HOBART GLEN KELLY, S2c
USS DENNIS - DE 405

Letter home describing the Battle off Samar in which the USS Dennis participated in the first major retaliation after Pearl Harbor.

Glen Kelly's Poem, "Old Suicide"

 

 

 


Hobart Glen Kelly, S2c
Clinchport, VA

 

Old Suicide

I am the terror of the seven seas,

Surely you have heard or read of me.

I am the Captain of the destroyer 405

I can lick any Japanese Fleet alive?

 

I have an iron jaw and nerves of steel

Fear is a stranger that I never feel?

I take sure death trips with a one way ride

The crew knows me simply as “Old Suicide.”


The worst battle in history of the Navy or Marines

Was the rip-roaring battle of the Philippines.

We sighted the enemy fleet just after dawn at 7:05

And by 7:10 their guns sprang alive.

 

I yelled at the quarter master to ring the battle bell,

Set the speed at 25 knots and charge like hell.

I made ready the torpedoes and let go my smoke

The air was so heavy, I thought I would choke.

 

Three of my sister ships were sinking from sight

But “Old Suicide” never runs from a fight.

I looked for my Allies but they were all gone,

It was up to “Old Suicide” to fight them alone.

 

The enemy fleet surrounded me and kept me there

While sixteen inch shells were parting my hair.

I began to shake and I began to moan

I thought of my ship that would never reach home.

 

I had a date with Old Davy Jones

That grinning old man was after my bones.

He danced with glee at the shattered pride

And shaking nerves of “Old Suicide.”


I began to tremble and I began to swear

Cold sweat streamed down my underwear.

Escape seemed quite impossible to me

“Old Suicide” was about to sink at sea.

 

The ship was leaking from stern to bow

But she managed to stay afloat somehow.

Then the smoke screen lifted and I saw the shell

They were falling around me thicker than hell.

I looked to the north and to my dismay

A dozen Jap ships were blocking the way.

Then I looked to the south and saw light and hope,

Only one cruiser was blocking me (the dope).

 

With full speed toward her and a steady hand

I gave last minute orders to my torpedo man

“Set your torpedoes, Son, and may your aim be true,

If you miss her, my boy, we’ll never get through.”

 

The deadly torpedoes sped away over the foam

My hope was all with them and they were now going home.

There were two explosions as they hit her broadsides.

She made two mighty lunges, then shuddered and died.


The fool Japs may stop the rising tide

But they can never stop “Old Suicide”------

Yes, “Old Suicide” is still alive

And still the skipper of the 405.

 

He is always up in the middle of the night

Always itching and hunting for a fight.

When the crew is tired and all half dead

You can still hear him yelling,

“There are boogies overhead!!”

 

Written by: Hobart G. Kelly

 

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(click pages below to enlarge and read)

Submitted by Thomas Fugate

 

 


Photo by Todd Dennis

 


Photo by Todd Dennis

 

 

 

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