When the students at Monroe’s Applegarth Middle School and numerous veterans gathered for a special assembly last week, their guest of honor was someone with a particularly unique story.
Frank Holmgren Frank Holmgren, now of Eatontown, Monmouth County, is the last surviving crew member of the famous World War II ship USS Juneau, which was sunk in the South Pacific and whose survivors faced brutal conditions in the water in the ensuing days.
Holmgren was recognized Nov. 7 with nearly 100 other area veterans during the “Salute to Veterans” program at the Monroe school.
Some 65 years ago, the Juneau was torpedoed by the Japanese during the battle of Guadalcanal. The anti-aircraft cruiser had more than 700 men aboard, including the well-known five Sullivan brothers from Iowa. Holmgren was a 19- year-old captain’s orderly at the time.
On Nov. 13, 1942, the Juneau was part of a convoy of 15 ships engaged in a fight with a Japanese fleet. The ship was initially hit by a torpedo at 1 a.m. and was supposed to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Around 11 a.m., another torpedo hit the Juneau, causing it to split in half and sink in less than a minute.
“We were all on deck after we were first hit,” Holmgren recalled. “A couple of us were looking at the lifeboats. We noticed that they were tied to the ship, and thought, ‘If this ship goes down, the life boats are going with it,’ so we loosened the lifeboats.”
Those three life rafts were the only ones in the water after the explosion.
Holmgren was initially thrown into the air and then was quickly pulled down into deep water.
“I thought, I’m going to die, but my life jacket brought me to the surface,” he said.
The water was filled with oil, debris and bodies. Holmgren was able to make it to a crowded life raft. Most of the men with him were wounded, he said.
As days went by, the wounded died. Amid extreme heat, and with no food and only rainwater to drink, some of the men in the life raft drank salt water.
“They would go out of their head and then they would jump in the water,” he recalled. Sharks kept circling the lifeboat, waiting for another man to jump in.
On the seventh day in the water, a seaplane made a courageous landing on rough seas to rescue the survivors. Out of the initial 700, only 10 seamen, including Holmgren, survived. Four of the Sullivan brothers died when the boat sank; one perished later in the water.
After completing his rehabilitation in New Zealand, Holmgren returned to duty on the USS Oakland.
“I always wanted to be in the Navy,” he explained, “ever since I saw those newsreels at the movies. [When being reassigned] they asked me if I was afraid, I told them no, but that I wanted to be placed in a position that was on top of the deck, not below,” he said.
On board that anti-aircraft cruiser, Holmgren fought in five additional naval battles to help defeat Japan.
Later, he would be assigned to Earle Navy Base.
After the war, he married and had two children, who live nearby. His wife, Teresa, died in 2003. Now 85, he lives with his 105-year-old mother. His story has been told in the book “Left to Die,” by Dan Kurzman, and he has been interviewed and recorded by the Center for World War II Studies and Conflict Resolution at Brookdale Community College. His story is on file at the Library of Congress.
Today, he is the last remaining survivor from the Juneau.
Applegarth Middle School teacher Doug Glassmacher, who coordinated the veterans’ program last week, read Holmgren’s story to the assembly. Mayor Richard Pucci also addressed the audience, and Dan Mann, president of the Veterans Council of Monroe Township and Jamesburg, thanked the students and community for the phone cards collected recently for wounded soldiers.
“[The soldiers] are in the V.A. hospital, but they can’t call their family and friends,” he said. Mann said that notes the students included with messages such as “You are our heroes” and “Thank you for being brave,” were especially touching.
The students also created a banner with the names of family members who are veterans.
“None of the veterans in my family are alive now,” seventh-grader Jack Miller said. “My great-grandfather was a veteran and my mother’s father was a mine sweeper. We should always celebrate the veterans.”
Members of American Legion posts 127, 519 and 522, Jewish War Veteran posts 395 and 609, Korean War Veterans Post 148, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 262 were all in attendance.
Stanley Hoffman, of Monroe, said he was studying physics when World War II broke out.
“I had a deferment, but all my friends were joining, so I decided to go too. I fought my way through France and Belgium, and then ended up in the Battle of the Bulge,” he said.
Dorothy Tranes, also of Monroe, was not a veteran but her husband was. Jack Tranes, who died a year and a half ago, served in the Army. Most of the time he was in Washington, but then he joined the OSS, which was the forerunner of the CIA. After that, she never knew where he was.
“He wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, even after the war was over, he never talked about,” Dorothy said.
She was pleased to see the veterans recognized in such a way at Applegarth.
“I think it’s great that they are doing this. The veterans deserve it,” she said.