Here we see the massive six-engine (four pulling, two pushing) French Latécoère 521 flying boat, Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris, at anchor while visiting Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, 14 January 1936. The aircraft, the only one of her type built, was at Pensacola during her travels to celebrate 300 years of the French in the Americas in 1935 and was damaged during a hurricane at the station, later repaired.
NARA 80-CF-4935-1
French Lieutenant de Vaisseau Paris being fueled on the beach while visiting Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, 14 January 1936. 80-CF-4935-3a
In its civilian service configuration, the FLVP was designed to transport up to 72 passengers in luxurious conditions, while simultaneously being the largest aircraft built in France and one of the first large passenger aircraft capable of flying trans-Atlantic routes. Powered by a half-dozen Hispano-Suiza 860hp V-12s, she was 103 feet long with a 161-foot wingspan.
Used by Air France on several record-setting proving runs in the late 1930s, when WWII came, FLVP was acquired by the French Navy’s air arm (Aviation Navale) and used for maritime patrol alongside her three upgraded Latécoère 523 sisters (l’Algol, l’Aldébaran, and l’Altair). As part of Flotilla E.6, based in Port-Lyautey, Morocco, they conducted patrols over the Atlantic.
After the fall of France, FLVP was flown to Berre, near Marseille, and remained there for safekeeping by the Vichy government until November 1942, and then by the Germans, who captured her intact after the Torch landings. Following the launch of Operation Dragoon by the Allies in August 1944 to liberate southern France, the aircraft was deliberately destroyed by the retreating German occupying forces.
The only surviving “Sprucan” has recently picked up a new paint job.
The ex-USS Paul F. Foster (DD-964), commissioned 21 February 1976 and struck in 2004 after a very busy 28 years with the fleet, is now simply referred to as the Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division’s Self Defense Test Ship, or the catchy NSWC PHD SDTS.
She has been at Naval Base Ventura County (Port Hueneme) receiving a fresh coat of haze gray as the conclusion of a $30 million Selected Restricted Availability package, awarded to Port Hueneme-based AdvantEdge Technology Inc, that has been taking place slowly since April 2024.
The repainting is slated to be completed later this month.
A worker with Ventura, California-based general contractor C.D. Lyon Inc. stands on a pontoon boat tied to the Self Defense Test Ship as he puts a primer coat on the hull to prepare it for painting Nov. 7 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
A worker with Ventura, California-based general contractor C.D. Lyon Inc. stands on a pontoon boat tied to the Self Defense Test Ship as he puts a primer coat on the hull to prepare it for painting Nov. 7 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
She returned to her homeport at Naval Base Ventura County last summer after 14 months at BAE San Diego, looking, well, kind of depressing.
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division’s Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS), ex-USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964), returns to Port Hueneme, California, from San Diego on June 12. The SDTS spent 14 months in the BAE Systems Ship Repair shipyard for maintenance and upgrades. (U.S. Navy photo by Dana Rene White)
The new paint should help.
Meanwhile, her veteran’s organization is preparing for her 50th anniversary in the coming weeks.
The crew of a twin-engine RAF Armstrong Whitworth (AW.38) Whitley Mk III medium bomber, likely of No. 4 Group, enjoy an YMCA tea car in attendance, 10 January 1941. This variant of the bomber used a four-man crew: First Pilot, 2nd Pilot/Navigator, Bomb Aimer/forward gunner, and Rear Gunner. Only 80 Mark IIIs, with their powered Nash & Thompson nose turret and powered retractable twin ventral “dustbin” turret, were made.
IWM (HU 104642)
The Whitley is all but forgotten as a WWII bomber, even though 1,814 were made across seven variants, with the stretched fuselage/Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered Mk VII being the most common with 1,465 constructed.
Originally built to the design of a transport, the Whitley had a 177-mile cruising speed and a 1,315-mile range in its Mark III variant, powered by twin 795 hp Armstrong Siddeley Tiger Mk IX engines.
These low-powered engines, coupled with the bomber’s rear stabilizer, earned it the name the “flying barn door” but allowed it to land at speeds of just 60mph, and would serve it well in night bombing.
When WWII began in 1939, the RAF had seven operational Whitley squadrons, six of those (Nos. 10, 51, 58, 77, 78, and 102) in No. 4 Group, the only standing night bomber force in the world at the time. Of those six squadrons, three flew Mark IIIs.
The group’s first operation was on the night of 3 September 1939, just 11 hours after Britain declared war on Germany, when 10 Whitley Mk.IIIs of Nos. 51 and 58 Squadrons took off on a leaflet-dropping (“Nickelling”) sortie in the Ruhr and over Hamburg and Bremen.
This leaflet was Britain’s first propaganda effort of World War II. It is printed on both sides by “His Majesty’s Stationery Office” and was dropped by aircraft on September 3-4, 1939. In part, it warns German citizens that the German government has forced a war on Britain, which promises to involve mankind in a greater calamity than World War I. The Führer’s assertions of peaceful intentions have proven as worthless as his claims that: “We have no more territorial claims to make in Europe.” “British Propaganda Leaflet Dropped on Germans” (1939). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2019.2.149. https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/1513
By the end of September, the RAF had dropped around 18 million leaflets over Germany. So much toilet paper.
