Lt. (j.g.) O.B. Wiseman

Osborne Beeman Wiseman-born on 20 feb.1915 in Zanesville, Ohio. Osborne Beeman Wiseman grew up in Zanesville, a town of about 30,000 living on the east central side of town at 941 Market street.
He lived with his father Paul Clarence Wiseman, mother Margaret, brother Donald D.and his grandmother Mrs. Carrie Wiseman, the widow of grandfather Osborne Michael Wiseman.

941 Market St. Home of O.B. Wiseman in Zanesville, Ohio. It has been a restaurant since 1935.

Lt. OB Wiseman was named after his grandfather Osborne Michael Wiseman
O. M. Wiseman was in turn named for his mother, Eliza Osborn. O.B.'s father Paul had been a paper hanger and later a clerk..

O. B. probably either went to Pioneer or Sheridan grade schools which were
located not far from his home. Sheridan was named for Phil Sheridan the Civil War General who originated from a nearby town. He then would have attended Theodore Roosevelt Jr. High school which lay across the river which he could have reached by the street car or perhaps the bus.
High School was at Lash High, the public high school of the town and it was really closer to his home than was the Junior High.

Dr. Donald Urban who was a classmate of  Lt. Wiseman  at Lash High School. He said that while he knew Osborne they were not close friends and with a class in the High School of over 200, close friendships with a lot of students was not possible.

Neither he nor Osborne were athletes or played on any teams and Osborne did not ever appear to be a leader or a forceful personality. He made no impression  until after his sacrificial heroism.
They graduated in 1932 and he doesn't know what Osborne did before he got his Annapolis appointment two years later.

OB Wiseman was appointed to the Naval Academy on 22 June1934. And graduated on 2 June 1938.After sea duty on Saratoga CA 3 and Roe DD 418,Wiseman was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla. for flight training. Detached on 17 Mar.1941,having won his wings. Wiseman joined Bombing Squadron VB 3,embarked in Saratoga.

After the carrier was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-25 off Oahu on 11 Jan.1942 and send to the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Wash. for repairs and alterations, her aviation units were transferred ashore to operate from Ford Island. These aircraft were assigned to other Carriers at times depending on the needs of the Pacific Fleet.

O.B. Wiseman's Contribution to the Doolittle attack on Japan

April 18, 1942

Lt. Colonel James H. Doolittle was assigned to organize and lead a secret and daring air attack on Japan's homeland. The plan was to have a  US Carrier to sail within 400 miles of the Japanese homeland and then launch sixteen B-25B Mitchell medium bombers. The B-25 was tested to show that it could fly off a carrier with a useful bomb load and enough fuel to hit Japan and to continue on to China where they would land.

The Carrier chosen for this dangerous attack would be the USS Hornet with the USS Enterprise providing air cover during the approach to the launching point.

Everything was going according to plan until early April 18. Soon after 3:00 AM, Enterprise's radar made two surface contacts, just ten miles from the task force. The Attack force went to general quarters, Admiral Halsey turned his ships north to evade the contacts, resuming the course west an hour later.  A little past 6:00 AM, LT. Osborne B. Wiseman of Bombing Six flew low over Enterprise's deck, his radioman dropping a weighted message: a Japanese picket ship had been spotted 42 miles ahead, and Wiseman suspected his own plane had been sighted.

The flight deck crew prepares to receive a weighted message from a Dauntless

scout plane, as it passes low over Enterprise CV-6, 18 May 1942

This forced the Bombers to take off at 8:00 AM more than 600 miles from Japan. The bombers hit Japan, but they could not reach the safety of China. The Bombers were forced to ditch, for the lack of fuel. Most of the crews survived. Their attack cause minor damage, but they proved that Japan was open to attack.

This attack shook the Japanese high command and they made the decision to attack the Island of Midway, which turn into a disaster for the Japanese Fleet. The Battle of Midway was a defeat the Japanese would not recover from.

The USS Hornet and the USS Enterprise turned and sailed east to Midway where they would be joined by the USS Yorktown CV-5.  O.B. Wiseman was now assigned to the USS Yorktown and there at the Battle of Midway is where he would give his life.

