I remember reading about him in Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by Hornfischer. Nice to know there is an appropriate memorial

Thanks for this update. I have read about the heroic stand of the Taffy Three men and ships. Evans was and still is a larger than life example of the best in a man. We ALWAYS men like this. Always.

Capt. Evans was the epitome of bravery, courage, and commitment. There should be more monuments built to honor this MAN among men. There should be a carrier with his name on it. And by the way, why is there no carrier with Halsey's name on it?? @@flparkermdpc

That’s awesome. When did they put up the statue?

​@@matthewnewton8812 Looks like the monument was dedicated Oct 25 2022. It looks beautiful and is a fitting and honorable tribute.

Excellent book, Hornfischer was an excellent author

Thanks. Rare for this great channel, I feel that I have just had a bin full of random and truthful facts dumped over me and I am now bewildered

I second that thought. In fact anything James Hornfischer wrote is must read material. He was also the man behind other author's including Jon Parshall and Anthony Tully who wrote Shattered Sword, the Battle of Midway account that sheds much previously unknown truth on the battle, much misdirected by other books.

I get throat lumps from that book as well. I recommend his book "Neptune's Inferno," about the naval battles of the Guadalcanal Campaign. The U.S. Navy got its butt kicked early on, because the old captains did not trust radar at first.

Agreed, it's a well written book. Gives you some insight into the crews before the battle and more importantly it covers the aftermath and how the survivors dealt with the ordeal trying to survive long enough to be rescued. Can't recommend it enough.

I have a leather folder labelled USS Murzim, ammo supply ship in the Phillipines. One of the crew on this ship was Alex Haley. Author of roots.

Paladin!

Where do you roam...@@garynew9637

Have gun will travel is the basis for VFA-105 “The Gunslingers” they currently fly Super Hornets out of NAS Oceana.

Well said

Embarrassing to have an Aircraft Carrier named after Gerald Ford, a man who was never elected President and pardoned a criminal President!

Google Ernest Evans Muskogee to see article about the dedication of the memorial last October. When my friend, Steve Reagan, realized that there was nothing in his (our) home state to honor Cmdr Evans,it became an all consuming effort to correct this oversight. In the midst of his campaign to raise money, Steve had a heart attack and Covid shut everything down, but he kept the project alive by writing letters, doing mailings to veterans and submitting articles to newspapers. I have a feeling Steve personally donated a lot of the money. He first had to educate people about Commander Evans before they would consider donating.

That's the best recounting of the exploits of Taffy 3 there is!

That would be a very fitting tribute, but personally, I think the lead ship of the new DDG(x) Class ships should be named the USS Ernest E. Evans and that class of DDG's would be called the Evans Class DDG's. He would have an entire class of fighting ships named for him. It would also be appropriate because he commanded a Destroyer, thus a class of DDG's named after him, I think he would appreciate very much. He liked to be at the tip of the spear and in today's surface Navy DDG's are the tip of the spear.

@@Dewydidit It most certainly is.

Stephen Reagan credits that book for starting his investigation into Cmdr Evans life and history.

MacArthur said "I have returned." How tacky. He should have said "We have returned" but from what I can gather everything was about Douglas. 🙄

My uncle was a major in the artillery at Leyte Gulf and my dad was a Seabee there as well. My dad actually ran into his brother just by chance later in the Philippines proper. Some great stories there.

I read that there were 3 attempts to photograph/film Mac landing on the shore. The first attempt Mac stepped directly off the landing boat into in nearly neck high water. The second try he stepped into waist high water. The third and final attempt was when the landing boat landed in slightly below mid-calf high water which became Mac's iconic photograph we know today. This information was from Mac's personal aide who wound up a professor at San Jose State University via his interview in the school's newspaper the Spartan Daily. @@ToddSauve

@@arneldobumatay3702 Apparently there wasn't a lot about MacArthur that was real, other than he was a very good general and wore out the Japanese by landing where they weren't and forcing them to make an arduous march before facing them in combat.

​@@arneldobumatay3702 Doesn't make sense, if he'd have stepped off into neck high water on the first attempt his uniform would have been soaked top to bottom on the third attempt which is the one we've all seen that clearly shows his uniform isn't even wet up to his waist. Yea I'm calling bullshit on that one.

As a former USS Johnston (DD821) crewmember, I agree! There was a a DE named after Ernest Evans, she's been decommissioned also.

