Verdugo Views: Recalling the voyages of the USS Glendale
The USS Glendale, funded with help from bond-buying Glendale students, was launched in a Wilmington shipyard as a convoy escort that also served as an anti-submarine and anti-aircraft vessel.
Christened in 1943 and commissioned in October of that same year, the ship sailed from San Diego in January 1944. She reached Australia in mid-February and continued on to New Guinea, where she was given the mission of escorting and protecting merchant ships.
According to a 1965 Glendale News-Press story by John Millrany, “The frigate first saw combat in the Admiralties, and then kept in step with American invasion forces in Western New Guinea, Western Carolines and the Philippines.”
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In December 1944, the ship was escorting a convoy to Leyte Island when Japanese aircraft attacked and sank the SS Antoine Saugrain, a cargo ship laden with valuable radar material, and severely damaged the SS Marcus Daly, according to a Wikipedia site dedicated to the USS Glendale. Wanting to find out more, I went to Wikipedia’s Battle of Leyte site and there I found a bigger story.
Japan had taken the Philippines in 1942 and needed to retain the islands to protect its rubber and petroleum sources. The United States wanted to retake the Philippines to isolate Japan’s holdings.
But it was more personal for Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had been ordered to leave the Philippines in 1942 — by President Franklin D. Roosevelt — to avoid being captured by the invading Japanese. The general was evacuated to Australia, where he famously declared, “I came through and I shall return.”
MacArthur repeatedly stated that it was the United States’ moral obligation to liberate the Philippines as soon as possible. In early 1944, he was ordered to plan an attack.
Leyte, one of the larger islands, had “deep-water approaches and sandy beaches for amphibious assaults and fast resupply.” It became the focus of the planned battle.
After heavy fire in mid-October, Sixth Army forces landed on the beaches. They found as much resistance from swampy terrain as from Japanese fire, Wikipedia noted, but “within an hour of landing, units in most sectors had secured beachheads deep enough to receive heavy vehicles and large amounts of supplies.”
Later that day, MacArthur made a dramatic entrance, wading through the surf to announce, “People of the Philippines, I have returned! By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil,” as described on the Wikipedia site.
As the land forces pushed, the Japanese struck back in the air and at sea. The fighting continued and, in early December, the ships escorted by the USS Glendale came under attack as described above. She brought the rest of the convoy safely into Leyte the next day.
After leaving the combat zone, the Glendale sailed for Boston and an overhaul. She was awarded five Battle Stars for her Asian Pacific service.
In June 1945, this hard-working ship was decommissioned, transferred to the Soviet Navy and disappeared from view for several years. More on this later.
Readers Write:
Carl Held, who first worked with Gloria Talbott in the Perry Mason episode “The Case of The Angry Dead Man,” emailed his thanks for the Feb. 10 column on Talbott, who was born into an illustrious Glendale family.
“My career in front of the camera was just starting at the time while she was already a seasoned veteran. I remember her giving me ‘camera tips’ which were most helpful. She was kind and generous to me and seemed to have no professional ego problems, unlike some actors I have worked with over the years,” Held wrote.
“Her help was part of the reason I was written into the series, of which I eventually did 10 or so episodes. I was saddened to hear of her early death in the year 2000 — coincidentally on my 69th birthday,” he added.
Held also worked with another Glendale actor, John Wayne, in “Brannigan.”
“He, too, was most kind and generous, certainly not a snob, and he genuinely enjoyed chatting with cast, crew or visitors on the set,” Held wrote.
Held — who has lived in Glendale for three years, since the death of his wife, actress Sarah Marshall — added that he enjoyed the News-Press and its many columnists. “Thanks again for your lovely column on Gloria,” he wrote.
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John Hammell Jr. emailed: “Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed your column on the Patterson family and Gloria Talbott. I did not realize that Benjamin Patterson was so much a part of early Glendale history.”
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KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o News-Press, 202 W. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
