Bombing of Caldetas, Spain, January 1939
From the Navy service photo album of my father Francis da Cruz, who served as a radioman on the light cruiser USS Omaha (CL-4) from 1937 to 1940. On or about January 23, 1939, the Omaha (along with the destroyer USS Badger DD-126) sailed from Villefranche, near Marseilles, for Caldetas on a mission to transport the staff of the US consulate in Barcelona (which was about to fall to the nationalists) to France for their safety, as part of a larger mission to pick up diplomats of various countries who were gathered in Caldetas (which was supposed to be a safe haven) awaiting rescue. The operation took place amid bombing and harrassment by Axis aircraft. My father remained in the Navy until 1946. When the US entered the war, he was assigned to Navy Department headquarters in Washington DC.
These pages (except the first one, which is the cover of his album) are scanned at 600dpi. Click the first image to enter the gallery, and then you can download each image by whatever method your browser provides; e.g. right-click..Save image as... Each album page is about 12MB. See some more Omaha photos HERE.
—Frank da Cruz (Jr), Bronx NY, 25 March 2019.
Article added 4 October 2024.
AMERICANS REACH FRANCE IN SAFETY;
Cruiser Omaha at Villefranche After Close Calls From Bombers at Caldetas
VILLEFRANCHE, France, Jan. 26. — The United States cruiser Omaha, after twenty-four hours in the bomb-sprayed harbor of Caldetas, Spain, was lying at anchor again in the harbor of Villefranche tonight, having fulfilled her mission without accident.
Members of the United States Embassy staff who left Barcelona were landed in Marseille at 9 o'clock this morning. Other Americans who wanted to leave had been conveyed ahead aboard the destroyer Badger.
The Omaha's departure from Caldetas was held up last night because in the confusion attendant on the evacuation of Barcelona it was impossible to locate Mr. Harrington, a member of the Embassy staff. Rear Admiral Henry E. Lackey decided to remain until he was heard from, and it was not until 10 o'clock last night that it was learned by radio that Mr. Harrington was safe in Perpignan, France. Then the Omaha weighed anchor and left Caldetas.
Threatened by Bombs
Twice during the short stay there Spanish Insurgent bombers flew over the port and rained bombs which not only threatened the United States cruiser but its boats further inshore and Americans ashore who were trying to come aboard.
The first raid was early yesterday morning, when twelve planes circled over villages and dropped bombs, most of which fell in the water nearer French ships than the Omaha, but close enough. Lieutenant Edward L. Woodyard and Aviation Cadet Frank J. Peterson, who were in the Omaha's whaleboat, said afterward:
"Projectiles and shell fragments were raining about us, and we thought for a while we would bring some of them back in our pockets."
One of the Americans waiting on shore said they had suffered air raids during the night when a house reserved for the French Embassy was destroyed. When Jules Henry, French Ambassador, arrived he had to take refuge with the British Charge d'Affaires.
"We had had plenty of air raids in Barcelona," said the American refugee, "and the best sight we had seen in weeks was when the Omaha's searchlight played on Stars and Stripes when she came to anchor at Caldetas."
Even before warning blasts as the bombing planes came into action Commander Harold A. Houser, gunnery officer on the Omaha, had for of his 6-inch guns trained and ready to fire at a second's notice.
"I am inclined to think," he said, "that if any bomb had fallen as close to the Omaha as they did to a French destroyer nearer shore, we would have gotten orders to send them something to suggest they should be more careful."
The second raid took place at the dinner hour last night when the Omaha was still in Caldetas harbor although the Badger had left. Between courses the diners frequently to the deck to see the town, a mile and a half from the ship, being heavily bombed. It was too dark to see the planes, but their motors could be heard plainly and the flames from bursting bombs were tremendous.
There was also a constant stream of automobile lights passing. Omaha officers suggested the airplanes were trying to destroy the road and several ammunition factories near the villages.
Heard of Four Fatalities
United States Vice Consul Lee Worley of Barcelona, who was aboard the Omaha, landed at Marseille. He was ashore all day in Caldetas while the bombing was in progress, and he learned of only four fatalities, although he though hundreds were injured.
Lieut. Comdr. Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, aide to Captain Francis Cogswell, United States Naval attaché at Paris, left Caldetas early this morning in the care of Lieut. Col. Henry B. Cheadle, military attaché at Barcelona. It was stated before the Omaha sailed that ll foreign correspondents had left Barcelona.
When the Omaha was off Toulon this morning two French battleships saluted her. The Omaha replied with a salute of fifteen guns.
Besides embassy staff members the Omaha landed a large quantity of records from the Barcelona embassy. Admiral Lackey and Captain Wallace L. Lind, with their wives, were ashore at 4 P. M. today and the Omaha's adventure was already almost a forgetten incident.
Refugees Relax in Marseille
MARSEILLE, France, Jan. 26 (AP).—Thirty American refugees who escaped from Spain in a shower of bombs relaxed here tonight after months of fearful existence in war-torn Barcelona.
Arriving aboard two American warships, the cruiser Omaha today and the destroyer Badger yesterday, they told vivid stories of harrowing experiences that reached a climax in the bombing as they raced to board the warships yesterday.
The last Insurgent air raid was witnessed by the refugees as they sped in the moonlight from Barcelona to the village of Caldetas to reach the rescue ships.
Two of the refugees, Alfred Cope of West Chester, Pa., and Emmet Gulley of Newberg, Ore., decided, despite their experiences, to return to Government Spain and carry on their mission of distributing food and clothes to the needy in the Madrid-Valencie zone. They are representatives of the American Friends Service, a Quaker organization.
One Puerto Rican woman, who brought her three children out of Spain on the Badger, left behind her husband, who had consented to build fortifications for the government. She was Mrs. Anna Ines Pons of Ponce, Puerto Rico, who said her Spanish-born hustand did not have American citizenship papers and joined government work brigades when the Insurgents started closing on Barcelona.
The children, ranging in age from 4 to 10, had not gotten over their fright from the bombing they experienced while being evacuated from the Spanish coast.
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