Convoy destroyed on way to Iwo Jima?

Hi. I'm still helping my father with new memories that crop up. I'm trying to find information on this one. My father copied Japanese code which was then given to a cryptanalyst. Without going into to much detail, the jist of it is that a message that his team deciphered, off of Iwo Jima (a few weeks before the initial invasion in 1945) and sent on resulted in a Japanese convoy headed to Iwo Jima being sunk/destroyed. Thousands died. And now, all these years later, he is riddled with guilt. I am helpless to help him in dealing with survivors guilt, but I can try to find information on the episode he remembers. He wants to see it in writing.

And once again, I turn to you, my WWII Forums friends. Has anybody every heard of this? Could you give me advice on where to look? So much of what he did was top secret, so it's not in his military records. But it means a lot when I can point to something that says this is what he remembers.

Thanks in advance!

Karen

 

Actually many Japanese convoys were heavily devastated by American attacks. In essence he did nothing different than a search plane that locates an enemy force, reports it and it is then attacked. He has nothing to be ashamed about as both sides did much the same. Unfortnately because of War time security his actions could not be acknowledged publicly and perhaps he feels as he does because of this.

 

At this time of the war 'packs' of two or three US submarines often wiped out smaller Japanese convoys(5 to 10 vessels) to the last ship.

I could not find any info in 'Silent Victory' about convoys to Iwo being attacked but I remember convoys to Saipan and Guam lost all ships more than once.

 

I hope that was clear. I meant that a Japanese convoy of several ships with thousands of Japanese was sunk/destroyed due to United States military intelligence. My father was aboard a submarine as part of a five person team that was breaking the Japanese code based in Katakana. He remembers many of the messages but this one in particular was discussed and my father hit the switch that sent it on to their superiors. That's why he feels responsible. I think that it is coming with age - wanting to reconcile with oneself. I can't truly make sense of it because as much as I want to understand, I don't believe anyone who wasn't in that type of situation can.

He said that he read recently in the newspaper about this particular incident. And in it someone was quoted as saying that this action likely won the battle of Iwo Jima because so many troops and equipment never arrived. Of course, my father's take is that he took the lives of thousands of Japanese - without ever firing a shot.

Anyway, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder really stinks! Especially when the sufferer is 91-years old. When we published our book, Breaking the Code, I thought the major part of his story was told. Turns out I was wrong.

Thank you for helping! ~Karen

 

Hmmm...those do help. The timing doesn't line up though. Unfortunately, his intelligence team were often told incorrect information and that is the case with the sub he was on. When the patrols became available on the internet, he looked it up and found that it wasn't anywhere near where he'd been. I have spoken to someone in person who remembers seeing the sub off of Iwo prior to the initial invasion. He said it would surface at night, which is what Dad had said too. And he said it scared them half to death because they couldn't tell if it was their own guys or the enemy. Dad was there about five days prior to the initial invasion. So, this would have taken place from approximately February 14 to maybe a few days after the initial invasion on February 19th. This is verified in his records. His sub did not sink the ships. He passed on a message and I believe he said they were hit by bombing airplanes. The way I understand it, they (the Japanese ships) were quite a ways out still. Oh my...these things drive me crazy! He has just begun having nightmares about this and I'm sure more details will come as he talks about it. What I wish more than anything in the world is that he could somehow forget it all and live his last years in peace. But it doesn't seem that is likely. Sorry for the emotional vent. ~Karen

 

Great thread you all. I bet the experts on here solve it.

Karen, your dad is an example why the Allies won the war. He has my respects. Slipdigit said it best.

 

I think we must also face the possibility that the information either provided by your father or given to your father is in error. The fact may be that there was no such damage inflicted on such a convoy. Or that the damge to the convoy was minimal, and the results were "inflated" by the attacking submarines.

For instance, from the TROM of CD-49 on combinedfleet.com:
Japanese Escorts

 

JANAC records don't show any submarine attacks that resulted in any sinkings in that time frame for that area. So if such an attack did take place, it was likely barge traffic that would not have be counted in the JANAC, thus, only examination of submarine war patrols for that time would yield any clues.

Still, if as you say "Thousands died." There would have been some mention of it somewhere.
Thus, I have to say that while it is possible, I doubt that it is probable that such an attack to place.

 

Karen,
I am glad you can begin to formulate an answer for your father's questions.

I certainly hope, in time, he can breathe easy for compiling a cache of indispensible information that helped shorten the war and saved many Allied and Japanese armed forces personnel's lives, civilians too. His efforts are to be highly commended for a job well done. Just my humble opinion.

My Grandfather's brother went ashore early on Okinawa as a Seabee to assist with offloading men and material and beach obstacle clearance. He survived the war, possibly because of the intel people like your father provided prior to the invasion.
Therefore, I want to profusely thank your father for his efforts to complete a vital mission.

 

It looks like the key may be for my father to dig up the article he saw recently in the newspaper about this. At times, he shares things with me verbally but it feels like he doesn't want me digging into it right then. Eventually, he will give me something that is key. I simply have to wait him out.

I don't doubt my father's memory of events for a second. A military man I met who lives about an hour away was at a meeting I was at and heard Dad's story - the one in our book. He was so nice and supportive and wanted to meet my father. I didn't know at the time, that he wanted to gauge Dad's mental state and memory. Well, after leaving, he said he was blown away by his memory. Anyone who has met and spent time with my father never would question him. I don't know what it is about him, but he's going on 91 and has a better memory than I do - no kidding. He remembers details from way back that most of us would never commit to memory in the first place. I suspect he has a photographic memory as well. He is not your average 90-year old. I'm not saying he's perfect, but if he's unsure of something, he says so.

To clarify - he was on a submarine that passed the information on. The sub did not do any of the damage to the Japanese ships directly. Dad flipped the switch from "receiving" to "sending" so that the powers-that-be could make a decision on this particular piece of information. He never saw or felt anything. The Japanese ship never got close to the island.

rkline - Thank you for your words. That means a lot and I will pass it on to my father. When guilt overtakes you, it's easy to lose the big picture. ~Karen

 

He said it was a local article, but he doesn't remember many details except those that I mentioned here. He said he also saw it on some history documentary about six months ago. He said it wasn't the subject of the documentary but was mentioned in it. Oh me. Here we go again. Thank you for looking. I hadn't thought of looking at AP - good idea. My father describes the scene as he and several other guys being there. After he flipped the switch, sending the message to the powers-that-be, they went back to work. A while later, one of his comrades said something like, 'Well, it looks like you and me made a difference today. After we sent that message, our guys sunk or disabled a whole convoy - thousands of Jap[anese]s were killed and didn't make it to Iwo.' Something like that. They all pat each other on the back and had a moment of celebration before going back to their jobs.

One thing I'm not sure of is that I know the crypto team were moved at some point from a sub to a ship, because the communications room was flooded. I believe that was at Okinawa though. Anyway, thanks for your interest and time. I'll keep working on this as time permits. ~Karen