This is an iHeart Podcast. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people.
If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Okay, only 10 more presents to wrap. You're almost at the finish line. But first... There, the last one. Enjoy a Coca-Cola for a pause that...
refreshes. You heard it before many times. Water is life. But do you know that almost half of the homes on the Navajo Reservation do not have clean running water? With your support, St.
Bonaventure Indian Mission and School is ready to give water to Navajo families.
So we invite you to help provide this precious gift of life to those in need. Contrary to many average Americans, Navajo families survive on just 10 gallons of water per day. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. Sacksaw Fifth is revealing the season's most wanted holiday steals.
Whether you're gifting someone on your list or treating yourself to a designer score, find deals on McQueen, Valentino, Versace, Stuart Weizman, and more at up to 70% off every day. Outshine at every event and outsmart your budget. From shimmer-ready party looks to luxe layers and cozy giftable accessories, Sacksaw Fifth is your secret source for celebrating in style. Your holiday shopping mission starts. Starts now at SacksoffFith.com or a SacksOffFith store near you.
Um On the job, every minute counts. That's why Lowe's now has ProBlock Quick Dry Primer, expertly manufactured by Sherwin-Williams, engineered for Pros to drive fast and go on smooth for virtually flawless results that keep your job moving. It's available in oil and water-based, and getting it is easy. Order online by 2 p.m. and get free same-day delivery right to your job site.
Lowe's, we help. You save. Orders placed after 2 p.m. will be delivered next day. Valid in select zip codes, subject to driver availability.
More terms apply. Uh This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories. And we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports, and from business to history, and everything in between, including your stories. Send them to ouramericanstories.com. They're some of our favorites.
This next story is a war story. America, well, it's made up of great men and women. And we are As good as the people. in our country. And America won the Second World War because of men like fearless Freddie Warder.
Whose story we're about to hear. Here's Break Hangler. There are many incredible stories of courageous men, incredible battles, and heroes during World War II. Rear Admiral Fred Warder, a submarine skipper whose exploits in World War II won him a Navy Cross and a nickname he detested, was average-sized, possessed firm lips. I determine chin.
with piercing blue eyes under narrowed lids and a smooth face. Warder graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, class of 1925. received his master's in marine engineering at University Cal Berkeley in 1934. was married and the father of four children.
Having narrowly avoided the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rear Admiral Warder took charge of the USS Sea Wolf and set out for the seas of the Pacific to wreak havoc on Japanese shipping. and quickly became known as the artist of submarining. Border fought his enemy hard. But he also respected and loved him. Let's begin our deep dive into this story with submarine warfare guru John Gorham.
I attend a church here in Baltimore, Grace Bible Baptist Church, and one of our church members mentioned that she had an uncle named Freddie Walker. And I said, I said, did you say Freddie Warder? And she said, yes. I said, you mean like U.S. submarine captain Freddie Warder?
And she says, yes, how'd you know? Nobody knows that. I said, oh no, to the contrary. He's the ultimate submarine warrior from World War II. He's just it.
Most people don't know this, but the vast majority of tonnage that was sunk during World War II, enemy Japanese tonnage, was done by the submarine fleet, what's known as the silent service. These men paid the ultimate price, but something like 55% of all surface supply shipping to the Japanese, both warshipping and merchant marine, were sunk specifically by submarines.
So these guys, to me, are the heroes. They were a very small, efficient crew that punched way beyond their weight. Fred Warder really did punch way beyond his weight. even at family gatherings. Here's Fearless Freddy's cousin, Ann Warder Lynn.
I just know that if there was going to be a brawl, Fred was going to, you know, punch out the biggest man in the room and he was going to hit him good the first time so he didn't have to go back. Fred wasn't that big, you know, and his brother, Frank, was big and he had broad shoulders and he was, you know, it looked to me like he was at least a foot or maybe more taller than Fred. And Frank was an FBI agent. Fred just knocked him out. He got that first punch and that was it.
And Fred was gone and Frank was down and out. And my mother said to my father, John, why do your relatives always have to pass out in our room? And my father said, pass out nothing. That's a KO from Fred. It was.
He knocked him out.
So it seemed to me that Fred fought with men the way he fought the war. You know, he was the little guy that had to get the big guy and he had to get him with one punch knockout. Here's another one of Fred's cousins, Hugh Fordyce. Freddy was the oldest of my Uncle Hugh's family. They had eight children and he was the oldest.
