>>Valley Patriot>>
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Ted Tripp
07/05/06
 METHUEN - Joe Messina was taking a
shower below decks on the aircraft carrier USS Hancock
after his Curtis SB2C Hell-diver returned from another
grueling mission attacking Japanese shipping in Manila
Bay.
Shortly after the ship’s General Quarters sounded,
there was a tremendous explosion just over his head and
men were yelling “fire.” The engine and
remnants of a Kamikaze had just hit the flight deck after
being struck by one of the carrier’s 5-inch
anti-aircraft shells.
Joe got out of the shower in a hurry and went up to see
what was going on.
There were Japanese planes everywhere attacking the U.S.
Fleet. About a half-mile behind the Hancock and off to
the right was the carrier USS Intrepid. A Zero, damaged
by guns from the Hancock, veered towards the Intrepid and
Joe watched as it hit the ship near the side elevator
with a big explosion. Seconds later another plane dove
into her followed by more explosions. The Intrepid burned
for hours and started to list, but eventually recovered
from the attack.
While all this was going on, Joe Messina’s parents
back in Lawrence thought he was stationed in Pearl
Harbor, far from the dangers of battle in the China Sea.
Joe could not tell them where he actually was and what he
was doing, so it was easy to write home that he was
enjoying himself in Hawaii.
It was November of 1944 and Joe Messina was fighting the
war as a radioman and gunner in a Navy Helldiver
somewhere in the Pacific. He was part of Flight 1, a
squadron of 12 planes assigned to Air Group 7 in Carrier
Task Group 38.1, which consisted of four carriers, two
battleships, and various cruisers and destroyers. He
would go on to complete 12 missions, earning the
Distinguished Flying Cross and two Air Medals before it
was all over.
Joe was born in Lawrence in 1923 and attended the Leonard
and Oliver schools, graduating from Lawrence High in June
of 1941. On December 7th that year, Joe was watching a
movie at the Victoria Theater when an announcement was
made that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor. He
ran home to tell his parents that the country was at war.
At this time, Joe was working as a welder at Bethlehem
Steel’s Quincy Shipyard and was subsequently
declared exempt from the draft. Even so, in 1942 Joe
tried to enlist in the Navy Seabees but was turned away
because of the critical nature of his job.
In March of 1943 the Army decided it needed Joe
regardless of his job and tried to draft him. While in
high school, Joe had spent a year in the Citizens’
Military Training Camps – a predecessor to ROTC -
and the Army wanted men with experience. He reported to
the Boston Army Base and promptly told the recruiter:
“I’m not going in the Army. Put me in the Navy
or put me in jail.” Joe had learned through a friend
that the food in the Navy was much better than in the
Army and he was determined to eat well while serving his
country. Fortunately, the Army recruiter relented and
handed Joe over to a Navy officer who signed him up.
Joe was then sent to the Newport, R.I. Naval Training
Station for four months of boot camp. Upon finishing, he
signed up for the “Cooks and Bakers School”
— still thinking about his stomach — but the
Navy sent him instead to Radio School at the Naval Air
Station in Jacksonville, Fla. This was followed up with
Radar School training, and then in December Joe was sent
to Naval Air Gunnery School in nearby Yellowater, Fla.
Here Joe learned how to operate .30-caliber machine guns
in the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive-bomber. He finished the
three months of training with 62 hours of flight time and
an appreciation for naval aircraft.
In January of 1943 Joe Messina was sent to the Naval Air
Station in Wildwood, N.J. to await orders. At this time
the Navy was forming Air Group 7 with the new Curtis SB2C
Helldiver, a far superior plane to the Dauntless. In
April he was assigned to Air Group 7 and was sent to
Quonset Point, R.I. for further training. This is where
Joe met his pilot, Lt. Dan Kalus, whom he would fly with
on all future missions.
The new air group practiced formation flying, navigation,
gunnery and dive-bombing while waiting for deployment.
That came several months later when the aircraft carrier
USS Hancock was launched from the Quincy Shipyard.
Incredibly, Joe had worked on the Hancock as a shipyard
welder before he entered the Navy. While serving on the
ship, he could proudly point out sections he had helped
to build.
The Hancock was an 888-ft long, 27,000-ton fast carrier
with 36 bombers, 36 fighters and 18 torpedo planes. It
had a top speed of 33 knots and a complement of 3000 to
4000 crew and officers.
