Which brings us to the intersection of brother and sister on a Pacific island, far, far away from home. Sometime between her voyages to Okinawa, Onnie decided to visit Eddie’s grave in the Third Marine Division cemetery on Guam. Father Fidelis M. Wieland, Comfort’s Catholic chaplain, accompanied her to pray for Eddie. Take a second to go back and look at this beautiful, heartbreaking photo. A few days, maybe a week after they knelt at Eddie’s grave, both Onnie and the Padre would be fighting for their lives. One lived, the other didn’t.
That’s the way it was in World War II. Live or die. Luck of the odds. The law of averages.
Comfort departed from Guam on 19 April bound for Okinawa. After taking aboard a full load of casualties, she sailed on the afternoon of 28 April 1945 for Guam. Like all US hospital ships, she was painted a dazzling white with huge bright red crosses and markings that identified her non-combatant status. Unlike other Navy ships, the crew turned on all lights before sunset, making it was impossible to misidentify her at night. Remember that, because it’s important to the story.
A few hours into her voyage, Comfort and her crew were operating in their usual routine. The Navy crew was either manning their stations, or out on the weather deck watching a movie. The Army and Navy surgeons, the Army nurses and medics, and Navy Corpsmen were all extremely busy saving lives in the ship’s three operating rooms. The wounded didn’t care which uniform their healers wore.
About 2000, the last rays of the setting sun gave way to night. In the after action report for the attack, the captain wrote, the night was clear with a full moon and maximum visibility. 3 Comfort was roughly 50 miles southeast of Okinawa when a Japanese kamikaze flew in from the north. The pilot made two passes, flying right by the ship at low altitude. Then, he flew off and lined up for his death run. Diving in at an angle, he smashed into the ship right above a brightly lit red cross on the starboard side.
To the great misfortune of all hands, the ORs were located on the main deck exactly below where the plane punched through the bulkhead. Loaded with aviation gas and a high explosive bomb, the plane exploded with devastating results. The detonation wiped out the surgical staff, killing five of the six Army surgeons instantly. Full tanks of oxygen were in use in the ORs. They also exploded, adding to the destruction. It was truly hell on earth.
The ship’s Navy medical officer died in the blast, as did six Army surgical nurses and ten medics. The surviving Army surgeon and one of the dentists were severely wounded. The ship’s captain was severely wounded and the executive officer had to take command. Seven previously wounded patients were undergoing surgery in the ORs when the suicide plane hit. All died instantly.
The crew reacted to the attack with speed and fortitude. After all, they had a ship to save, and hundreds more wounded patients to care for. They carried out their duties heroically. In his official report, the captain wrote: 4
The courage and skill of both Army and Navy personnel during this emergency were, without exception, beyond praise. … There was no panic on board. The Army nurses did excellent work. The Navy damage control was excellent.
The attack severely damaged Comfort. Although her propulsion systems were intact, the entire area of the ORs was destroyed. The after action report meticulously noted four pages of damage line-by-line. Much of it was severe, such as collapsed decks and crushed bulkheads and extensive buckling to structural components. The wardroom and galley were wiped out. Electrical systems were seriously compromised. It was all too much to fix in the forward area.
Onnie served as an OR nurse. She was just walking through the door to an OR when the kamikaze struck. Severely wounded, she was blown backward against a crumbling bulkhead. Every medical Soldier in the room, along with the patient, was killed in the blast. Onnie spent eight months recovering from her head lacerations and a fractured skull. It took two years before she could resume her work. She died in 2000.
Mission Library Archive
At the moment of attack, Fr. Fidelis Wieland was standing on the starboard weather deck. When the kamikaze’s bomb exploded, he gasped, inhaling superheated air and fumes that seared his lungs. Refusing medical treatment, the gallant Padre administered last rites to the dead and dying. Never recovering from his wounds, he died on 5 May 1945. Fr. Wieland was one of ten Navy chaplains who lost their lives in combat during World War II.
After temporary repairs at Guam, Comfort sailed for home to heal all of her own severe wounds. Once repairs were complete, she sailed back to war. The brave ship and crew returned home for the final time in the spring of 1946. Comfort was quietly decommissioned in April of that year, and the vast majority of her Soldiers and Sailors returned to civilian life.
78 Soldiers and Sailors were counted as casualties in the attack off Okinawa. Although non-combatants, they and their ship paid the ultimate price for victory. Among the casualties were 31 dead. Three were Sailors, 21 were medical Soldiers with the 205th, and seven Soldiers who were patients. 5 All earned the Purple Heart, one of America’s most honored awards.
In World War II, the next of kin for each fallen service person received a special certificate signed by the president. It recognized the last full measure of devotion, saying: He or she stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow, and increase its blessings. Freedom lives – and through it, he or she lives – in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.
Time has done to Comfort’s survivors what the enemy of long ago could not. Hardly any of her brave Soldiers and Sailors are alive as I write these words in 2020. But their spirit lives in our collective memory, and in the USNS Comfort (T-AH-20), third hospital ship to bear that proud name.
Now you know the whole story.
Never forget, Mark
Notes
- Information on the Army-Navy crew was extracted from Too Close for Comfort, page 15, by Dale P. Harper, Trafford Publishing, 2001.
- Op. cit. A full account of this attack can be found in chapter VII, pages 36-39.
- Weather deta extracted verbatim from the official report of the attack by Lcdr A. Tooker, Captain, dated 1 May 1945. The report is located in the Fold3 web archive.
- Op. cit.
- Total number of killed in action is my calculation from the combined figures in Too Close for Comfort and the captain’s report. The Wikipedia page for USS Comfort lists 28 killed in the attack. This is incorrect. 28 Soldiers were killed. I believe that the author of the page did not include the dead Sailors. On page 99 of his book, Mr. Harper lists two Sailors killed, both officers. The official report was completed on 1 May 1945 and listed one Navy officer and one enlisted Sailor as killed in action. Fr. Wieland was still alive and was administratively carried as wounded on that date. He died on 5 May. There is a discrepancy of one dead Sailor between the book and the official report. After my research, I believe the report is correct when Fr. Wieland is added, making three Sailors killed.