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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDr. W Rex Davis, Brazos Valley Heroes M~ 31C 4.. (fir. W. Rex Davis IS By Bill Youngkin job was to attract them to us and have them attack us. What we Special to The Eagle did was after we spotted them on radar, we waited until we could make visual contact. It was then that we fired at them, hoping Part One they would try to attack us. Dr. W. Rex Davis is a_two-time recipient of the Purple Heart "Most of the time we got them to attack us. With our groups Award. What is unusual is that the awards were earned 33 years were some destroyers and some other smaller ships like ours. apart -one earned during World War II and one during the Hopefully we presented enough of a target, but because of our a Vietnam War. size and maneuverability, hopefully we would be hard to hit. Life for Davis began in Floris, Ohio, on June 22, 1925, where "This radar picket duty went on for some time without any he was born in his grandmother's home. His family moved and he major problems until May 28, 1945. We were reporting into the spent most of his childhood in Fairfield, Iowa. Y radar picket l ine to the LISS Drexler, one of the destroyers, but they As recalled by Davis, "My father was in the National Guard, were some distance off from our location. We had Corsairs in the and his unit was activated in 1941.1 was 15 years old at the time air above our position, and between the Corsairs and our ships in and had just learned to drive. My dad's unit was sent to Louisiana, the picket line we were becoming pretty effective at destroying but one of his officers had to leave his wife and newborn baby in kamikazes and preventing them from reaching Okinawa. ..~Iowa. She wanted to join her husband after the baby was ableto "Our station was the most active, as we were in a direct travel, so my Dad volunteered me to drive her and the baby to line from Japan. That morning, I could see that way too many Louisiana from Iowa. That was my first real driving experience, kamikazes were in the vicinity of the Drexler. The Drexler was ORA and I was just 15 years old. being attacked by a twin-engine bomber. Although the bomber ` "I stayed in Louisiana with m father, working there.and Y was hit, it made almost a stumbling run into the Drexler. After R trying to make up for some schoolwork I had failed. But mainly I that plane hit the Drexler, the Drexler was now paralyzed and was trying to get my dad to agree to allow me to enter the service dead in the water._ when I reached 17, which he did. My mother threw a fit when she "Our Captain ordered full speed ahead to their rescue, but found out about it. even at full speed a LCS is slow. All the ships in the area were all "On July 10, entered the navy and was assigned to trying to maneuver to help defend the Drexler, but we were the San Diego for boot camp. The need was so great at this time for closest to them. As we approached, the Drexler was now being seamen that my boot camp only lasted three weeks. I scored well dived on by another twin-engine bomber, but it missed its mark. A on some test, so the navy sent me to quartermaster school in it had overflown the'Drexlerandlookedlikeitwasabouttocrash 3 Newport, Rhode Island. That led to some really good jobs initially into the sea when the pilot somehow just skimmed the water in the Navy. and began to rise. The Corsairs were chasing it, but when the "I was assigned to transporting LCTs down the Erie Canal, bomber began to turn left, the Corsairs were too fast and couldn't then down the Finger Lakes into the Hudson River and then follow the turning bomber. down into New York Harbor. After that I was assigned to do the. "We knew this was no untrained pilot. He turned his plane tt same thing on the Mississippi River. We left from St. Louis, with toward the Drexler and flew his plane aft'of amidship, just in pilots, down the Mississippi to New Orleans. I felt like a Mark front, of the torpedo tubes of the Drexler. All exploded on impact. Twain character on those trips down the Mississippi. Initially we couldn't see the Drexler because it was obscured by a "From there it was to the East Coast, where I boarded a cloud of smoke. When it became visible again, the bow was up LCS, which is a 158-foot gunboat used in beach landings. We and going down fast. From the time the Drexler was hit until it left Norfolk, Virginia, on December 26, 1944, and headed to the went down was only 49 seconds. The Drexler was now gone.s Pacific through the Panama Canal. From there it was on to various "1 felt weak and helpless. We wanted to get there faster but places until Saipan, where we awaited orders. We received our we couldn't. But the worst was yet to come. With the sinking of - sealed orders and found we were headed to Okinawa. That same the Drexler, its fuel oil emptied out and the burning gasoline day, Tokyo Rose came on the radio and told us what was in our from the Japanese plane ignited the oil. In all of that burning oil orders and where we were headed. were the sailors of the Drexler who had managed to go overboard "The Japanese weren't on the beaches at Okinawa, but before it went down. That was when I became aware that I was 4 the kamikazes were in the air. We were sent 50 miles north of aboard ship with one of the bravest men I was to ever know." Okinawa to form a radar picket line and to try to intercept the If you want to have a name added to the Veterans N Japanese kamikaze before they could reach Okinawa and our Memorial, for more information, to make a contribution, or ships and men. During call to quarters my job was to go topside if you know a World War II veteran whose story needs to be and record the action. told, contact the 8VVM at www.veteransmemorial.org or Bill a "Most ships hoped to avoid any kamikaze attack, while our Youngkin at (979) 776-1325. F y i Z Dr. W. Rex