Bay County Historical Society Premiers New Patrol Craft Sailors Video

Video compliments new exhibit honoring sailors and the craft from Bay City

September 30, 2009       Leave a Comment
By: Stephen Kent

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On July 24 the Bay County Historical Society opened a new exhibit in the rotating gallery on the main floor telling the story of the Patrol Craft Sailors of World War II and the vessel these men sailed. (See related article.)

As a part of that exhibit the Museum collaborated with Ric Mixter and Airworthy Productions to develop and produce a one hour documentary video on the history of the Patrol Craft and the men who sailed them. The video is now showing in the Museum's theater and is on sale in the Museum Store.

In 1994 the Patrol Craft Sailors Association (PCSA) selected the Bay County Historical Society to be the official home for the PCSA's collection of artifacts and to be the home of the association. Patrol Craft are significant to Bay City because of their connection to Bay City's Defoe Shipyard where the prototype patrol craft was designed and built. Other shipyards built craft during the war, but Defoe built the most.

In 2004 the PCSA held their reunion in Bay City. At the time the vets sat for a 15 to 20 minute video interview with Patrick Corcoran. The men recounted memories of their wartime service, their ship and significant actions they participated in.

The original intent of the interviews was to add them to the PCSA collection and archive. After viewing the footage it was obvious that, like the PCSA motto, the stories were "Too Good to be Forgotten". The curators suggested a documentary video that would combine the interviews, photos, and historical information. The PCSA agreed and provided a grant to fund the project.

The concept of the World War II patrol craft arose from the need to deal with the German U-Boat menace; during World War II, U-boat warfare was the major component of the Battle of the Atlantic, which lasted the duration of the war, and they were very effective in destroying Allied shipping. The Allies needed anti-submarine vessels which could deal with this problem, and the patrol craft was born.

Bay City's Defoe Shipbuilding is credited with being the "birthplace of the PC" with prototypes PC 451 and 452 being built and launched from Defoe. Defoe's famous 'rollover' method of construction made it possible to build one vessel a week which would be crucial to the war effort.

World War II patrol craft protected convoys along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic during the critical years of 1942-1943. They later took on more hazardous duty controlling and guiding landing craft in every amphibious landing from North Africa to Normandy in the Atlantic, and from Guadalcanal to Okinawa in the Pacific. Once their effectiveness became known, the Japanese assigned entire squadrons of suicide boats to destroy or disrupt beach control activity during landing operations.

The video tells this story through the interviews and through historical photos and film footage.

The PCSA is a national veterans organization dedicated to the preservation of the history of the World War II and Korean conflict patrol vessels and their crews, as well as today's U.S. Navy Cyclone-class and other modern patrol vessels. It was founded in 1968 by three former PC crewmen ( Patrick Ward, Alban Weber and Wesley Johnson) and is incorporated in the state of Illinois as a non-profit veterans organization. There is more information on the PCSA on their website www.ww2pcsa.org.

The video is available at the Museum Store for $15. Proceeds go to the PCSA and help support the management of the collection. Phone, mail and e-mail orders are accepted:

Bay County Historical Society
321 Washington
Bay City, MI 48708
(989) 893-5733
E-mail Orders

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Stephen Kent
Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations. More from Stephen Kent

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