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Community Corner

Historic Presentation Night - "For Crew & Country"

This month's Yankee Air Museum Historic Presentation Night features author and
historian John Wukovits discussing his latest book, For Crew and
Country: The Inspirational True Story of Sacrifice and Bravery Aboard
the USS Samuel B. Roberts. The book tells the story of the crew of a
destroyer escort that in October 1944 sacrificed itself to help save
MacArthur's forces ashore.



On October 25, 1944, the Samuel B. Roberts, along with the other
twelve vessels comprising its unit, stood between Japan's largest
battleship force ever sent to sea and MacArthur's transports inside
Leyte Gulf. Faced with the surprise appearance of more than twenty
Japanese battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, including the Yamato, at
70,000 tons the most potent battlewagon in the world, the 1,200-ton
Samuel B. Roberts turned immediately into action with six other ships.
Captain Copeland marked the occasion with one of the most poignant
addresses ever given to men on the edge of battle: "Men," he said over
the intercom, "we are about to go into a fight against overwhelming odds
from which survival cannot be expected."



The ship churned straight at the enemy in a near-suicidal attempt
to deflect the more potent foe, allow the small aircraft carriers to
escape, and buy time for MacArthur's forces. The Samuel B. Roberts, a
John C. Butler-class destroyer escort, was sunk, going down with guns
blazing in a duel reminiscent of the Spartans at Thermopylae or Davy
Crockett's Alamo defenders. The men who survived faced a horrifying
three-day nightmare in the sea, where they battled a lack of food and
water, scorching sun and numbing nighttime cold, and nature's most
feared adversary-sharks.

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The battle would go down as history's greatest sea clash, the Battle of Samar-the dramatic climax of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Join us for this riveting presentation at the Yankee Air Museum on Wed, March 5 at 7:15pm. We are located at the historic Willow Run Airport, home of the B-24 bomber plant. For details call: 734-483-4030

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