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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.
Frank A. Manson Dies at 84; Navy Captain, Historian, Author
By Matt Schudel Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, February 2, 2005; Page B06 Frank A. Manson, 84, a Navy captain who survived a fierce kamikaze onslaught during World War II and who later wrote histories of naval operations in two wars, died Jan. 20 of congestive heart failure at Culpeper Regional Hospital. He lived in Fredericksburg.
Besides his wartime experiences and his work as a Navy historian, Capt. Manson promoted the notion of using surplus Navy ships to spread goodwill throughout the world. A polished wordsmith, Capt. Manson gave voice to several of the Navy's leading officers of the 1950s and 1960s, as speechwriter for Adms. Robert Carney, Arleigh Burke and John S. McCain Jr., father of the senator from Arizona.
His first brush with Navy history came during World War II, when Capt. Manson was a young communications officer aboard the destroyer Laffey. On April 16, 1945, the Laffey endured the strongest barrage of any U.S. ship in World War II without being sunk.
Accounts vary, but the Laffey was attacked by at least 22 Japanese airplanes. Eight to 10 of the fighter planes were shot down, but as many as eight kamikaze pilots crashed into the destroyer. At least two bombs also struck the Laffey, on which 32 sailors were killed and 71 wounded.
With fires raging throughout the ship, many of its guns disabled, its rudder jammed, its decks strafed by machine-gun fire and the destroyer's stern under water, Capt. Manson approached the ship's commander, Lt. Cmdr. Julius T. Becton.
"Do you think we'll have to abandon ship?" he asked.
"No, Frank," Becton said. "I'll never abandon ship as long as a gun will fire."
When Capt. Manson repeated Becton's comment to reporters, it quickly entered military lore as a declaration of the Navy's proud, defiant will. The Laffey limped to safety and became known as "the ship that would not die."
After the war, Capt. Manson was assigned to the Pentagon, where he co-wrote two volumes of the official history of the Navy in World War II. During the Korean War, he traveled from ship to ship, compiling firsthand accounts. He was co-author of "The Sea War in Korea," which was published in 1957 and is often considered the most authoritative one-volume history of the Navy's role in that war.
On July 27, 1959, Life magazine published a cover story about Capt. Manson's proposed "Great White Fleet," praising him for a "bold, imaginative idea which could harness America's productive goodwill and energies to help insure peace and combat the spread of Communism."
In an accompanying article, Capt. Manson wrote that in December 1957, he was thumbing through photographs of World War II service ships, many of which were no longer active. As he drove home from his job at the Pentagon, "I suddenly thought: why not have an entire fleet of mercy ships -- grain ships, hospital ships, education ships, power ships -- a fleet designed to make the benefits of the free enterprise system available to the entire human race?"
The ships would be painted white "as a symbol of peace and helpfulness, even in the midst of war."
The fleet never materialized, but Capt. Manson's idea was further refined by William B. Walsh and led to Project HOPE, an international health and humanitarian effort that began with the 1960 launch of the SS Hope, a converted Navy hospital ship.
Frank Albert Manson was born Dec. 26, 1920, in Drumright, Okla., and graduated from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, 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.
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.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Orie Lee Pickren Manson of Fredericksburg; three children, Frank Karig Manson of Raleigh, N.C., Jennifer Joy Wilson of Alexandria and Barbara M. Wilson of Hollywood, Md.; a sister; and 10 grandchildren.