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Now & Then
Music: Fly Me To The Moon

The WEBSITE would like to expand its  "now and then" section on this Page.  Please send us YOUR "now and then" photos

This page was started in 2000 as Now and Then. While the section is going to remain with that name time is getting to the point where there are very few "now's" left.

The presentation of Lt. Comdr. Roy Swift is representative of the many Navy Officers who served on both ships. His story has been selected to remain on the Website to represent the Navy Officers.

If there was any one person that the crews of both Block Island CVE-21 and 106 looked up to it was a former newspaper editor from Texas who was the Intelligence Officer on both ships. This officer was not like the normal hard nosed down to facts Intelligence Officer or newspaper editor. If you worked in the engine room, cleaned the bilges, cooked the food, fired the guns, worked in CIC, the photo lab, pushed the planes, flew the planes and even Captained the ship,  every one knew and loved Roy L. Swift who came aboard the 21 as a Lt. jg and retired from  the Navy as Commander Roy L. Swift, USNR Retired. Not only did he do a quality job as the Intelligence Officer he also was the Editor of “Chips” the “information paper” of both ships.
Commander Swift not only served the Navy during his tours of duty, he also carried on serving his shipmates long after he retired. For many years after he left the Navy he spent many hours writing  “very technical factual stories” about the two ships as well as telling   the world about the men who served with him. His service to mankind did not end there.

Civilian Roy Swift continued in his service to his Country long after his war service. As Asst. Commissioner for the Social Security Agency Roy was awarded the H.E.W. Distinguished  Service Award for directing the information activities relating to Social Security and the Medicare Program.

Even in retirement from his second tour of duty to his Country, Roy continued writing about his shipmates. One article in particular was published in 5 issues of the CVE “Piper” back in 1996. While there was page after page of copy in these five issues, Commander Swift never used his name. The Editor of the paper did qualify the story by letting it’s readers know the stories were by  Roy L. Swift”. Within one issue alone he identified over 50 individual crew members, pilots, officers and even the names of the German officers and sailors who were making an all out effort  to sink his ship. The younger crew members of both ships looked on Comdr. Swift more as a fatherly person, not as a hard nosed intelligence officer. Commander Swift passed away on August 13, 1995 but he will always be remembered by his shipmates  and the stories he wrote will be there to remind the world that “war is hell”. Mrs. Anna J. Swift, his wife, notified “Chips” that Roy had great respect for the men who served with him on the Block Island. Mrs. Swift, the men who served with him returned that respect and are grateful that the good lord permitted us to have him as a friend and an officer when he was on the ship. In this age of computers and cyberspace,  no doubt floating out there in the airways we will still be finding stories he has written about this friendship. With his talent he even may have been chosen by that good Lord to be one of his spokespersons. 

                           More “NOW AND THEN” Cmdr. William F. Harris US Navy

In the Navy the Enlisted personnel and Officers who have a lengthy service records are known as “Old Salts”. While there were several individuals who went aboard CVE 21 when it was commissioned. and then when CVE 21 was sunk went on board CVE 106 when it was commissioned, and remained there while it was docked at the Naval Academy training midshipmen to become naval officers, that number is very limited. The normal process to become an officer is to actually attend the Naval Academy, however, one “old salt” ships navigator, who never attended the Academy, ended teaching Navigation at that same Academy and actually retired from the Navy as a full Commander. That  “old salt” was one of the few who actually served on the both the ships all during WWII. He was classified as an “old salt” when he was selected to go aboard CVE 21 and became even more “salty” well after the end of WWII.  Bill Harris’s service records  to his Country shows that Captain Ramsey in September 1942, when he made his decision to make him a part of his ship’s crew, was more than justified. In building the original crew for CVE 21 Captain Ramsey knew that he would need men who had proven records and combat experience and was authorized to seek out several important positions from personnel who were available for service on his new ship. Before making this selection he spent hours going over the service records and had many interviews before he made this selection. He was very impressed with the service records and the previous experience of an enlisted man who had been serving as a Navigator on the battle ship USS Nevada BB 36 well before the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor. Bill Harris was fortunate that his son was born in September 1941 and as such was given leave just a few days before the Pearl Harbor attack. Under the December 7 attack BB 36 was the only Battle Ship, being heavily damaged, to get underway during the attack and was hit again while underway and was taking on too much water. The decision was made to run the ship aground to avoid blocking the channel entrance to Pearl Harbor.  Bill Harris reported back aboard BB 36 a week or so after December 7 and stayed aboard BB 36 there in Pearl Harbor while it was being repaired. His son expressed that he felt guilt in having left the ship because he was not there to help them. He lost many of his shipmates and until the day he died that guilt still existed. That guilt evidently played heavy on his mind because had he been there he would have been  on the bridge that was almost completely destroyed with much loss of life. From that day forward until he retired from the Navy his "watch word" was "learn the ropes and be the best that you can be".   In the Summer of 1942 BB 36 was made serviceable enough to return to the States for permanent repairs and modernization. With the loss of life on the “big ships” Admiral King was made aware that Navigators with knowledge of the ways of the Oceans was limited and made the decision to make those qualified Navigators available for ships that would be going in “harms way”.    One of the selections was then Chief Quarter Master W. F. (Bill) Harris and several more with other abilities, but the service record of this individual impressed Captain Ramsey who would be taking Block Island CVE 21 in “Harms Way” in the Atlantic in late 1942.  Even before CVE 21 was commissioned Captain Ramsey selected Chief Harris for service on his new ship.