And Freddy was valedictorian of his high school graduating class. I remember him as always having a big smile, always he had a quick wit about him. His mother was Irish, you know, and he would make jokes about Catholics, even though he was a Catholic himself. No one in our family ever called Uncle Fred Fearless or Freddy. He was known as the Admiral.
Uncle Fred. Fred and when my grandmother was feeling particularly stern. Frederick. Especially when he was teasing her about drinking or about being Catholic or something. Yesterday, December 7th.
A date which will live In infamy. United States of America. was suddenly and deliberately attacked. By naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. He's former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warder, Don Ulmer.
Well, the instructions that came out from the commander of the Pacific Fleet was, first off, it was the announcement that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. And the only instructions they gave was, conduct yourself accordingly. And then shortly after, a message came out saying engage, attack, and sink all enemy shipping encountered. And that was it, very simple back in those days. The United States had already tried to stop the Japanese from colonizing and invading the mainland of China and Korea.
A lot of misbehavior by the Japanese Empire in these areas that they quote-unquote colonized. They basically invaded them and abused the citizens of the nations of Korea and China. And you've been listening to the story of fearless Freddie Water. And it's just underappreciated the role that the submarine played in World War II and beyond. And the risks these guys Mostly guys took it was all volunteer, always was and is.
Because it is unique duty, submarine duty. And it's dangerous. And well only certain types need apply is if you're claustrophobic. It is not a job for you. When we come back, more of the life of fearless Freddie Water.
And we already love the guy, don't we? But wait till you hear the rest of this story here. on our American stories. Uh Lee Habib here, and I'm inviting you to help Our American Stories celebrate this country's 250th birthday coming soon. If you want to help inspire countless others to love America like we do and want to help us bring the inspiring and important stories told here about a good and beautiful country, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Our American Stories.
Go to ouramericanstories.com and click the donate button. Any amount helps. Go to ouramericanstories.com and give. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. Anibay sofas combine ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price.
Anibay has designed the only fully machine washable sofa from top to bottom. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered.
Visit washable sofas.com to upgrade your home.
Sofas start at just $699 and right now, get early access to Black Friday savings, up to 60% off store-wide, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washable sofas.com. Add a little to your life. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. I turned off news altogether.
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
Toa Ina. We all know that water is life. An average American household consumes over 300 gallons daily. 40% of Navajo families residing on a reservation the size of West Virginia struggle to survive on less than 10 gallons of water per day. Yearly St.
Bonaventure Indian Mission and School delivers over 1.5 million gallons of clean water to these families. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest.
Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping a forest fire-resistant is synonymous with keeping a forest healthy. And we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more.
America's Christian Credit Union stands firm in faith, serves the community, and delivers top financial services. With elite checking, earn up to 4% APY on balances under $15,000, get paid early, enjoy loan discounts, and more. Because at ACCU, your money should reflect your mission. Visit AmericasChristian CU.com forward slash elite to learn more. Early pay depends on when your employer sent your paycheck.
We can't guarantee you early direct deposit. APY equals annual percentage yield. America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA. And we continue with our American stories and the remarkable story of fearless Freddie Water. Let's return to the story and to Greg Hengler.
Here's Stephen Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack: The American Submarine Strategy That Helped Defeat Japan. In the late 1920s, Fred went to the submarine school in New London, Connecticut, and after that he was junior officer on a number of U.S. Navy submarines. And in 1939, he was the commanding officer at the commissioning of the USS Seawolf and remained commanding officer of the boat until 1943. Yeah War clouds started gathering around 1940 and his submarine was sent to the Pacific.
And eventually to the Philippines, along with a number of other U.S. submarines. His submarina was at the Cavite Naval Yard in Manila Bay in the Philippines on December 8, 1941, when the Japanese attacked the Philippines. They destroyed a couple of submarines not too far away from him. He got her underway and left Manila Bay and was sent on patrol in the northern Philippines off the coast of Luzon, the east coast of Luzon, near a town called Apari.
He saw a destroyer outside of Pari, the harbor there, and he went to attack it, but then he stumbled on a seaplane tender that was in the harbor, and he decided to attack that. And he got a really good, he made a really good approach. He had everything all set up. He fired four torpedoes from his forward tubes, and none of them exploded.
So he turned tail because the destroyer was going to come after him, but they set up four stern tubes to fire at the seaplane tender, and they fired those, and none of those exploded. And the only thing that exploded that day was Fred Warder, who was furious about the bad torpedoes and that became a scandal during World War II that for the first couple of years of the war their torpedoes did not work reliably. And he was just fit to be tied about that. Here is Rear Admiral Fred Warder. If we didn't drop feeders, we uh We could have made a damn fun effort.
