USS Lamson DD-328
USS Clemson
On February 23, 2009 a report was submitted to MUFON about an event that occurred during World War Two. The witnesses were on board a Clemson Class Destroyer in the Bering Sea, west of Alaska. It was a very dark night, and they were manning guns on board of the fast, but small ship. In early 1943, the US had been at war with Japan for more than a year.
The reporting witness wrote that the ship was patrolling the Bering Sea "north of the Alaskan Peninsula", heading north. By "Alaskan Peninsula", I believe he meant the Aleutian Island Chain.
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The witnesses were onboard DD244, the USS Williamson, commissioned in 1920. The date given for the event was March 1943. Kisku and Attu Islands in the Aleutian chain had been invaded and occupied by the Japanese in June 1942. The Williamson supported the US invasion and occupation of Attu in April and May 1943.
The witnesses were located on the "second deck (galley deck). . . My gun turret was above the deck house and there were no obstructions hindering my field of vision". They were on top of what we would refer to as 'the bridge', at the fore of the vessel, in front of the 4 stacks and the mast. As they were in contested waters, one can imagine that their powers of observation were certainly heightened at the time.
The full and complete report to MUFON follows below, with no changes.
I was aboard the USS Williamson (Destroyer) in early 1943 during WWII. The weather was clear with calm seas. The night was very black. At the time of the sighting, we were patrolling the Bearing Sea north of the Alaskan Peninsula, bearing north at about 20 knots.
I was on watch at the starboard 20mm gun, second deck (galley deck). It was around 2300. My gun turret was above the deck house and there were no obstructions hindering my field of vision, allowing me to have a clear 360 degree view of the sea around the ship. There were four of us together at the starboard gun (I can get crew names and captain’s name).
The attention of both port and starboard gun crews was drawn to a row of red lights off the port side, traveling parallel to and slightly forward of the bow. I did not see the lights when they first approached so do not know the direction from which they came, or if they came out of the sea. There were at least eight lights in a row, evenly spaced, canted at about 15 degrees to horizontal. I would estimate the lights were no more than 100 yards from the ship. The lights held their relative position to one another throughout the sighting, and appeared to be about 10 feet apart. I would say that the light closest to the water (the lights were canted diagonal to horizontal at approximately 15 degrees) appeared to be about 30 feet above the water.
I estimate that it would require a cantaloupe held at arms length to cover a single light. I could not see a structure associated with the lights as there was nothing but blackness between the lights. The lights were a very deep red and did not cast a beam. The lights moved parallel to our ship, holding their position relative to the ship throughout the entire sighting.
The lights continued to pace the ship as I watched. This continued for at least one hour. I was relieved from watch at 2400. When I went below the lights were still visible. I was too tired to stay on deck and went below to sleep. The next day, the midnight gun crew said that the captain turned the ship and “tried” to chase the lights. I don’t know the outcome of this maneuver. I don’t know what the circumstances were when the lights disappeared. But I do know that I have not seen anything like this before or since.
End Report
This report is worthy of further investigation. To see these lights as close and as long as they did, in such a remote and, for humans, dangerous region, is not easily explainable.
The Williamson had been chosen for several technical upgrades. On 15 May 1943, four torpedo wakes passed close to the ship, her closest call of the campaign and, indeed, her last brush with the Japanese in the Aleutian theater, according to Wikipedia.
Returning to San Diego in late spring of 1943, Williamson trained with submarines and then resumed escorting and plane-guarding for carriers on their shakedown cruises. In December 1943 Williamson was reclassified back to her original classification: DD-244. She survived the war, was decommissioned in November 1945 and was scrapped in 1948.
From Wikipedia
A truly amazing event was reported to have taken place during the opening of the 1942 Guadalcanal Campaign in the Pacific. The mass sighting was described in the August 1992 issue of the MUFON UFO Journal. Bob Gribble wrote about the incident that occurred on Tulagi Island in the South Pacific in August 1942. Tulagi in right smack in the middle of 'The Slot'. It forms an excellent protected harbor with the much larger Florida Island to the north. In 1942 it was the capitol of the Soloman Islands Protectorate.
From Wikipedia: "The Japanese occupied Tulagi on May 3, 1942, with the intention of setting up a seaplane base nearby. The ships in Tulagi harbor were raided by planes from
U.S. forces, primarily the 1st Marine Raiders, landed on August 7, 1942 and captured Tulagi as part of Operation Watchtower after a day of hard fighting. (The Marines were Raiders and also from the 2nd and 5th Marine Regiments.)On 7 August 1942, 11,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal and 3,000 U.S. Marines landed on Tulagi and nearby islands.[43] The Japanese troops on Tulagi and nearby islands were outnumbered and killed almost to the last man in the Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu-Tanambogo . . . Thus, began the Guadalcanal campaign.
After its capture by Naval and Marine forces, the island (Tulagi) hosted a fleet of PT boats for a year, including John F. Kennedy's PT-109 as well as other ancillary facilities."
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According to Stephen J. Brickner of the First Marine Division, a flight of 150 disk-shaped vehicles flew over the troops who were expecting Japanese bombers. They were in
straight majestic lines of 10 to 12 craft each, one behind the other. The gleaming objects seemed to "wobble slightly, and every time they wobbled, they would shimmer brightly from the sun." The formation disappeared swiftly, leaving the excited witnesses open mouthed. Was this a demonstration by some alien folks to raise the awareness of the soldiers?