 Cmdr. William F. Harris US Navy

William F Harris was a Chief Quartermaster when he came aboard CVE 21. He was given a field promotion (in the Navy called "mustang") to Ensign Junior Grade  in March 1944 when Captain Ramsey was replaced by Captain Hughes.  Later Captain Hughes commissioned Ensign Harris as a line officer mustang.  Like many of the other crew members that  went aboard CVE 106  he remained on board CVE 106 until it was taken to the Naval Academy at Annapolis, MD, in 1946, where he became a Navigation Instructor and eventually retired from the Navy as a full Commander. Prior to coming aboard CVE 21 in September 1942, as one of the original shipmates, with so many of the original crew of CVE 21 being raw recruits in 1942, Petty Officer Harris became a very important part of that crew. As noted Captain Ramsey also brought aboard CVE 21 fifty survivors of an aircraft carrier that was sunk by the Japanese in July of 1942. The field appointment Harris received while serving on CVE 21 was his reward for the excellent training he provided to this "raw" crew. As noted Harris went on to serve on CVE 106 and later taught Navigation at the Naval Academy. 

The normal process to become an officer is to actually attend the Naval Academy, however, one “old salt” ships navigator, who never attended the Academy, ended teaching Navigation at that same Academy and actually retired from the Navy as a full Commander. That  “old salt” was one of the few who actually served on the both the ships all during WWII. He was classified as an “old salt” when he was selected to go aboard CVE 21 and became even more “salty” well after the end of WWII.

                        1956-57 Photo on Bridge of Ice Breaker Atka ACB-3
                              Right - William F. Harris Lt. CDR  Executive Officer
                              Left -    Charles Bulfinch CDR   Commanding Officer

                Photo - Atka ACB-3, Antarctic Operation Deep Freeze II / Task Force 43

           Cmdr. Harris retired from the Navy in 1966 after over 30 years serving his Country in the highest traditions.

                              MORE NOW AND THEN   Major R. Bruce Porter

 Major Bruce Porter has been chosen as the representative of the Marine Corps personnel on CVE 106. All of the Marines were "aircraft associated" and Bruce Porter was a Flight Leader of the F6F5n night fighter squadron.                                                     

Major R. Bruce Porter came aboard CVE 106 in early 1945 with Marine Squadron VMF 511 as the Executive Officer and designated as Flight Leader of the F6F5N night fighters. Bruce and the other pilots of  VMF 511 who were assigned to the carrier had previous land based combat service in the Pacific but had not ever worked from a carrier. . In that era all Navy pilots were trained in carrier landings because it was evident that some day during their tenure as pilots they would be required to serve on a carrier. This was not so with the Marines. VMF 511 was the first all Marine squadron to serve on a carrier. Major Porter is being singled out for two major reasons. First, he later became an “Ace” but mainly  because in the Book “ACE” he had published in 1985 Bruce probably has best outlined the anxiety and outright fear of any pilot (or even the flight crews) who has to undertake carrier based operations.                        

      His Book spells out the sequence of the phases of carrier   landings in great detail but he also tells of the anxiety that pilots face in undertaking their first landings. This was not a big carrier with the massive flight decks of those in service today. This was a ship with a flight deck that is smaller than a football field and has only one way on and one way off on a single “runway”. This is also a flight deck where the previous aircraft have landed and must be stored on the forward end of this runway not off to the sides like a regular airport runway. This is from a pilot who had Japanese aircraft kills long before he was assigned to carrier duty. Taking the liberty of a quote from his book “My stomach was doing flip flops, signs of parasympathetic reaction anxiety, tightness in the stomach, perspiring hands, dry throat, shortness of breath, pounding heart and momentary light headedness. That was precisely what I felt as I put myself in the position of the first of the night fighter pilots has to land on tiny bobbing, pitching Block Island II" .  