But we did not have the good torpedoes. Here again is former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warder, Don Ullmer.
So Admiral Warder knew that the torpedoes were not working well.
So he actually went into a place called De Val Golf, and there was a ship that was anchored there. But he was firing torpedoes at this ship.
So one of the torpedoes went under the ship, okay, went up on the beach and exploded.
So that was one. You see, it's not my fault. It's the torpedo's fault. And then he fired two more, and it was thud, thud, against the side of the ship, and they didn't explode.
So that kind of confirmed that. And then another one he fired, and it was an erratic run called a circular run. The rider is going to lock over in one position. It makes a circular run. And the circular run would bring it right back to about where the machinery compartment is.
It would blow the ship up. We did lose a couple submarines, by the way, but not the Sea Wolf. When Warder anticipated this and he had his solo people listening, he knew it was a circular run, and he went down, so the torpedo passed overhead and came back. up again and he fired a couple more torpedoes and he finished the ship off. Here again is submarine warfare guru John Gorham.
What they did was the Japanese preset. If you've seen in the movies, they look like 55-gallon drums being rolled off the back of the tail of a Corvette or a destroyer, and they were just basically loaded up with TNT. They would drop to a certain predetermined level based on, and the sensor that was used was a depth sensor based on water pressure, and then they would just blow up. And if you had, if you're. Submarine vessel was nearby when one of those blew up.
The shock was such that it could break open the hull or weaken it or wrinkle the skin and do all kinds of damage. The vast majority of anyone's submarines that were lost during the war were lost to depth charges. He talked to me one time about depth charge evasion. And the way he put it to me is that, well, you've got to understand that what this Japanese destroyer, the enemy destroyer, is doing is he's making a noise and he's listening for the echo.
Well, the more aspect that you show that ship, the stronger the echo.
So basically, what he would always do is turn and point directly toward the ship. And that gave him the most narrow aspect. And even though it meant that he was going right toward this guy that was trying to get him, the echoes were just not coming back strong. They would come back weak, which Would indicate that the submarine was much further away.
So, the guy would go overhead and he'd go racing out there, and bang, bang, bang, the charges would go off. And that was the time that he would make his course change or maneuver in order to put distance between him and that destroyer. The strategy the United States Navy had with our submarine. Service was to go after the merchant marine because they were easy targets. They were soft targets.
We could sink them, they couldn't fight back. It allowed our American submarine fleet to last a little longer. It's a little more dangerous when you go after a Japanese warship because they can fight back. And the most deadly warships were Corvettes and destroyers, because the destroyers are very shallow draft vessels. If you attempt to fire at a torpedo at it, well, at least at a Corvette.
A Corvette's even smaller than a destroyer. Corvettes are so shallow that torpedoes go underneath. And you have to be a very good shot to take out a destroyer with a torpedo. The vast majority of American submarine commanders wouldn't tangle with the destroyer, but that's not the case with Freddie Order. Submarine commanders were a breed apart.
A lot of them had a strong streak of independence. They didn't like being pushed around by admirals and are. Captains, you know, and the submarine service gave them that kind of freedom because when a submarine left port, they had virtually no contact with the admirals and the captains. It was all up to the submarine commander. They didn't have anybody breathing down their necks.
Everybody was required to go on seven patrols. And generally, the custom was for a captain not to press his luck. Just like in Vietnam, when a guy was down to his last month, he didn't go out on any scary patrols. You don't want to risk a guy's life if he's made it through a whole year in Nam, you don't want to push your luck at the last minute.
Okay. But Warder. Is Warder, and he's determined to make this very last of his patrols count. He was on his way back from the Palau Islands, and he discovered another anchorage or an area where there was a tremendous amount of activity. He sailed in, he torpedoed, and he was able to sink a 3,000-ton ship.
Then he sank a transport. This is very valuable because not only is it tonnage, but it's Japanese fighting troops, men that will never make it to shore and threaten American lives. A 7,000-ton transport. That was a tremendous prize that he got. Then again, he was able to torpedo on it again on his way coming home.
He was able to torpedo another ship to the tune of 3,000 tons.
So that means he sank 13,000 tons in one patrol. That's more than the majority of sub-captains ever sank in their entire career of seven patrols in the South Pacific. How? Freddie Warder got that name, Fearless Freddy. He was the last boat out on patrol leaving the Java Sea area, very low on fuel, very low on food, provisions.