Enterprise  and her veterans, included among the 16 ships and 10,000 sailors, airmen and Marines who took part in the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, were officially recognized for their daring exploit just recently, on May 15, 1995. The Task Force 16 Citation is the most recent decoration awarded Enterprise and her veterans: it may not be the last

LT. Wiseman at the Battle of Midway

When Yorktown CV-5 return to Pearl Harbor for repairs of the damage sustained early in May at the Battle of the Coral Sea, her units were transferred from the ship and replaced by some of Saratoga's old units. Bombing Squadron 3, Torpedo Squadron 3,and Fighting Squadron3.Wiseman reported abroad in time to take part in the pivotal Battle of Midway.

On the first day of the carrier action. June 4, LT. (jg) Wiseman flew two sorties ,one against the carrier Soryu that morning and one against Hiryu that afternoon. The latter by that point, was the last of the four enemy flattops afloat, and the strike in which Wiseman participated proved to be the coup de grace administered to that ship. Japanese " Zero Fighters, however ,swarmed over the Dauntlesses of VB-3 and VB-6, exacting some measure of revenge for the pounding administered to Hiryu. In that meddle, Wiseman's plane was shot down,. Neither he nor his gunner Grant Ulysses Dawn were seen again. Having played a major part in turnings the tide of the war in the Pacific .LT. (jg) Wiseman was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously, for his heroism and devotion to duty. Launched on Nov.6 1943. Sponsored by Mrs, June Holton ,the widow of LT, Wiseman and Commissioned at Algiers, La. On April 4,1944, Lt. .W .B Mc Claran Jr. USNR in command.

                              SMD Dauntless                       Bombing Squadron VB-3      

                                                                   Symbol

A Glorious Page in our History

According to information printed in "A Glorious Page in our History"

LT. Wiseman was a member of VB-3 on Yorktown during The Battle of Midway. After VB-3's attack on Soryu on the morning of June 4, Wiseman and the rest of VB-3 (minus LCDR Max Leslie and LT(jg) Paul Holmberg, who ditched) landed on Enterprise.
This lead to LT Wiseman's inclusion into the unofficial "Bombing 63," which may have lead to your confusion as to which squadron he a member of. LT Wiseman then participated in the afternoon attack on Hiryu, during which he was shot
down, probably by an A6M2 Zero.

Lt.(jg) Osborne Beeman Wiseman, whose off-flying duty was as the
squadron Personnel Officer, was indeed a member Bombing Three. As the
second section leader in the third division, he was assigned to fly B-16
(SBD-3 02327) with his radioman, Grant Ulysses Dawn, ARM3c. After
participating in the morning attack on Kido Butai, during which they
dove on the IJN battleship Haruna, he returned to the TF-17 and
ultimately was recovered with most of the rest of the squadron by
Enterprise, CV-6.

After being refueled and rearmed, Lt(jg) Wiseman participated in the
aquadron's second attack mission of the day, this time as the leader of
the second section of the first division.

This section was intercepted by zeros on pull out from the dive on IJN
Hiryu, and his section was unasuccessful in forming up. B-16 almost
immediately was beset by several zeros, and was last seen attempting to
fight them off while withdrawing.

A6M2 Zero.

LT Wiseman  participated  in the afternoon attack on Hiryu,

during which he was shot  down, probably by an A6M2 Zero.

Rear Gunner

* Grant Ulysses Dawn, ARM3c= Aviation Radioman 3rd Class

Plane     BuNo     Side No

*SBD-3 #03237 B-16

Short History of DE667

Launched on Nov.6 1943. Sponsored by Mrs, June Holton ,the widow of LT, Wiseman and Commissioned at Algiers, La. On April 4,1944, Lt. .W .B Mc Claran Jr. USNR in command. Following shake down cruise to Bermuda area and post-shakedown availability in the Boston Navy Yard , Wiseman departed Boston on May 24,1944 on the first of three round trip convoy missions that she conducted though the autumn of 1944.Subsequenyly converted to a floating power station .The necessity for ship to shore electrical facilities having been proved during earlier phases of the Pacific War. At the Charleston S,C, Naval Yard, Wiseman sailed for the Pacific on Jan.11,1945.

Making port at Pearl Harbor on Feb.3, the destroyer escort operate for a month in the Hawaiian Islands before setting sail for the Philippines on Mar. 3 . Arriving in Manila on the 23thof Mar. The Wiseman commenced furnishing power to that nearly demolished city on April 13,and over the next five months , provided some 5,806,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. In addition Wiseman's evaporators furnished 150,000 gals of drinking water to Army facilities in the harbor area and to many small craft. Her radios were also utilized to a great extent. Placed at the disposal of the Navys port director, the ships communication outfit was used to handle harbor radio traffic until the directors equipment arrived and installed ashore.