Major Porter is also being singled out because he took the lead and the full responsibility to assure that he set a good example for the other pilots in undertaking the take offs and landings to assure their safety and that  when a pilot is  asked to enter combat they would be a fully trained cohesive fighting unit. In just 47 days Major Porter amassed 43 carrier landings while training.                                            

The day that President Roosevelt died Major Porter was given his own squadron and left the Block Island. However, his squadron was based at Okinawa and it was there that Major Porter downed three more Japanese planes, two being in one night, and as such gained the “Ace Award”. Major  Porter not only received credit for the five known kills he also had an additional 4 probable kills.

                This picture provided by Bruce Porter of one of his Japanese Kills. Note the radar dome on the wing of this F6F5 (n). This radar dome and the belly gas tank made it possible to fly at night while serving as "Combat Air Patrol". The Japanese aircraft is almost obscured by the smoke trail leading from that plane.                          

Then

 Upper left:       Cadet Bruce Porter at Long Beach, CA October 1940
 Upper Right:    2nd Lieut. Bruce Porter at home in Los Angeles, CA. 1941          
 Lower:             Major. Bruce Porter and Patricia Leimert, December 1944                     

In Colonel Porters Book “Ace” he describes the conditions that a pilot faced when trying to land on the flight deck of the small CVE carriers. Some planes come in to low and actually strike  the ship just below the flight deck. Very seldom can pictures be taken of that action. Not only is the plane wrecked, and in most cases the pilot is killed, the ship is also damaged and put out of action until repairs can be made. Also the remaining planes that are in the air must find another carrier to land on or ditch in the sea. The F6F shown here came in to high at around 90 miles per hour, missed the deck wire with the tail hook, misses the barricade, sailed past the bridge and struck 6 planes parked on the forward end of the flight deck. Seven planes were lost, the pilot was killed and the ensuing fire damaged the flight deck so severely that the carrier was out of action for weeks.                                     

First there were 7 then there was none

How strong is that little "tail hook" extending below the tail section of the plane? This Pilot did not heed the LSOs signal to land and thought that he was not going to catch the landing cable. However even after the hook caught on the cable he still gave the aircraft "full throttle" and this is what took place. All that saved the plane from going in the "drink" was that little "tail hook". In this case both the plane and the pilot were saved. When a plane is damaged beyond the Aviation Metal Smiths and the Aviation Mechanics ability to repair the plane it is striped for spare parts and pushed over the side. If it were to remain on board there would be no space to put a replacement.

(Click on the picture for a larger view)

There are several pictures of CVE 106on the Website, however, this one is being shown in a larger view to show how much the looks of a ship changes after 12 months of continuous battle duty at sea. No time to spruce up the paint job because the maintenance crews are busy at their sea duty stations. This picture was taken by Marine photographers. This picture and the one below were provided by Brian Bernhardt along with the following "E" mail.(4-1- 03)
"I was at my parent's home this weekend for my Father's 85th birthday. We got
out the old war pictures and could only find 2 from the Block Island. My
father Carl H. Bernhardt was in the Marines and on-board the CVE-106, 
Feb 1945 - Dec 1945"

The maintenance crew for the F6F night fighters.

(click on the picture for a larger view)

Military Service is a major life contribution to our Country. It is remembered in many ways by those serving. The four items showing in this picture are over a file cabinet in the office of one of the crew members who served on both CVE 21 and CVE 106.

We know what happened to CVE 21 but the Navy and Congressional Records disclose what happened to CVE 106. Navy Records published in "Janes Fighting Ships" has the following information on the USS Block Island CVE 106.

