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Tommy Burgdorf (Birddog), FC2
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Burgan, William Wilson, LT.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Baltimore, MD
Last Address 6019 Sycamore Rd Baltimore, MD
Casualty Date Oct 11, 1943
Cause MIA-Finding of Death
Reason Lost At Sea-Unrecovered
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)/Sinking of the SS Wahoo (SS-238)
Location of Interment Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial - Honolulu, Hawaii
This ribbon will display Multiple Award devices automatically based on the total number of awards listed
Details Behind Award
Fourth patrol, February â?? April 1943[edit] On 23 February 1943, Wahoo got underway for Midway Island, where she arrived four days later, topped off her fuel tanks, and headed for her patrol area. For Wahooâ??â??'â??s fourth patrol, Morton was assigned to the extreme northern reaches of the Yellow Sea, in the vicinity of the Yalu River and Dairen, an area never before patrolled by U.S. submarines. One reason for this was the water was shallow, averaging 120 ft (37 m). While en route to her patrol area, she conducted training dives, fire control drills, and battle surface drills. She had the unique experience of making the entire passage to the East China Sea without sighting a single aircraft, thus making most of the trip surfaced. On 11 March, Wahoo arrived in her assigned area along the Nagasaki-Formosa and Shimonoseki-Formosa shipping routes.
On 19 March 1943, the shooting began with a freighter identified as Zogen Maru. A single torpedo hit broke the target in two; the aft end sank immediately, and the bow sank two minutes later. There were no survivors. Four hours later, Wahoo sighted another freighter, Kowa Maru, and launched two torpedoes. The first hit under the target's foremast with a terrific blast, leaving a tremendous hole in her side, but the bow remained intact. The second torpedo hit amidships, but it was a dud and did not explode. Two more torpedoes were fired, but the freighter maneuvered to avoid them.
The Japanese freighter Nittsu Maru sinks by the bow after being torpedoed by Wahoo Wahoo then patrolled off the Korean coast, just south of Chinnampo. On 21 March, she sighted a large freighter identified as Hozen Maru. She launched three torpedoes; the third hit the target amidships. She went down by the bow, sinking in four minutes, leaving approximately 33 survivors clinging to the debris.
Four hours later, Wahoo sighted the freighter Nittsu Maru. The submarine fired a spread of three torpedoes; two hit, one under the bridge and the other under the mainmast. The ship went down in three minutes. Four survivors ignored all efforts to rescue them. After collecting a few souvenirs from the scattered wreckage, Wahoo commenced a surfaced patrol, heading for Shantung Promontory. On 22 March, the submarine headed for the Laotiehshan Promontory, close to Port Arthur.
The following day, as Wahoo patrolled Laotiehshan Channel (also known as "Sampan Alley"), she found herself surrounded by targets. Wahoo sighted a medium-size ship, apparently a freighter, the collier Katyosan Maru, and launched one torpedo. This hit the target just under her bridge, immediately enveloping the target in a screen of coal dust. The maru settled fast and slowed down, vanishing in 13 minutes.
Wahoo set course for a point to the northeast of Round Island, in Korea Bay, 50 km southeast of Dairen. In the vicinity of the approaches to this port, the deepest water is about 300 ft (91 m), with an average depth of only 120 ft (37 m).
At 12:47 on 24 March, Wahoo sighted smoke and began to make her approach. At 19:49, she fired a spread of three torpedoes at a large tanker (identified as Takaosan Maru) which was fully loaded with fuel oil. The first two torpedoes exploded prematurely, and the third one missed. Wahoo fired a fourth torpedo which also missed. The target commenced firing deck guns at the American warship. The submarine surfaced after 14 minutes of ducking shots, gained position ahead, and dove. She fired another three-torpedo spread. One hit the engine room and sank the ship in four minutes.
The next day, Wahoo sighted the freighter Satsuki Maru. She launched two torpedoes; when both exploded prematurely, Wahoo "battle surfaced" to use her deck guns. She closed the target, raked her with 20 mm shells and struck her with almost 90 rounds of four-inch shells. The target caught fire in several places and sank in about one hour.
Wahoo left the following morning to investigate a ship on the horizon. This target proved to be a small diesel-driven freighter. The submarine commenced firing with her 20 mm and four-inch deck guns. The freighter tried to ram her, but Wahoo maneuvered clear, and then continued firing at the target, setting her ablaze from stem to stern, and leaving her dead in the water. The crew took turns looking through the periscope as the freighter sank.
Later that day, Wahoo sighted a 100 long tons (100 t) trawler and again attacked with her deck guns. When all three of her 20 mm guns jammed, the Wahoo went alongside the riddled trawler and the sailors of Wahoo hurled homemade Molotov cocktails (gifts from the U.S. Marines at Midway Atoll) onto the trawler. Wahoo departed, leaving the fishing boat wrecked, spouting flame and smoke. On 28 March, while on the surface astride the Shimonoseki-Formosa shipping route, Wahoo opened fire with two 20 mm guns on two motor sampans. The targets did not sink but they were also left in a wrecked condition.
On the following day, Wahoo sighted the freighter Yamabato Maru and fired two of her stern torpedo tubes. The first torpedo hit at the point of aim under the mainmast and completely disintegrated everything abaft her stack. The forward section sank in two minutes. The second torpedo was aimed at the foremast, but it missed because the first torpedo stopped the freighter in her tracks.
Wahoo surfaced, transited the Collnett Strait, and headed home, concluding a war patrol which topped the record to date in number of ships sunk. The American submarine command in Pearl Harbor reported that the "Japanese think a submarine wolf pack operating in Yellow Sea. All shipping tied up."
Meanwhile, the United States mounted its offensive against Attu, and Admiral Mineichi Koga returned his major units from Truk to Tokyo Bay via a sortie to Alaska. Forewarned by American codebreakers that the Japanese intended to counter the invasion of Attu by a major sortie of the I.J.N. fleet, COMSUBPAC sent his top sub, Wahoo, to the Kuril Islands to intercept it.
On 6 April 1943, Wahoo arrived at Midway, and she commenced a refit on the following day. On 21â??22 April, she conducted training underway and was declared ready for sea on 25 April.
