The USS Bunker Hill Wins Heroic Battle Against Flame and Explosion
Photograph
Unidentified
Maker
The USS Bunker Hill Wins Heroic Battle Against Flame and Explosion
May 11, 1945
Gelatin silver print
Paper: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Gift of Joanna T. Steichen, ex-collection Edward Steichen
Inscriptions inscribed in crayon on recto TRC: Bunker Hill
printed in ink on verso: HOLD FOR RELEASE/ UNTIL 8:30 P.M. (L.W.T.)/ FILE NUMBER: 323730/ JUNE 27, 1945
THE USS BUNKER HILL WINS HEROIC BATTLE/
AGAINST FLAME AND EXPLOSION/
While operating with a fast carrier task force in the "slot" between/ Okinawa and Kyuahu on the morning of May 11, the USS BUNKER HILL, her/ flight deck jammed with planes ready for take-off, was hit twice/ within thirty seconds by two JAP KAMIKAZES. These two suicide hits,/ acting as fuses to the gasoline-filled and bomb-ladened planes, set the/
stage for one of the most heroic battles of the Pacific War. Fighting/
suffoc ating[sic] flames and exploding rockets and bombs, the gallant crew,/ its heroes unnumbered, sacrificed 392 dead or missing and 264 wounded/ to save their ship. A mass of charred and twisted wreckage, the USS/ BUNKER HILL, ranking as one of the war's major suriving casualties,/ has returned to a West Coast yard, Workers again will restore her to/ one of the Navy's finest carriers, ready to write another chapter in/ the history of a famous name./
Aboard the stricken USS BUNKER HILL, victim of two suicide crash dives/ by Jap suicide pilots, a fire fighting crew beats out flames erupting/ from an after elevator. It was these men and many like them, facing/ unexpected death at any turn, which saved the mighty carrier./
WATCH YOUR CREDIT/
"OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH"/
The Navy Department has no objection to the use of this photograph in/
commercial advertising, provided copy and layout are submitted for/
review prior to publication to the REVIEW SECTION, OFFICE OF PUBLIC/
RELATIONS, NAVY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., or to a District Public/ Relations Office. However, it has no power to waive the privacy rights/
of the personnel portrayed./
printed in ink on verso: HOLD FOR RELEASE/ UNTIL 8:30 P.M. (L.W.T.)/ FILE NUMBER: 323730/ JUNE 27, 1945
THE USS BUNKER HILL WINS HEROIC BATTLE/
AGAINST FLAME AND EXPLOSION/
While operating with a fast carrier task force in the "slot" between/ Okinawa and Kyuahu on the morning of May 11, the USS BUNKER HILL, her/ flight deck jammed with planes ready for take-off, was hit twice/ within thirty seconds by two JAP KAMIKAZES. These two suicide hits,/ acting as fuses to the gasoline-filled and bomb-ladened planes, set the/
stage for one of the most heroic battles of the Pacific War. Fighting/
suffoc ating[sic] flames and exploding rockets and bombs, the gallant crew,/ its heroes unnumbered, sacrificed 392 dead or missing and 264 wounded/ to save their ship. A mass of charred and twisted wreckage, the USS/ BUNKER HILL, ranking as one of the war's major suriving casualties,/ has returned to a West Coast yard, Workers again will restore her to/ one of the Navy's finest carriers, ready to write another chapter in/ the history of a famous name./
Aboard the stricken USS BUNKER HILL, victim of two suicide crash dives/ by Jap suicide pilots, a fire fighting crew beats out flames erupting/ from an after elevator. It was these men and many like them, facing/ unexpected death at any turn, which saved the mighty carrier./
WATCH YOUR CREDIT/
"OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTOGRAPH"/
The Navy Department has no objection to the use of this photograph in/
commercial advertising, provided copy and layout are submitted for/
review prior to publication to the REVIEW SECTION, OFFICE OF PUBLIC/
RELATIONS, NAVY DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D.C., or to a District Public/ Relations Office. However, it has no power to waive the privacy rights/
of the personnel portrayed./
