A dramatic action photo features PT 122 moving ahead at full throttle somewhere over the Pacific in late 1944 or early 1945. The crewmembers on the bow seem to be taking full advantage of the cool breeze generated by the 122 as she rides high and fast over the water. The boat’s velocity is powerfully illustrated by the wake generated by those Packard engines pushed to their limits.
The photograph does an excellent job of showing the boat from the starboard side, capturing the impressive deck weaponry that the PTs carried into the final months of the war in the South Pacific. Each discovery of a new photo helps me to easily imagine my father riding on the deck as these sailors are doing. How he loved telling those stories of his time on PT 373 when the boat was moving at full speed!
The Konstantin Olshansky, a Ukrainian warship that was commandeered by Russia in 2014 when their military forces annexed Crimea, has been put out of commission as a result of drone strikes launched by the Ukrainians. The vessel has been rendered “not combat capable,” joining a large and growing number of naval vessels belonging to Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Drone attacks, commando raids, and long range missile strikes continue to make the Black Sea an extremely dangerous place for Russian warships.
The Russian invasion which began in February of 2022 was supposed to bring Ukraine to its knees within a matter of weeks. As the war now enters its third year, the determination of the Ukrainian people to defend their country, expel their aggressive invader, and reclaim every inch of their sovereign nation remains undiminished. As a proud son of the US Navy’s WWII Mosquito Fleet, I salute the enormous courage and daring military tactics of the Ukrainian military that is erasing Russia’s Black Sea fleet one ship at a time.
Ukraine’s war is our war. I hope one day soon the diehard Putin-worshippers that currently infect the United States House of Representatives will lose their ability to block the aid that is so badly needed by our Ukrainian Allies. With any luck those vile, ignorant legislators will face the wrath of voters who know right from wrong and believe that freedom beats fascism every day of the week.
An undated photograph from the National Park Service gives an impressive view of the crowded deck of a PT boat from late in WWII. Bristling with weaponry, this boat was likely somewhere in the South Pacific. The photo features the rocket launching units that became a standard part of the PT arsenal as the fight against Imperial Japan became more intense during the spring and summer of 1945.
By the time Red Stahley was assigned to PT 373 in the late Spring of 1945, chances are the boat’s deck looked something like this. The evolution of the PTs into heavily armed gunboats is powerfully demonstrated in this remarkable photograph. As my research continues, it’s always exciting to discover pictures like this one.
Holding the line with ferocious bravery and shrinking resources, the brave Ukrainian Armed Forces are making the brutal Russian invaders pay dearly for every inch of their advance on the Eastern Front. The more difficult and unforgiving their situation becomes, the greater the determination of the Ukrainian people to withstand Russia’s merciless assault and Russia’s plan to wipe their country off the map.
As Putin celebrates his win in Russia’s recent “election,” his image on the world stage increasingly resembles that of his great hero, Stalin. And the stronger that resemblance grows, the more inevitable Putin’s eventual downfall becomes. Ukraine will prove to be his Achilles heel because Ukraine will not be defeated. Putin doesn’t yet know that, and when he does realize it, it will be too late.
The more I learn about the spirit that animates the Ukrainian people and their courageous fighters, the more I see the spirit of the PT crews that helped to bring down the Nazis in Europe and the forces of Imperial Japan in the Pacific. The greater the odds were against them, the harder the PT crews fought their enemies that were armed with greater resources, more firepower, and tactical advantages. And so it is with the entire nation of Ukraine. There is more fight in their troops than the entire Russian military.
Each day that Ukraine remains in the fight against Russia, the more shame they pile on the heads of Republican lawmakers in this the United States who are holding up necessary aid to our allies, allies who are fighting on OUR behalf against the forces of fascism, aggression, and annihilation. Ukraine’s war is OUR war. The next phase of this war will involve one of OUR NATO allies and there will be American boots on the ground. Unless Putin and his monsters are stopped in Ukraine, the US will start paying a price not just for weaponry and tactical resources but in the blood of OUR men and women in uniform.
Anybody who knows anything about WWII knows how this pattern unfolds. I often wonder how many elected Rubicans know the most basic facts about WWII (or even the Civil War, for that matter). Our Congress is currently being led around by the nose by a handful of Republican elected officials whose ignorance of history is only surpassed by their slimy arrogance. Their Republican fealty is to a leader who is a convicted rapist, a bankrupt businessman, and an oath-breaking insurrectionist. Republicans worship a leader who worships Putin. Anyone who does not know that by now has been living under a rock for at least eight years.
It is past time for this nation to wake the hell up. Call your Senators and Representative to push for a resolution of an issue that is vital to Ukraine and our own national security as well. History is watching.
With skill, competence, and deadly accuracy, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have destroyed another vessel in Russians diminishing Black Sea Fleet. The large landing ship, Tsezak Kunikov, has joined Putin’s growing number of naval vessels put out of commission by the resourceful, resilient Ukrainians.