Davis 4 By Bill Youngkin when he was injured while his crewmates were blowing up a Special to The Eagle mine. After the war, Davis returned home to finish high school and then college at San Marcos. He enrolled in medical school at Part Two On May 28,1945, Rex Davis was aboard a KS about 50 miles UTMB in Galveston,.Teceiving his medical degree in 1954 After north of Okinawa. Their mission was to form a radar picket line several years of private practice he enrolled in the Aerospace and destroy Japanese kamikaze planes on their way to Okinawa. Medicine Program with the army, becoming a flight surgeon. He They were located on the most direct path from Japan to became a pilot in the army and served a tour in Viet Nam in 1967 Okinawa and were under attack daily. In their picket line was the 1968 as the division surgeon with the 1st Calvary Division American destroyer, the USS Drexler. The Drexler was hit by two According to Davis, "I enjoyed my time in the army and think Japanese bombers, with the second bomber causing the Drexler to sink in less than one minute. that this time improved measa doctorand improved our medical ' profession. One of the problems we had attending to wounded Those sailors who were able to escape the Drexler were soldiers in Viet Nam was too many dying of what was referred to V0 now in waters coated by the fuel oil of the Drexler. The greatest problem was the spreading of fire from the exploded Japanese as'wet lung syndrome; which is a backup of fluids in the lungs. plan es. Davis recalled the scene: "I devised a plan to set up clearing stations where our 30 "At first there was no fire and no smoke. But as we wounded soldiers were delivered to be resuscitated before approached, you could seethe crude oil from the Drexler floating being transported to the surgeons. When we did that, wet lung on the water and spreading from where the Drexler sank in a syndrome went away. One day while flying back to our combat doughnut of heavy goo. The sailors swam through it, choking and gagging as they swam. But they were the lucky ones. As the station, we received a call to assist with a wounded soldier. We . burning gasoline from the Japanese planes heated this crude oil, were right above and went in for him. He had no pulse and there was soon a raging inferno, now a doughnut of flames. essentially, was dead. We were able to transport him to the As we approached, this doughnut of flames was probably clearing station immediately. He was resuscitated and within five a mile in diameter. Those that swam through the goo were now minutes he was sitting up. yelling and screaming to be picked up. The awful truth was most of the screaming came from the men trapped inside that "That gave me my second idea about improving our care doughnut of flames. of the wounded, which was to have a helicopter above every battle scene. When red smoke was popped, that helicopter went "We began pulling as many as we could reach onto our LCS, I mi but many were too weak to come to us. It meant our people in to retrieve the wounded and another helicopter took its place would have to go to them. The first man to enter the water was above the battle scene. This greatly increased the survival rate our boatswain, a man named Schumer. He was a good swimmer and helped the morale of the troops. It helps the men fight if and soon had a Drexler sailor aboard. Back in he went for others. they know they have help just waiting above them should they "Meanwhile, the flames seemed to abate somewhat, so we become injured. So much of what we now do in trauma care we tried to enter the flames to try to rescue the men inside. It was learned from treating wounded soldiers. just too hot and we were loaded with fuel and ammo and afraid "It was in Viet Nam that I received my second Purple Heart. it was going to explode. We had to back out. The screams of the men inside those flames compelled us to try a second time. It was I had just walked outside the general's mess when the V.C. still too hot, and we had to back out of the flames again. mortared our jet fuel bladder tank, which caused a lot of other "Schumer was now some distance from our ship. With the things to blow up. The explosion and shrapnel created by the flames seeming to now die down,the captain called to Schumer explosion knocked me to the ground. I was bleeding pretty badly 1 over the loudspeaker asking if he could hang onto his guy a little and was a mess, but not terribly hurt" @;,1q., longer. If he could, we would try to go into the flames again. We saw Schumer motion for us to go back into the flames. We just In 1989, Dr. Davis retired from the army as a colonel. He went couldn't get very far in the flames and knew we would just have back into private practice, which he does on a limited basis today to let the flames die down. When asked about his time of service, Dr. Davis responded I "Now our attention turned to Schumer. We finally located became a man in the service and came to understand what an him in the water, still holding his sailor afloat. When we reached education could mean to me. As a medical doctor in the army ~ him, he helped get his Drexler sailor aboard but was so tired we my experience was a great adventure. And if asked, I would do R had to help him aboard. We saved 119 Drexler men from the all of it over again" water that day and Schumer saved several of those himself. The rest either went down with the ship or expired in the flames. For If you want to have a name added to the Veterans his actions that day, Schumer received the Bronze Star. Most of Memorial, for more information, to make a contribution or us thought he deserved the Medal of Honor. He was the bravest if you know a World War 11 veteran whose story needs to be man I ever knew" told, contact the BVVM at www.veteransmemorial.org or Bill Before the war was over, Davis would receive a Purple Heart Youngkin at (979) 776-1325.