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After
he stopped flying, Dewitt Moore served as a officer directing radar
flyers and navigators at the Combat Information Center (CIC), where all
fleet information was organized and implemented.
Two crews
of about 40 alternated duty. At the battle for Okinawa, which meant 48
days of battle stations, 24 hours a day (4 hours on- 4 hours off). the
United States Navy invaded on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945.
Dewitt
says that aboard the Eldorado at Okinawa were 1200 ships crew (including
50 officers) and 13 flag officers (Admirals and Generals) plus about 300
of their staffs. "By sharp planning, the ship looked like a cargo ship
with four king posts, etc. Five hundred yards away in each direction
was a WW II battleship for protection. We were 500 yards off shore. The
'Kamikaze' suicide plane attacks were under full sway. We shot down over
2,000 of them."
"The
Japs", he said "knew where the commands were coming from by triangulation
of radio signals, so we were a constant target. But when a Jap pilot got
close, he dived on the El Dorado. It was too sorry a target for suicide.
So he invariably attacked one of the surrounding battleships".
FDR died
in the middle of the battle, and a memorial service was planned in a hurry
to be broadcast from the fantail of the flagship.
Dewitt
recalls it was to be at 10:00 AM. and practiced it once the night before
after the Kamikazes had gone to bed, while Mrs. Roosevelt conveyed her
desires to NBC in New York, asking for “Faith of our Fathers” to be sung.
"You guessed
it." said Dewitt. "The sirens went off just before 10:00 AM and we
all had to rush to battle stations. So, when the battle was over and I
climbed up about three stories, the service started with me out of breath".
Nevertheless,
Dewitt Moore did sing and he sang beautifully. NBC and other media recorded
it.
The USS
Eldorado once again made it through it a Kamikaze attack. After the war,
NBC sent Dewitt Moore a recording (glass disc) of his song, which unfortunately
was later broken.
See
historical date on theUSS
Eldorado. |
