History Of The USS Thornhill, DE 195

As written 22 October 1945, while the Thornhill was at Yalut in the Marshall Islands

Hull number 195 at the Federal Shipbuilding Company at Port Newark became a US man-of-war when Mrs. E J Thornhill broke a bottle of champagne on the bow and spoke the name of her son: Lt (JG) Leonard Wilson Thornhill He had been a naval aviator lost at the Coral Sea battle. The Thornhill, Lt J B Shumway commanding, wass commissioned on 1 February 1944 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by Rear Adm Munroe Kelley.

Next came the shakedown cruise at Bermuda with constant and strenuous drills, after which the Thornhill and her crew were pronounced ready for battle. Indeed, as the ship sailed from Bermuda it would have been difficult to recognize the well disciplined, confident men as the same boys who lined the rails as the Thornhill steamed past Ambroso four weeks earlier.

While waiting for the completion of other ships of Escort Division 55, the Thornhill was engaged in Atlantic coastal convoy assignments, served as a school ship at Norfolk, and participated in a submarine hunt in southern waters.

In May 1944, the Thornhill, attached to the 6th Fleet, joined the rest of her division to sail with a convoy bound for North African ports. This was the first of two such trips, each of which took about seven weeks including a layover at Bizerte. Although many enemy submarines operated along this route, the most hazardous section of these voyages was between Gibralter and Bizerte due to the almost nightly attacks by German aircraft based in southern France. Fortunately, those two convoys were among the very few not attacked.

In October 1944, the Thornill began convoying troops and fast mercantile ships to the United Kingdom and continental ports, continuing this duty for eight months. VE Day found her tied up in Southampton waiting to return to the states. She had had a new captain for the last four months, Lt E T McKeithen Jr, the executive officer had relieved the now Lt Cmdr Shumway in January 1945.

Those many months in the Atlantic were considered good duty. Sure there were Jerries in the Mediterranean, U-Boats in the Irish Sea and the Channel, and for fourteen crossings the ever present Atlantic waters to fight, but New York's skyline was at the end of each run and most Navy men were willing to take a lot of green water over the bow for the privilege of sailing under the Brooklyn Bridge every four weeks.

The Thornhill left New York for the Pacific in June 1945. Her itinerary enroute was: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Coco Sola, Panama San Diego, California Pearl Harbor, Oahu

Arriving at the latter on July 19, she underwent special training in Pacific tactics. Thornhill reported to Eniwetok for duty under Commander Marshall-Gilberts Area on August 16. During the trip from Pearl, the war with Japan had come to a sudden and victorious conclusion. The celebration staged by her 14 officers and 220 men was somewhat different from those on Broadway and Market Street, but it was genuine. The boys were very sincere at the thanksgiving service held on the fantail.

Thornhill participated in an air-sea rescue search while at Eniwetok. She was then to explore Ujelang to determine if there were Japanese, natives, or American survivors on the island. The atoll proved to be uninhabited and the Stars and Stripes were raised on a palm tree to proclaim to all that Ujelang was in American hands. The ship the moved on to Majro from which she was assigned station at Jaluit.

Jaluit, one of the network of Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands, had remained in Japanese hands throughout the war. No attempt had been made to invade the atoll and it was left to "wither on the vine" with its supplies cut off. Bombardment by warships, and regular bombing attacks neutralized the garrison before the war was over.

On 5 September 1945, the Japanese on Jaluit formally surrrendered to the Americans. As station ship, the Thornhill was charged with the responsibility of enforcing the terms of surrender, and among other things, to uncover any war crimes that might have been committed there. On 5 October, Rear Adm MASUDA Nisuko, commander of the garrison, committed suicide after persistent pressure had been brought in an attempt to gain information concerning the death's of three american flyers in early 1944. The commanding officer of the Thornhill had requested a final report from the Admiral on this incident. When the Admiral received word that Lr Cmdr McKeithen was ashore and awaiting this report, he took his own life. He left a full and complete acknowledgement of his guilt for the execution of the American prisoners. The information in his report led to a number of arrests, and war criminals were taken to other American bases for trial.

At the time this history was written, the Thornhill was at Jaluit awaiting the evacuation of the Japanese there. She was also waiting for those most welcom of orders to return to the states where it was understood she would become part of the reserve Navy.

The Thornhill's active career was less than two years in duration. She made few headlines, was not battle scarred and there were no submarine or airplane kills painted on her flying bridge. But every mission of the Thornhill was successfully completed. She helped escort some six hundred ships to their destinations without loss of life or a single ship. When she secured from duty for a well deserved rest, the crew of the Thornhill could proudly say "job well done" !