11.
Oct. 26, 2009

I have just discovered your GREAT website re the USS Hornet (CV-8) - it is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!

My father, James E. "Jack" Byrd, Jr. was a MM2 aboard the USS Hornet (CV8) during the Battle of Santa Cruz (see link below).

His service records indicate that he claimed that his arm was injured when a Japanese plane crashed into the Hornet.  Do you know if there is anyway I might be able to confirm this and also to determine exactly where he might have been stationed (assume fire control?) during battle stations at that time? 

I remember when I was a kid growing up in Phoenix, AZ seeing my dad's wrist watch that he had worn when he hit the water when the Hornet was sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz. The sea water had rusted shut the mechanism, thus freezing the exact time he was in the water, waiting to be picked up by the USS Morris. 

As best I can figure it, two articles from his hometown paper in San Marcos, TX were written sometime after the Hornet was sunk, probably during Christmas of 1942? His second ship was the USS Mobile, which he served on for the rest of the war.

Thanks once again for your research and education efforts in keeping the Pacific War alive for future generations of Americans!!

Kenneth E. Byrd, Ph.D.

10.
Sept. 5, 2009

I continue to see models of the Hornet that suck for accuracy on the net. Could you put something on your site to the effect anyone who wants to build a model is free to contact me and I will make sure they have a collection of photos and sites for you tube footage to enable them to build a near perfect model of the ship? Please include my email address.

Fred Branyan
FREDB1048@aol.com

9.
Apr. 17, 2009

I am stationed at Navy Munitions Command East Asia Division. We are in possession of the bell that is mentioned below (message 7), and would like to have history on it, perhaps even folklore, and how it came to Naval Ammunition Depot Lualualei. (It is now part of Navy Munitions Command East Asia Division Det Pearl Harbor.)

It is to be part of a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of Naval Ammunition Depot Lualualei, and the bell will once again be displayed. Our CO, CAPT Bodenstedt, would be very interested to have more information or photos. The ceremony is very soon, set for May 1, 2009.

I greatly appreciate your time and assistance,
CDR Tera Salo, USN

8.
Mar. 31, 2009

I edited The Two Thousand Yard Stare: Tom Lea's World War II, which was published last October by the Texas A&M University Press. Tom Lea, a combat artist for LIFE magazine, spent 66 days on the USS Hornet (CV-8), mostly off the Solomons, and left her on 21 October, just five days before she was hit and went down during the Battle of Santa Cruz. He learned of her loss days later at Pearl Harbor when he was showing Admiral Nimitz some of his preliminary sketches. When he showed the admiral his favorite one of the Hornet, Nimitz told him: "You lost your ship last night." It was the first he had heard that the ship was gone.

The crew, air group, and the ship meant a great deal to him; he wrote a lengthy account of his time on board and his paintings reflect his feelings. The book devotes more than 45 pages to his time on the Hornet (he went aboard at Pearl Harbor on 16 August 1942 and was high-lined over to the USS Guadalupe (AO-32) on 21 October) and contains some 40 sketches, photographs, and finished paintings of the ship's company and the air group. The book also contains a great story about a lucky coin given him by LCdr. Oscar Dodson, the ship's Communications Officer. We republished the story with some additional sidebars in the September 2008 issue of the U.S. Naval institute's Proceedings magazine.          

I met Tom Lea late in his life when I interviewed him in 1994 in El Paso and wrote a profile for the U.S. Naval institute's Naval History magazine. Because of this, and my background (USMC aviator), Texas A&M in early 2006 asked me to put the book together using Tom's paintings, diaries, letters, photographs, etc. Would very much like to hear from any one who was on board the first Hornet, especially if they remember Tom Lea (or LIFE writer John Hersey, who was also on board with Tom). Am also interested in learning more about Lt. John Quackenbush, Supply Dept., who was lost when the Val crashed into the Signal Bridge during the battle. He and Tom Lea were good friends on the ship.     

The Hornet is special to me, also--and not just because of Tom: I have four traps on her namesake . . . CV-12 . . . off Long Beach, California, in 1964 in a USMC A-4E Skyhawk.    

Many thanks, and . . . Semper Fi,
Mac Greeley

7.
Mar. 15, 2009

Just as a matter of interest about the USS Hornet. I served at the Marine Barracks at Lualualei, Oahu, Hawaii during during 1971 and 1972. The base was called Naval Ammunition Depot Lualualei at the time but I believe the base name as changed since then. The ship's bell of the USS Hornet (1941) was at the main gate guardshack during that time. I always felt a certain pride and sense of history anytime I walked past it.

Greg Gillock

6.
Feb. 7, 2009

My name is Jane Mika and I am the daughter of Harold McClung who served on the Hornet throughout its proud
history. He is still alive and quite well, although his memory fails him at times. He was a chief machinist mate,
and was on active duty for 20 years. He carries in his wallet a photo of a fellow sailor named Harold Couch who
served with him on the Hornet.

According to my Dad, Harold Couch saved his life after dragging him to safety during the bombing which
eventually led to the sinking of the Hornet. He has often wondered what may have happened to Harold Couch.
Does anyone have any information about Harold Couch? Or, perhaps, does anyone know who I could contact to
find out?

I am sure my Dad would love to hear from any shipmates, or families of shipmates.

Love to you all,
Jane Mika