The man on the right is Uncle Johnny. John grew up in Tin Town, Pennsylvania in the 1920's joined the Marines in 1933 in the Coastal Artillery and was stationed in the Panama Canal Zone before being stationed in the Philippines in 1939. In the above photo he trained boxers to fight in the Marines inter-divisional boxing championship matches.
After World War II the fate of what happened to John J. Grdgon became the mission of the Gurgon, Grdgon, Gergon family to find out. It was not until about 2010 that information became available to help piece together what happened to one of the Family heroes. The information below has a story of it's own being written by an author who was in a Japanese Prison camp through out most of World War II risking his life recording it. John's name was published in Life Magazine in the July 5, 1943 edition listed as killed in action. The family of Uncle Johnny have been able to get his service recognized long after WWII was over. This is an example of supreme sacrifice on many counts which can only be honored by gratitude for which the sacrifice made our lives better. Thank You Sargent John J. Grdgon and Lt. Stockton D. Burns for your supreme service and may we always remember the cost you paid for our freedom today.
"IDAHO"
BATTERY "I", 59TH COAST ARTILLERY
by
Lt. Stockton D. Bruns
This history
is written in a prisoner or war camp and is entirely from memory as all
records have either been destroyed or lost and this report may contain
certain omissions and be in error due
to these conditions.
In accordance
with orders from Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays, Corregidor,
Philippines Islands, Battery "I" 59th C.A. was created at Ft.
Mills, P.I. on or about June 1, 1941.
The organization of the Battery was as follows; Battery Commander,
1st. Lt. Stockton D. Bruns, Executive Officer 2nd Lt. Robert G. Cooper, 1st.
Sgt. George Wilkins. Cadre from
Battery "A" 59th C.A. and enlisted men that had come to the Philippines
on the boats Republic and Washington arriving on or about April 22nd, l94l
and May 5, l94l respectively made up the rest of the battery. Very few of these men off of these boats
were previous service men and a very high percentage had not received their
recruit training. The strength of the
battery as organized was two officers and ninety four enlisted men.
For training
purposes "A" pit of Battery Geary (4-12" Mortars) was assigned
to Battery "I" and M Day assignment was Battery Craighill
(4-12" Mortars) at Ft. Hughes, P.I.
As quarters
weren't available for Battery "I" at the time of organization, the
top floor of the section of Topside Barracks normally assigned to Battery
"A" 59th C.A. was turned over to Battery "I" and men were
rationed with Battery "C" and "F" 59th C.A.
On or about
October 20, l94l orders were received changing tactical assignment of Battery
"I" to the A.A. Defenses for tactical employment. The Battery was equipped with four three
inch, mobile, M-3, Anti-Aircraft guns; one T8-E3 Director; one T-2 Height
Finder and one power Plant. The new
location of Battery "I" was to be on the eastern end of Ft. Hughes
and in accordance with this change, one officer and approximately thirty
three enlisted men were moved to Ft. Hughes to load gun equipment and prepare
gun, height finder and director positions.
On or about November 30, l94l the rest of the battery and battery
equipment were moved to Ft. Hughes.
Guns, director, and height finder positions in the meantime had been
surveyed and equipment moved in to these positions, set up, and checked. Now training and preparation of positions
was continued at a far more rapid rate.
All the battery was present except for two men left behind at Ft.
Mills who were attending 60th C.A. (A.A.) Height Finder School. Repairs on barracks at Ft. Hughes hadn't
been completed and so men were rationed and quartered with Battery
"G" 59th C.A.
Ft Hughes,
Corregidor and Bataan (under cloud).
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Training and
preparation of battery positions had reached a good stage on declaration of
war by Japan on the United States on December 8, l94l. On this afternoon about 1:18 p.m. Battery
“I” fired on three enemy planes that were coming in towards Ft. Mills from
the direction of Manila at an altitude of approximately eight thousand
feet. These planes were turned back
with thirty four or thirty five rounds of ammunitions expended. The firing by Battery "I" 59th
C.A. and Battery “D" 60th C.A. (A.A.) was the first firing of the Harbor
Defenses on the enemy. This firing did
much to relieve the tension and to make everyone realize the necessity of a
still higher state of efficiency and training. Though only one officer and one enlisted man had ever served
with an A.A. Regiment, and only six weeks training had been realized, the
batteries efficiency and morale was at a high point.
