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Lieutenant Commander Joseph Langdell USN Signed Naval Art
Naval Art  Signatures J to L  Langdell, Joseph |
Lieutenant Commander Joseph Langdell USN
Joseph Kopcho Langdell was born October 12th 1914 in Wilton, New Hampshire. He graduated from Boston University in 1938 with a degree in business administration and worked as an accountant until he decided to enlist in the Navy. He attended an officers' training program in Chicago where Langdell's math skills landed him an assignment working with Navy photographers on a way to better measure the accuracy of a ship's guns. He trained for the job on Ford Island, a small patch of land in Pearl Harbor. Langdell was not aboard the ship the morning of the attack. Because of a temporary assignment, he was sleeping in a barracks about 100 yards from the ship in Honolulu. He was awakened by the Japanese attack and from his bed he heard the sound of the Japanese dive bombers as they approached and strafed the battleships lined up in the harbor. 'If I had been aboard, I would have been killed in that No. 2 turret. That was the one that blew up.'. Langdell helped injured sailors and Marines find medical care in a hospital on the island. In the days that followed, he helped recover the bodies of some of his fallen shipmates. Langdell continued to serve in the Navy through World War II. He died on 4th February 2015 and at the age of 100, the oldest living survivor of the Arizona.
| Lieutenant Commander Joseph Langdell USN - Signed Naval Art Naval Crew Signatures |
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The Calm Before the Storm by Robert Taylor. Dawn had broken to reveal another glorious day in paradise, and on board the USS Arizona and the repair ship USS Vestal alongside, the crew were taking it easy. All next week they would be hard at work preparing for sea, but today was Sunday, and that meant light duties. On the Arizona, the duty crew were preparing the stern of the battleship, erecting the awnings for the ships band at Morning Colors. The young officer in charge smiled approvingly, it was an inspiring scene and he thought that the recently overhauled battleship had never looked more impressive. But within the hour he would glance skyward, and a frown of puzzlement crease his forehead as, out of nowhere, Japanese carrier-based aircraft were descending on the unsuspecting naval base. As he registers the bright red circles on their wings, the blood froze in his veins. He realized that hell had come to Pearl Harbor! Then, just before 08.10hrs, the unthinkable happened. A bomb from a Nakajima B5N Kate high-altitude bomber penetrated the ship's armor plated deck and exploded in the forward magazine. Within seconds a cataclysmic blast ripped through the Arizona, devastating the mighty ship which would burn for two days, taking with her the lives of nearly twelve hundred men. In tribute to all those who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor on that infamous day Robert Taylor has created his poignant new landmark painting. The Arizona has since become the focal point for the memorial at Pearl Harbor and this moving piece portrays this proud ship as those who survived would surely like to remember her - in all her glory prior to the attack. |
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