Agree as loudly as possible in two dimensions!!! Great comment. We read the same books and authors.😊

for decades historians wondered why kurita turned tail and ran. he never spoke much about it, presumably due to loyalty to those long dead, but later in life he hinted that he knew the war was over and to fight on was a waste of lives, even if they achieved all their tactical objectives. the americans would just come back with more and bigger carriers and the japanese would defend with rocks and sticks. in that sense i think he was 100% correct.

Admiral Halsey got another star after Leyte Gulf. Ernest Evans and many others who saved the day after Halsey's serious error perished without adequate recognition.

One could argue if Spruance was in command during the battle TF34 would take full brunt of Center Force and the US fast battleships (other than Washington and SoDak) would finally get their chance at fighting enemy battleships

Great note. Winston Churchill famously said, "NEVER, NEVER NEVER GIVE UP. That is in the hearts of men of Taffy Three. And yes, the eventual outcome here had as much to do with the ferocious resistance convincing the Japanese commander that he didn't have enough fuel and firepower to defeat these men, and once he started thinking about his own, and his command's survival, and not winning HIS battle, he beat himself. So many battles are lost from within. Most, fact.

"L'audace, l'audace, toujours l'audace."

Agreed! Great show Ward Carroll. Thank you.

Guido was not killed in that action. Halsey called him to the bridge, promoted him 2 grades,telling Guido that it was the bravest thing he had ever seen. AIRMAN machinist mate Bruno Guido and his pilot, Frank O'Flaherty, were returning to Enterprise after bombing IJN Kaga (near miss), during the first phase of the Midway Battle,forming up with several other SBDs were returning to Enterprise, were jumped by Zeros which th we y fought off downing two. No SBDs were lost but O'FLAHERTY and Bruno Gaido's SBD Was hit in the fuel tank and ran out of fuel while heading back to Enterprise and had to ditch, which OFlaherty executed perfectly. Unfortunately they didn't get far enough away from the battle scene. The burning Japanese carriers were closely attended by their escorting destroyers, and one of the lookouts on IJN DD Makijima spotted their red life raft and paused to pick them up. Initially treated well, the interrogation degenerated into beatings. Guido gave them enough plausible information that the beatings stopped. On 6/15 the C.O. of Makijima got orders to execute the US airmen. When he asked for volunteers to do the deeds, NO ONE stepped up to participate. Instead the men were directed to step into shrouds, and accompanied by a 5" artillery round were thrown overboard to drown.Tragic as it was, they were spared the worst the Japanese had in their repertory of torture and abuse. Guido's mama, was inconsolable when he was reported MIA, and she died 2 months later. My mom was Italian, and she was capable of refusing water and nourishment, which she did after she suffered a stroke. She died in a couple weeks of her own volition. I think Bruno's Mother just thought of it as joining her son.

Yes. Really dumb teachers. Very.

Amen. Not only microMISmanaged, but treasonously gave the target info for the next day's bombing so "that the North Vietnamese could evacuate civilians". This was why all the missions encountered heavy flak and missiles' defense. Our pilots were being betrayed by their top commanders. Outrageous.

Thank you, sir. No excuse; will fix it.

That’s great, to have known such a guy.

Thank you, sir. Will take that on and fix it.

Thank you.

I had to remind myself several times that most of the characters in “The Silver Waterfall” weren’t real people, the story was that good. Raven One is one of my favorite aviation novels, right up there with Flight of the Intruder.

Other than getting which English king was at Agincourt. 😉

:)

@@get2dachoppa249 actually, the characters in my novel The Silver Waterfall are real people, the actual men who fought on both sides. Glad you've enjoyed my work, thank you.

My pleasure.

There have been two ships named after Halsey. DLG-23(later changed to CG-23) and DDG-97.

Defiantly?!? I like it. Don't second guess the word!

Yes, indeed. Every book by the late James D. Hornfischer is excellent, and that was one of the best. Neptune's Inferno may be my favorite; it's a fascinating account of the naval battles surrounding the invasion of Guadalcanal.

Thank you sir; will fix.

THE ONLY US Carrier sunk by gunfire in WW2. USS Princeton was the ONLY US carrier sunk by other means by the Japanese during WW2. Impressive.