Despite growing shortages of vital supplies and increasing pressure from the Russians, the Ukrainians are hanging on and fighting back with everything they have against a savage invading oppressor determined to do everything possible to wipe their country off the face of the map. With or without the foreign aid they so desperately need, the Ukrainian people will not stop defending their homeland and all they hold dear. Their unbreakable spirit and fierce courage are an inspiration to all freedom loving people in the world.
The shameful, unforgivable delays on American aid to Ukraine by the Putin-loving Republican toadies in Congress is inexcusable and an absolute disgrace to our nation. It is a betrayal of the core values our country stands for and an insult to the brave men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. As the son of a distinguished WWII navy veteran, I am offended beyond words to see our elected leaders betraying a loyal ally in their time of greatest need.
If you are an American citizen, I can’t urge you strongly enough to contact your representatives in the House and the Senate to tell them to wake the hell up and ensure the passage of the pending legislation in Congress to free up the aid that has been designated to help Ukraine. Putin is a crazed despot who murders his own people and has no reluctance to murder the people of Ukraine.
Do we really need to see further evidence of this when he has murdered his main political opponent, Alexei Navalny, in a remote Russian prison? Does any person with half a brain believe that Putin won’t attack a NATO ally next, bringing American forces into a wider war?
Less than four (4) months after PT 109 was rammed and split in half by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri in early August of 1943, and the dramatic events that followed the horrific night in the waters off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, Lt. John F. Kennedy requested another command.
Instead of taking a desk job or rotating out of active duty, Kennedy became the commanding officer (CO) of PT 59. The boat that was now Kennedy’s to command was in bad shape and in need of major repairs. With frenetic energy and a keen awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of PT boats, Kennedy transformed the 59. Instead of being weighed down by oversized torpedoes and depth charges, the boat became a sleek, heavily armed gunboat, bristling with deck weapons and a higher level of maneuverability than the average PT boat.
PT 59 after her refurbishment by JFK
On November 1, 1943, PT 59 and another PT boat took part in a daring rescue mission on Choisul Island’s Warrior River in the Solomons where a detachment of Marines was pinned down and vastly outnumbered by Japanese troops. Both PTs drove onto the beach of the river. With their deck guns firing away, and sailors jumping onto the sand to assist the beleaguered Marines, ten of those Marines were pulled onto PT 59. The boats made their escape while continuing to pour heavy fire on the enemy.
Onboard PT 59 on that fateful day were five (5) sailors who had served with JFK on PT 109. Their desire to serve on the crew of the 59 under their former skipper is a powerful testimony to the courageous leadership that Kennedy had exhibited and continued to demonstrate during his time on active duty. On their return to the base, one of the badly wounded Marines–that Kennedy had placed in his bunk– died before the 59 made it back. The crew reported that Kennedy was inconsolable and wept openly at the loss of this young Marine from Illinois.
Two years later, the in late winter and Spring of 1945, Red Stahley was a part of PT Squadron (Ron) 27 based at Samar in the Philippines. His assignment to PT 373–a boat that had already made a name for itself by being the first US Navy surface vessel to enter Manila Bay–would bring Red and his considerable radio skills onto a heavily armed, powerfully mobile PT boat that followed the design of PT 59. Red’s boat was fitted out for close-in fighting with an entrenched enemy concealed in dense jungles located on shallow rivers. And in July 1945, that is exactly where PT 373 and PT 359 found themselves. Their mission was to take out a heavily defended enemy communications station.
It became a night of terrifying fighting. It took the life of a fellow sailor on PT 359–the only married man among the crew.
Like JFK, Red Stahley knew well what the PTs could do. And like JFK he did his duty, going directly into harm’s way and never counting the cost. I can still not fathom the sheer bravery and valor of those young men.
PT 373 in Manila Bay in early spring 1945,
Post Script: John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a patriot, a war hero, and he lived a life of service to his country–in the military and as an elected official. He deserved better than to be publicly executed while in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November of 1963. His death was a result of a coup that involved high level officials from the US Military and Intelligence Services among other right-wing fanatics who were determined to murder him. If this sounds personal, it most certainly is. The volume of concealed materials that have been and are being declassified is–finally–filling in the gaps in a story that is long overdue to the American public.
You don’t have to take it from me. Do a little bit of homework and, if you’re brave enough, and you will quickly learn that the Warren Commission Report is pure, unrefined bullshit. Lee Harvey Oswald was made the fall guy and Jack Ruby was a pawn of organized crime and shadowy American intelligence organizations. And that is just for starters. The evidence that has already emerged is just too strong to refute–and it is in the public record.
So what? You may ask. It was too long ago. Why stir things up now?
How about the loss of millions of innocent Vietnamese people? How about 55,000 dead Americans in Viet Nam? JFK was determined to pull American advisors OUT of Viet Nam and to seek peace with the Soviet Union and Cuba in his second term. His first tentative moves to end segregation and promote civil rights angered reactionary bigots in positions of power, but Kennedy persisted. The right-wing fanatics and the war mongers in government and business decided that JFK got in the way of their plans. So he had to go.
Is this personal for me? As the son of a PT veteran whose PTSD lasted until his dying day, you can bet it’s personal as hell. The loss of JFK went deep for so many of us, especially those of us whose fathers served with him on the PT boats of WWII.