Operating forward from Villeneuve airfield in France in January 1940, Whitleys of 4Gp’s 77 Squadron dropped leaflets over Prague and Vienna, penetrating deep into the Reich.
Switching from paper to iron, 4Gp’s Whitleys rained bombs on the Kriegsmarine seaplane base at Hornum on 20 March 1940, on Operation Haddock– the first RAF bombing raid on Italy– in June, and then, during the Battle of Britain in August/September 1940, took part in eight raids over Germany stretching as far as Berlin.
Whitley Bombers Over Berlin by Margaret Nash IWM ART LD 827
After April 1941, 4Gp began transitioning from Whitleys to more advanced Vickers Wellington medium and Handley Page Halifax heavy bombers, with the shift done by May 1942. The last raid by Whitleys was done by 58 Squadron on the night of 29/30 April against occupied Ostend in Belgium.
In all, Whitleys flew 8,996 sorties with Bomber Command 1939-42, dropped 9,845 tons of bombs, millions of psyops leaflets, and suffered 269 aircraft lost in action.
Coastal Command Mk VII variants, with longer legs, remained in front-line service until early 1943.
The type finished the war in more secondary line and auxiliary support roles (training, freighter, glider tugs, SOE support drops, etc.), then unceremoniously discarded afterward.
Official period caption: “Pfc. Preston McKnight, 19th Inf. Regt. uses his poncho to get protection from the biting wind and cold in the Yoju area during a break in action against the Chinese Communist aggressors. January 10, 1951.”
Signal Corps photo by Cpl. E. Watson. (Army) 111-SC-356309. National Archives Identifier 531396
Constituted on 3 May 1861 as a regular Army outfit, the 19th Infantry earned nine battle streamers (Shiloh; Murfreesborough; Chickamauga; Chattanooga; Atlanta; Kentucky 1862; Mississippi 1862; Tennessee 1863; and Georgia 1864) in the West during the Civil War, including becoming a legend at one.
Then came the Indian Wars (another streamer, in the Ute campaign), the War with Spain (another streamer), the Philippine Insurrection (six streamers), and was part of the 18th “Cactus” Division during the Great War, but never made it overseas. World War II saw it as a key part of the 24th Infantry Division, fighting across the Pacific (five streamers and two Presidential Unit Citations earned from New Guinea through the Philippines).
It was while on occupation duties in Japan where the 19th Regiment was when the Korean War began. They spent the next 18 months heavily engaged with the Norks and the Chinese before seeing some rest and a final redeployment towards the latter stages of the war. The regiment took one hell of a beating during those 18 months, suffering 418 KIA at the Kum River alone in July 1950, fighting a critical delaying action.
Around the time the top image was taken, the outfit was holding the line near Inchon and was hard at it.
“10 February 1951 – Waiting for the counterattack, these men of 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, dig in after capturing a Chinese-held hill along the Han River, above Inchon. The photographer who took this picture was hit by Chinese Communist fire a few minutes later. 358067”
Over the past several years, she was “carefully restored by the museum team with the paint removed layer by layer and analyzed, enabling the original camouflage to be identified and repainted to its very original pattern.”
The aircraft had been overpainted several times between 1940 and 1964 for various reasons, and all references to the very unusual original color scheme had seemingly been lost.
Only a few color images of these aircraft exist from the 1940’s, and due to color variations in image processing, have led to many debates about exactly what colors these aircraft were painted.
The wings, tail plane, rudder, and a few small panels still retained their original Grumman factory finish beneath the later over-painted layers, and after 6 years of skilled detail conservation work, the team has revealed and preserved these original and unique painted areas.
Sadly, the fuselage section had been stripped to bare metal before 1964, and so the team has recreated this missing portion with a newly painted finish.
Originally ordered by the French Navy, 81 of these aircraft were diverted to Britain with the fall of France in May 1940. By the end of the war, only a few of the French batch remained; by 1946, AL246 was the only known survivor.
AL246 spent most of her service life in Scotland at Donibristle and Machrihanish. From 1944, she was used as an instructional airframe at Loughborough Aeronautical College and transferred to Yeovilton in the late 1950s. In 1964, she was presented to the Fleet Air Arm Museum and has been on permanent display ever since.
Initially named the Martlet by the Royal Navy, they were re-named Wildcats in 1944 to align with combined U.S. and British operations.
A staggering 1,123 Fleet Air Arm Martlets operated in all theatres of war, including Norway, the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Far East, making the stubby little Grumman catfighter one of the most numerous of British WWII RN aircraft.
Martlet fighters aboard HMS Formidable in the Mediterranean Sea, 1942
Martlet MkII British Fleet Air Arm F4F Wildcat No. 888 Squadron, parked at La Senia air base, Oran, Algeria, 14 December 1942, USN photo
Sub-Lieutenant Eric M.Brown, R.N.V.R., Fleet Air Arm, with a Grumman Martlet Mk. I, circa 1941.
Cold War, Soviet Ships. Mediterranean Sea. January 1976.
A Fighter Squadron 32 (VF 32), F-14A Tomcat fighter aircraft seen in full color livery while in flight near a Soviet “Kresta II” class guided missile cruiser underway below. The Tomcat was assigned on board the aircraft carrierUSS John F. Kennedy (CV 67).
Note that the Cat is “dressed for work,” carrying a mixture of Phoenix, Sparrow, and Sidewinder missiles.
