The
Praesae Incident
Temporary Additional Duty - (TAD)
Shortly after the Korean War started on 25 June, 1950,
HU-1 began forming crews for duty with the Pacific
Fleet. the first of many left on 4 July when Unit
3 was dispatched from NAAS Miramar to the USS Philippine
Sea (CV-47) with LT. Harry Sundberg, OinC, Duane Thorin
AMC (AP), N.D. Hill ADC, Chester Todd AD3, Ralph Sherrill
ADAN, Bill Barker AMAN, B.F. Youcum, AE2.
Their primary mission was to fly as the plane guard
"Angel" during air operations and shuttle
official mail and personnel between the ships in Task
Force 77. Those routine operations were interrupted
on 8 January 1951 when the helicopter with Thorin
and Todd were temporarily (TAD) assigned to the cruiser
USS Manchester to assist in the recovery of a Thailand
corvette, HTMS Praesae which had gone ashore in North
Korean territory.
(Todd's rendition)
If memory serves me right, after arrival on board
the USS Manchester, AP Thorin and myself made two
attempts to fly a line to the Praesae with the idea
of possibly towing her off the beach at high tide.
This was not successful because of the distance between
the two ships and the Manchester could not get close
enough because of two factors, one was due to the
shallow waters of the area and the also the Praesae
had breached and was laying parallel to the beach
with water breaking over the seaward side. Therefore
if our attempt to get a line to her had been successful,
it was doubtful we would have been able to tow her
.
It was then decided to evacuate the crew by helo.
I was to fly over with Thorin and act as plane director.
The Praesae went aground just above the 38th parallel,
in enemy territory, so it was further decided I should
be armed. When asked if I had ever fired a submachine
gun, and I replied in the negative, a clip of ammo
was put in the gun and was told to fire off the fantail,
which I did. At that point, it was determined that
I was "good to go!"
Duane dropped me off on the beach to guide the crew
aboard and stand guard against any enemy that might
show up. We then started evacuating the crew, three
at a time, back to the Manchester. The operation went
without a hitch until we had all the crew on board,
I believe we transported 130 crew members.
If I remember correctly, the next day the Manchester
used the Praesae for target practice, but I can't
swear that actually happened.
(ed. note: Chester Todd was awarded the Air Medal
for his role in the rescues. )
Chester Todd and Doug Froling on-board the USS MIDWAY,
Oct. 2004
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