- General Collections
- 1941
- 1942
- Battles of Java Sea and Sunda Strait
- Bataan and Corregidor
- Early Naval Raids
- Doolittle Raid
- Battle of the Coral Sea
- Battle of Midway
- Submarine Combat Patrols
- Battle of the Atlantic
- Solomons Campaign: Guadalcanal
- Operation Torch: Invasion of North Africa
- Building the Infrastructure for War
- Manning the U.S. Navy
- 1943
- Establishment of Numbered Fleets
- The Aleutians Campaign
- Battle of the Atlantic—Continued
- On the Offensive Beyond Guadalcanal
- Sicilian Campaign: Operation Husky
- Tarawa: Breaking into the Gilberts
- Landings at Salerno, Italy: Operation Avalanche
- Naval Air Strikes Against German Shipping: Operation Leader
- 1944
- Operation Shingle: Landing at Anzio, Italy
- Gamble at Los Negros: The Admiralty Islands Campaign
- Evacuation by Submarine: USS Angler in the Philippines
- Securing New Guinea: Operations Reckless and Persecution
- Exercise Tiger: Disaster at Slapton Sands
- Defeating the Sharks: The Capture of U-505
- Pearl Harbor Ablaze Again: The West Loch Disaster
- Operation Overlord: Invasion of Normandy
- Operation Forager: The Battle of Saipan
- The Battle of the Philippine Sea
- Port Chicago Naval Magazine Explosion
- Operation Forager Continued: Landings on Guam and Tinian
- Operation Dragoon: The Invasion of Southern France
- Operation Stalemate II: The Battle of Peleliu
- The Battle of Leyte Gulf
- The Battle off Samar: The Sacrifice of "Taffy 3"
- United States Navy War Instructions, 1944
- The Japanese “Hell Ships” of World War II
- 1945
- Battle of Iwo Jima
- Navy Nurses Behind Enemy Lines in the Philippines
- Operation Plunder: Crossing the Rhine
- Battle of Okinawa
- Okinawa Highlights: 4-11 April 1945
- Battle of Okinawa: Historic Overview & Importance
- Okinawa Highlights: 12–19 April 1945
- Kamikaze Attack on USS Isherwood
- The Destruction of USS Pringle
- The Sinking of USS Little
- The Most Dangerous Place off Okinawa
- A Kamikaze Attack on New Mexico, Fifth Fleet Flag: A Photo Essay
- A Ceremony for the Fallen: Aftermath of a Kamikaze Attack
- Admiral Spruance Recounts Kamikaze Attack on His Flagship, New Mexico (BB-40)
- On the Verge of Breaking Down Completely: Combat Fatigue off Okinawa and the Destruction of USS Longshaw
- Investigating Okinawa: The Story Behind A Kamikaze Pilot’s Scarf
- The Loss of USS Twiggs at Okinawa
- The Most Difficult Antiaircraft Problem Yet Faced By the Fleet
- Victory in Europe (V-E) Day
- Japan's Surrender and Aftermath
- World War II Profiles in Duty
- ENS Allen W. Bain and Minneapolis (CA-36)
- LT Eugene A. Barham and Laffey (DD-459)
- LT Richard H. Best of VB-6
- LCDR Joseph W. Callahan and Ralph Talbot (DD-390)
- LT Albert P. “Scoofer” Coffin of Torpedo Ten
- MAtt1/c Leonard R. Harmon and CDR Mark H. Crouter of San Francisco (CA-38)
- CDR Frank A. Erickson—First Helicoptar SAR
- CDR Ernest E. Evans of Johnston (DD-557)
- S1/c James Fahy on Montpelier (CL-57)
- Float Plane Pilots in the Pacific
- AMM1/c Bruno P. Gaido of VS-6
- CAPT Joy Bright Hancock
- Charles Kleinsmith and Yorktown (CV-5)
- LCDR Edwin T. Layton of PACFLT N2
- LCDR Maxwell F. Leslie of VB-3
- LCDR Eugene E. Lindsey of VT-6
- ENS Donald W. Lynch and Mugford (DD-389)
- Theodore W. Marshall of VP-22
- LCDR Lance E. Massey of VT-3
- LCDR Bernard F. McMahon and Drum (SS-228)
- ARM1/c Oliver Rasmussen
- LTJG Melvin C. Roach, Guadalcanal Fighter Pilot
- CDR Joseph J. Rochefort and "Station Hypo"
- Chief Machinist William A. Smith and Enterprise (CV-6)
- LTJG Steffenhagen and Shōhō
- Submerged Appendectomy
- LCDR John C. Waldron of VT-8
- LCDR William J. “Gus” Widhelm of Scouting Eight
- Theater of Operations--Pacific
- Operations
- Boats-Ships--Aircraft Carriers
- Biography
- World War II 1939-1945
Lieutenant Commander William J. "Gus" Widhelm of Scouting Eight
The initial strike group from Hornet (CV-8), composed of 15 VS-8 and VB-8 SBD dive bombers, led by Lieutenant Commander William J. “Gus” Widhelm, had been in the air about an hour and 15 minutes on the morning of 26 October 1942, searching for the Japanese carrier task force, when Widhelm turned the group north to avoid several Japanese Zeros he could see attacking Hornet’s covering fighters. Five minutes later, after passing through a cloud bank, he spotted some ship wakes and billowing smoke to his left, about 25 miles off. He had sighted the Japanese carrier Shōkaku and its still-burning companion, the light carrier Zuihō.
As Widhelm and his SBDs were overtaking the larger carrier from astern, a Zero from the carrier Zuikaku that was flying combat air patrol made an overhead firing pass, puncturing the leader’s aircraft in the left wing, the tail, and the engine. Even as Widhelm attempted to keep formation, his now-overheated engine seized up, and he was forced to drop away. He successfully ditched the aircraft, and he and his rear gunner, ARM1c George D. Stokely, were able to get into their life raft before the plane sank. But it was a close call. As he later told an audience of workers at the Brewster Aircraft plant, “My plane sank 15 seconds after it hit the water, but the rear gunner and I got out on a life raft. The entire Jap force steamed right by us. One time we had to paddle with our hands to avoid being run down by a destroyer.” Nevertheless, the two men had a front row seat to see several of the planes of his strike group put three 3,000-pound bombs into Shōkaku’s flight deck, setting off fires that crippled her ability to handle flight operations.
Three days later, Gus Widhelm and George Stokely were rescued by a PBY patrol plane. For his courageous leadership at the Battle of Santa Cruz, Widhelm was awarded a Gold Star in lieu of a second Navy Cross. A 1932 graduate of the Naval Academy, Gus Widhelm went on later in the war to command the first Navy nightfighting squadron in the South Pacific and to serve as operations officer for Carrier Task Force One during campaigns in the Central Pacific.
—Jeff Barlow, Naval Historical Center, October 2008
More "Profiles in Duty: Vignettes of Naval Service and Leadership"
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