Photograph received January 1976. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 428-GX-K-112540
The squadron has a lot of “firsts” on its sheet.
VF-32, the “Fighting Swordsmen” or “Gypsies” depending on which year you are talking about, originated on 1 February 1945, as Bombing Fighting (VBF) 3, after the old “Felix the Cat” Fighter Squadron (VF) 3 was split into two squadrons. VBF-3 joined Carrier Air Group 3 aboard USS Yorktown (CV 10) operating in the Pacific theater. Flying F6F-5 Hellcats, VBF-3 pilots became the first Navy carrier-based pilots to attack the homeland of the Japanese Empire. During heavy action, the squadron shot down 24 Japanese aircraft for which the Swordsmen received the Presidential Unit Citation.
By 1948, they had been redesignated VF-32 and were flying Corsairs, aircraft they would use to good effect in Korea from the deck of USS Leyte (CV 32). The squadron had Jesse Brown and Thomas Hudner for that cruise.
Ensign Jesse L. Brown, USN. In the cockpit of an F4U-4 Corsair fighter, circa 1950. He was the first African-American to be trained by the Navy as a Naval Aviator, and as such, he became the first African-American Naval Aviator to see combat. Brown flew with Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) from USS Leyte (CV-32). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. USN 1146845.
Finishing out that war, they were the first squadron to field the F9F-6 Cougar and later the Navy’s first supersonic squadron when they switched to a different Corsair, the F-8, which they flew during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
By 1966, in early F-4B Phantoms, they logged 940 sorties over Vietnam from USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA 42).
Then they entered their Tomcat period in 1974– an aircraft they used to good effect, often from JKF, over Lebanon, Grenada, against Libya, Bosnia, the Gulf War, and OIF, also grabbing the Admiral Clifton Award numerous times.
They hugged the “Bombcat” a tearful goodbye in 2005, capping a 31-year run with the F-14 platform, and shifted to Rhinos, flying F-18F Super Hornets since then as the NAS Oceana-based VFA-32.
In addition to multiple GWOT deployments, on 14 July 2024, an unidentified female pilot in VFA-32 became the first American female pilot to engage and kill an air-to-air contact as part of 1,500 combat missions in support of Operations Inherent Resolve and Prosperity Guardian.
If you enjoy my always ad-free Warship Wednesday content, you can support it by buying me a cup of joe at https://buymeacoffee.com/lsozi As Henk says: “Warship Coffee – no sugar, just a pinch of salt!”
Warship Wednesday 7 January 2026: Wilbur’s Beachcombing
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-432570
Above we see the modified Flower (Honesty) class frigate Prasae of the Royal Thai Navy aground behind enemy lines on the Korean east coast, some 75 years ago this week, in January 1951. Several U.N. personnel are standing on the beach near a boat, surveying the near-hopeless situation. An LCVP is also stranded just inshore of the frigate. Note ice on the shore and on the seaward side of the ship.
The hard-luck frigate may have been a loss, but all 111 of her survivors were all successfully plucked off the snow-covered beach by one intrepid “silver eagle” aviator and his primitive eggbeater.
Albeit slowly.
Amid a blizzard.
And under near constant enemy fire.
Meet Betony & Sind
Our subject started life as the Royal Navy’s Flower-class corvetteHMS Betony (K274), ordered 8 December 1941– the day of the first Japanese attacks on British Hong Kong and other possessions in the Pacific, kicking off a whole new war.
Laid down 26 September 1942 at Alexander Hall and Sons in Aberdeen as Yard No. 687, the future Betony launched on 22 April 1943 and commissioned on 31 August 1943.
Her inaugural commander was the long-serving Lt. Nicholas Bryan John Stapleton, RD, RNR– who formerly was skipper of the Flower-class sister HMS Amaranthus (K 17), and before that the ASW whaler HMT Southern Pride (K 249).
HMS Betony (K274) underway, likely in British Home waters, circa 1943. IWM FL 2011
WWII Service
Our vessel suffered her first loss, with Act/Petty Officer Hubert M. Jones, P/SSX 20752, of her company listed as “died of wounds” on 28 November 1943 without further elaboration.
She was soon on convoy runs, tagging along with OS.59/ KMS.33 out of Liverpool for two weeks before 1943 was out.
After further workups in Scotland and a deployment to the Eastern Fleet at Trincomalee in early 1944, Stapleton handed command of the new Betony over to T/Lt. Percy Ellis Croisdale Pickles, RNVR, on 20 October 1944. While in the Indian Ocean, she performed escort duties for a dozen slow convoys on the CJ (Calcutta to Colombo) and BM/MB (Bombay to Colombo) runs between February and October 1944.
HMS Betony (K274) broadside view
She was loaned to the Royal Indian Navy in January 1945 and assigned to the hardscrabble Burma Coast Escort Force, operating alongside sistership corvettes HMIS Assam, HMS Meadowsweet, and HMS Tulip; the River-class frigates HMS Taff, Shiel, Lossie, Deveron, Test, and Nadder; and the old Town-class destroyers HMS Sennent (ex-USCGC Champlain) and Lulworth (ex-USCGC Chelan) out of Colombo.
