Since many of our shipsmates had served on the USS O'BRIEN prior to the FULLAM, I thought You would be Interested in the part of the book I copied and included in this letter.

To my knowledge we have three O'BRIEN sailors on our current roster: they are Joe Cherniak, Rich Fernandez, and Garrett Lynch. If there are any others, let me know.

The book itself is a complete history of the LANG from its commissioning in 1939 to its decommissioning in 1946. The author is the son of one of the LANG'S crew.

Just occurred to me but think Arch Kellems also served on the OBIE. Am I right, Arch?

Lang had so far spent 45 straight days at sea and served with Wasp since 27 March. But on 4 September Lang finally departed the carrier to proceed to Noumea for a needed rest. As she departed the carrier's side the destroyer O'Brien (DD-415) arrived to fill her vacancy in the screen.

Lang's trip to Noumea was cautious but unhampered. Once there, the crew spent a couple of days in port but the stay was disappointingly short. New orders sent the destroyer on a series of missions escorting fleet oilers from various Australian ports to rendezvous with task forces in the open sea and also escorting between the island ports of New Hebrides and New Caledonea. These rather unremarkable duties were to consume the rest of the month.

It was during this time, however, the men of Lang again received very distressing news. On 20 September a message was received that Wasp, the ship that had so affected their own past, had been sunk by some well placed torpedoes from an enemy submarine. In an additional twist of fate, Wasp's gunnery officer, Lieutenant Commander George Knuepfer, whose gallant leadership was credited with helping to save many of the carrier crews' lives, had previously served as Lang's executive officer while under the command of Lieutenant Commander Waters. But what was even more haunting to Lang's crew was news that in the same attack the destroyer O'Brien, their own replacement, had also suffered a serious torpedo hit.

Three days later Lang departed Brisbane, Australia, on her last of the series of escort missions. This time she escorted the two. U.S. submarines S-37 and S-41 to Noumea, whereupon her arrival she met the torpedo damaged O'Brien taking on repairs.

For the next several days Lang was destine to remain in port. But on 10 October she departed Noumea as escort for the fleet oiler Cimarron (AO-22) and the partially repaired O'Brien. The group was to proceed to Suva, Fiji Islands, and then on to Pearl Harbor, where O'Brien would receive a full structural overhaul.

The journey to Suva was accomplished without incident, all three ships arriving safely in port on the 13th. After an additional three days layover, the group recommenced the voyage toward Pearl. But O'Brien was in trouble.

Even as the Ships were departing Suva, O'Brien was expenencing considerable problems with leakage. With each nautical mile the leakage for O'Brien became increasingly worse. Under such conditions, it easily became evident that the cripple destroyer would not reach her intended destination without further repairs to her hull. It was decided that the ships should change course for the port of Pago Pago, Tutuila Island. In the meantime, the crew of 0'Brien began tossing all loose gear overboard, lightening their ship's weight in the attempt to keep her afloat.

Still hoping to reach port, O'Brien's crew continued to nurse their crippled ship along. They had brought her 3,000 miles from where she had first received her wound, and did not intend to give her up now. But, at 6:00 A.M. on 19 October, just off Samoa the destroyer suddenly hesitated with a jerk, her keel snapping and her hull beginning to break up near her quarterdeck.

A half-hour later her disheartened crew -- with the exception of a salvage party -- began to abandon ship. In orderly fashion, her crew made their way to waiting boats for transport to Cimarron. Within another half-hour the salvage party, they too unable to do anything more for the dying ship, were also removed from the vessel. And soon all members of O'Brien crew were safely aboard Cimarron, having suffered no casualties. Obviously, the death of a ship was an experience few sailors could ever forget. From Cimarron and Lang sailors watched and listened as O'Brien began to shudder and vibrate with a sickening noise. Her metal groaned and moaned and cried out as her seams split and her structuring began to pull apart. The crews stood helplessly in their observation as the destroyer quickly began to settle amidship, her bow and fantail simultaneously rising into the air to form a "V" on her way down. By 8:00 A.M. it was all over; O'Brien, her final exhale of air consumed in a gurgle, disappeared below a pool of debris cluttered foam.

Throughout the sad episode various Lang crew could hardly help but ponder O'Brien's fate, and contemplate just how close they had been from their own brush with disaster. How fortunate Lang had been; how unlucky O'Brien. Of all the time Lang had spent with Wasp, her likely death had been separated from her by only two weeks. Had not fate intervened on their behalf, it likely would have been their own destroyer they just witnessed slide beneath the sea.

With O'Brien gone, Lang, and Cimarron recommenced a course to Pearl Harbor, where they safely arrived five days later. This was Lang's first visit back at Pearl since the attack, yet evidence of that disastrous day still remained for the crew to view. Though much of the damage had been repaired and most of those ships severely damaged or sunk during the attack had since been resurrected to sail again, there still remained the sunken capsized hulls of Utah (BB-31) and Oklahoma (BB-37). And, of course, there lay Arizona, her flag still waving proudly, wherein her sunken hull were entombed 1,103 of her crew. These sad sights, added to their recent experience with O'Brien, served to reinforce the crew's desire to defeat the enemy. And, obviously, Captain Wilfong appreciated his crew's enhanced warrior spirit, knowing such spirit was to be as much a weapon as was any gun in his destroyer's arsenal.