Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995 TAG: 9507050019
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
He will recall that experience today as the main speaker at the dedication of the Pulaski County War Memorial, honoring county residents from four wars. Tate earned a Purple Heart and the Navy Cross for that action, and told his story to writer Bob Considine for an article in Cosmopolitan magazine.
"I like to tell people that I made Cosmopolitan 40 years before Burt Reynolds," Tate said recently. Unlike the actor, Tate had all his clothes on.
A copy of the article is in his "Navy room" and his home on Northwood Drive in Pulaski, along with plaques that cover 30 years of Navy assignments, photographs from those years, uniform caps and a portrait depicting that three-plane attack on the enemy carrier.
Tate and the other surviving pilot signed the 1,200 copies of the commissioned portrait, he recalled, and were given copies of it. They also went on a publicity tour following that battle, stopping at places like the Stork Club and meeting with WAVES at Hunter College.
"Tough duty," Tate remarked.
Tate joined the Navy in 1941 and earned his wings at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., where he was commissioned as an ensign. Assigned to a torpedo squadron, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross in the sinking of a Japanese merchant ship by "skip bombing" near the Bonin Islands before the encounter with the aircraft carrier.
He estimates that he has logged 6,000 hours of flying time over the years, including fighters and bombers that he had to land on aircraft carriers. Even though he was impressed with the New River Valley Airport near Dublin, he did not continue flying after his return to Pulaski County. "I had almost decided that I used up all my luck," he said.
Tate's first wife died while he was in the service. At about the same time, Katie Brockmeyer of Pulaski lost her husband. She and Tate had been high school classmates in Pulaski County, and began writing to one another. A courtship developed and, five years later, they were married.
But now, Katie Tate says, all of Ben Tate's travels during his Naval career hamper their travel plans in retirement. Every time she mentions a place the couple could visit, she says, his reply is "Oh, I've already been there."
During his torpedo squadron assignment attached to the carrier Belleau Wood, Tate learned that his first cousin Graham Gilmer was a chaplain aboard another carrier in the same area. He eventually managed a boat ride to Gilmer's carrier to visit him.
He was accompanied by another ensign who was also visiting his cousin aboard that carrier. When they arrived, they found they were both visiting Gilmer. The ensign was a cousin on the other side of Gilmer's family.
During a stint with the Naval Research Office in Washington, D.C., Tate worked on various projects with major aircraft companies including Hughes. The Hughes Tool Co. people wanted to find a military use for the Spruce Goose, an eight-engine flying boat made entirely of wood and with space for 700 passengers.
"We never found one," Tate said.
Another project that did not work out was an attempt by Lockheed to build a nuclear-powered seaplane. "But it turned out that the shielding was so heavy, they couldn't get it to fly."
Tate also had some close encounters with astronauts.
When John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, Tate was stationed aboard the USS Randolph which was supposed to pick him up. The admiral in command had even ordered a special cake from the carrier's bakery.
But Glenn's capsule came down 60 miles away and a destroyer picked him up. Hours later, a helicopter transferred him to the Randolph and the admiral ordered the cake brought up. "Sorry," the response came from the bakery. "We ate the cake when we found out he wasn't here."
Tate met flier Alan Shepard before the astronaut became the first American in space in 1961, rocketing up and back in a 15-minute flight. When Tate was stationed at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Chincoteague, Shepard was one of the fliers from a neighboring base who would occasionally participate in flight exercises.
Shepard also had a tendency to buzz the base at Chincoteague, which drove its skipper wild, Tate recalled. When Tate relayed the skipper's instructions not to do that again, Shepard waited until Tate's unit was standing at inspection on a tennis court to fly by.
Everyone but Tate ran off the court when Shepard buzzed it at about 1,000 feet. When Shepard made a second pass at about 500 feet, Tate vacated the premises as well.
Tate said he never planned to make the Navy a career, but found himself enjoying each new assignment.
At 75, he stays in shape driving his blue Volkswagen to the Pulaski YMCA five times a week for swimming and racquetball.
by CNB