When the war was all but over, Betony was officially commissioned on 24 August 1945 into the RIN as HMIS Sind, keeping her same pennant number (K274). Her only “Indian” skipper was T/A/Lt.Cdr. Leonard George Prowse, RINVR, formerly commander of the armed yacht HMS Rion (FY 024), who assumed command in March 1945.
With the corvette suffering from engine troubles, she was nominated for disposal and paid off on 17 May 1946
Bangkok Bound
Thailand had a winding path during WWII. Having fought in 1940-41 with the Vichy French over Cambodia (some things never change!), the country claimed neutrality until a near-bloodless “invasion” by Japan in December 1941, after which it entered into an outright military alliance that only ended post-VJ Day. Ceding territories its troops had seized in Burma and Malaya back to Britain and in Cambodia back to France under an American-brokered agreement in 1946, the country became the 55th nation to join the UN in December 1946 and swung more or less to the West.
This opened the country to military aid, which included receiving two surplus former RIN corvettes from Britain– ex-HMS Burnet/HMIS Gondwana (K 348) and our ex-HMS Betony/HMIS Sind on 15 May 1947. They were given a short refit and recommissioned into the Thai fleet as the frigates HTMS Bangpakong and HTMS Prasae, respectively.
HMTS Prasae
The British also transferred the humble 1,000-ton Algerine-class minesweeper HMS Minstrel (J 445), which became HTMS Phosamton (MSC-451).
The turnover ceremony was held in the naval dockyard of Singapore.
Although third-hand, the two surplus corvettes/frigates and the minesweeper were much appreciated and joined a Thai fleet that included the quaint but decrepit Thonburi-class coastal defense ship HTMS Sri Ayudhya (2,350-tons, 253 ft oal, 15 knots, 4×8″/50s, 4×3″/50s) whose sister had been sunk by the French in 1940, the 1,400-ton Japanese-built sloop HTMS Maeklong (which doubled as the royal yacht and naval cadet training ship), seven remaining pre-war Italian-built 300-ton Trad-class torpedo boats, the two old Armstrong-built Rattanakosindra-class gunboats (800 tons, 174 feet, 2×6″, 12 knots), four long-laid-up Japanese-built Matchanu-class costal submarines, and a handful of old coasters, dispatch, and survey vessels.
Later in 1947, the U.S. transferred three surplus PC-461-class 173-foot subchasers: HTMS Sarasin (ex USS PC-495), HTMS Thayanchon (ex USS PC-575), and HTMS Khamronsin (USS PC-609); and two LSM-1 class landing craft (ex USS LSM-333 and 338), further modernizing the Thai fleet, which by 1950 numbered 1,100 officers and 10,000 ratings.
Things were looking up.
Korea
In the wake of the Korean War in June 1950, Thailand was the first Asian nation (besides the exiled KMT on Taiwan, which is a whole ‘nother story) to offer ground troops to the UN Force. Before the end of the war, the anti-Chinese Prime Minister (former Field Marshal) Plaek Pibulsonggram wholeheartedly contributed over 11,700 ground troops (soon reequipped with U.S. uniforms and small arms), 40,000 tons of rice, and both of the country’s new frigates to the effort.
A newly formed unit of picked men, the 21st Infantry Regiment, Queen’s Guard (Thahan Suea Rachini), was drawn from across the Army.
Thai troops of the 21st Regiment embarking for Korea, October 1950. Note their French-style helmets, U.S.-marked haversacks, and Japanese-made Showa-period Mausers. Ultimately, more than 10,000 Thai troops would serve in the Korean War alongside U.S. forces, fighting notably at the Battle of Pork Chop Hill. (Photo: UN News Archives)
The two frigates, each with a picked crew of 110 officers and men, were made ready by early October 1950, and they would escort the first battalion of the Thai Army to Korea, with the latter carried on the old Japanese-built transport coaster HTMS Sichang, and the chartered merchant ship Hertamersk.
Prasae’s skipper was Prince (CDR) Uthaichalermlab Wutthichai, 35, who had learned his trade in England and had pinned on his lieutenant bars in 1938 before serving in WWII, and earning the Tritaphon Mongkut Thai among other decorations. Prince Wutthichai, the senior officer afloat, became the commodore of the little Thai squadron headed to Korea.
Some 307 Thai Navy personnel and ~1,200 troops left Thailand’s Khlong Toei port aboard the four ships on 22 October 1950, headed north. They arrived in Pusan on 7 November.
The U.S.-reequipped 21st Infantry, which soon earned the nickname the “Little Tigers,” served alongside the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division and would see hard combat in the Third Battle for Seoul and at Pork Chop Hill.
Once attached to the UN Forces on 10 November, the two Thai frigates were given a short overhaul in Japan, which included updated sonar and radar suites, then tasked for a month under CTF-95 as guard ships for the entrance to the naval roads at Sasebo, Japan, with Prasae on the morning shift and Bangpakong overnight.
Then came a more kinetic assignment.
In early January 1951, Prasae and Bangpakong were under Task Force 77 orders on the gun line off the east coast of Korea near the 38th parallel, providing fire support missions to troops ashore with their single 4-inch BL Mk.IXs, steaming with a destroyer force including USS Wallace L. Lind (DD-703) as part of the East Coast Blockading and Patrol Task Group (TG 95.2).
