In remembrance

[Admiral Von Gerlach]

This is a tough day for our family as we have many memories. Here is one who I grew up greatly respecting, a cousin of mine, who is still on duty with his last command along wtih many brave shipmates who remain on post with him. My deepest admiration, respect and thanks to them all, for they gave all they had for their duty. May we continue to endevour to be worthy of their sacrifice.



Franklin Van Valkenburgh
Captain USN
U.S.Arizona (BB-39)
Lost with his ship December 7, 1941

Franklin Van Valkenburgh was appointed a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy on September 15, 1905 and graduated on June 4, 1909. After service in the battleship Vermont (BB-20) and in South Carolina (BB-26), Van Valkenburgh was commissioned ensign on June 5, 1911. Traveling to the Asiatic Station soon thereafter, he joined the submarine tender Rainbow (AS-7) at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, on September 11,. He reported to the gunboat Pampanga (PG-39) as executive officer on June 23, 1914 for a short tour in the southern Philippines before his detachment on August 4,.

After returning to the United States, Lt. (jg.) Van Valkenburgh joined Connecticut (BB-18) on November 11,. Following postgraduate work in steam engineering at the Naval Academy in September 1915, he took further instruction in that field at Columbia University before reporting to Rhode Island (BB-17) on March 2, 1917. The entry of the United States into World War I found Van Valkenburgh serving as the battleship's engineering officer. Subsequent temporary duty in the receiving ship at New York preceded his first tour as an instructor at the Naval Academy. On June 1, 1920, Van Valkenburgh reported on board Minnesota (BB-22) for duty as engineer officer, and he held that post until the battleship was decommissioned in November 1921.

He again served as an instructor at the Naval Academy—until May 15, 1925—before he joined Maryland (BB-46) on June 26,. Commissioned commander on June 2, 1927 while in Maryland, he soon reported for duty in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations on May 21, 1928 and served there during the administrations of Admirals Charles F. Hughes and William V. Pratt. Detached on June 28, 1931, Van Valkenburgh received command of the destroyer Talbot (DD-114) on July 10, and commanded Destroyer Squadron 5 from March 31, 1932.

After attending the Naval War College, Newport, R.I., and completing the senior course in May 1934, Comdr. Van Valkenburgh next served as inspector of naval materiel at the New York Navy Yard before going to sea again as commanding officer of Melville (AD-2) from June 8, 1936 to June 11, 1938. Promoted to captain while commanding Melville—on December 23, 1937—he served as inspector of materiel for the 3d Naval District from August 6, 1938 to January 22, 1941.

USS Arizona
On February 5, 1941, Van Valkenburgh relieved Capt. Harold C. Train as commanding officer of Arizona (BB-39). Newly refitted at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Arizona served as flagship of Battleship Division 1 for the remainder of the year, based primarily at Pearl Harbor with two trips to the west coast. On December 4, the battleship went to sea in company with Nevada (BB-36) and Oklahoma (BB-37) for night surface practice and, after conducting these gunnery exercises, returned to Pearl Harbor independently on the 6th to moor at berth F-7 alongside Ford Island.



USS Arizona's forward magazines explode

Both Captain Van Valkenburgh and the embarked division commander, Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, spent the next Saturday evening, December 6, on board. Suddenly, shortly before 08:00 on December 7, Japanese planes roared overhead, shattering the Sunday peace and punctuating it with the explosion of bombs and the staccato hammering of machine guns. Capt. Van Valkenburgh sped forward from his cabin and arrived on the navigation bridge where he immediately began to direct his ship's defense. A quartermaster in the pilot house asked if the captain wanted to go to the conning tower—a less-exposed position in view of the Japanese strafing—but Van Valkenburgh refused to do so and continued to man a telephone, fighting for his ship's life.

A violent explosion suddenly shook the ship, throwing the three occupants of the bridge—Van Valkenburgh, an ensign, and the quartermaster, to the deck, and shattering the bridge windows. Dazed and shaken, the ensign stumbled through the flames and smoke and escaped, but the others were never seen again. A continuing fire, fed by ammunition and oil, blazed for two days until finally put out on December 9,. A subsequent search recovered only Van Valkenburgh's class ring.

The captain was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor—the citation reading in part: "for devotion to duty ... extraordinary courage, and the complete disregard of his own life." In gallantly fighting his ship, he directed its defense in the tragically short time allotted him.

In 1943, the destroyer USS Van Valkenburgh (DD-656) was named in his honor.

His Medal of Honor Citation reads.....



"For conspicuous devotion to duty, extraordinary courage and complete disregard of his own life, during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. As commanding officer of the U.S.S. Arizona, Capt. Van Valkenburgh gallantly fought his ship until the U.S.S. Arizona blew up from magazine explosions and a direct bomb hit on the bridge which resulted in the loss of his life."

His son was ordered to the DD commisioned and named after his father, and that ship served honourably during the challenging days of attacks on the US fleet at Okinawa.

My grandfather, Leonadas Murney Mintzer was class of 1918, Annapolis and his first command was a old DD four piper, he served in the cans for many years, and endured the lean years of the Navy being cut way down in effective strength. His ship had a engine room fire in the late 1920's and he pulled 8 men from the burning compartments, but then succumbed to the smoke himself and had to be rescued himself, and suffered the effects of the smoke damage for the rest of his life. He retired one of the last Commodores of the USN, but returned to active duty in WWII along with many of his classmates of those years to be a Convoy Commodore for the duration, and was one of the authors of the winning US submarine strategy as his life long interest had been submarine warfare and his service included the early S Boats and their development.



One uncle served on an LST in both the Med and the pacific and yet another uncle was a Maine airman, and flew Buffalos from both Wake and Guadalcanal until they were shot down under him and he then as he used to say "flew a rifle" from the trenches until they could get wings for him. He survived the war, and just passed away a year ago. Another cousin continued in the active service USN after the war and was in charge of rounding up holdouts among the many bypassed Japanese garrisons and for accounting for INJ naval losses and war records to acccount for US overdue and presumed lost ships.

My father was a expert in radar, and was in the OSS and landed on Omaha Beach, and was posted variously within Germany, Norway, and seconded to the 10th Mountain for specialized training during the war, but due to his experinces he to this day cannot speak of what happened to him during those years. On his side of the family my family members were in the Kreigsmarine, skippers of both surface and U boat commands, afloat and ashore, some survived and some did not. War touches us all no matter who serves and where, and we can hope that our time will see less of the loss all such history invokes.

All the good men mentioned in this thread, and many many others on all sides of WWII did their duty, countless days and nights of constant attention to their duty, and the ever present possiblity of action, risk and danger. We are indeed right to think on all of them, and my respects and admiration to all who have posted here today about their family members and all that they all gave to us all today.

It was my grandfather who introduced me to many of his former shipmates, classmates and took me on board many famous ships as they passed thru or ended up in mothballs in San Diego where i grew up. He infused me with a love of the sea and the navy and because of him i was able to see some of the old fleet boats, and later on to visit and know members of other fleets and other ships from those days, memories that I have treasured and which brought me here.