Much valuable
time was spent at the beginning of the war on training, maintenance, and
police of other armament as Battery "I" was also assigned by the
Fort Commander to man Battery Craighill (4-l2" Mortars), Battery
Leach (2-6" Disappearing Guns), Battery Fuger (2-3" Rapid Firing
Guns), and the beach defense of the eastern end of the Island of Ft. Hughes
in case of necessity.
Much valuable
time was also spent on Fort duties such as unloading boats, moving powder and
projectiles, tearing down buildings for wood and tin, and many other
necessary duties.
The number of
men on Ft. Hughes was limited and time or need of any or all armament
unknown. This situation was eventually
relieved by the Marine, Navy, and Army personnel that arrived at Ft.
Hughes. On January 1, 1942 a
detachment or U.S. Marines were sent to Ft. Hughes. One platoon of one
officer and twenty-six enlisted men were attached to Battery
"I". This Marine platoon and
their equipment (4-Navy, 5O Calibre water cooled, A.A. Machine gums) were
used to replace men of Battery "I”, and their equipment (4-30 Calibre
water cooled machine guns) of the local defense of Ft. Hughes and Battery
"I" against low flying planes. The rest of the Marine personnel not
attached to Battery "I” were put in charge of the beach defenses of Ft.
Hughes. This relieved Battery “I” of
the responsibilities for the beach defenses of the eastern end of Ft.
Hughes. During February, Navy
personnel arrived at Ft. Hughes and assisted in the beach defense. During January or February Battery "I”
was relieved of all responsibility to seacoast armament assigned to it. On or about April 13, 1942 one officer and
about five enlisted men from the 5l5th C.A. and ten men from the 200th C.A.
were attached to Battery "I". This helped out considerable in the
operation and efficiency of Battery "I".
At the beginning
of the war it wasn't uncommon at all for one half of Battery "I" to
be on duty away from the Battery position.
When an air-raid was sounded, such men dropped their work and ran from
two hundred to four hundred yards to their battery position. After the alert they resumed their
incidental occupations.
Though the added
Fort duties and work at the beginning of the war detracted from the rapid
strengthening of the gun, director, height-finder, and power plant positions,
and the rations were out to one-half on January 6, 1942 and to three-eights
on March 1, 1942, barricades around the guns, director, height finder, and
power plant were constructed, trenches connecting all positions dug, wells
for bathing and washing water dug, latrines constructed, gun cables buried,
added communication lines laid, ammunition pits prepared over the battery
area, a mess set up and operated, shelters for the coming rainy season built,
dummy positions constructed, and the battery area camouflaged. This was done at a very rapid rate and soon
everything was functioning efficiently.
Ft Hughes
from the south west
The first
shelling of the battery position by the enemy was from the Cavite side on
February 6, 1942, and then intermittently from this same side until the end
of the war without any casualties or serious materiel damages. The battery position was first bombed by
the enemy on April 10, 1942 without any casualties or serious materiel damages.
The first shelling of the battery positions from the Bataan side by the enemy
was on April 12, 1942. This shelling
also brought about the first war casualties within Battery
"I". Sgt. Harry Fineman and Alfonso
lgnacio (Civilian Filipino Barber) were obtaining drinking water from a
lister bag and the first shell fired killed them both. These were the only men of Battery
"I" killed by enemy shell fire though the battery area was
subjected to frequent artillery fire during the war.
Only three other men were
killed by enemy action, and these by bombs; Pfc. Aubrey L. Collins on April
18, l942, Staff Sergeant John J. Grdgon and Orville Pruschner (200th C.A.
attached) on May 6th, l942. These men
were buried on the West side of the parade ground at Ft. Hughes.
After December
8, 1942 the general picture of enemy aerial activities against Ft. Mills and
Ft. Hughes was as follows: December 9-28, very little aerial activity and no
attacks; December 29th, heavy attacks on Ft. Mills. December 30- January 1, 1942, aerial
activity but no attacks; January 2-6, aerial activity and attacks on Ft.
