Springfield South Dakota Veterans
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ELECTRICIAN’S MATE PETTY OFFICER FIRST CLASS JOE UKEN

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Some say Joe Uken was the luckiest man to have worn a naval uniform during WWII.  Joe missed the sinking of two submarines due to fortuitous reassignments.  In both cases, all crewmen were lost.  In a third instance all the crew, including Joe, survived the grounding on a shoal.  The submarine, however, was lost. 
 
During his 3½ years of service on four different submarines, Joe took part in numerous war patrols.  He routinely experienced the mental terror of depth charges launched at his boat.  The war patrols he took part in varied widely and included the USS Triton’s (SS 201) patrolling Alaskan waters, the sinking of numerous enemy ships, the USS Gudgeon’s (SS 211) rescue of 28 men on Timor Island and the landing of six  soldiers on the Philippine Islands to facilitate guerilla movements there.
 
Joe enlisted in the Navy on December 16, 1941 at the age of 20.  His basic training took place in San Diego, California.  His demanding rigorous submarine training took place in Hawaii.  To qualify for submarine duty, candidates had to pass a series of physical and mental tests to ensure they were able to withstand the extraordinary demands of duty in the tight confines of a submarine.  At the conclusion of his training May 6, 1942, Joe joined the crew of the USS Triton (SS 201), on which he took part in two war patrols before being reassigned to the USS Gudgeon (SS 211) as an electrician’s mate (EM).  It was during this time that Joe would complete the training necessary to earn the coveted Submarine Warfare Insignia (Dolphin) pin indicating Joe was qualified in submarines.
 
Tragically, six months after Joe was transferred to the USS Gudgeon, the Triton was sunk with all hands lost.  During his 11 months of service on the USS Gudgeon, Joe took part in four war patrols.  On August 3, 1943 he was transferred to the US Naval Hospital at Treasure Island, California for surgery.  Once again, after his transfer, tragedy struck - his former ship, the Gudgeon, was lost with all hands.
 
Most historians would probably agree that the outcome of the war was probably certain after the success of the US at the naval battle at Midway and the ejection of the Japanese from Guadalcanal.  Senior Japanese military leaders might even agree.  However, because of the Japanese suicidal sense of honor, the war was far from over and many battles were yet to be fought to convince the Japanese people that continuing the war effort was insane. 
 
After a very short stint on the USS Ciro, Joe’s was assigned to the USS Darter (SS 227).  He was to be involved in four war patrols with the Darter, the last one in the Leyte Gulf playing a very significant and important role in maybe the most important naval battle in the Pacific War.
 
By the fall of 1944 the Japanese forces had been routed in almost all areas of conflict.  A stand at Leyte Gulf in the Philippines was beginning to emerge where the Japanese felt they had a last chance to change the momentum of the war and the Americans were looking for a knockout blow of the Japanese Navy.  Leyte Gulf was becoming the focal point because MacArthur had made one of his famous beach landings on Leyte Island and his forces needed to be protected from shelling from the Japanese Navy.  The problem was locating the Japanese fleet and engaging them before they could cause problems for MacArthur’s forces on land.  Into the search arrived the Darter with Joe Uken aboard along with its companion submarine the USS Dace (SS 247). The Darter was on its fourth war patrol and along with the Dace was patrolling the waters of the Leyte Gulf.  Little did the crews know that they were about to cement their place in naval history by locating the Japanese fleet, sinking two heavy cruisers (the Maya and Atago) and putting a third heavy cruiser (the Takao) out of service.   In positioning to finish off the Takao, the Darter ran aground on a shoal and had to be abandoned with no loss of life.
 
With the Japanese fleet located, the United States fleet was able to engage it.  Despite some blunders by Admiral Halsey and even bigger blunders by the Japanese Navy in not exploiting Halsey’s mistakes, the United States fleet was able to route the Japanese fleet to never become a major factor for the rest of the war.  Joe Uken’s military career had been full of near misses but was topped off by being part of the crew on a submarine that played a very critical role in one of the most important naval engagements in the Pacific War. 
 
