Lt. Commander Richard "Dick" C. Upson was born in Wisconsin in August 1911, the son of Edmon D. Upson (1865-1950) and Mary Jane "Minnie" Davis (1871-1949). His father married his mother in 1891 and became a Methodist minister nine years later, a calling he would retire from in Madison, Wisconsin. His son Richard would graduate from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and enlist in the US Navy flight program around October 1934. While stationed at NAS Pensacola, he was downtown on liberty one day when he met a young 18-year-old waitress at the Dainty Dell Restaurant. Her name was Miss Portia "Pat" Leah Creighton (1917-1985) and she was from the Pensacola High School Class of 1936. Upon her graduation they were married and set up housekeeping. The Creighton family was an old historical family of Pensacola who contributed much to the heritage of the Gulf Coast city and of which Creighton Road is named.
After their marriage, the Upson’s remained in the area where they shared a house in Pleasant Grove. When the war began, Richard was immediately sent to the carrier USS Yorktown where he became the commander of the VT-5 Squadron on February 15, 1943. On January 29, 1944 his squadron, known as the "Torpcats," was assigned to bomb the Taroa airfield in the Marshall Islands. However, the weather was so horrible that Upson objected to launching due to the risk. Admiral John Walter Reeves Jr. ordered the air strike anyway. As they took off two planes colliding in a blinding flash and all four crewmen were killed. Upson was so infuriated that he wrote a damning report forcing the embarrassed admiral to admit his error to Washington. In an ironic turn of events, the son of Admiral Reeves married a Pensacola girl in 1943 by the name of Mrs. Kathryn (Hendrix) Allen. Sadly, Lt. John W. Reeves III was killed in a military plane crash Melbourne, Florida on October 29, 1943.
On March 30, 1944, the Torpcats were ordered to arm themselves with torpedoes for the first time in the war and attack enemy ships at Palau. There, they found the destroyer Wakatake and pounced. He and his squadron attacked the hapless ship from all sides. Four of their twelve torpedoes struck the destroyer at the exact same time blowing her to kingdom come with no survivors. Attached is a photo of the doomed destroyer.
On April 29, 1944, Upson launched a strike on Truk Island when a dogfight with sixty enemy planes ensued. Sixty were sent down in flames but they lost several of their own. One of those downed was Harry Hill, a Yorktown pilot, that was being blown back to Truk by the winds. Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery refused a rescue attempt. So, secretly his squadron formed a council of war and decided to fly out in the morning and form a protective circle around him. Of course, this was a court-martial offense! The next morning, the sub USS Tang surfaced to look for Hill and any other downed pilots but was forced to submerge when they spotted an enemy submarine. Shortly thereafter two American destroyers showed up to sink the sub and its unfortunate crew.
Following another attack on Truk the next day, eleven rebellious Hellcat pilots broke off from the returning group and searched the open waters until they found Hill. Again, the planes requested a seaplane to pick up the exhausted pilot and again Montgomery refused. In the meantime, two enemy planes showed up over Hill and were attacked by his hell-bent comrades who shot one down and chased the other away.
By noon, Upson took off for another strike against Truk as the weather conditions worsened by the minute. This flight was to be Upson’s 30th and last mission before rotating back to the states. The clouds were low and heavy with reduced visibility. The Group commander advised them to abort but Upson replied, “I’ve already commenced my run.” Upson had found a hole in the cloud cover and dove through it heading for his target. The hole closed so fast that the other planes could not follow him and therefore aborted. Upson and his two crewmen were never seen again. Hill was finally rescued, and his comrades were placed on report for their insubordination. But the ruling from the captain was that they all suffered from battle fatigue, so all charges were dismissed.
As for Portia, she would marry William Francis Vaughn in February 1946. She moved with William to Phoenix in 1948 before passing away there on June 6, 1985. Her remains were returned to Pensacola and buried with the Creighton family in the Whitmire Cemetery.
Lt. Commander Richard Upson
This is actually Commander Upson flying his
TBM-1 Avenger Torpedo plane
LCDR Richard Upson, VT-5 Squadron Commander
LCDR Richard Upson, VT-5 Squadron Commander
The attack and sinking of the Japanese Destroyer
Wakatake on March 30, 1944 by Upson and his
eleven squadron members
Back home Richard and his wife had planned to take their two sons back to his hometown in Wisconsin to see his parents as soon as his unit was rotated back to the states. After being notified of her husband’s fate Portia decided to carry out her husband’s last wish and made the trip by herself. While there, she had her 10-month old son Richard Upson Jr. christened (above) by her retired father-in-law, the Reverend E. D. Upson. Two years before, she had her oldest son Raymond christened over the telephone by his grandfather since the family was unable to make the trip at the time. When her husband’s squadron returned to the states following his death they called on Portia and presented her with a photo album of her husband’s combat photos that were taken by the squadron.
Richard Upson Jr. 1944
Pensacola News Journal 8-20-1944
Admiral Mark Mitscher (1887-1947)
Even more of an honor was bestowed upon Upson's parents when on their way to Washington, D. C., the famous Admiral Marc Mitscher and his wife dropped by Madison, Wisconsin for a visit. For some reason Mitscher felt guilty for the young pilot’s death and felt a visit to his parents was in order. His visit as quoted in the local newspaper stated, “it really cheered his parents up and gave them hope. After twenty minutes, the Mitscher’s left but the old admiral had tears in his eyes as he walked away.”
Today the Yorktown is a floating museum and can be toured at Patriot’s Point in Charleston, South Carolina. Aboard the ship is a TBM aircraft (above) honored with Lt. Commander Richard “Dick” Upson’s name stenciled on the side. The aircraft is identical to the one he was flying when he disappeared.
Opmerkingen