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- From Michael Dalessio, as told to him by his father, Dominick Dalessio.
My father has told his version of the event many times, and I have never tired of hearing it. I have often wondered if any event in my life could ever compare to the intensity of what he witnessed in those brief moments. The following is how he saw it. His story has never changed. At the time of the attack, my father was a loader for the front 40mm guns on the port side of the ship.
He remembers seeing four planes coming towards the ship, from starboard. The first plane exploded off in the distance as it approached. The second plane went over the ship, exploded, and somersaulted into the water. He claims that the third plane was being trailed by an American aircraft, and both veered off the fantail, where the enemy fighter was brought down. My father distinctly recalls the fourth plane heading straight for them. He saw the ship's bullets hitting the aircraft, "but it kept on coming". He believed the plane was heading straight for the bridge, but stayed at his position. Other sailors manning the gun ran for cover, and according to my father, some of these sailors were killed.
My father couldn't understand how the plane missed the bridge. Years later, at one of the Haraden reunions in New Hampshire, he discussed this with the sailor who was steering the ship during the attack. He claimed that he turned the ship, causing the plane to miss the bridge. How true this is, I cannot say. At this moment, my father is singing at one of the town's senior citizen gatherings, so I can't ask him for the name of this sailor.
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