Remembering Andover’s WWII Veterans According to the Department of Defense, Memorial Day is when Americans remember those who gave their lives for our country, while Veterans Day honors “those who have served the country in war or peace.” For the past four years, Andover has been commemorating the 75th Anniversary of World War II and the service that Andover graduates—men and women, civilian and military—provided for the war effort. More than 3,500 alumni served in uniform, along with countless others in the civilian world, a few even before the United States entered the war. Some 142 alumni died in service to their country. The Blue Guidon continues the Academy’s salute to these heroes. For Veterans Day 2019, we recall the late 1944 service of three graduates—all now deceased—who represent the diverse contributions made to war efforts in the Pacific and European theaters and provided civilian leadership from Washington, D.C. Richard Hetherington O’Kane, Class of 1930 In the Far East, Navy submarine commander Richard O’Kane had survived four war patrols against Japanese shipping and—in September 1944, in command of the USS Tang—was sent on his fifth and most dangerous mission. Cmdr. O’Kane’s mission was to intercept Japanese supplies and reinforcements being sent to resist an American invasion of the Philippines. The result was one of the most successful patrols in U.S. Navy history. Departing in late September, the USS Tang had successfully destroyed three Japanese transports, but on the night of October 23rd, O’Kane and his patrols sank five transports in one Japanese convoy (and another five the following night). The patrols found a second convoy near Turnabout Island off the China coast, destroying, in succession, three more transports and two destroyers, which
were targeted and sunk by Tang torpedoes. A sixth ship, a destroyer, headed directly for the Tang and, as the Tang attempted to defend herself, the destroyer’s last torpedo circled back and struck the submarine’s port side, sinking the Tang immediately. On impact, O’Kane and eight others were thrown from the bridge into the water. Four survived, and they were soon joined by five others—the balance of the 80-man crew was lost. The nine survivors were soon captured, only to spend the rest of the war in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp. On repatriation after the war, O’Kane received the Medal of Honor. The Naval History and Heritage Command records that “O’Kane has been called the Submarine Force’s most outstanding officer,” and the USS Tang’s record of sinking 31 ships and more than 227,000 tons of enemy shipping remains “unexcelled among American submarines.” Gordon Gilmore Bensley, Class of 1943 Not every Andover graduate was an officer and, 76 years after his graduation, it may surprise some to learn that a favorite faculty member, art teacher Gordon Bensley, was an Army sergeant and a combat infantryman in the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944 and January 1945. Bensley was a “runner” for the company commander. In fact, in the battle against the last futile Nazi effort to derail the Allied invasion, Sgt. Bensley’s heroism maintaining communications between his company’s platoons was credited with enabling the company commander to maintain the combat unity of his company. In particular, on January 13 in Belgium, his company was advancing across an open area and receiving heavy enemy mortar and artillery fire. “Despite the heavy enemy fire, Bensley volunteered to cross the 300 yards of open space” to successfully reunite two platoons that
had been separated from their command by sniper fire. So reads the citation of the Silver Star he received for his actions. James Phinney Baxter, Class of 1910 The support of Andover graduates was not limited to the uniformed services. Civilian academics and scientists—notable among them, James Phinney Baxter—made important contributions to the war effort. Dr. Baxter was an Academy trustee and—from 1937 to 1961—the president of Williams College. An opponent of the American Neutrality Act, he was called to Washington in the summer of 1941 to serve as director of research and analysis for the nascent “Coordinator of Information,” the predecessor organization of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). By July 1942, he was deputy to the OSS director, Col. William Donovan, and soon became historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development. Later he chaired the Board of Advisors to the Historical Division of the War Department Special Staff and the newly established National Defense University. He also played a critical role in the establishment of the Manhattan Project, which was moving aggressively to develop the first atomic bomb in the latter stages of 1944 and early 1945. His 1946 book, Scientists Against Time, documented the pressures faced by Allied scientists determined to stay ahead of the Axis scientists in the battle for superiority in new weaponry designed to fight the war. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 1947 and, to this day, remains a classic in scientific literature. To take responsibility for the implications of this new area of scientific research, he became a board member of the World Peace Foundation. —Jim Longley ’70
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in downtown Boston and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. Ninety days later I began my two years of active duty at Parris Island, South Carolina. Up until that time, I believe I was the only Andover graduate to have “U.S. Marines” listed as the “college” in his Pot Pourri entry. My decision to join the military had a bittersweet ending. I served with an infantry company in Vietnam for a year,
enduring a horrific battle in which 40 boys were killed and another 100 were wounded. I applied to college from a foxhole on the DMZ and was accepted, four months later, while at the Con Thien firebase. The following September, I became the first Vietnam veteran to matriculate to Harvard University.
Jack McLean is the author of Loon: A Marine Story, a national bestselling memoir about his service in the Marine Corps. He is currently completing the sequel, Home: A Veteran Story.
The Blue Guidon The Newsletter of Andover and the Military
Fall 2019
Col. Douglas Creedon ’79
Caring for His Community and Serving Our Nation for Nearly 30 Years Having never seen the Andover campus before arriving, Douglas Creedon attended Phillips Academy thanks to a local newspaper scholarship. Decades later, reflecting on his life of service, Creedon sees strong ties to both family values and the non sibi Andover way. As a college student in 1981, Creedon enlisted in the Army Reserve, which eventually would help with tuition. In addition, his experience as an army medic would become valuable to him as a young man considering medical school. Some of his most memorable experiences include providing medical care during Annual Training in Honduras and researching how to optimize soldier performance during extended periods in MOPP gear (full chemical protective attire). By 1993, after 12 years, Creedon believed he was done with the military. He had a young family and was enrolling in a post-PhD program abroad. But in 2001, Creedon, a resident physician specializing in OB/ GYN, was pulled back into uniform by 9/11. The Army’s rapid expansion included open billets for doctors; Creedon was commissioned as a captain. In the years since, he has been mobilized three times, including a 2014 deployment to Kuwait. Today Col. Creedon serves as executive officer
of the 452nd Combat Support Hospital. This unit is deployable worldwide and—in 72 hours— can establish a fully functioning hospital housing 40 patients and two operating rooms. Considering the changes in military medicine since his days as a medic, Creedon has seen significant progress in critical care medicine. “The nature of the military,” says Creedon, “means that service members are often the earliest patients to receive innovative treatments. The
Col. Douglas Creedon in Kuwait, 2014
mother of invention has been the necessity to quickly stabilize wounded members requiring long travel to definitive care.” Many such military developments then make their way to civilian care. On the day of our conversation, Creedon had just attended the welcome home of one of his subordinate units, which had spent a year in Afghanistan providing urgent care to Special Operations personnel. His commitment to his fellow soldiers was evident as he reflected that even though America’s role in Afghanistan has disappeared from the public discourse, these forces were very much in harm’s way. Creedon recounted that one of the most rewarding elements of being a medical professional in the military is the opportunity to care for men and women who keep us safe. To Creedon, the Army feels like a big family. Creedon’s nearly 30-year career is a testament to an upbringing that emphasized service to others. As Andover’s senior graduate in uniform, he insists that he gets more out of these service experiences than he gives. Indicative of his humility, Creedon is appreciative of how the non sibi ideal changed his life: “Andover set me on this course.” —Lt. Cmdr. Livy Coe ’04, USN