Hero of the Week 69

Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Yukio Okutsu

Yukio Okutsu was born on November 3, 1921. He grew up in Koloa, Hawaii. Much of his early life was very uneventful. However, although he had no way of predicting it, Okutsu would grow up to become one of America's bravest soldiers in World War II.

In March of 1943, Okutsu enlisted the 100th Infantry Battalion which was part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (a unit comprised of Japanese Americans). Two years later, he had risen to the rank of Technical Sergeant. On April 7, 1945, Sergeant Okutsu and his platoon were patrolling an area in Italy near the town of Bologna. While walking up a nearby mountain (Mount Belvedere), three enemy machine guns opened fire on the platoon.

Okutsu immediately took the initiative. He crawled to within 30 yards of one of the machine guns and threw two grenades at it. The grenades obliterated the gun and killed all three of its crew. Okutsu then crawled to the next machine gun and threw another grenade into the nest. This grenade knocked out the gun and incapacitated the crew. He then assaulted the third position and wounded all four enemy soldiers, forcing them to surrender. Less than 20 minutes after they were ambushed, Sergeant Okutsu has single-handedly stopped the ambush and saved his platoon. Soon, they continued on their patrol.

For his heroism that day, Yukio Okutsu received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple heart. By the end of World War II 442nd Regimental Combat team was one of the most highly decorated units in American history. It had also suffered so many casualties (especial the 100th) that it earned itself the nickname, "the Purple Heart Battalion" (9,486 of them). Numerous soldiers were nominated for the Medal of Honor (Okutsu included) but only one of them received it immediately after the war.

That all changed on June 21, 2000. That day, President Bill Clinton awarded 22 soldiers the Congressional Medal of Honor for acts of valor during World War II. Sadly, only 7 of them were still alive to receive it. Yukio Okutsu was one of those few. Three years later, he passed away at the age of 81. Today he is remembered as a brave and remarkable hero who helped our country win World War II. Like so many before and after, he served a country that was not always grateful, yet he fought for it anyway. He is definitely someone to be held in high regard.

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/us/yukio-okutsu-81-soldier-who-led-attack-on-germans.html

https://valor.militarytimes.com/hero/3413

https://www.usapatriotism.org/heroes/moh/ww2/okutsu.htm

Hero of the Week 68

Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Piero Calamai

Captain Piero Calamai was born on December 25, 1897. He began his career as a sailor in 1916 when he joined the Italian Navy. After honorably serving both world wars, Calamai joined the Italian merchant marines where he served on more than 27 different ships. By 1953, he was in chosen to be the Master of an Italian ocean liner called, Andrea Doria. He commanded this ship for three years without incident. However, all of this changed in the summer of 1956.

On the foggy night of July 25, the Doria was sailing through the East Coast of the United States just south of Nantucket. On this trip, she was carrying 1,134 passengers and 572 crew (more than 90% of her capacity). By 11 PM, Captain Calamai was one of the few who was still awake. Ten minutes after the hour he noticed lights in the fog bank. He realized it was another cruise ship that was on a collision course with the Doria. He ordered a hard turn to port in an attempt to outrun the other ship. It was too late, the other ship (MS Stockholm) crashed into the starboard side of the Andrea Doria. 

Since the Stockholm was armed with a reinforced bow (so it could break through ice), it snapped right through the Doria's bulkheads and penetrated 30 feet deep into the latter's hull. By the time the two ships ripped apart from each other, they both had suffered severe damage. 

Captain Calamai immediately ordered the crew to their stations and an assessment of the damage. A large hole had been ripped in the starboard side of the Doria. Sea water was rapidly flooding into the ship's hull, overwhelming its water-tight compartments. It became clear to Calamai that he was going to lose his ship. He quickly ordered an evacuation but soon realized that there was a major problem that was hindering the evacuation process. The hole in the side of the Doria was causing the ship to dangerously list 20 degrees to its starboard side. As a result the lifeboats that were located on the ship's port side could not be launched and the ones on the starboard side could only carry just over half of the Doria's passengers.

Calamai quickly radioed this problem to other ships and called for more lifeboats. Despite also being mangled in the collision, the Stockholm (which was not in danger of sinking) lowered its own lifeboats and began aiding the Doria's passengers. Luckily, both ships were located in a heavily traveled area of the Atlantic. As a result, many ships were able to respond to the distress calls. 

Even so, the evacuation of the Doria's passengers was a painstakingly slow process. Due the starboard list, they were forced to slide down the deck into the lifeboats. For next several hours, one of the largest maritime rescues in history took place as more than 1,600 passengers and crew evacuated from the Doria. Captain Calamai stayed on the bridge the whole time coordinating the rescue and trying to make sure everyone was evacuated. Many passengers were trapped in their cabins due to debris from the collision and needed to be pulled free by the crew. By 5:30 AM, nearly everybody had been evacuated. Captain Calamai was content to stay on his ship (as he knew people were still missing) but he was eventually persuaded to board the last lifeboat. Five hours later, the Andrea Doria slipped beneath the waves.

In all a total of 46 of the Doria's passengers had been killed in the collision. Another five people were killed on the Stockholm. Despite helping to rescue nearly all of his passengers and crew, Captain Piero Calamai was largely scapegoated by the public for not being able to save everyone on board his ship. He was forced to retire from captaining ships after the sinking (and never returned to the sea). Nobody was harder on Calamai than himself. For the rest of his days he was haunted by his inability to prevent the disaster and save all those on the Andrea Doria. He died on April 7, 1972. His last words were reported to be, "Are the passengers safe? Are they all off?"

Despite all the criticism given to Calamai, most of the survivors called him a hero. Many credited him with preventing many more lives from being lost and coordinating one of the largest maritime evacuations from a sinking ship in history. He put his passengers and crew before himself and ensured that most of them were rescued. He is definitely someone who deserves to be held in high regard.

https://www.orderisda.org/culture/stories/andrea-doria-was-beautiful-elegant-and-doomed-as-51-passengers-would-learn-when-disaster-struck/

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/10/archives/capt-piero-calamai-dies-at-75-andrea-doria-skipper-in-crash.html

https://www.theoaklandpress.com/entertainment/shipwreck-survivor-sets-record-straight-for-anniversary-of-andrea-doria-sinking/article_ed7e25c9-58f7-56aa-874c-9012c133aeb6.html

http://www.andreadoria.org/TheOfficers/Default.htm

https://www.history.com/news/the-sinking-of-andrea-doria