We should all live so long — and well
January 31st, 2012 | Amphibious operations Historical Marine Corps Navy Photos Seabees SEALs SURFLANT World War II | Posted by Bill McMichael
Reaching 100 years of age is remarkable enough. But the Navy made it extra special for a former Navy Seabee Dec. 2.
Retired Capt. James R. Mims, the nation’s oldest living Seabee, was made an honorary member of Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 by the unit’s top sailor, Command Master Chief (SCW) Johnny DeSarro, during Mims’ 100th birthday party, held at the Oaks Country Club in Richmond, Va.. Mims also received a U.S. flag flown over the Capitol building, a birthday greeting from President Obama and a very cool commemorative paddle.
Retired Capt. James R. Mims stands with Command Master Chief (SCW) Johnny DeSarro (left) and Senior Chief Builder John Woolston, PHIBCB 2 Operations Chief, at his 100th birthday party after receiving a commemorative paddle custom-designed by Woolston. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jonathan Pankau
Mims has experienced some remarkable moments in his life. In DeSarro’s words, Mims “served at Okinawa during World War II, swore in the first 25 frogmen, known today as Navy SEALs, and met and spoke with Adm. Ben Moreell” — the father of the Seabees.
DeSarro wanted to hear more about all that, so he returned to Richmond Dec. 19 to meet Mims at his hangout — a local restaurant called Joe’s Inn, where Mims goes every Friday for a meeting of the Bon Air Rotary Club — where he has a 56-year perfect attendance record.
Amphibious Construction Battalion 2 Command Master Chief (SCW) Johnny DeSarro and retired Navy Capt. James R. Mims sits down for breakfast at Joe's Inn, a local Richmond restaurant, during a Dec. 19 meeting discuss his history and experiences as the world's oldest Seabee. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jonathan Pankau
Naval Surface Force Atlantic released the Mims story on the day after the start of Bold Alligator, the largest Navy-Marine Corps amphibious exercise in a decade. The timing was splendid because Mims had some stories to tell about one of the biggest amphibious assaults in history.
Mims was a Civil Engineer Corps cargo officer during that mission and his task that day was to rendezvous with the main Seabee camp, according to the story, by SURFLANT Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class (SW/AW) Jonathan Pankau.
“We rode on a (Landing Ship Tank) from Saipan to Okinawa in 1945 on an Easter Sunday morning,” Mims told Pankau. “There were 1,400 ships in that operation and we had some Marines in an Army DUKW (a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck used for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks) heading for the east side of the island,” said Mims.
Their mission was to trick the enemy by drawing fire to their location on the eastern coast of Okinawa and to delay Japanese reserve troops, according to Pankau. The main landing force assaulted the beach on the western coast that Easter Sunday, supported by the 2nd Marine Battalion’s effective decoy tactics.
“About halfway to the shore we started drawing fire so the LST driver turned around to lay down a smoke screen,” Mims told Pankau. “We repeated this several times to draw the fire away from the west. The Army guy driving the LST wouldn’t go all the way to the beach so we had to jump out and wade through the water while the enemy was laying down strafing fire by us.”
Exhaustion set in after two days of combat without sleep and Mims found an abandoned fox hole to take shelter in. As he looked up from his fox hole, a formation of Japanese fighter planes passed overhead.
“I don’t know whether they were kamikazes or what but they flew so low I could see the first pilot’s face. I’ll never forget the smile on his face,” Mims told Pankau.
Earlier, Mims had a brush with another seminal moment in naval history: The forming of the Navy SEALs.
Today’s SEALs trace their lineage to a group of volunteers selected from the Seabees in the spring of 1943, according to Naval Special Warfare Command. Mims was the enlisting officer for the first 25 frogmen, according to the story.
“I was at Camp Perry at the time and a lieutenant said to me ‘I want you to go out there and swear in those frogmen.’ And so, as a junior lieutenant, I went out there and swore them in and then I said, ‘What’s a frogman?’ Turns out they were the beginning of the SEALs.”
Mims had no idea that he swore in the original 25 frogmen until he saw a familiar name in an obituary in the Richmond paper naming one of the first frogmen. He later saw them in action and described the night operation he witnessed, where the frogmen pulled onto the beach in rubber rafts. They performed reconnaissance missions and set up targets for bombing and troop placements. Mims laughed, Pankau wrote, as he recalled the sign they left up for the Marines that said, “What kept you?”
DeSarro said that making a Mims an honorary member of the unit was special.
“We (Seabees) are fiercely proud of our heritage and we are very protective of anything that ties us to our history,” DeSarro said. “Making the paddle for him ties us back, in a big way, to our legacy and our heritage.
