In 1993, Robert (Bob) Joergensen published Newfoundland Gallantry in Action: The History of the Argentia Naval Facility. While it was obvious that credible research went into the effort, the book was not without its faults in the ongoing propagation of certain misinformation and fabrications pertaining to Argentia's history. His claim on page one that, “The name Argentia was derived from the French, meaning L'Argent — The Silver,” was a slightly skewed version of the incorrect information that he had obtained from Eileen Houlihan. Refer to Misconceptions and Fabrications of Eileen Houlihan for details.

As in Misconceptions and Fabrications by other sources, it would be impractical to address each and every error in Newfoundland Gallantry in Action. Consequently, only the most outstanding mistakes will be refuted.

Also on page one, Joergensen wrote, “Originally, Argentia was named Little Placentia, derived from the first French capital established at Placentia, some ten miles to the South.”

Having been a chief petty officer at U.S. Naval Station, Argentia, Joergensen should have known that Argentia was only 4.0 miles north of Placentia by sea and 3.7 miles by land. The distance from the Main Gate at Argentia to the end of Southeast — passing through Freshwater, Jerseyside, Placentia, Bond's Path, and Southeast — was 10.2 miles.

At the bottom of page one, he published a photograph of the Sandy Cove area over the caption “The village of Argentia — early 1940s.” By adding that caption, Joergensen gave readers who were not familiar with the region that Argentia was a village consisting of only a few houses. The photo was the same inverted image that he had obtained from John Cardoulis, who also published it backwards on page 24 of A Friendly Invasion. Refer to Misconceptions and Fabrications of John Cardoulis for details pertaining to that photo.

On page 11, Joergensen wrote, “One of the problems faced by the construction teams was the relocating of 500 people and the demolition of 115 buildings.”

He obviously obtained that misinformation from the several “polished” versions of the American military's presence that had been prepared by U.S. Navy officials in Argentia and released in timely fashion to make their impact on the area appear less severe than it actually was. Prior to expropriation, Argentia consisted of: 165 families; 833 individuals, 380 adults and 453 children; 770 buildings and/or other structures, 160 of which were occupied houses; and 3,969 domestic animals.

On page 12, Joergensen wrote, “On February 25th the U.S. Congress was told officially that Great Britain did not propose to relinquish the Americans defence projects on the eight Atlantic sites involved in the 50 destroyer “trade” until the United States had compensated the private owners of land at a cost of $250 per acre.”

That statement was completely erroneous. The expropriation process was not an unorganized “hit or miss” event, as many people would have you believe. It involved a lot of people from all levels and departments of the Newfoundland government, private enterprises, the U.S. civilian contractors, and the U.S. military forces. When the Commission of Government became aware of the Americans' intentions in September 1940, plans were started almost immediately for the eventual expropriation of all affected areas in Newfoundland. All but the re-settlement site for the Argentia people had been decided upon by the end of 1940.

The expropriation process began with a questionnaire that all residents were required to complete. The completed forms gave the Commission of Government a baseline from which to proceed. A professional team of assessors — headed by W. J. Robinson, OBE, MICE, government engineer and assessor — conducted property assessments. The other members of the team were W. L. Ball, engineer and assessor with the Department of Public Works, and assessors from H. J. Thomas & Son, a private appraisal company in St. John's.

As for land compensation, the residents were paid: $300 per acre of agricultural land; $150 per acre for Stony land; $50 per acre for shrub-covered land; $40 per acre for boggy land; $5 per acre for sandy land; and $0.50 per running foot of water frontage.

On page 16, Joergensen wrote, “On June 14th and 15th the American base was formally commissioned and the “leasehold” brought into effect with U.S. Navy Captain G, Morgan as the first commanding officer of the new installation.”

