They Live Among Us Frank Furia Twenty-year old Seaman First Class Frank Furia was about 90 feet above the sea on the morning of December 18, 1944. His ship, the newly commissioned USS Monterey, CVL-26, an Independence class aircraft carrier was plowing through the biggest seas he had ever seen. Frank was at his watch station, at the top of the mast, where he was looking for Japanese planes and ships. His carrier was part of Admiral William Bull Halsey s Big Blue Third Fleet, chasing the fleeing Japanese Combined Fleet east of the Philippines. He did not know it yet, but he was about to be witness to history, the power of one of the very strongest tropical Typhoons ever recorded, and the unbelievable devastation it was to visit upon Halsey s 170 ship fleet. The USS Monterey was not one of today s super carriers, but was built on the frame of a light cruiser, only 622 feet in length. It carried 34 aircraft. That morning, to his profound shock, Frank saw the USS Spence, a 376 foot long first line destroyer already fully capsized, bottom up, drifting past on the port quarter as giant waves and screaming wind and rain tried to blow him off his perch. The Spence was crewed by 276 men, and all but 24 of those men rode their ship to the bottom shortly after Frank saw them passing that morning. And the Spence would not be the last ship to disappear beneath the waves that day. Frank doesn t remember being scared then, but he does remember being scared later as the storm got even worse, with mountainous waves reported at 70 feet roaring by and crashing over the flight deck of the Monterey. It became so bad he was pulled from his perch as the waves threatened to wash away anyone and anything above decks. But there was a great deal more trouble in store for the USS Monterey. About this time the Skipper of the Monterey, Captain Stuart Ingersoll, trying to keep his ship afloat sent this message to the fleet, Cannot hold present course all planes on my hangar deck are on fire. The hangar deck of the Monterey was now engulfed in a cauldron of burning aircraft fuel. Planes had broken loose from their tie-downs and were careening around, bursting into flames as their fuel stores exploded. The crew were frantically trying to jettison ammunition as the flames from the burning aircraft were sucked down air intakes to the lower decks and fires were breaking out below. The conflagration threatened the entire ship. As it happens, a young Naval officer by the name of Gerald R. Ford was aboard and he led the damage control parties that fought that blaze. That is when tragedy struck much closer to home for Frank. Some of the burning fuel leaked down below the hangar deck and exploded in another compartment, instantly killing a close friend of Frank s. Meanwhile, Frank was doing his part, ready to take his shot on the hoses with the fire fighting parties. 1
By now, three of the Monterey s four boilers were down. The thick black, oily smoke had been sucked down into the ship s engine and boiler rooms. One engine room sailor was already dead and another thirty-three were down with asphyxiation. If she lost her last boiler she would lose pressure in the fire hoses now fighting the inferno in the hangar deck. Advised of the situation on board the USS Monterey, Admiral Halsey had decided to abandon her. Captain Ingersoll was told that two cruisers and several destroyers were going to steam abreast of the carrier to rescue survivors. Of course, that would have been nearly impossible given the sea state at the time. Meanwhile, the sea was a living, breathing monster, a dragon trying to kill them all. This description was from men who saw it The violence of the wind is terrible; it shrieks and whinnies, roars and shudders, beats and clutches. The sea is convulsed, diabolic; the ships are laboring -- laid over by the wind, rolling rapidly through tremendous arcs with sharp violent jerks, pounding and pitching, buried deep beneath tons of water, rising heavily, streaming foam and salt from gunwales and hawse pipes. Violent rain gusts, spin drift blown with the sting of hail, a rack of scud blot out visibility. Such was the storm known now as Typhoon Cobra. Next to disappear was the destroyer USS Monaghan, DD-354. She was blown over on her side around noon, never to right herself again. She slipped beneath the waves unseen by any except God. Only six of her crew lived to tell the story. Two hundred and fifty-six did not. The destroyer USS Hull, DD-350 followed. She was 341 feet and 1400 tons. Seven officers and 55 enlisted men survived to tell how she rolled to 70 degrees and was pinned down by a gust as the sea flooded her pilot house and poured down her stacks. As the water flooded her upper structures she rolled over and plunged to the bottom of the sea taking 202 of her crew with her. Ultimately, the heroic efforts of the USS Monterey crew saved her. The fires were put out. Of her 34 aircraft,18 burned in the hangar deck or were blown off the flight deck, and the remaining 16 were seriously damaged. But the Monterey would survive. The typhoon was over in a little more than two days. Before Typhoon Cobra, Frank and the rest of the crew of the USS Monterey were dodging Japanese dive bombers during the day, Japanese torpedo bombers at night, Kamikaze s and Japanese submarines all the time. They fought in numerous campaigns and island assaults, throughout the Pacific. Almost 800 men drowned that day in seas we can read about but can't truly fathom. That was more than twice the number of sailors and airmen killed in action at the Battle of Midway, and nearly as many as at Midway and the Battle of Coral Sea combined. Yet, because of the war the public was not told of those losses. The Monterey could easily have been another statistic if the fires had not been brought under control. Life and fate have a way of placing us in events that sometimes are very memorable. So it was with Frank. He saw many things in WWII, many battles, many storms. He was there, a participant in that terrible, monumental event, when history was made on that day, and he will never forget it. He was witness to acts of courage, and desperation, strength and perseverance. Those men did not conquer the sea that day. But they did survive and they returned to tell the story. Frank was one of many, and he lives among us. 2
Let s use our time warp to jump ahead about 20 years and half way around the world. In 1963, 19-year old Sarah Mitchell was waiting for a bus in Rochester, New York. She was in Rochester working as a live-in nanny. A nice looking man by the name of Frank offered her a ride. She politely declined as girls just didn t accept rides from strange men. A few weeks later she was waiting for a bus on the same corner. Once again, the nice looking gentleman drove by and asked her if she would like a ride. It might have been his Italian good looks, or his friendly manner, or it could have been that it was now raining cats and dogs, but this time she accepted. It turned out to be one of those life changing decisions. And as such things sometimes happen, a romance was born. A year later, Sarah Mitchell became Sarah Furia. She and Frank went on to have three sons, Gregory, John Henry, and Christopher. They have seven grandchildren, and one great grand child. Sarah and Frank came to Pine Island Cove in 1989. And, as you know by now, they live among us. Coincidentally, after the war, in 1948 Frank was stationed on board the USS Randall when he once again came in contact with Gerald R. Ford, who was Second Division Officer then, and who would become President of the United States some 26 years later. Frank went on to serve on a number of ships, having spent 13 years in the Navy. He later he joined the New York National Guard to finish up 21 years of service to his country. 3
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