The men were smoking coffee grounds rolled in toilet paper because they'd been out of cigarettes for a while. They're low on torpedoes, but Freddie Warder wasn't about to go back to his base with unspent torpedoes. Ridiculous. He'd never do that. He found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands about 200 miles south of Java, and he took his boat down and that way he decided he'd just patrol the area, cruise around, see what's going on.
As he approached Flying Fish Cove, that's the one where the Japanese had their anchorage. It was an absolute submariner's dream. Four cruisers lined up in a row, lined up in a row. And when we come back, we're going to hear the rest of this remarkable story. 13,000 tons in one patrol.
The artist is submarining the ultimate submarine warrior. And we're talking about fearless Freddie Water. Again, this is our American stories, always telling the stories of our fighting men and women. More after these messages. Mm.
Tired of spills and stains on your sofa? Wash away your worries with Anibay. Anibay is the only machine-washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget-friendly prices. That's right, sofas start at just $699. Enjoy a no-risk experience with pet-friendly, stain-resistant, and changeable slip covers made with performance fabric.
Experience cloud-like comfort with high-resilience foam that's hypoallergenic and never needs fluffing. The sturdy steel frame ensures longevity, and the modular pieces can be rearranged anytime. Shop washable sofas.com for early Black Friday savings up to 60% off site-wide, backed by a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not absolutely in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping or restocking fees, every penny back.
Upgrade Now at washable sofas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait.
It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there.
and BC News reporting for America. Toa Ina. We all know that water is life. An average American household consumes over 300 gallons daily. 40% of Navajo families residing on a reservation the size of West Virginia struggle to survive on less than 10 gallons of water per day.
Yearly St. Bonaventure Indian Mission and School delivers over 1.5 million gallons of clean water to these families. You can help support St. Bonaventure's water delivery program by going to stbonaventuremission.org. Hear that?
That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire-resistant is synonymous with keeping a forest healthy. And we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management. It's a long-term commitment.
Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. America's Christian Credit Union stands firm in faith, serves the community, and delivers top financial services. With elite checking, earn up to 4% APY on balances under $15,000, get paid early, enjoy loan discounts, and more. Because at ACCU, your money should reflect your mission. Visit AmericasChristian CU.com forward slash elite to learn more.
Early pay depends on when your employer sent your paycheck. We can't guarantee early direct deposit. APY equals annual percentage yield. America's Christian Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA. And we continue here with Our American Stories, and let's return to Greg Hangler.
and his story about Rear Admiral fearless Freddie Warder. Here again is Submarine Warfare Guru. John Gorham. He found out that the Japanese had invaded the Christmas Islands about 200 miles south of Java, and he took his boat down. And that way, he decided he'd just patrol the area, cruise around, see what's going on.
As he approached Flying Fish Cove, It was an absolute submariner's dream. Four cruisers lined up in a row, lined up in a row. He got in close, and destroyers recognized him right away. He heard the pinging, but he fired off four torpedoes at a cruiser that was about a thousand yards away, and that's about as close as a submariner will ever want to get to his target.
So he fired these four torpedoes. As soon as he was convinced that he had sunk that ship, he dove low and his logbook. Reports that the Japanese were very effective in placing their depth charges.
So he stayed low and he waited. Overnight. The next day, and he slipped out of the cove. The next day, he slipped back in, and the Japanese, of course, were alerted to him. They were on patrol, but he was able to maneuver in again and nail a second cruiser.
And again, he was depth charged, fled the area, waited until later on that afternoon. He came back in and he struck a cruiser a third time. Captain Warder comes in the very next day again because he wants to finish off this juicy collection. He's down to just two torpedoes left. They're on Attack mode now because they're just absolutely patrolling the area.
The water's boiling with ships going back and forth looking for him. He slips in because he's determined to use up his last torpedoes. There's one more cruiser left. It's flying the pennant of the admiral of the squadron. He says, I'm going to take this guy out.
So he fires his last two torpedoes at the cruiser and he hits him. But in the meantime, the destroyers got perilously close to him. He dove down deep and he endured nine hours. Of depth charge from multiple patrol boats, corvettes, destroyers. Unbelievable.
That may be the record for the United States Navy for this submarine fleet. And during nine hours of well-placed depth charging, and he says in his logbook, he says, My men were really at the end of their rope, and he realized he had to go, and there's no point in staying around. He had no more torpedoes. He's already taken out all four of the capital ships that were anchored at Flying Fish Cove. And he returned home in victory.