 During his military career Joe received the “Good Conduct Medal”, the “Submarine Combat Service Medal” (for actions while serving on the USS Darter) and most prestigious of all, the Gudgeon received the “Navy Unit Citation” (ship equivalent to the individual Silver Star).
 
Having risen in rank to an Electrician’s Mate Petty Officer First Class, Joe finished his war experience attending further electrical training in Pittsburg, PA.  On June 22, 1945 he joined a large portion of the former USS Darter crew, including Captain David McClintock, on the newly commissioned submarine USS Menhaden (SS 337).  Joe ended his service October 10, 1945 and returned to his home in Springfield, SD.
 
                              Dick Martin with assistance from Sandy Uken Haima


Veterans' Information Links

  • https://loans.usnews.com/va-loans
  • https://loans.usnews.com/va-loans#how-va-loans-work
  • https://loans.usnews.com/va-loans#additional-va-home-loan-programs
  • https://www.help.org/substance-abuse-rehab-for-veterans/
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This web page is a work in progress. It has been created through the donated efforts of Laura Genant Martin, Dick Martin, and Jim Hornstra. When Laura was made aware of what we needed, she took the initiative to research and educate herself on how to create a web site to identify, respect and honor the military veterans in Springfield. The web site had to be easy to navigate and had to provide the viewer a method of providing feedback. Most of the written material has been provided by Dick Martin over the past couple of years with some important contributions from others, i.e. Jim Kirk.  Jim Hornstra has been the reliable source as he has been the collector of information concerning Springfield Veterans and has provided Laura much of what has gone into the web site.
  • World War I
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • Edwin Dwight Wood
  • World War II
    • Veteran Photos
    • Springfield Was There
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Lawrence Namminga
      • Chuck Dawes
      • Grover DeLong
      • Fred C Hornstra
      • Clarence Ludens
      • Jack Martin
      • John Palsma
      • Bob Slade
      • Joe Uken Jr
    • Biographies A-H >
      • Walter Babcock
      • Wayne Barham
      • Charles "Chuck" Dawes
      • Grover DeLong
      • Jake DenOuden
      • Robert DeRoos
      • Shorty Halsey
      • Nanno Hiemstra
      • Fred C Hornstra
    • Biographies K-Ma >
      • Bernard Kastein
      • James Kirk
      • Leonard Lange
      • Ted Lindeman
      • Clarence Ludens
      • John C. Ludens
      • John "Jack" Martin
      • Richard "Darby" Martin
    • Biographies Mi-O >
      • Floyd Mitchell
      • Jacob Namminga
      • Lawrence Namminga Sr
      • Ode Odens
      • Lawrence Owens
    • Biographies P-S >
      • Allen Palsma
      • John Palsma
      • Virgil Rauch
      • Jack Rich
      • Robert Slade
    • Biographies Th-U >
      • Clark Thomas
      • Neil Thomas
      • Merle Toyne
      • Joe Uken
  • Korean War
    • Veteran Photos
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Robert "Bob" Ludens
    • Biographies >
      • Donald Dempster
      • Gelvin "Gil" DeRoos
      • Robert "Bob" Ludens
      • Virginia McClure
      • Donald McMillan
      • Peter Monfore
      • Wilbert Renner
      • Clarence Vanderlei
  • Cold War
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • Robert McCollum
  • Vietnam War
    • Veteran Photos
    • The Rest of the Story >
      • Daryl Heusinkveld
      • Harvey Kastein
      • Dan Mejstrik
      • Lee Merchen
      • Larry Talsma
    • My Week in Hue City
    • Biographies >
      • Daryl Heusinkveld
      • Harvey Kastein
      • Perry Lundin
      • Dan Mejstrik
      • Lee Merchen
      • Robert Monfore
      • Larry Talsma
  • Middle East Wars
    • Veteran Photos
    • Biographies >
      • James "Uke" Uken
  • Army National Guard
    • Veteran Photos
    • Rapid City Flood
    • Japanese Internment