Following her vital service at Manila, Wiseman shifted to Guam where she provided power for the Army dredge Harris YM 25 for a period of two months. She then returned to the United States and was decommished at San Diego on May 31,1946 She was inactived there on Jan.31,1947 Recommished in the autumn of 1950 , after the onset of the Korean War that June. Wiseman under the command of LT. Comdr. Jay W. Land rushed to Korea , reaching the port of Masan near the mouth of the Naktong River ,at the western anchor point of the former beach head at Pusan. As she had done at Manila in 1945 ,Wiseman now supplied electricity to a city unable to generate its own.

Later, the ship provided comforts of home to units of the 1st Marine Div. Quartered on the nearby pier ,providing hot showers, cigarettes, and hot meals cooked in the ships galley. The destroyer escort also provided instructions in seamanship, gunnery ,radar, sonar, and damage control to 80 midshipmen from the Republic of Korea( ROK) Naval Academy and 120 ROK Navy enlisted men.

Late in 1951,Wiseman returned to the United States and underwent an extensive overhaul at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard Vallejo Calif., before she conducted refresher training out of San Diego thorough the spring and summer of 1952,. The ship then sailed again for Korean waters, reaching the combat zone again that autumn. In her second Western Pacific (WestPac) deployment since decommissioning ,Wiseman screened light carrier task forces off the west coast of Korea, carried out patrol assignments close inshore  blockaded and bombarded segments of the northeastern Korean coast ,and provided antisubmarine screen and escort services for replenishment groups. Later in the deployment she also participated in hunter killer operations, trained in antisubmarine warfare (ASW)evolutions and served as division flagship during a goodwill call at Manila.

Over the next few years , Wiseman conducted four WestPac deployments and spend the interludes between them in training out of San Diego and upkeep at Mare Inland Naval Shipyard or the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. Upon occasion, she conduced Naval Reserve training cruises, one taking her to the Hawaiian Islands. During the overseas deployment   Wiseman operated with units of SEATO navies Australia, New Zealand, British, Philippine, Pakistani. And Thai. Visited ports Australia to Japan. Upon completion of her sixth deployment Wiseman was designated as a Group 1 Reserve Training (NRT) ship. Accordingly on May 16, 1959 the ship was decommissioned and turned over to the 11th Naval District LT. W.V. Powell was the first officer in charge.

For the next two years , Wiseman operated out of San Diego on NTR duties. Every third weekend of the month, a reserve cruise took her to sea for periods of ASW training and during the summers the destroyer escort made two week reserve cruises. How ever in 1961, the Berlin crisis changed the veteran destroyer escorts routine after the building of the Berlin Wall heightened tensions in Aug. of that year. President John F. Kennedy ordered the activation of reserve units, including the Selected Reserve Crew and NRT ships. Recommissioned on Oct,2,1961,Lt.Comdr. C. V. Wilhoite Jr. In command. Wiseman was immediately prepared for duty with the 7th Fleet. Since the repair and overhaul facilities at San Diego were over worked Wiseman was overhauled at Long Beach, spending the preseason holidays in the Bethlehem shipyards there.

Deploying to West Pac again in Jan. of 1962 Wiseman conducted patrol operation off the coast of the trouble country of Vietnam. She received a well done for her performance of duty and in March won commendation for giving medical aid to a fisherman with an infected leg on board a South Vietnamese fishing junk. Later that spring the ship also visited Hong Kong ,Subic Bay, and Japanese ports Yokohama, where she hosted celebrations for Armed Forces Day on 19and20 of May.

Returning to San Diego on July17,1962, via Midway and Pearl Harbor, Wiseman was decommissioned and placed in service on Aug.1, resuming her duties as NTR ship with Group 11 Naval Reserve. Before the end of 1962 the ship was assigned to Reserve Destroyer Division 272 of Reserve Destroyer Squadron 27. Placed in reserve but remaining in service ,Wiseman was berthed at San Diego though the remainder of the 1960s as part of the Pacific Reserve Fleets reserve units. Struck from the Navy list on April 15,1973 the veteran of World War 11, Korean service was subsequently scrapped. Wiseman DE 667 received six battle stars for her Korean War service.

Article from Zanesville, Ohio newspaper.

Osborne B. Wiseman, the grandson of this doctor, was the son of

Manilla, PI from April 13 until Nov 15 in 1945. (Ref Times Recorder June 7. 1992)