The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

I like WWII knives and if I can find one that is personalized I like it even better. I found this for a very fair price on eBay sometime back. I pulled it out of the knife drawer a couple of days ago and, taking a long shot, asked the experts on the US Militaria Forum if they could possibly I.D. the Sailor from the limited information on on the sheath. I hit a homerun, I got a name and service history and started tracking down other clues.

Here is the story as it stands today:

Francis Guy Tull (Fc 2/c) U.S.N.

Born 3 Sept. 1920 in Dewy, Ok.
Died 16 May 2000 in Poulsbo, Washington

Mr. Tull enlisted USN 5/27/1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Tull Served on the USS Pennsylvania from August ‘41 until 1943. The Pennsylvania was in dry dock when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The ship fought the Japanese planes claiming five planes downed (later reduced to two) The Pennsylvania suffered bomb damage, and further damage fires and explosions on the two destroyers that were in dry dock with her. As a firecontolman he would probably have been manning one of the weapons.

Tull was transferred to the USS Cooper, DD695 on 28 March 1944. On Dec. 3, ‘44 The Cooper was on patrol in Ormoc Bay, Philippines, when she torpedoed by the Japanese ship Take, the Cooper broke in half and sunk in less than one minute. 191 sailors died 168 were rescued by Black Cat airplanes after about 14 hours in the water.

After the Cooper, Tull served on the USS Houston CL-81. On October 14, the Houston was hit by a Japanese torpedo bomber, off of Formosa, and was disabled, on the 16th she was hit with a second torpedo while under tow. The crew saved the ship and it returned to the US for repairs.

Wow, that is awesome as hell. I love it when an items owner can be IDed. That is one hell of a treasure there. Have to wonder what stories it would tell if it could talk. I'm assuming he picked it up in New Guinea (Post Dec 7th?), would have been awesome if it was with him at Pearl on the 7th.

ffuries wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 11:47 pm Wow, that is awesome as hell. I love it when an items owner can be IDed. That is one hell of a treasure there. Have to wonder what stories it would tell if it could talk. I'm assuming he picked it up in New Guinea (Post Dec 7th?), would have been awesome if it was with him at Pearl on the 7th.

My Guess is that he picked it when he was between the Cooper and Houston. The Navy had a big base in New Guinea that was apparently "full service" providing repair and recreation facilities. Perhaps after being sunk, he ended up there with the other survivors (the Milne Bay navy base included a seaplane base and a 300 bed hospital, so they certainly would have had a Navy Exchange) Milne Bay did not become an active American base until the Spring of '43.

I was trying to figure out where the seaplanes that rescued the Cooper survivors. They could not have come from Milne as the one way flight would have been near the range of a Catilina.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:23 am

ffuries wrote: ↑Sat Apr 22, 2023 11:47 pm Wow, that is awesome as hell. I love it when an items owner can be IDed. That is one hell of a treasure there. Have to wonder what stories it would tell if it could talk. I'm assuming he picked it up in New Guinea (Post Dec 7th?), would have been awesome if it was with him at Pearl on the 7th.

My Guess is that he picked it when he was between the Cooper and Houston. The Navy had a big base in New Guinea that was apparently "full service" providing repair and recreation facilities. Perhaps after being sunk, he ended up there with the other survivors (the Milne Bay navy base included a seaplane base and a 300 bed hospital, so they certainly would have had a Navy Exchange) Milne Bay did not become an active American base until the Spring of '43.

I was trying to figure out where the seaplanes that rescued the Cooper survivors. They could not have come from Milne as the one way flight would have been near the range of a Catilina.

"3 December 1944: At 00:13 USS Cooper was struck by a torpedo while engaging Japanese surface craft and barges in the waters of Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippines. The ship broke in two and sank in less than a minute, resulting in the loss of 191 crew members and 168 survivors left struggling in the water. At 14:00 Lieutenant Frederick J. Ball and his crew were returning from a long-range reconnaissance mission and spotted the survivors floating in the bay. Ball landed his Catalina in the bay and proceeded over the next hour to pick up survivors within range of enemy shore fire. He rescued 56 sailors from the bay, and when the aircraft could hold no more Lieutenant Ball began a takeoff run that took 3 miles (4.8 km) before liftoff could be achieved. He safely returned to his base with his passengers, many of them wounded. The remaining 112 survivors were collected by another VPB-34 Catalina which taxied to safety outside the bay where they were offloaded onto another ship. For his bravery under fire Lieutenant Ball received the Navy Cross."

And here's the short version of the answer to your question.

By Oct 1944 "Black Cat" operations of the VPB-34 was operating out of San Pedro Bay, Leyte Gulf with tender support.