Book tells tale of WWII bravery

You’ve see war movies about American ships being sunk in World War II. The following is a story from the book, “For Crew and Country,” a story of bravery an sacrifice aboard the USS Samuel B. Roberts.

The ship was a DE (destroyer escort), designed for some protection, but mainly to keep submarines away. The U.S. was going back to the Philippine Islands, and there the Japanese ships came through a strait, headlong into just a few U.S. Navy ships. The USS Roberts charged, firing its torpedos making one hit. But do to overwhelming Japanese fire power, the Roberts was hit and sunk. There were 234 men on board.

Many were killed when the shells hit the ship. As the ship was sinking, some went off to the port side, and some to the starboard side. The ones on one side, were coated with oil from the ship’s fuel tanks, the other side were in clear ocean. Then the sharks came, ironically, the sharks didn't take many drenched in oil, but the sharks did kill a lot on the clear water side due to their white legs, vs. the other side where the men's legs were black with oil. Some of the men saw the sailor right next to them, consumed by a shark and had nightmares the rest of their lives. There were many heroes, saving other men, but some men "froze" and did nothing to help.

They were in the water for three days and two nights, of course many died by the shark attacks and others from exhaustion; in all, 90 died. They were wondering why they weren't rescued earlier, which is another story.

Roger Gregory was a captain in the 1st Infantry Division during Vietnam. He is now a businessman in Priest River.