“Everything we do as Seabees, we do to live up to the expectations of our predecessors,” he said. “We bear the burden of carrying on the Seabee tradition that men like Capt. Mims laid out before us.”
Navy women meet in Norfolk
October 18th, 2011 | Navy Norfolk Naval Station Photos SURFLANT Women in the Navy | Posted by Bill McMichael
SURFLANT hosted an all-day symposium for Navy women today in Norfolk, an event “designed to provide an interactive forum addressing the challenges that affect women in the surface force.”
An eight-women panel has an interactive discussion with audience members attending the 2011 Surface Force Women's Waterfront Symposium held on Naval Station Norfolk. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Kayla Jo Finley
The idea was to provide a forum for women in the surface force and other communities along with discussion opportunities and interaction with successful surface force role models, and simply to network. Breakout sessions were held on topics ranging from child care, women’s policy and mentorship, as well as with officer and enlisted detailers.
The keynote speaker for the 2011 Surface Force Women's Waterfront Symposium was Vice Adm. Carol Pottenger, deputy chief of staff for capability development, NATO Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, shown here giving opening remarks. // U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Kayla Jo Finley
Fired CO speaks out
August 9th, 2011 | Commanding officers Ethics Facebook Loss of confidence Navy SURFLANT | Posted by Bill McMichael
The officer fired Aug. 5 as commander of Beachmaster Unit 2 posted an oblique defense Sunday in the Facebook comments section following the story about his relief posted on navytimes.com.
Oblique, because Cmdr. Robert M. Brown said not a word about being fired or the circumstances under which he was fired, instead posting the famous “man in the arena” quote from President Theodore Roosevelt.
Brown’s post had attracted a couple dozen comments, most of them expressing support of Brown, and 25 “likes” as of Tuesday afternoon. He had earlier declined to comment until the investigation is complete.
Naval Surface Force Atlantic commander Rear Adm. Dave Thomas relieved Brown as commander of the unit, based at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va., during an investigation into allegations of various ethics violations to include misuse of government resources and the improper disposal of government equipment.
Brown was the 16th CO fired in 2011 — one short of the total for all of 2010.
Home for Dad’s day
June 18th, 2011 | Ballistic missile defense Homecoming Libya Maritime operations Navy Norfolk Naval Station Personnel Photos Ships SURFLANT The Med Tomahawk | Posted by Bill McMichael
The destroyer Stout came home to Norfolk Saturday following a Med cruise in support of theater security operations and ballistic missile deterrence …
Tugboats move the destroyer Stout into its berth pierside at Naval Station Norfolk after returning from a six-month deployment to the Med. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Lolita Lewis
… and just in time for Father’s Day:
Fire Controlman 2nd Class (SW) Gary Richard greets his family and meets his newly adopted daughter for the first time after returning home from a six-month deployment onboard the destroyer Stout. // U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Lolita Lewis
Stout took part in the coalition strikes on Libyan forces that began in mid-March. Stout was the first ship on station and fired multiple salvos of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan air defenses, surface-to-air sites and communications nodes, along with the destroyers Stout and Barry, the attack submarines Providence and Scranton and the guided missile submarine Florida, according to the Navy.
The crew also had to deal with the March 1 firings of its commanding officer and command master chief., and a junior officer, six chiefs and one petty officer were also kicked off the ship. The disciplines centered around what 6th Fleet called a “pervasive pattern of unprofessional behavior” among members of the ship’s crew related to misbehavior in Mediterranean liberty ports.
Sea spray and sea trials
June 15th, 2011 | Amphibious operations Gator Navy LPD-17 Navy Photos RHIB San Antonio class Ships SURFLANT | Posted by Bill McMichael
SURFLANT and the San Antonio wanted to tout what officials are calling a successful second phase of sea trials for the much-troubled ship, so they invited me and five other reporters and photogs to ride out from Rudee’s Inlet in Virginia Beach aboard an 11-meter RHIB Wednesday morning and conduct interviews on board as the amphibious transport dock ship sailed back to Norfolk.
The sea state out where San Antonio was steaming was about a 2, a sailor told me. But at the inlet, he said, it was more like a 4 or 5. It made for an interesting 7 a.m. transit, as you can see:
The above sea spray obviously nailed me, but I was lucky; due to some strange twist of fate, the guys on the port side of the boat were getting the worst of it — there were some really wet clothes, notebooks and cameras when we arrived.
I didn’t catch the boat captain’s name, but I got the sense that he loves this stuff. JUNE 17 UPDATE: Got his name: It’s Ensign Dave Lopez, the boat officer. Thanks, Dave!
San Antonio, coming into range. // Photo by Bill McMichael
All turned out well. And it also seems to be turning out nicely, after years of problems, for the San Antonio. Check out the story here.