The first shelling operation on North Korea’s east coast by the Thai Navy began on 3 January, firing along the coast between latitudes 38 and 39 degrees North, between the cities of Changjon and Yangyang. On 5-6 January, shelling of railway stations, transportation routes, and military structures in the Chodo area was carried out.
Then came a blizzard that was so severe that it grounded carrier and most fixed wing sorties between 6 and 11 January and filled central Korea with snow showers, haze, smoke, low clouds, 30 knot winds, and fog, dropping visibility to zero and bottoming out thermometers, Prasae drifted into the shallows on the cape of Kisamun-dan in Hyeonbuk-myeon, Yangyang, Gangwon, North Korea. She was hard aground, at a 60-degree angle to the shoreline, just 200 yards offshore.
She was also in enemy held-territory some 16 klicks north of the 38th Parallel.
Stranded Thai frigate Prasae, January 1951 80-G-432568
The Lewis S. Parks Papers in the Harry S. Truman Library contain dozens of Navy images of the rescue operation, digitized (low rez) in the National Archives. They were taken in most cases by U.S. Navy LT William DuCoing, presumably of the USS Manchester, who “witnessed several enemy soldiers killed while on this beach.”
During a blizzard night, the Thailand Corvette Prasae grounded on North Korea’s eastern coast in enemy territory about 200 yards offshore, NARA 350892732
A group of unidentified Thai sailors makes a close inspection of the ship HMTS Prasae after it grounded on the Korean coast during a United Nations operation. NARA 350898508
During a blizzard night, the Thailand Corvette Prasae grounded on North Korea’s eastern coast in enemy territory about 200 yards offshore. The sailor in the foreground is unidentified. Jan. 6, 1951. NARA 350892736
A view of the coast of Korea, where the Thailand ship HMTS Prasae was grounded during a blizzard. NARA 350898520
Snow covers a beach in Korea during the evacuation of Thai troops from the grounded HMTS Prasae in enemy territory. NARA 350892752
The alert went out, and Task Force 77 sprang into action to save the stranded Thai warship and her crew.
The salvage operation included the old Gleaves-class destroyer/minesweeper USS Endicott (DMS-35), which tried to send in LCVPs to recover marooned Thai sailors, joined by Prasae’s sister Bangpakong, whose small boats attempted to approach the beach without success due to fierce surf and rollers.
Endicott’s sisters USS Thompson (DMS-38), Carmick (DMS-33), and Doyle (DMS-34) moved in to assist and clear lanes for mines. De-beaching lines were attempted by Comstock (LSD-19) and Bolster (ARS-38), which also proved unsuccessful.
A U.S. Navy salvage crew aboard the Thailand Corvette HMTS Prasae, which ran aground in enemy territory on the coast of Korea. Left to right, HMC E.P. Wacham, USN; Lieutenant Junior Grade M.D. Taylor, USN; and RM2 C.K. Hayard, USN. Note, only three names were listed. 80-G-426187
Endicott rescued three Thai sailors after they were washed overboard from one of the pulling boats, but unfortunately, a fourth one drowned. Endicott’s doctor and chief corpsman also went ashore to care for casualties until they could be evacuated.
With carrier aircraft grounded due to the poor flying conditions, fire support to keep interloping Chicom and Nork troops at bay was provided by the Cleveland-class light cruiser USS Manchester (CL-83) and her companion destroyers USS English (DD-696), Borie (DD-704), Hank (DD-702), and Forrest Royal (DD-872).
Truman got a White House briefing on Prasaeat least ten times during this period as part of his daily situation reports on the war.
The USS Manchester guards the grounded HMTS Prasae with destroyers and other ships while rescue efforts take place in enemy territory on shore. NARA 350892746
Two unidentified U.S. sailors unwrap blankets brought to stranded sailors from Thailand. In the background, their ship, the HMTS Prasae, can be seen where she grounded on the Korean coast during a blizzard. The Prasae was part of a United Nations operation when she ran aground. Gunfire from the USS Manchester protected the stranded sailors and rescuers from enemy troops. NARA 350898492
Early attempts at using helicopters in the rescue proved fatal.
On 8 January, a Sikorsky H03S1 of Helicopter Utility Squadron TWO (HU-2) embarked on the carrier USS Valley Forge, maneuvered near Prasae when a rogue wave caused the ship to roll. The helicopter’s rotors hit the mast, causing the mast to collapse and the helicopter to crash in flames, which then ignited 20mm shells, causing more damage to the ship. The crew put the fire out in under 30 minutes. Somewhat miraculously, the helicopter pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) John W. Thornton, his aircrewman, and a salvage officer all survived the crash, but another Thai sailor drowned.
Manchester was lucky enough to have a replacement Sikorsky HO3S-1 (H-5/S-51) helicopter (“UP27” BuNo 122715) detached from Helicopter Utility Squadron 1 (HU-1) aboard USS Philippine Sea.
Nicknamed Clementine, she was piloted by the one and only Chief Aviation Structural Mechanic, ADC (Aviation Pilot), Duane Wilbur Thorin (NSN: 3165995). An enlisted pilot who joined the Navy in 1939 at age 19 and earned his silver NAP wings after finishing flight training in 1943. The blonde-haired Thorin– eighth son of Swedish emigrants to Nebraska– moved into rotary-wing billets after the war. He had already earned something of a swashbuckling reputation, shuttling out on one-man missions to rescue downed fliers in his contraption, typically while clad in his trademark non-regulation green headgear.
