Kamikaze Destroyer: USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD774)
Jeffrey R. Veesenmeyer
Naval History 3
Bennington, Vermont
2014
First Edition
Copyright 2015 by Jeffrey R. Veesenmeyer
Additional material copyright of named contributors.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
The views expressed are solely those of the author.
ISBN 9781576383834
This work was designed, produced, and published in the United States of America by the Merriam Press, 133 Elm Street, Suite 3R, Bennington VT 05201.
Notice
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the memory of Louis J. Veesenmeyer, and to the shipmates who served with him on the USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD774).
The Veesenmeyer family archives only includes one photo for Louis Veesenmeyer. There is no photo of him in his Navy uniform. This drawing (Photo 1)in Navy Whitescaptures how Louis Veesenmeyer might have looked when home on leave. The drawing was created by Ryan Oswald, a third generation nephew. Oswald has mastered a unique portrait technique. It was drawn with white colored pencil on black paper.
Photo 1
Photo 2
Louis J. Veesenmeyer
On the Cover
The painting of the USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD774) is by Charles L. Waite. It was painted for Thomas L. Dwyer ENS (Capt USN ret.), who served as torpedo officer aboard the Hadley . Dwyer gladly provided permission to include his painting on the cover of this book.
The battle scene depicted is quite accurate. Planes were splashing while shell bursts filled the sky. The four flags hoisted on the halyard is not historically correct though. Those flags were sent up only after the battle was over and the ship appeared to be sinking. Commander Mullaney ordered all flags raised in his last measure of defiance and pride.
That moment coupled with the fury of battle made for a more visual effect when Charles Waite painted the scene. Waite was a 35 year career Navy officer. He entered the Navy in 1942 and first served as Medical Officer for a submarine squadron. His service took him through duty stations in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He taught submariners how to escape from a sunken vessel and helped to create the U.S. Navy Air Decompression tables still used today. He retired as a Rear Admiral. One of his many hobbies in retirement was painting. He achieved the same excellence in art as he had throughout his Naval career.
Acknowledgements
I am so grateful to the shipmates and relatives of the USS Hugh W. Hadley for allowing me to be part of their family. Theyve shared their stories, books, photos, oral histories and friendship. I especially appreciate all the help I received from Doug Aitken and Tom English.
Doug Aitken sent me a banker box of materials for this book. It included the entire ships log, articles from magazines, action reports, a CD of photos and mapspretty much everything he has archived about the Hadley for the past 60 plus years. Id email him a question and hed send back an answer that could fill a chapter.
Tom English forwarded the questionnaire I passed out at the 19 th Hadley Reunion, to shipmates who hadnt attended. Phil Goebel and Leo Helling filled out the questionnaire, sent it back to me and offered to be interviewed. Tom also provided me with the Hadley Reunion mailing list. My letter mailed to the entire Hadley list enabled me to make contacts with shipmate Terry Stokes and many Hadley family members.
Bob Bell and Frank Boffi had videotaped oral histories of their Navy careers. They made duplicate CDs so I could have a copy.
The National Museum of the Pacific War (NMPW) had five oral histories of Hadley shipmates in their archives. Reagan Grau, the Archivist at NMPW provided me with interview tapes for Doug Aitken, Tom English, Frank Boffi, Marty Weibel and Perry Camp.
Lincoln Grahlfs gave me a copy of his book, Undaunted. Its the story of the ocean rescue tug he served on during the War. This was the tug that towed the Hadley back to the states. Grahlfs book provided detailed accounts of the trip back to the States as experienced from the other end of the tow line..
The Hadley Memorial website is a phenomenal resource. Shipmate, Bob Eaton started the site in 1996. This was at a time when many businesses had yet to embrace web site marketing. Eaton was in his 70s when he created and maintained a web presence for his Hadley shipmates. There are over 50 bios of shipmates; photos, maps, articles, reunion updates and the full Hadley roster. Im grateful to Bob Eaton. Sadly, he passed away in 2010. Im hopeful that someone will take over as webmaster. This is a site that should be maintained in perpetuity.
My family was very supportive too! It was my interest in the genealogy of the Veesenmeyer family tree that lured me to the Hadley . My great uncle, Louis Veesenmeyer was one of the men killed-in-action. His niece, Bonnie Wasik provided me with the only known photograph of Louis. She also had the original telegram that was sent to his mother (my great grandmother) notifying her of his death. Bonnie has the letters of condolences sent from Commander Mullaney and Chaplain Edwin Winder. There are a couple of newspaper clippings too, but thats all our family knew of how Louis Veesenmeyer died.
My nephew, Ryan Oswald has a unique artistic talent. He was able to use the photo of Louis Veesenmeyer (in civies) and render his likeness in dress uniform. Whats so unique about Ryans art is that all of his portraits begin as solid black. He draws in reverse, using white colored pencil on black paper. More examples of this technique can be seen at Facebook.com/Ryan Oswald.
My Aunt, Jeanine Horstman, is the only living relative who knew Louis. She was young when he left for the Navy but remembers him as a really good guy. Your dad and grandfather would be really proud of you for writing this book, she has told me. My uncle, James Horstman provided his own library of Pacific War books. These books were wonderful resource tools. He also gave me his Marantz tape recorder. This proved to be invaluable for taping phone interviews with shipmates.
My daughter Jennifer Peters gave the book a thorough proofreading with an English teachers eye for good grammar and punctuation. Good friend Marty Ochs did a final proofreading from a military history buffs perspective.
Joy, my wife was the real trooper. She got to proofread several early drafts, complete with typos, missing words and spelling errors. Her love of readingand of memade the book readable. She allowed me to attend the 2012 Hadley Reunion in San Antonio, while keeping our business going at home. She joined me for a trip to Charleston, South Carolina so I could walk the decks of a Sumner Class destroyer, the USS Laffey. And when I moved my office to the basement for more work space and fewer distractionsJoy just turned up the Food Channel and baked more cookies. I would say to her, Im going down to the Hadley boiler room, and shed wave goodbye.
