Maurice Brodsky: An “Average Enlisted Man” at the Battle off Samar

Eighty years ago, a handful of American destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers faced off against a superior Japanese force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers at the Battle off Samar (25 October 1944). Task Unit 77.4.3 “Taffy 3’s” small combatants, commanded by Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague, famously attacked Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita’s First Striking Force, desperately trying to protect transports and escort carriers long enough for reinforcements to arrive. Their efforts compelled Kurita’s forces to retreat, helped the Navy to win the larger Battle of Leyte Gulf, saved untold numbers of Army and Naval personnel, and meant that the United States could liberate the Philippines without delay. The Battle off Samar is justifiably remembered as one of the U.S. Navy’s finest hours, where tin cans fought like battleships and won the day.[1] Like much of the Navy, most of Taffy 3’s personnel joined up during World War II, meaning the men onboard Samuel B. Roberts (DE-413), Raymond (DE-341), Hoel (DD-533), Johnston (DD-557) and Gambier Bay (CVE-73) had only limited combat experience. Some had only been at sea for a few months before sailing into battle. They left their homes, families, jobs, and lives to serve their country. To commemorate the Battle off Samar, let’s focus on one sailor who served there.

Maurice Brodsky was somewhat unusual among Sailors onboard the Samuel B. Roberts. He was born near Moscow in Tsarist Russia, in 1913, nine months before World War I, and endured the war, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1923, when Maurice was nine, and settled in Washington, D.C.^[2] Maurice became a taxi driver by his early 20s, and made it into the Washington Post in 1935. That year, there was a Shriners convention in D.C. According to the Post, the Shriners organizers failed to accurately explain the taxi fee zones in D.C. Also, they told their attendees that that D.C. taxi drivers always tried to overcharge their passengers. Maurice and a Shriner got into an argument over these very issues, and the Shriner punched Maurice, which prompted a 1,000 man cabbie strike.^[3]

Older than the average sailor during World War II, Maurice was already married and had a family before the war. This did not come without challenges. The Brodsky’s apartment building burned down in 1937, forcing Ruth Vivian Brodsky to carry her and Maurice’s son to safety.[4] Maurice volunteered for the Navy in at the age of 30 in December 1943 and went through basic training over the next few months, before being assigned to the Samuel B. Roberts in April 1944 as a Seaman Second Class.^[5]

Sammy B. was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Robert W. Copeland. Maurice, Copeland, and the rest of the crew spent just a few months in the Pacific theater, mostly escorting and patrolling, before being assigned to assist with the invasion of the Philippines.[6] Sammy B. joined three other destroyer escorts, three destroyers, and six escort carriers as Taffy 3 – assigned to support the invasion of Leyte in the Philippines. In response to this invasion, the Japanese decided to try to cripple the U.S. Navy in an all or nothing strike. The resultant Battle of Leyte Gulf was one of the largest naval engagements in human history, with the Japanese fleet divided into four forces. Most of the battle went reasonably well, with the U.S. Third Fleet chasing away a northern decoy force at Cape Engaño and Seventh Fleet defeating one of the southern Japanese battleship forces with battleships of its own at Surigao Strait. 

Unfortunately, Admiral Kurita’s ships, often referred to as the “Center Force,” survived an engagement at Sibuyan Sea with U.S. Naval aircraft launched from Third Fleet on 24 October and entered Leyte Gulf unopposed during the night. The next morning, it made for the American invasion fleet made up of transports, escort carriers, and small surface combatants. The Center Force had four battleships, six heavy and two light cruisers, and eleven destroyers. Its flagship alone weighed thirty-eight times more than Sammy B.^[7] A U.S. Navy aircraft spotted Japanese battleships at 0637 on 25 October, just thirty miles from Taffy 3.^[8] Sammy B’s lookouts reported heavy caliber splashes in the water twenty-one minutes later. The destroyers and destroyer escorts laid smoke at 0700. Lieutenant Commander Copeland told his crew over the intercom that they would soon be in “a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival could not be expected, during which time we would do what damage we could.”^[9]

Sammy B. took shelter in a rain squall, which gave it and the rest of Taffy 3 time to prepare for a torpedo attack. Copeland led a torpedo run at Japanese heavy cruiser Chōkai. While the torpedoes missed, Sammy B. fired 608 rounds out of its 5-inch guns (out of 650 total rounds in its magazines), all while dodging 8-inch shells from multiple cruisers. The ship ran out of luck around 0900, when the battleship Kongo hit the destroyer escort with three shots from its 14-inch guns. Now immobile, Sammy B. was hit by additional 8-inch shells, but kept firing back until its last 5-inch gun exploded.^[10] Copeland had nothing but praise for his Sailors. He wrote later, with words that could have been describing Maurice Brodsky, that “to witness the conduct of the average enlisted man aboard this vessel, newly inducted, married, unaccustomed to navy ways and with an average of less than one years service would make any man proud to be an average American.”[11] Center Force eventually withdrew in the face of Taffy 3’s desperate resistance.

Meanwhile, Maurice and the rest of Sammy B’s crew had to abandon their sinking ship. He was not seriously injured, but like his shipmates, Maurice endured 50 hours at sea before being rescued. 120 men survived, but 90 died in the battle or in the water. Copeland wrote in his after action report that he knew of “no higher honor than to have served with these men.”^[12] Samuel B. Roberts is still revered in the Navy and was recently discovered four and a half miles underwater, currently the deepest shipwreck ever found.^[13]

After the war, Maurice was active with the Jewish War Veterans organization, and spent most of the rest of his life as a tour guide in D.C., as the owner of the Gold Star Sightseeing Company. He died young, at age 44, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, section 39. According to his obituary, Maurice “liked the transportation business because he liked people. He guided thousands of them around Washington and often helped out lost-looking tourists even if they weren’t sightseeing.”^[14] This makes him a remarkable man both in and out of uniform. An immigrant who thrived in his adopted country, he served well, and contributed to the Navy’s most heroic hour.

To visit Maurice Brodsky’s grave and learn more about destroyer escorts of World War II, consider attending “Tiny Ships, Big Sailors.” This tour will visit the graves of ten sailors who served aboard destroyer escorts and hunted submarines, braved storms, and fought battleships. The tour will take place at 11am at Arlington National Cemetery on 25 October 2024. To find out more and reserve a spot, please go to: https://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/Media/News/Post/13784/Tour-Tiny-Ships-Big-Sailors-Destroyer-Escort-Men-of-World-War-II