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Contact Info
Home Town Drumright
Last Address Culpeper Regional Hospital. He lived in Fredericksburg, VA.
Date of Passing Jan 20, 2005
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
MANSON -- Captain Frank Albert, USN (Retired), was born December 26, 1920, Drumright, OK. Son of Ella May Eastham Manson Reynolds and Asa Manson.
Decorated Veteran of WWII and Korean wars, Humanitarian, Historian, Author, Speechwriter, Educator, he is best-known for the July 27, 1959, cover story of Life magazine: "A Bold Proposal for Peace: A new kind of Great White Fleet." His naval histories included "The Sea War in Korea," published in 7 languages and selected for the White House Library.
Honors: Silver Anvil Award, Alfred Thayer Mahan Award, George Washington Medal of Freedom Award, Outstanding Alumnus, Northeastern Oklahoma State University, "Top Tau" by Sigma Tau Gamma, Commander-in-Chief's Gold Medal by the VFW, Commendation by the President, United States Naval War College.
Frank received a B.S. in Education from Northeastern Oklahoma State University in Tahlequah, class of 1941, where he was a member of the debate and tennis teams. He taught high school history briefly before completing Officer Candidate School at Cornell University in New York and receiving his Navy commission.
He served aboard USS Laffey DD-724, when she was attacked by 22 planes, "the most intensive and concentrated kamikaze attack against a single vessel during WWII." Laffey is enshrined in Charleston, SC. He was speechwriter and adviser for many senior Navy Leaders, including Admiral John ("Jack") McCain.
Buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Kamikaze assault on the USS Laffey, April 1945:
On 16 April 1945, Laffey was assigned to radar picket station 1 about 30 mi (26 nmi; 48 km) north of Okinawa, and joined in repulsing an air attack which downed 13 enemy aircraft that day. The next day, the Japanese launched another air attack with some 50 planes.
Laffey survived despite being badly damaged by four bombs, six kamikaze crashes, and strafing fire that killed 32 and wounded 71. Assistant communications officer Lt. Frank Manson asked Captain Becton if he thought they'd have to abandon ship, to which he snapped, "No! I'll never abandon ship as long as a single gun will fire." Becton did not hear a nearby lookout softly say, "And if I can find one man to fire it."
The USS Laffey received the Presidential Unit Citation, five battle stars, and the Battle "E" for World War II service.
Other Comments:
A public relations officer for much of his career, Capt. Manson was chief of public information for the Navy's Atlantic command in Norfolk. He retired in 1968. His decorations included the Navy Commendation Medal.
His other honors included the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award of the American Historical Association, the Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil Award and the Commander-in-Chief's Gold Medal of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
From 1969 to 1980, after his retirement from the Navy, Capt. Manson held high-level positions as an adviser on national security and international relations with the VFW, the Reserve Officers Association and the American Legion. In the 1970s, he was an anchor of the Manion Forum, one of the country's first syndicated conservative radio talk shows. He also toured the country in the late 1970s, speaking out against relinquishing U.S. control of the Panama Canal.
Later in life, a grandson's persistent questions about dinosaurs led Capt. Manson to write a children's book, "The Adventures of Prince Albert and the Royal Dinosaurs," published in 1990. He also wrote many articles and, at the time of his death, was working on a memoir, children's books and works on military history.
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Okinawa Gunto Operation
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
June / 1945
Description The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg. was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island. Their invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The battle has been referred to as the "typhoon of steel" in English, and tetsu no ame ("rain of steel") or ("violent wind of steel") in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Based on Okinawan government sources, mainland Japan lost 77,166 soldiers, who were either killed or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered 14,009 deaths (with an estimated total of more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds). Simultaneously, 42,000–150,000 local civilians were killed or committed suicide, a significant proportion of the local population. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki together with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria caused Japan to surrender less than two months after the end of the fighting on Okinawa.