spreading.
The engines of the aircraft carrier had been knocked out and no longer provided power to the ship. The interior of the ship was filled with fire, superheated smoke, wreckage and a palpable darkness. Somehow the men who were still alive had to be rescued before the flames overtook them. Secondary explosions were still sending flames, smoke and flying bits of metal through the ship.
Escape
Lieutenant Gary was on the deck of the ship when reports came to him of 300 men trapped in the mess hall many levels beneath the flight deck. Fires were raging all over the interior of the ship and the men had no way out. Because of his work as a naval engineer, he knew of a possible way to reach the men by climbing down various air shafts. So, ignoring the danger to himself, he climbed down through these airshafts with flames shooting all around him and explosions blasting the ship nearly apart. The heat was intense and the darkness near pitch blackness. Down into the belly of the ship he climbed until he reached the men. When he reached them, he had to calm them because they were in a state of near panic. He led a group out, climbing up the air shaft, and then returned two more times until the last man was led out of the messing compartment to the deck of the ship. He then made several more trips to the lower decks of the aircraft carrier to guide men out. Also, he was instrumental in getting one of the three big boilers of the aircraft carrier working again so the ship could steam out of enemy waters.
The fires raged on board the USS Franklin for hours before at last they were subdued. By the valiant efforts of all on board, the ship had been saved. It was a charred shadow of its former self, but it could still sail under its own power. It would sail out of the war zone and back to the states. Over 800 brave sailors had perished in the attack that day.
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life and beyond the call of duty ... ” Lieutenant Gary would be awarded the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Gary received the Medal of Honor from the hands of President Harry Truman. He well deserved it. The men he saved owed their lives to his bravery and clear thinking.
The Ultimate in Selflessness
Whenever I hear a story of someone selflessly coming to the rescue of others, it makes me think of the Lord Jesus. He came to this world and went all the way to death. His body lay in the earth for three days and nights before He rose from the grave.
Why did He give His life? He gave it so people like you and me, held by the powers of darkness, could be set free. Sin had trapped and cornered us all. We had no way to escape the power of death that Satan held over us.
In spite of the unspeakable cost to Himself, the Lord Jesus went all the way to the cross so He might save sinful men and women. Before He was crucified, He knew what was going to happen. He might have requested legions of angels to deliver Him, but He was not willing to do this. He suffered on the cross so men and women who deserve hell for the sins they have done might have a way to escape. Otherwise every one of them would have perished in the darkness of hell.
The Ultimate Honor
Lieutenant Gary received the Medal of Honor for the gallant bravery he exercised on the behalf of others. What did the Lord Jesus receive by going down to the death of the cross for all mankind? Through His death, when He entered the fire of God’s judgment against sin, He won the forgiveness of sins for all those who believe. All who come to repentance and faith will see His face in heaven. In heaven they will be with Him forever. A verse from Isaiah says, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.” Someday all those who have believed will be gathered together in heaven and the Lord Jesus will see them and be satisfied that all the suffering He went through to redeem them was worth it.
The 300 sailors who were led to safety from the messing compartment knew they owed their lives to Lieutenant Gary. All the countless people who make it to heaven will know that they owe all the blessings of eternal life to the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did at the cross. Will you be one who makes it into heaven through faith in Christ? If you trust Him, for all eternity you will want to sing the praises of the One who loved you and gave His life for you.
More important lessons are covered in another harrowing sea tale — Submarine SOS.