Creek? That's my first time hearing that. I'm gonna have to research that....very interesting.👍

You are correct! He was born in Shawnee, Ok and graduated Muskogee High School. At one time there was a plaque at the highschool but ignorance of the significance lead to it being given to University of Oklahoma NROTC. After that, I know nothing of its whereabouts.

Thank you, sir, I'll fix this.

The one book I read about this battle says those DD’s & DE’s put up enough of a fight that Kurita was convinced he was up against a much larger force than he expected. Of course, what American aircraft were available were also thrown into the mix. I wonder what he must have felt after the war and finding out what he was actually up against was a remarkably small group of ships.

Glad you enjoyed it

Hozer with a "z".

I had it at my elbow and am ashamed that I did not mention it. Yes, must reading.

I would suggest Drachinifel for another video on the battle

@@JohnRodriguesPhotographer thanks! 😁

What a great addition to the discussion. I'll add my sorrow for your loss, but throw in the joy of his blessing while here as Dad.

@@flparkermdpc Thank you...

Look up The podcast, The Unauthorized History of the Pacific War. They are into their 324th episode of season three. In the first and second series of this podcast the early naval battles are well covered.

Who should have been fired after leading fleet into typhoon.

@@alanholck7995 you are too quick to judge. the fact, alone, that he earned the navy cross indicates that you are wrong.

Thanks Kevin Miller!

My wife is from Dulag, Leyte. The major landings were done near Dulag. My dad was an A&P mech and he was sent to Rawis Airfield after our forces secured the airfield. She took me there when I first went to meet her and the other war memorials on the island. Another notable memorial was Hill 21.

It wasn’t so much that their plans were complex that was the problem, I think. The main issue with Japanese tactics was that their commanders weren’t encourage & trained to take initiative & shift tactics on the fly when they had to. American officers were very good at that. I believe it was Clausewitz and/or Mike Tyson, who noted that everyone has a plan until they make contact with the enemy (or get punched in the face.) 🙂

@@grahamstrouse1165 I think that the points raised by you and me are not inconsistent. In fact, when engaged in complex plans it would be detrimental to have more junior officers engage in independent action because it would make those plans disintegrate even faster. To my point I would add the following examples: 1. Pearl Harbor. I was, by necessity, a complex plan because of the number of sites to be attacked. While the elements of that plan coordinated perfectly, strategically it was flawed because the attack failed to destroy the American carriers, drydocks and/or the existing fuel reserves. I believe that the perceived success of the complex Pearl Harbor plan led the Japanese to adopt that approach in later campaigns. 2. Coral Sea. The Japanese split their forces into two task groups: one to destroy the American Fleet and the other to seize Port Moresby. When the fighting ended in a virtual draw the strategically important Port Moresby landing was abandoned. The tail wagged the dog. 3. Midway. The Japanese sent an entire task force to invade the Aleutian Islands as a decoy meant to drain strength from the American main fleet. Why they though that Nimitz would rush substantial forces to confront the invasion of two strategically unimportant Alaskan islands while leaving Hawaii unguarded is anyone's guess, but they sure could have used the carrier and the accompanying ships at the actual Midway battle. 4. Philippine Sea. The Japanese, wanting to take advantage of the longer range of their aircraft over the Americans, developed a strategy of shuttle bombing in which they would launch planes from their carriers who would not return to the carriers but fly on to Guam where they would rearm and refuel and then attack the Americans on the way back to the carriers. That plan didn't work out because few Japanese planes made it to Guam and those who did found that their airfields had already been attacked and debilitated by Spruance's fleet. Many could not even be refueled and ended their days on Guam. Oops! 5. Leyte Gulf. Japanese forces were divided into three parts for a pincer attack which depended on the success of all three branches. The Southern Force basically capped its own tee by attempting to enter the Gulf through the very narrow Surigao Strait. The Strait was so confined that the Japanese Southern Force had to be split in two and after the first half was destroyed the second half tried to turn around and fell into chaos, mixing with the remnants of the first. Thus, the Japanese lost about 1/3 of its attacking force and although the Northern Force ruse worked perfectly, the whole effort was a failure. Perhaps, if the Japanese had tried to force the San Bernardino Strait with the combined Center and Southern Forces the battle might have proceeded much differently. After Leyte Gulf the Japanese Navy didn't have the resources for complex plans. The Japanese Army did not suffer from the same disease. Its plans were more direct and overwhelming, such as the march down the Malay Peninsula or the conquest of the Philippines in 1941/2.