Month: May 2022

Source: United States Navy

While in vicinity of Izmir, Arlington and elements of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will conduct ship-to-shore and air operations to off-load U.S. Marine Corps equipment and vehicles in support of EFES22 to strengthen interoperability with a key NATO ally.

“Exercise EFES is a great opportunity for the Marines of the 22 MEU to hone our proficiency and interoperability with our Turkish Allies and other partners participating in the exercise,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Myette, executive officer of the 22nd MEU. “Over the next two weeks, we will train side by side with our Turkish allies, demonstrating the combined effectiveness of Allied forces operating from the sea and projecting firepower and maneuver assets ashore.”

EFES22 will include integrated aviation, amphibious landings, and bilateral artillery and light armored reconnaissance live-fire training to increase interoperability between the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps team and Turkish Armed Forces. Commander, Task Force (CTF) 61/2 will lead U.S. force participation, which consists of elements attached to the Kearsarge ARG and 22 MEU.

The Kearsarge ARG and embarked 22nd MEU are under the command and control of Task Force 61/2. The ARG consists of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3); San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24); and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44).

Embarked commands with the Kearsarge ARG include Amphibious Squadron SIX, 22nd MEU, Fleet Surgical Team 2, Fleet Surgical Team 4, Tactical Air Control Squadron 22, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 22, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Assault Craft Unit 2, Assault Craft Unit 4, Naval Beach Group 2, and Beach Master Unit 2.

The 22nd MEU includes the command element; the aviation combat element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (Reinforced); the ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 2/6 (Reinforced); and the logistics combat element, Combat Logistics Battalion 26.

Amphibious ready groups and larger amphibious task forces provide military commanders a wide range of flexible capabilities including maritime security operations, expeditionary power projection, strike operations, forward naval presence, crisis response, sea control, deterrence, counter-terrorism, information operations, security cooperation and counter-proliferation, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Source: United States Navy

The change in status is the result of extensive research between Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC), Navy Casualty Office, the USS Indianapolis Survivors Association, the USS Indianapolis Legacy Organization, and the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation. The announcement helps bring closure to the families of these Sailors who lost their lives at the end of a secret mission which helped end World War II.

USS Indianapolis sank July 30, 1945 after being struck by two Japanese torpedoes.

The Sailors whose status changed are:

Seaman 1st Class George Stanley Abbott
Seaman 2nd Class Eugene Clifford Batson
Gunner’s Mate 1st Class William Alexander Haynes
Seaman 2nd Class Albert Raymond Kelly
Seaman 1st Class Albert Davis Lundgren
Fireman 1st Class Ollie McHone
Seaman 2nd Class George David Payne
Storekeeper 3rd Class Alvin Wilder Rahn
Ship’s Cook 3rd Class Jose Antonio Saenz
Coxswain Charles Byrd Sparks
Radioman 2nd Class Joseph Mason Strain
Ship’s Service Man Laundryman 3rd Class Angelo Anthony Sudano
Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Floyd Ralph Wolfe

Approximately 300 of the ship’s 1,195 Sailors went down with the ship, and some 900 men were set adrift. Only 316 survived. Due to administrative errors, many Sailors who were recovered from the ocean and buried at sea from responding vessels were misclassified as “Missing in Action “or “Unaccounted for.”

According to Rick Stone, who previously served at NHHC, he initiated the USS Indianapolis Burial at Sea Project to determine if any Indianapolis casualties met this criteria. Following his retirement from government service, he established the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable Foundation to continue the project and located documentation proving the 13 Sailors were misclassified.

According to the foundation’s USS Indianapolis Burial at Sea Project web page, “recovering a lost Sailor, giving their loved ones and family closure, is the greatest gift we can imagine and the greatest way to celebrate and thank the Sailors who lost their lives aboard the USS Indianapolis.”

“One of my favorite quotes is ‘Poor is the nation that has no heroes but shameful is the nation who, having heroes, forgets them,’” Stone said. “Our foundation will never forget the heroes of the USS Indianapolis and are proud of our role in helping thirteen families learn that the Navy went to great lengths to honor them soon after their deaths.”

Capt. Robert McMahon, director of the Navy Casualty Office, said bringing closure to families of those lost at sea is a “solemn duty and obligation” he takes to heart.

“Nothing is more important to me than giving families that knowledge when the unthinkable happens,” he said. “No amount of time lessens the loss, however, if we can bring some certainty to loved ones, even seven decades later, we are keeping faith with those we lost.”

One of those family members, William Baxter, nephew of Gunner’s Mate 3rd Class Wolfe, was notified April 26 of the change in status. Sailors from Naval Medical Readiness and Training Command (NMRTC) Beaufort, South Carolina, arrived at his door with a certificate and flag to recognize Wolfe’s sacrifice.

Baxter, an Okatie, South Carolina, native, said while he did not know his uncle, “it’s nice to finally have some closure to what actually happened to [him]. Thank you all for going above and beyond for me and my family. I wasn’t expecting all of this, but thank you.”

“It was an absolute honor and a privilege to be a part of informing Mr. Baxter and his family of his uncle’s status change, and also being a part of history,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Naomi Hall, one of the Sailors from NMRTC Beaufort involved in making notifications.

Navy Casualty’s mission is providing timely and first-class casualty assistance to Navy families when a Sailor is seriously ill or injured, is placed in a duty status whereabouts unknown (DUSTWUN), or is declared missing and/or Prisoner of War or dies. Learn more about Navy Casualty at:
https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Support-Services/Casualty/

Note to Media: For more information, or to request an interview with families of the Sailors named, please contact Navy Personnel Command Public Affairs Mr. Gene Hughes at 901-874-2438, or NPCPAO@navy.mil.

Source: United States Navy

Fourteen NATO nations, two NATO partner nations, over 45 ships, more than 75 aircraft, and approximately 7,000 personnel will participate in BALTOPS 22.

BALTOPS 22 provides a unique training opportunity that strengthens combined response capability critical to preserving the freedom of navigation and security in the Baltic Sea region.

Participating nations include Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They will exercise a myriad of capabilities demonstrating the inherent flexibility of maritime forces, including: amphibious operations, gunnery, anti-submarine, and air defense exercises, as well as mine clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal, unmanned underwater vehicles, and medical response.

Unique to BALTOPS 22 is Sweden’s role in hosting the exercise, coincidentally occurring during their Navy’s 500th anniversary. BALTOPS 22 will feature more robust medical response scenarios, specifically personnel recovery training involving a submarine.  Additionally new to this year’s iteration is the incorporation of a coordinated in-scenario secular chaplaincy response and religious services comprising of five participating nation chaplains. BALTOPS 22 builds from the BALTOPS 2021 scenario story lines and continues the incorporation of the space domain in coordination with the NATO Space Center.

Details of BALTOPS activities and imagery are available at http://www.c6f.navy.mil. Media interested in covering the exercise should contact the U.S. Naval Forces Europe Public Affairs Office at mail to: cne-c6fpao@eu.navy.mil.

Initiated in 1972, BALTOPS is an annual exercise that visibly demonstrates NATO’s commitment to preserving regional peace and security by exercising a team of international forces that can rapidly respond in a time of crisis.