Aircraft Carriers were in such demand from 1941 up through the Korean War they were built using the Marine Architects and Engineers ideas. These designs and Architects ideas failed in many places and because of this many planes and pilots were lost from accidents. Their cost were so great to build, and at the same time the United States was still in the "rebuild the world from its war ravages" these accidents became even greater. However in 1957 Congress saw that there still needed to be improvements made in our Carriers. The "SLEP" Program (Service Life Extension Program) was funded with provisions that concern be given to the matters related to such prospective damage and to the loss of aircraft and their pilots. The USS Saratoga (CV 60) (shown below after rebuilding) which was originally built in 1952 (with the then conventional design) was completely refurbished, not only to have all of the technologies that had advanced, to provide a design that would correct many of the problems they, the pilots and the ships crews, had to face in the operations of the aircraft. The British had earlier adopted the cantered flight deck with much proven success toward the loss of life and damage to their aircraft and their carriers. The old wooden flight deck went by the wayside because a single bomb could put the carrier out of action for months. Steel decks replace the old fashion wood ideas the engineers and architects had. The Saratoga  was the first such Carrier to have all of these improvements. Note that  launching and landing aircraft can be untaken at the same time and in fact that statement of one of the CVE Pilots made back in 1944 "which runway" became obsolete but still remains in our history. The same year the USS Block Island was scheduled to be refitted and returned to service. However to undertake the SLEP project (which in fact was more realistic) the funds for refitting the BI were cancelled and the ship was then stricken from the Navy records and sold for scrap. An interesting part of that scrap purchase was that a Japanese firm purchased the materials that was under contract to provide steel to the Mercedes Auto mfg. company in Germany. Thus the two worlds of the USS Block Island still lived on and there is no telling how many of those cars came back to the United States? Maybe the crews of the two USS Block Islands will be recycled in another world that will not need "Fighting Ships" or to repair broken wings. 

 

                                                       NOW

This is a picture of the present day U.S. Navy USS Iwo Jima Amphioxus Assault Ship. In the rescue of the POWs on the Island of Formosa in 1945 USS Block Island CVE 106 set the course to build ships that could have Aircraft, Landing Craft, and Military manpower to actually serve as an invasion force in any part of the world. The rescue of  the POWs from Formosa was the fruits of that action.

As stated in the CVE 21 Command section the son of Captain Logan Ramsey Sr. served on CVE 106 from the date of it's commissioning until the end of the war.
Lt. Logan Ramsey Jr. without a doubt is the most recognized member of the crew of CVE      106. Not because of his service to his country during WW2 but the service he provided for years after the war as an actor for many years until his death in June 2000. While Logan Jr. was on the ship he was very involved in the "smokers" as the entertainment programs are called on the ships. Acting   was a part of his life even then. After the War he headed to New York where he studied Acting with Lee Strassberg. He developed an intense glare that made him a favorite villain on film and television for years to come. After appearing in some 15 stage plays he became a very highly successful Broadway actor and attracted the notice of  the film and television program producers. The list of films and television productions goes on and on. His wife Ann Ramsey became a noted actress and received many awards.
Logan Jr. and his command of the intense glare and his deep growled voice gave him many appearances as characters in many weekly sitcoms and mini-series productions. He fit the mold of the hard nosed lawyer or police officer, the villain and the crook but yet played the part of a "not so smart comedic sheriff" in a long running mini-series.

RUSS ALLEN AND LOGAN RAMSEY JR
ON CVE 106 EARLY 1945

               RUSS ALLEN AND LOGAN RAMSEY JR. LAS VEGAS REUNION
                              Logan Died in 2000 and Russ died in 2002

1/8/2002

Ensign Logan C. Ramsey had many talents as is disclosed by these charcoal sketches that were published in the Commissioning Brochure of CVE 106. These sketches were made in July or August 1944 while he was awaiting the completion  of the ship. The Webmaster wishes the thank Robert (Bob) Sherdahl  who was in the Master of Arms Force as a Coxswain 2c on both Carriers. Bob's picture is in the picture of the MAAs on the ships crew page. Like so many of the crew members Bob is not in the best of health. The sketch Logan made of Cmdr. Gilman comes close to being perfect.

                                                        THEN
                                                                      (1944)
                        

                                                
                               F4U                           F6F

Piston engine-Speed 400+-Rockets & Bombs

 Jeep Flattops
15 tons-Flt. Dk 496'x112'-30 aircraft-crew 800+
Midway-Guam-Iwo-Jima-Okinawa-Japan
(click on pictures for a larger view)

NOW (2000)


F16 F18 Jets
Turbo Jet-moc 2- Ballistic Missals

(click on pictures for a larger view)
DD Radford             AO Merrimak        CVN Geo.Washington

90 tons-Flt. Dk 1092'x252'-90 Aircrft-crew 5000+-Nuc Pwr
Viet Nam-Iraq-Iran-Granada-Bosnia-Korea and Iraq again in 2003
(click on picture r for a larger view)
The names, aircraft, and ships have changed.  The men and
women of our military services are still fighting tyranny all over
the world.  Let us not forget those who served and those who
gave their lives and made our today's possible.

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