Clementine wasn’t much, with her 450hp R-985 Wasp Junior only enabling her to lift about 900 pounds of useful cargo (pilot included) off the ground on a full tank of gas in good weather, but she was on hand and had enough range to shuttle back and forth from Prasae to Manchester.
A Sikorsky HO3S-1 (H-5) helicopter lands on the deck of the USS Manchester, with the cruiser’s 6- and 5-inch guns bristling in an undated photograph in good weather. The helicopter is BuNo 124345 (MSN 51204), which survived the war. NARA 350898476
USS Manchester (CL-83) Sikorski HO3S helicopter, UP20 of squadron HU-1, lands on the cruiser’s after deck after a gunfire spotting mission off the Korean coast, March 1953. Note: Manchester’s wooden decking with aircraft tie-down strips and hangar cover tracks; 6″/47 triple gun turrets; 5″/38 and 3″/50 twin gun mounts. NH 92578
With the likelihood that the grounded ship could be pulled off while under fire dropping to zero, and hypothermia setting in with the survivors who were running out of supplies and battling below-zero temperatures overnight, the order went to Clementine to pull them off, typically just two or three men at a time.
On inbound flights to Prasae, Thorin and Clementine dropped off a small medical team under Doc Myers, and a security team under LT Taylor to help guard and mark the LZ for future flights. At one point, they exchanged long-distance shots with a four-man enemy patrol just over the dunes.
They also brought blankets and some hot chow.
An aerial view of the frigate from Thailand, the HMTS Prasae, that ran aground off the western coast of North Korea during a snowstorm. The image was taken from the rescue helicopter sent from the USS Manchester. Original caption: HMTS Prasae as seen from Manchester copter. UN ships are firing air bursts. NARA 350898532
A crewman from the grounded Thailand ship HMTS Prasae stands guard as the helicopter from the USS Manchester shuttles the stranded sailors to safety. NARA 350898468
A helicopter from the USS Philippine Sea, piloted by Chief Aviation Pilot D. W. Thorin, lands on the snowy beach to effect the rescue of the crew of the Thailand ship HMTS Prasae. The Prasae, which was part of a United Nations operation, grounded during a snowstorm. The rescue team was surrounded by enemy troops during the operation, but was protected by gunfire from the USS Manchester. Jan.6, 1951. NARA 350898472
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the USS Manchester use their ship’s helicopter to rescue crew from the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground off the coast of Korea during a blizzard. Lieutenant Taylor is in the foreground, guarding the helicopter with a (likely borrowed) M50 Madsen SMG. 350892804
Dr. Meyers of the USS Manchester attends to the wounded on the shore after the Thailand Corvette HMTS Prasae ran aground off the North Korean coast during a blizzard. All others are unidentified. NARA 350892744
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892780
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892784
Under enemy fire, troops and crew members from the run aground HMTS Prasae take shelter on the beach while they await rescue from the USS Manchester helicopter. NARA 350892762
APC (NAP) Thorin prepares to take off in his helicopter with another load of survivors from the Thailand corvette, the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground during a blinding snowstorm off the coast of Korea. Other members of the helicopter stand guard as the rescue was conducted behind enemy lines. Men guarding the rescue operation are armed with M-3 submachine guns. NH 97164
During personnel evacuations on a beach in Korea, two enemy shell bursts are visible. The USS Manchester aided in the evacuation of stranded Thai sailors from the HMTS Prasae that ran aground during a blizzard. NARA 350892750
The USS Manchester’s helicopter, nicknamed the Clementine, lands on the snow-covered beach at Kisamun Dan, Korea. A rescue mission was launched after the HMTS Prasae, a Thai Corvette, ran aground on Korea’s Eastern Coast during a blizzard. The HMTS Prasae is in the foreground. NARA 350892788
Thai sailors are stranded on the western coast of Korea after their ship, the HMTS Prasae, ran aground during a snowstorm. At a snow-covered beach, the United States Navy helicopter UP 27 arrives to rescue the sailors. NARA 350898526
An unidentified Thai sailor from the HMTS Prasae boards the rescue helicopter. The helicopter, which had been borrowed from the USS Philippine Sea after the USS Manchester’s helicopter crashed, was piloted by Chief (Aviation Pilot) D. W. Thorin, who can be seen inside the helicopter facing the camera. NARA 350898512
Under enemy fire, unidentified troops and crew members from the USS Manchester use their ship’s helicopter to rescue crew from the HMTS Prasae, which ran aground off the coast of Korea during a blizzard. NARA 350892798
Meanwhile, CDR Wutthichai, the stricken ship’s skipper, directed his navigators and gunners to destroy anything that could be useful to the enemy, doused the ship with oil and placed gunpowder in various locations, and then left the ship last.
Wutthichai was likewise the final man that Clementine pulled from the beach.
The USS Manchester’s helicopter, nicknamed the Clementine, lands on the snow-covered beach at Kisamun Dan, Korea. A rescue mission was launched after the HTMS Prasae, a Thai Corvette, ran aground on Korea’s Eastern Coast during a blizzard. Original caption: With the temperature at 12 degrees below zero, the last of Commander Wutthichai’s crew are evacuated. NARA 350892786
Over the three days between 11 and 13 January, Chief Thorin and Clementine pulled 126 men from Prasae in 40 sorties, 111 Thai and 15 USN, bringing them all safely to Manchester’s little wooden helo deck.