Mills; January 7-13, aerial activity but no attacks; January 14 bombing of
Ft. Mills; January 15-March 23 very little aerial activity and no attacks;
March 24-April 2, general air reinforcement, aerial activity and attacks
increase against Ft. Mills; April 3-9 aerial activity but few attacks against
Ft. Mills; April 10-May 6, daily aerial attacks on Ft. Mills and frequent
attacks on Ft. Hughes.
On December 29th
enemy planes attacked Ft. Mills at an altitude under several thousands
yards. After this date all attacks by
enemy bombers were conducted at a much higher altitude; usually from seven
thousand eight hundred to eight thousand three hundred yards. The highest altitude that the enemy bombed
from was nine thousand three hundred yards. There were three hundred air-raid
alarms sounded at Ft. Mills from December 8, 1941 to May 5, 1942 when the
air-raid alarm was shot out. On May 6,
1942 there were twenty-six bombings conducted by the enemy.
With equipment
on hand the enemy planes were not always the target. The powder train fuze could not reach the
desired altitudes and the performance limitations of the old type T8-E3
director hampered quick response to targets, and its maximum altitude setting
of eight thousand yards frequently rendered it useless.
After the
"3" fixed A.A. Battery at Ft. Drum could no longer use their
equipment in mid April 1942 due to heavy enemy aerial and artillery activity
their power plant and M-l Height Finder was sent to Battery "I".
This did a great deal to increase the efficiency as the T-2 Height Finder was
highly unsatisfactory and the one power plant on hand was the only source of
alternating current on Ft. Hughes.
On the morning
of May 6, 1942 enemy troops were landing on Ft. Mills and word was received
from Col. Valentine P. Foster, the Fort Commander, to concentrate fire in the
vicinity of North Point and the Air Field of Ft. Mills. Two "3" A.A. guns were put in
horizontal fire position and Battery “I” opened fire about 5:20 A.M. This
firing continued until about 6:15 A.M. with approximately two hundred and ten
rounds of ammunition (70 rounds of High explosive and 140 rounds of Shrapnel)
expended. It was reported by the
Japanese after landing at Ft. Hughes that they suffered heavy damages and
casualties.
Battery “I” was
bombed and shelled intermittently the remainder of the day and part of the
night. At about 11:30 p.m. the night
of May 6, 1942 Ft. Hughes was subjected to heavy artillery fire and about
twelve o'clock midnight the Japanese troops landed and Ft. Hughes was
surrendered.
Captain Stockton D. Bruns, the
Battery Commander, was wounded by bomb fragments at approximately three p.m.
on the afternoon of May 6, 1942 and was admitted to the Fort Hospital at
Craighill.
Pfc. George R.
Nilhardt,___,___,___,___,___,___, were also wounded by enemy aerial bombs and
admitted to Fort Hospital.
Material damages
were high the last day of the war; one "3" A.A. gun destroyed, one
M-l Height Finder destroyed, telephone communication with Ft. Mills severed
early in the morning, Battery communication lines destroyed, gun cables
destroyed, and other losses of a minor nature.
Battery “I” was
in action against all enemy
targets except for three periods when the director was under repair and other times when targets
were well above the limits of the
director and powder train fuze.
Firing was
conducted by carefully prepared precision fire. There was no barrage firing
by this battery. Fire was restricted
to six rounds per gun at any one target and any one course as the supply of
ammunition was limited.
During the war
between two thousand five hundred and three thousand rounds of ammunition
were expended with a number of enemy flights broken up and two or more planes
downed.
Considering the
limited facilities available, the hard tasks, discomforts, and hardships
endured and overcome, this battery performed its tasks and missions in a
willing and highly efficient manner.
Battery “I” 59th
C.A. was surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army on May 7, 1942 with the
garrison of Ft. Hughes.
The following is
a roster and the status of each officer and enlisted man of Btry “I” 59th
Coast Artillery from December 8, 1941 to May 7, l942.
 
American Legion Memorial Service Poem 4 November 1944 for the fallen of both World Wars.
Crossing the Bar
Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call
for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to
sea,
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound
and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;
For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear
me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.
By: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Source:Links
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Thursday, October 30, 2014
Uncle Johnny's Story
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