A photo from the archives of PT Boats, Inc. that features PT 383 accelerating across a wide open sea. With her bow riding high and a frosty wake trailing behind, this shot captures the churning, dynamic movement of a PT across the water’s surface.
It is always a thrill to come across photos like this one because I can so easily picture my father on board, either on deck or at work on his radio deep in the boat’s interior. The agile grace of the PTs and their ability to throttle up quicky were things that Red Stahley loved about his time in the Mosquito Fleet.
As the new year of 1945 arrived, my father finished up a very brief visit home to see his parents and family in Philadelphia and was soon enroute to California. From there, he would ship out for the South Pacific where the war against Imperial Japan was grinding as the war moved every closer to the Japanese homeland. While the tide had turned in that theater of WWII, there was still plenty of hard fighting ahead for the Allied Forces.
Red Stahley would be assigned to PT Boat Squadron (Ron) 27, based in the Philippine Islands. He probably suspected that the fighting that lay ahead would be every bit as fierce as the fighting he had experienced in the Mediterranean. And that suspicion would soon be confirmed in ways he could barely imagine.
January of 1945 was seventy-nine years ago. Red Stahley had just turned twenty in December of 1944. Before his twenty-first birthday in December of 1945, he would be a seasoned Navy veteran who had tasted the terror, violence, and exhaustion of combat. The emotional scars of that experience would haunt him for the rest of his life.
In the undated photo above, a PT in camo throttles up across the water.
The Ukranian Armed Forces have again reduced Russia’s Black Sea fleet by destroying another vessel, the Novocherkassk, The warship was hit by Ukrainian planes in the Crimean port of Feudosia. The destroyed ship had been used for the transport of tanks and armored vehicles as well as well as Iranian-made drones. The Novocherkassk was also used for transporting troops.
The elimination of this Russian warship gives the Ukrainians greater access to the shipping lanes of the Black Sea–no small accomplishment. Despite suffering losses on its eastern front, the fighting spirit of Ukraine remains resolute and undiminished.
It is time for the entire free world to acknowledge that Ukraine’s fight is the fight of the entire free world. For almost two years, the courageous people of Ukraine have held their own against a determined, unscrupulous adversary that is much larger, better armed, and laser focused on the annihilation of Ukraine itself. The war that Russia thought would take two weeks will soon be entering its third year.
Russia’s maniacal dictator, Vladimir Putin, has made it clear that his plans for conquest extend far beyond Ukraine. We should take him at his word. Supporting Ukraine means supporting the core values of democracy, freedom, and civilization itself.
Ukraine’s fight is our fight. It is a fight we cannot afford to lose. Every dollar invested in Ukraine’s military has a multiplier effect that goes far beyond any financial calculation. For pennies on the dollar, our nation helps to build a wall that is well worth building–a wall to contain the murderous, tyrannical designs of a despot whose rampant insanity is killing even more of his own people than he is killing in Ukraine.
Let’s begin 2024 on the right foot and give our allies in Ukraine what they need to succeed. No more delays. The Ukrainian Armed Forces have demonstrated that they know how to win–they just need the resources to do it.
Glory to Ukraine!
Ukrainian soldiers on the Eastern front move into position
It was 99 years ago on December 20th that my father was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to George F. Stahley (my grandfather seen here holding his son) and my grandmother, Mary Agnes Young Stahley. He was the only child of his adoring parents. Like so many young men of his generation, he eagerly enlisted in the United States Armed Forces to fight the forces of fascism that were already on the march in Europe and Asia the day this photograph was snapped in 1925.
Upon entering the US Navy in 1943, he volunteered for service on the PT boats which, like service on submarines, was considered to be highly dangerous and involved risks that went far beyond that of other assignments. Every sailor on a submarine or a PT boat was there because they freely opted to be there, fully aware of the level of risk for which they signed up.
From my years of research on my father’s service and the fortuitous opportunity to speak with other PT veterans who served with him during 1944 and 1945, what I’ve learned represents only a minute fraction of what he experienced during his days in the Mediterranean and the South Pacific. The accounts provided by those vets and declassified WWII documents (thanks again, Dave!) have filled in some of the gaps, for which I am deeply grateful. Still, those gaps in knowledge feel as deep as the Grand Canyon.
When my father passed away on November 13, 1999, a few weeks before his 75th birthday, I was only beginning to scratch the surface of the more harrowing events that marked his fraught, harrowing days on the PT boats as well as the PT bases where enemy planes routinely strafed. In one of our final conversations before his death, I told him–again–how proud of him I was and that I would write about his valiant service in the Mediterranean and the South Pacific. With a faint smile and a nod, he let me know that he understood. At that point, he was very near the end; I can only hope that I eased my father’s passage from this life to the next.
On the anniversary of his death, I remember him with bottomless gratitude, love, and an admiration that grows more immense with each passing year. So I will raise a glass and salute his memory and remind myself of all that I received from him. It feels almost impossible to believe the coming year of 2024 will mark the 100th anniversary of his birth.
PT Boat Red 