Mobile library in Levallois France 1960
Photo: Gérald Bloncourt
France is lovely and the wine has made my head floopy.
1 day later and I am in exactly the same position. Damn France and their good wine.
A couple relaxing on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, France - during the spring of 1949. (Nat Farbman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #Paris #France #TBT
Before you ask, the two pictures above are related. Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll explain it.
“The history of the Pacific War can never be written without telling the story of the USS O’Bannon,” Admiral William F. Halsey wrote. Well, I must say that the history of USS O’Bannon can never be written without telling the story of the Potato Incident. Now get ready for a story that is going to involve a destroyer, a submarine, a smart crew and a lot of potatoes.
Early 5 April, 1943. Off the Russell Islands, in the Solomons.
Destroyer Squadron 21 was returning after a night of shelling Japanese positions in the New Georgia area, in the Solomons. Destroyer USS O’Bannon, main character of this short little story, picked up a radar contact that turned out to be Japanese submarine Ro-34. The submarine was on the surface, not expecting a squadron of destroyers to be nearby.
The commanding officer, Commander George Philip Jr., ordered the tin can to approach and ram the submarine. At the last minute, the officers on the bridge could not identify the submarine and decided that it might be a mine layer. Not wise ramming a mine layer and sinking your ship in the process, right? To avoid the unwanted collision, O’Bannon made a hard turn - and that put her alongside the submarine, “in a rather embarrassing situation”, as crewman Ernest A. Herr put it.
No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy. But, what if your ship is so close to the enemy, that your guns can’t even depress low enough to fire?
Nobody on deck carried a gun. The Americans didn’t, the Japanese didn’t. As the Japanese sailors rushed towards their submarine’s 3-inch deck gun, sailors on the deck of O’Bannon had to do something - but what?
From the storage bins on deck, the sailors picked up potatoes and threw them at the Japanese submarine. Yes, potatoes. As Ernest A. Herr remarked, “A potato battle ensued.”
Ernest A. Herr made the guess that the Japanese sailors probably thought that those were grenades instead of potatoes - the truth we will never know. But what we do know is that the submarine crewmen were too busy picking up potatoes and throwing them into the ocean that they didn’t man their deck gun.
This gave O’Bannon enough time to pull away from Ro-34. Once O’Bannon was far away enough to fire at the submarine, firing commenced, and one shell hit the submarine’s conning tower. The submarine managed to submerge; O’Bannon passed over the submarine and performed a depth charge attack. Japanese records showed that the submarine did sink.
When the Association of Potato Growers of Maine heard of this strange “Potato Incident”, they sent a plaque to the crew of USS O’Bannon to commemorate the event. And, of course, it was mounted on a wall next to the crews mess hall.
Source:
Destroyer History Foundation
“The Maine Potato Episode” by Ernest A. Herr
I keep telling you, it’s a super food.
Potatoes win wars and save lives.
@lastgunfighterballad I hear you like history, and food. Lol
Amazing. Tatties to the rescue!
France is treating me well 😎
A couple relaxing on the banks of the Seine River in Paris, France - during the spring of 1949. (Nat Farbman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #Paris #France #TBT
This does a good job at showing how ridiculously free-for-all and confusing WWI was.
The historical accuracy here, as a History major, makes me weep tears of joy.
*Cries of laughter*
A history major this made me extremely amused. This is beautifully accurate.
IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW
Russia gets thrown through a plate glass window, gets knocked out, suffers brain damage, and wakes up with a complete personality change
I’m dying.
I’ve reblogged this numerous times, I will continue to reblog it each time it crosses my dash…
Germany rolls up its sleeves, looks at France, and punches Belgium.
Funniest damn thing I have read all day
U.S. Army Pfc. Joseph E. Day holds a German helmet he has taken as a war trophy and a stray puppy he has adopted and named Invasion during the Battle of Normandy, France, June 1944.
A woman surveys a treacherous mountain pass in the Pyrenees of France, 1956 - Photograph by Justin Locke, National Geographic
I just wanna have a slow Sunday morning on a porch with coffee & someone I love