Lt.Col. Ware
Another incident which was claimed to have been witnessed by US sailors during WWII occurred in Fiji on January 1943. About 25 witnesses to this absolutely remarkable event were on board the USS Sea Witch and the heavy cruiser USS Chicago (CA-29). The report was phoned in to the National UFO Reporting Center on August 11, 2004 by an eyewitness. NUFORC noted: "We consider him to be an exceptional witness, and highly reliable". The entire report follows, unchanged as it appears in the NUFORC database:
Occurred : 1/18/1943 07:15 (Entered as : 01/18/1943 07:15)
Reported: 8/11/2004 11:57:20 AM 11:57
Posted: 8/11/2004
Location: Fiji Islands (S. Pacific Ocean),
Shape:
Duration:10 sec.
Crew contingents of 2 USN vessels see reconnaissance plane fly into something invisible to witnesses.
Telephoned Report: A gentleman who described himself as a former U. S. Army infantry officer during World War II, described an incident that he personally witnessed while aboard the USS “Sea Witch,” which was anchored in the Fiji Islands at the time.
He described that the accompanying navy vessel, the heavy cruiser, “Chicago,” was in the habit of launching a reconnaissance biplane most mornings, to perform surveillance of the surrounding area.
On the morning in question, the plane was lifted off the heavy cruiser, and was launched. As the plane was returning to land, the witness, together with approximately 25 other witnesses aboard his vessel, were stunned as the aircraft appeared to fly into an object, which was invisible to the witnesses, and crash in a ball of tangled metal. The pilot and observer were killed in the collision, and no recovery effort was mounted.
The witness reports that the aircraft, which had been at an altitude of approximately “200 yards,” he recounted, simply stopped flying in an instant, and fell vertically into the ocean as a ball of wreckage.
((NUFORC Note: We have spoken via telephone with this witness on a number of occasions, and we consider him to be an exceptional witness, and highly reliable. We would welcome additional reports from anyone who also may have been witness to this incident. PD))
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"No recovery effort was mounted". They didn't even attempt to retrieve the seaplane? The US Army officer who made the report was probably part of the supply base which may have been the reason the warships were at Fiji. He would have been easily able to monitor the operations around the USS Chicago CA-29 after this event.
I have alerted 'The Black Vault' about this report, as there may be some references to this event buried in US Government releases.
Wikipedia's article on the USS Chicago CA-29 states: "Early in January 1943, Chicago departed San Francisco, action-bound once more. On 27 January, she sailed from Nouméa to escort a Guadalcanal convoy."
On the map above, Noumea, New Caledonia is from 700 to 900 miles southwest of the Fijian Islands. USS Chicago's top speed was 32 knots. She could have steamed from Fiji to Noumea at top speed in about 25 hours. She could have remained in Fijian waters for a week after the January 18th event and still been off Noumea on January 27.
On the night of January 29th, 1943 the USS Chicago CA-29 was engaged in the Battle of Rennell Island, where she was disabled by 2 torpedoes from Japanese aircraft. The next day she took 4 more torpedoes while under tow, and sank. She was replaced by the USS Chicago CA-136, which was put into service in early 1945.
A link to the only report that occurred in January 1943 currently in NUFORC's database, the report posted above: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/ndxe194301.html
Occurred : 4/1/1945 10:00 (Entered as : 04/01/1945 10:00)
Reported: 2/24/2005 10:43:35 PM 22:43
Posted: 4/16/2005
Location: Pacific Ocean,
Shape: Disk
Duration:all day
April, 1945 I saw a disc over our ship, all day as we neared Okinawa.
I was a lookout on flying bridge of a minesweeper approaching Okinawa. We were concerned about Kamikazes and I was scanning sky.
I found a shiny, silvery disc at a very high altitude directly over us. I reported it to the O.D. and others viewed it, too.
But as time passed nothing happened and only I watched it the rest of the day. It remained directly over us all day. At the time a Japanese weapon was a primary concern.
((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that date of sighting is approximate. PD))
End Report
US Infantry, Amour, and Marines began landing on Okinawa on March 26, 1945. The fighting lasted almost 3 months.
Link to this report, the only one currently for April 1945 :
http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/ndxe194504.html
Finally, from the son of a Japanese participant of World War Two. His dad was a member of the Japanese Imperial Army. The following was posted to MUFON, I think it was in March 2007:
"My father seen creatures observing combat during a battle in the Pacific during WWII.
I do not know which battle, he served in the Pacific in 1942 & 1945.
He told of seeing ufo's before and after the the war."
A salute to all veterans of The Pacific Theater of World War Two. My grandfather was a SeeBee Commander, my dad's oldest brother was a medical doctor, in the Pacific Theater during the war. My dad's older brother had the best job, as a pilot. He ferried big-wigs, including entertainers, such as Betty Grable, all over the Pacific during World War Two.
My father was a Combat Engineer in the European Threater.
My father was a Combat Engineer in the European Threater.
'We don't know one-millionth of 1% about anything.' Thomas Edison
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