Talk:USS Gherardi

DMS Gherardi deployment int Tokyo Bay on August 19, 1945 prior to the surrender on the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945.
My father, Ensign W.K. Parks, on route to Tokyo Bay after the A bombs were dropped, received sealed orders to transfer from the DMS Hambelton to the DMS Gherardi along with 13 other naval orders. Upon entering Tokyo harbor they unsealed their orders. They had been ordered to destroy all artillery around Tokyo Bay capable of reaching the USS Missouri. Admiral Nimitz had learned through his intelligence sources that Japaneses soldiers who did not want to surrender were going to sink the Missouri. The group had one Japanese translator, several explosives experts and a number of combat veteran naval officers like my father, who led a US Marine Corps unit fighting on Okinawa for 30 days doing night fighting. They had jeeps and destroyed the artillery that intelligence had provided for them and learned from Japanese civilians of other artillery, which they also destroyed. In many cases, the Japanese abandoned their artillery. In a few, they had to eliminate the Japanese soldiers defending the artillery before they could destroy it. The mission was classified as top secret until 1967 when it was declassified. 2600:1700:9530:E000:9400:9A5C:497E:BFBB (talk) 22:09, 6 June 2024 (UTC)