Word: 480th
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Sirs: That the Army's 480th Anti-Submarine Group did a commendable job [TIME, Dec. 20] we in the Navy's antisub squadrons readily admit. But to say that the Army "was on the job when the going was hottest" and that the Navy took over after Admiral Doenitz' protégés had been thwarted, is a very untrue implication...
...480th...
Your account of Colonel Roberts and the 480th Anti-Submarine Group (TIME, Dec. 20) warmed the hearts of all of us who were formerly engaged in the Anti-Submarine Command. . . . These men never had the comforting feeling of wingmen in close formation. They were strictly lone wolves, and there's a hell of a lot of water in the Atlantic Ocean...
Tall, Georgia-born Colonel Jack Roberts, 31-year-old Group Commander, told newsmen about his men and their work. More than half the 480th combat strength were casualties. Although outnumbered 3-to-1 in the air, the 480th knocked down two German planes for every Liberator lost. Best measure of its effectiveness against subs was the drop in shipping losses-one ship in five months...
...480th were glad to get home. They had done much of the pioneering; they would not have to go back to sea. While they and many another outfit were at work, the U.S. Navy had asserted one of its favorite doctrines: that only Navymen should patrol the seas. In planes taken over from the Army, new Navy crews are now at work against German subs. The Army, which was on the job when the going was hottest, will hunt them no more...