By August of 1944, the Hancock, with Joe Messina aboard,
had completed a shakedown cruise and was headed to the
Pacific war zone via the Panama Canal, San Diego and
Pearl Harbor. The Hancock would eventually become part of
Rear Admiral Bogan’s Carrier Task Group containing
the carriers USS Wasp, USS Hornet and USS Intrepid.
On October 10, 1944, Joe saw his first action. He was
part of a formation of six Helldivers which attacked
three Japanese cargo ships.
They sank one and set the remaining two on fire. After
Joe returned to the ship, he checked out a .50-caliber
bullet hole in the plane less than three feet from where
he was sitting. The war was now personal.
The next day the Hancock headed for the island of
Formosa. On October 12th, the Helldivers took off to
attack a chemical factory at Karenko, which was
unknowingly defended by hidden 20 mm and 40 mm
anti-aircraft guns. At 500 feet, Joe’s plane dropped
its bombs when all of a sudden the left wing “blew
up in our face.” A 40 mm shell had ripped a
three-foot by three-foot hole in the wing, tearing away
the altimeter, radio and flaps.
The crippled plane shuddered and immediately turned back
towards the Hancock. Reaching the ship, the landing
signal officer noted the plane’s predicament and
called for the fire fighters and crash crews to be alert.
The Helldiver came in fast and caught the third wire. As
soon as the plane stopped, Joe was out quickly and moved
to help Pilot Kalus get away from the plane. Fear of fire
was always a great motivator.
On October 25th, the U.S. Fleet located a large Japanese
task force of 3-5 battleships, 4-6 cruisers, and at least
10 destroyers. Fifty-five fighters, fifty-five bombers
and seventeen torpedo planes took off from the Wasp,
Hornet and Hancock to attack the ships. At 1310 hours
Joe’s flight sighted the enemy.
From 12000 feet Joe’s Helldiver started its decent
through withering anti-aircraft fire towards a heavy
cruiser. At 5000 feet, with the dive flaps closed, the
plane hurtled downwards and was doing close to 400
miles/hr when it finally released its bomb. This was
followed by a huge explosion on the fantail of the ship.
Joe’s Helldiver had scored a direct hit. A moment
later, Joe was able to get a spectacular picture of the
damaged cruiser.
It was this mission which earned Joe the Distinguished
Flying Cross. But the battle was costly for U.S. Forces.
Out of Joe’s original squadron of 12 planes, only
three made it back to the Hancock that afternoon. Some
went down in the attack, some had to ditch in the sea
because they were out of fuel, and some ended up landing
on other carriers. The next day, fortunately, four planes
that had landed elsewhere made it back to the Hancock.
Joe Mes-sina went on to complete 12 missions in the
Helldiver. Then, on November 30, 1944 the Navy deci-ded
that half of the squadron of dive-bombers would be sent
home and the pilots would be retrained to fly fighters.
Kamikazes were becoming such a menace that the Navy
needed more fighter pilots to confront the threat. This
meant that Joe’s combat flying days were probably
over.
He was sent back to the states where he tried to hook up
with some Navy B-24s and later on with another
dive-bomber squadron. But by then the war was winding
down, and Joe was finally discharged in September of
1945. He returned to Lawrence where he took up the floor
covering and carpet trade. For many years he had his own
business, the J.M. Carpet Service.
Several years after the war Joe was introduced to Marilyn
Gallant at a dance held at St. Mary’s in Lawrence.
They were married in 1950 and the two recently celebrated
their 56th wedding anniversary. Joe and Marilyn have
three children, Jay, Richard and Marie, seven
grandchildren and one great granddaughter.
Joe Messina, we proudly thank you for your service to our
country.
Final Note: Joe would like us to know that throughout his
Navy career the food was always great.
He had made the right choice.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The June, 2006 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 8,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover, Methuen, Haverhill,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury and Lowell.
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Valley Patriot Archive
Prior columns by Dr. Chuck
Classroom Credit to Support
Terrorism?
Editorial
1
Trash Talk in N. Andover
Editorial
2
The NY Times & Treason
Actions Speak Louder Than
Platitudes
Tom Duggan's Notebook
Mill City Maulers To Play Stadium
Planning for our Future
The Day of Reckoning in N.A.
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