Chet Locke Article

I know I should be keeping you updated on the reunion .. but .. I just could not pass up this opportunity. I ran across an article on-line about Chet Locke, the Engineering Officer who is credited with saving the Hazelwood. He passed away just prior to the 2009 reunion.

Chet Locke of Lockeford was presented the Navy Cross for his action in saving the USS Hazlewood after it was badly damaged by a kamikaze pilot. (Brian Ross/News-Sentinel)

Lockeford’s Chet Locke came home a hero

By Brian Ross
News-Sentinel staff writer

Chet Locke, a descendant of the founder of Lockeford, was chosen this year to be Grand Marshal of Lodi’s Veterans Day parade.

He was also chosen more than a half-century ago to receive the Navy Cross for his actions aboard the USS Hazlewood during the invasion of Okinawa on April 29, 1945.

Chet Locke in May 1945.

Those who were present that day credit Locke’s quick thinking and cool head under fire for averting the destruction of the Hazlewood — and all aboard.

“It’s amazing what you can do when you have to,” said F.C. Butler of Greenville, S.C., who served as assistant engineering officer to Locke on the Hazlewood, which spent an unbroken stretch of 24 months at sea, 21 of those in combat zones.

The Hazlewood was named for a Revolutionary War commodore noted for his gallantry in the face of enemy fire in the Atlantic.

It was a reputation which the modern-day crew would proudly match in the Pacific.

Locke was raised on a nearby farm, and as a boy dreamed of the faraway adventure of going to sea.

When WWII erupted, he got his chance. After officer’s training, Locke was assigned as the Hazlewood’s engineering officer.

One of about 150 Fletcher-class destroyers in the Navy’s fleet, the Hazlewood packed five single 5-inch guns.

The ship was assigned to picket duty off Okinawa, protecting the invasion force from submarines and attacks from kamikaze planes — explosive-laden aircraft launched in fanatical suicide missions during the closing days of the war.

Willing to trade their own lives in order to sink or damage an invading U.S. man-of-war, kamikaze pilots took a grim toll during the invasion of Okinawa, badly damaging 45 destroyers and killing more than 4,500 naval personnel.

At about 3:30 on the afternoon of April 29, the Hazlewood was called to assist the USS Haggard, another destroyer that had sustained a direct hit from a kamikaze.

The Hazlewood never made it to the scene.

A kamikaze made a near miss of her deck. Although the plane’s ordnance detonated in the water off the Hazlewood’s stern, the blast was sufficient to damage her communications equipment, making the ship vulnerable to a second attack, which Locke said was not long in coming.

“Shortly after that,” he recalled, “another plane hit the forward stack with its wing, and exploded in the deck house.”

The powerful blast killed 67 of the Hazlewood’s crew and 10 of her 18 officers outright.

Bedlam ensued in the wake of the explosion as fires broke out near the ship’s powder magazine, which stored an ample supply of 5-inch and 40mm shells, and a stockpile of highly volatile propellant.

Locke sprung into action immediately.

“You really don’t have time to think about the men who are dead. The first thing you think of is getting those fires put out.”

With direction from Locke, the deadly fires were extinguished by the Hazlewood’s crew.

For a time, said Butler, a third kamikaze circled menacingly in the sky above the Hazlewood before being harried off by navy fighter planes.

After quelling the Japanese aerial attack with a storm of anti-aircraft fire, the cruiser Flynt and other ships came to the Hazlewood’s aid, providing power for her systems, fresh water for her turbines and other assistance, while Locke raced against time to make the battered ship seaworthy.

The boiler to the ship’s port engine had run out of water, and the boiler quickly burnt to a smoldering heap.

Locke took charge in the starboard engine room, getting the boiler back up to preserve the Hazlewood’s only remaining engine.

Upon surveying the damage, said Locke, the Hazlewood looked like a slice of watermelon with a large bite out of the middle. Crew members set about retrieving the bodies of those killed. Of those, 19 were buried at sea, including the captain. Others remained inextricably embedded in the tangled wreckage. The stench, said Butler, became almost unbearable after several days. “It was one of the most horrible things you can imagine,” he said.

The Hazlewood, under tow to be scuttled at Karoma Retto, now cut loose under her own steam to the safe harbor at Ulithi, about 1,000 miles south of Okinawa.
The U.S. landing force ultimately overran Okinawa, one of the last remaining enemy strongholds separating U.S. forces from the Japanese mainland, hastening the end of the war.


PS: Don't forget to look over the Comments. Shipmates are adding them from time to time and are looking for contacts with others they served with.