Seventeen of the 111 evacuees from the Thailand corvette, HMTS Prasae, wear U.S. Navy-issued dungarees while aboard the USS Manchester. NARA 350892830
Of Prasae’s crew, two were killed in the grounding and drawn-out rescue under fire: Petty Officer 2nd Class Chan Muang-am and Petty Officer 2nd Class Phuan Phonsayam, both later posthumously promoted to CPO. Twenty-seven of her crew were injured, with a mixture of frostbite and shrapnel as the cause of wounds.
The unmanned and wrecked hulk of Prasae was destroyed by naval gunfire from USS English on 13 January, via 50 rounds of 5-inch common.
Those not hospitalized in Japan were soon shipped aboard Bangpakong.
Survivors of the stricken Thailand corvette HTMS Prasae board the Thailand corvette HMTS Bang Pakong, off the coast of Korea. Photograph released January 17, 1951. 80-G-426769
As for her sister Bangpakong (ex-Burnet, ex-Gondwana), she remained in Korean service until February 1952 and in Thai service until stricken in 1984.
Epilogue
With the Thai government still eager to contribute to the effort in Korea, the U.S. Navy quickly sold them two laid-up Tacoma-class patrol frigates, late of the Soviet Red Banner Pacific Fleet via Lend-Lease, the USS Glendale (PF-36) and USS Gallup (PF-47), for the princely sum of $861,940.
Transferred in October 1951 at Yokosuka, Glendale became the Thai Navy ship Tachin. Gallup became the Thai Navy ship Prasae. Along with them came five more PC-461s, two LCIs, and three surplus SC-1627-class 119-foot subchasers, these smaller vessels slated for immediate service in Thai coastal waters while the frigates remained deployed.
USS Glendale (PF-36) and USS Gallup (PF-47) fly the flags of Thailand during transfer ceremonies at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, 29 October 1951. Both ships are still wearing their U.S. Navy numbers. NH 97102
Following a workup in Japanese waters, the new Prasae and Tachin departed Sasebo on 12 January 1952 in company with sistership USS Bisbee (PF 46) on their first escort mission since their purchase by and addition to the Thailand Navy.
The new pair of frigates served for the duration of the Korean War and well into the tense shift into peace, rotating crews with fresh ones shipped in from Thailand at least twice. Both departed South Korea for their first trip home on 22 January 1956, nearly three years after the shooting had stopped! Some 2,485 Thai naval personnel served in Korean waters, with 1,679 of them receiving UN service medals. Two Thai naval personnel were also awarded U.S. Bronze stars.
In the course of Thailand’s involvement in the Korean War, the country suffered 1,273 casualties, comprising 129 killed in action (including two Navy), 1,139 wounded, and 5 missing. The country maintained a company-sized infantry force in the ROK to watch the DMZ until July 1972. They continue to contribute two officers and 13 enlisted to the more or less permanent UNC Military Armistice Commission-Secretariat (UNCMAC-S) in South Korea today.
Speaking of South Korea today, with the border shifting slightly to the line of contact in place when the armistice was signed, the cape that Praese was grounded on has been part of the ROK since 1953, and these days is often referred to as “38th Parallel Beach,” a popular surfing spot (in the summer).
Prince Wutthichai, Praese’s final skipper, returned home with his crew in March 1951, married Princess Vimolchat, and had two children. Decorated with the Order of the White Elephant in 1953, he passed just five years later, aged 43. There seems to be a story there.
Chief Thorin fully earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for his rescue efforts on the grounded Prasae, then added a Gold Star to his DFC in November 1951 while flying from the cramped deck of the cruiser USS Toledo (CA-133) to successfully pluck a downed pilot trapped some 60 miles behind the enemy’s lines. He added a second Gold Star to his DFC in January 1952 while operating from USS Rochester (CV-124) for picking up two downed pilots just offshore of Hungnam– while under small arms fire from the edge of the beach– in two separate trips.
Just six months after the rescue of Prasae’s crew, Clementine, the helicopter used so successfully, UP 27 (BuNo. 122715), went missing on a rescue mission near Kosong, Korea, with her pilot killed and crewman taken prisoner. Luckily, Chief Thorin was not at the controls that day.
Thorin’s luck ran out in February 1952 when flying a whirlybird from Rochester on a mission to rescue an injured and critically ill Skyraider pilot off Valley Forge— LT(j.g) Harry Ettenger of VC-35– who was down behind enemy lines and being harbored by anti-Communist North Korean partisans. The mission, over known enemy anti-aircraft positions near Kojo, Korea, was almost successful, but at the last minute, Thorin’s helicopter crashed due to mechanical problems. Taken prisoner along with Ettenger, he was a resident of POW Camp 2 until his release during Operation Big Switch on 2 September 1953. He earned a Silver Star for the mission (recommended for the Navy Cross), adding to his three DFCs.
Thorin made over 130 rescues in hostile territory during the Korean War, not counting those from Prasae.
Thorin retired from the Navy in 1959 as a lieutenant and passed “feet dry” in 2002, aged 82. He is buried at Chambers Cemetery, Holt County, Nebraska, Block 1, Lot 35.