And on the way, The men said, I'm gonna call you Fearless Freddie from now on after what we saw you do. Here again is former aide of Rear Admiral Fred Warder, Don Allmer. He later came back as what they call a division commander or a Wolfpack commander, and that was after he was relieved by Lieutenant Commander Royce Groves. He went into Christmas Island because they knew the Japanese were going to come there in order to take advantage of the potassium. At the time, they were nothing but Aboriginal people that were there.
And to give you some feel for Admiral Warder, he got there before the Japanese did, and there were facilities there, dock, and that sort of thing. And uh Someone suggested that, well, maybe it's a good idea if we go in there and blow all that up.
Well, now you've got to understand these, this is a war going on, and these are just Aboriginal people. You would think that, you know, who really cares about them ordered it. And he said, no, he said, we're not going to go in there and blow anything up. He says, because these people need this to make a living there, and we don't want to hurt them. I guess later on I I learned from um uh person who succeeded him in command of the sea wolf, Royce Gross, that he sunk a Japanese merchant ship not far from that place.
It went down, there were two survivors in the water, and Warder wanted to bring him on board. And one of them blew himself up with a hand grenade and the other was he just refused to come because the Japanese culture at the time, you do not surrender, you died for the emperor. And Warders figured he needed something, so he actually tossed him a life jacket and a fifth of Bourbon. The Japanese acknowledged with a nod, but from what Warder could tell that he was carried out to sea and ultimately was lost. Here again is Stephen Trent Smith, author of Wolfpack, the American Submarine Strategy That Helped Defeat Japan.
When he was uh patrolling down in the Java Sea area, he sunk a Japanese ship and he surfaced and discovered a lot of Japanese just floating in the water without life jackets.
So he had the crew, his crew, throw as many life jackets as they could to help the surviving sailors. He saw them as an enemy. I mean the Japanese is Truly, an enemy, because of what they had done, particularly at Pearl Harbor. But he believed that your enemy is also your brother. To be a successful captain, you have to have a crew that will obey you, and you have to have a crew that respects you enough to risk their lives because he isn't called Fearless Freddy for nothing.
He would take risks that almost no other submarine captain did.
Well, some of them took risks and they just didn't live to tell about it, which is understandable. That's why they call it a risk. But Freddie absolutely earned that title of being called fearless. He absolutely was fearless. And his men would go to the gates of hell and back for him.
He had their utmost respect. Here again is Fearless Freddy's cousin, Ann Warder Lynn. He really did believe in a hard war and an easy peace. He wanted the war to be fought. hard and fast and be over with so that humanity could get back to being humanity because he I never really heard him say an ugly thing about anyone.
I never heard anyone say he said an ugly thing about another person. If you were with him, you just felt like you were the only person on earth. He really made people feel. his warmth. I de I mean, you just really wanted him to be proud of you.
You were proud to be with him and you wanted him to be proud of you. And he's one of my fondest childhood memories, actually. He went on to earn two Navy crosses. Of course he got a Legion of Merit. He got two of those, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and then the usual ones, the Victory Medal, Philippine Service Medal, and Asiatic Pacific Medal.
From what I've read in his obituary and been told by my father, Uncle Fred really didn't like the name Fearless Freddy because he was just as afraid as anybody else on the submarine and his crew. And his crew were his heroes, whom he fondly referred to as his beloved sons of, you know, what. And he felt and said that the real heroes in war are those that give their lives. Here again is Rear Admiral Fred Warder. How did you get the name Fearless?
Uh well I know like it.
Well I'm scared to death. Really? I mean why should you corporate landscape? Fred Warder became Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare in 1955. He commanded the Submarine Force Atlantic Fleet in 1957.
And retired in 1962 after two years as Commandant of the 8th Naval District in New Orleans. He retired in 1962. and died at his home on February 1st. two thousand He was ninety-five years old. I'm Greg Hengler, and this is Our American Stories.
And great job as always to Greg Hengler, and special thanks to Dang Lynn Productions for allowing us access to their one-of-a-kind interviews from their documentary, Fearless Freddy. Check out the trailer and the film at fearlessfreddymovie.com. That's fearlessfreddymovie.com. And what a story we heard indeed. This Annapolis grad class of 1925 married father of four.
and a leader. and in the end, a soldier underground. He rose above his fear. and led anyway. And that's why he was the man he was.
The artist of submarining, the ultimate. Submarine warrior. Freddie Water, fearless Freddie Water. His story here. on our American stories.
No. This is an iHeart podcast. Yeah.
