Danger's Hour: Maxwell Taylor Kennedy

On May 11, 1945, after nearly two months at sea, the Bunker Hill came under attack by kamikaze pilots off the coast of Okinawa. The first plane skidded off the deck and bounced into the water, sweeping dozens of crewmen and aircraft with it. But the second plane hit the flight deck hard, igniting gasoline fires all over the ship. Above deck, the survivors faced an impossible decision: stay on the ship, where fires raged out of control, or leap into the shark-infested waters below. But the Bunker Hill also had a fatal design flaw: its ventilation systems pumped heat, smoke, and toxic fumes from the fires above into sealed compartments below, where engineers were struggling to keep the ship from sinking. Knowing it would cost their lives, the engineers remained at work in the boiler rooms to ensure the rest of their shipmates would survive.

View this entire interview or download the audio podcast at
http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2009/02-17-maxwell-taylor-kenne...

Category:

Education

Tags:

• uss
• bunker
• hill
• maxwell
• taylor
• kennedy
• danger's
• hour
• wwii
• navy
• pacific
• kamikaze
• japan