Thorin was used as the basis for CPO (NAP) Mike Forney, the enlisted CSAR pilot in The Bridges at Toko-Ri by Pulitzer Prize winner James Michener. Icon Mickey Rooney portrayed him in the movie adaptation, which was filmed in Technicolor in 1954 aboard the USS Oriskany (CV-34). Real UP-coded H-5s were used, and Rooney portrayed his based-on-a-real-story character well, albeit with a green tophat and scarf rather than Thorin’s more understated green ballcap.
That’s Hollywood for you.
Meminisse est ad Vivificandum – To Remember is to Keep Alive
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Leading the Way. Army Capt. Megan Korpiel, commander of the Horse Cavalry Detachment, 1st Cavalry Division, leads soldiers while waving to a crowd during the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 1, 2026. Army photo 260101-A-WV576-1153M by Army Spc. Steven Day
The above troopers have a reason to be smiling under their Stetsons.
We reported last July on the move by the Trump administration to slice the number of Army military working equid (MWE) programs (horses, mules, and donkeys owned by the Department of Defense and housed on Army installations) from seven to two, with 141 U.S. Army horses rehomed.
The last two MWE programs would continue with the Caisson units of The Old Guard at the Military District of Washington and at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas.
There has been a bit of a backpedal on this, with the MWE programs at Fort Hood, Texas (the Horse Cavalry Detachment, 1st Cavalry Division, which was established in 1973) and Fort Riley, Kansas (the circa 1992-founded Commanding General’s Mounted Color Guard, CGMCG) now retained as well.
Plus, the Army recently established a new military occupational specialty (MOS), “Army Equestrian” (08H), that replaces the “military horseman” identifier (D2) and “creates a specialized career path dedicated to the professional care of military working equines.” It is currently open to infantry Soldiers in grades E5-E9.
When the smoke clears, just three of seven programs will be discontinued: the circa 2001-formed 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) Horse Detachment, Fort Irwin, California; B Troop, 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment (Memorial) at Fort Huachuca, Arizona (established in 1974); and the Artillery Half Section at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The latter, a unique horse artillery unit, is the most senior.
The Fort Sill Artillery Half Section in Oklahoma was established in 1963 as a ceremonial unit to preserve the tradition of the Great War era horse-drawn artillery, featuring a six-horse team pulling a Model 1897 French 75 field piece, and became a permanent fixture around 1970. The horses wear 1904 McClellan saddles, while the Doughboy is the uniform of the day. It is sad to see them go
“Navy moves a Gurkha Patrol in the Jungle, Malaysia, January 1966. A Naval Wessex Mk V (Sikorsky S-58) helicopter of 848 RN Air Squadron from the Centaur-class Commando Ship HMS Albion (R07), ascends from its pad after returning a Gurkha patrol to their jungle base.”
Image: IWM A 35005
The simmering Borneo “Konfrontasi” conflict between Indonesia and Malaysia, with the Soviet Union backing the Indonesians and the Commonwealth/West backing Malaysia, was one of the myriad proxy undeclared wars during the Cold War. Running some 42 months across 1963-66, the Commonwealth lost some 140 killed– about a third of those Gurkhas– against about four times as high a loss as felt by Jakarta.
No fewer than 44 Gurkha were killed and 83 wounded during the Konfrontasi.
Westland Belvedere HC.1 XG453 of No 66 Squadron Krokong, Sarawak Ghurkhas during the Indonesian Confrontation, 1964 IWM (RAF-T 5262)
Gurkha troops using a step ladder to climb aboard a Bristol Belvedere twin rotor helicopter of No. 66 Squadron RAF at Kuching, British Borneo, during operations in Indonesia. IWM (RAF-T 5257)
The Royal Brunei Gurkha Reserve Unit, established in 1974, is composed of former and retired military Gurkhas residing in the sultanate. They stand some 500 strong, and you can bet they stand ready to defend their now-homeland to their last breath.
The Singapore Police, meanwhile, maintain a 2,000-strong (not a misprint) Gurkha Contingent wholly separate from the British Army’s Brigade of Gurkhas “to provide a ‘strong-arm’ within the Police Force capable of quelling civil disturbance and carrying out specialist security tasks.”
Queen’s Royal Hussars, Petrovac, Bosnia, early 1996, an FV4030 Challenger 1 of 3rd Troop, A Squadron, and a FV107 Scimitar of RECCE Troop, with an AAC Lynx AH.7 overhead. In January 1996, the QRH was the first unit deployed in Challengers to Bosnia with NATO’s British-led Implementation Force.
Cold War veterans who served in the Falklands and Op Granby against Saddam, among other places, Lynx and Scimitar have long since been retired, while Challenger 1 has been superseded by Challenger 2 since 2001.
As for the QRH, today they are the senior-most armored regiment in the British Army, equipped with C2s, and are based at Assaye Barracks, Tidworth, since moving from Germany home (for technically the first time) in 2019.
Formed in 1993 from an amalgam of the Queen’s Own Hussars and the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars (both of which were formed from amalgamations of other historic cavalry regiments in 1958), the QRH and its myriad antecedents have been awarded 172 Battle Honours going back to 1685, and remember eight Victoria Cross holders, while observing Regimental days for Dettingen, Balaclava, and El Alamein.