U.S. Naval Operating Base (NOB), Argentia was formally commissioned by Lieutenant F. B. Stephens, USN, SOPA on Tuesday, July 15, 1941, not “June 14th and 15th.” Lieutenant Stephens remained in charge of the Argentia operations until the arrival of the first commanding officer more than a month later. Captain Gail Morgan, USN arrived in Argentia at 1630 hours on Friday, August 22, 1941. He flew directly to Argentia from the United States in a Grumman PBY Aircraft. In a brief ceremony immediately after his arrival, Captain Morgan assumed command of the Naval Operating Base … according to U.S. Navy order No. 3678. Captain morgan was not in Argentia for the famous Atlantic Meeting.

Bob Joergensen also twisted information pertaining to the Atlantic Meeting by saying it took place “near Fox Harbour.” Again, he got the same erroneous information from John Cardoulis. On page 20, he published an inverted version of a well-known photograph of Roosevelt and Churchill sitting side by side on the after deck of the HMS Prince of Wales. Refer to Misconceptions and Fabrications of John Cardoulis for complete details and U.S. Coast Guard map pertaining to the actual anchorage site of the Atlantic Meeting.

However, as to his identification of the Atlantic Meeting site, it should be noted that Joergensen contradicted himself on page 95 and added another error. In the last paragraph, he wrote, “At 9:24 a.m. on August 7, 1940, a U.S. task force of armored cruisers, the USS Augusta and USS Tuscaloosa and the battleship Arkansas with escorts, sailed into Placentia Bay near the village of Ship Harbour.”

While the location was correct, he gave the year 1940, instead of 1941 … a significant error in the world of history and the recording of major international events. At least, he referred to the Atlantic Charter as being “drafted” instead of “signed,” which so many others have done over the years.

On page 21, Joergensen wrote, “On September 19th Admiral Bristol transferred his headquarters from the USS Prairie to the Argentia base.”

On September 19th — regardless of the year Joergensen meant — Admiral Bristol was dead. Vice Admiral Brainard had temporarily assumed the command of Task Force – 24 when Admiral Bristol died suddenly on Monday, April 20, 1942 — not from pneumonia as many have claimed in the past, but — as a result of a myocardial infarction, more commonly known as a heart attack. He was aboard his flagship, the USS Prairie, at the time. On Monday, October 11, 1943, Rear Admiral J. B. Oldendorf, USN took over from Vice Admiral Roland Brainard and established an onshore headquarters at Argentia for Task Force – 24.

In the second paragraph on page 34, Joergensen contradicted what he had written on page 21 by writing, “In October, Admiral Oldendorf, commander of Task Force 24, and his staff moved ashore from the USS Prairie to Argentia and on November 25th he was relieved by Rear Admiral Edward H. Smith who had been serving as commander of the Greenland Patrol Forces.” That was the correct information.

On page 30, Joergensen wrote:

Patrol craft of Fleet Air Wing Seven and Argentia destroyers of Task Force - 24 had sunk German submarines at the very approaches to Argentia harbour. [sic]Today, evidence of some of their destruction can be found on the base. [sic] A small German cemetery plot near the main entrance contains the graves of three Germans whose bodies washed ashore after their boats were sunk. [sic]

That story is also a myth. When Joergensen wrote his book, there was no German cemetery in Argentia, and there certainly was no evidence of destruction in Argentia that had been caused by Germans. Refer to section Misconceptions and Fabrications of Bob Noseworthy for details pertaining to the only four U-boats sunk within 100 miles of the coast of Newfoundland.

On page 63, Joergensen made reference to the “lights on the north-south runway” in Argentia.

There was no “north-south runway” in Argentia. Runway number one (7-25) — measuring 7,480 feet (2,271 m) by 300 feet (91 m) — ran in a northeast-southwest direction. Runway number two (16-34) — measuring 5,800 feet (1,768 m) by 300 feet (91 m) — ran in a northwest-southeast direction. Runway number three (11-29) — measuring 5,100 feet (1,555 m) by 300 feet (91 m) — ran in an east-west direction.

In the “Photo Section,” several of the images had the wrong information in the captions. Had Joergensen invested a little extra for a competent editor and/or proofreader, he/she would have picked up on most, if not all, of the discrepancies in Newfoundland Gallantry in Action and made it a more reliable account of what actually took place in Argentia. Without the erroneous information, it would have been well worth the read.