Frank Edward Tafe / United States Navy

“My father went through WWII” began Pam Michael talking about her father’s military service, “He saw a lot. But I had never seen my father cry until he described what he saw as his ship approached an area of land where Japanese civilians were jumping from a high cliff to their deaths on the rocks and waves below, rather than surrender to the Americans. He said you could even see the bodies of children on the rocks and washing up in the waves. It was a terrible sight.”

Author’s Note: As Pam Michael related the story told by her father, she remembered the location of the suicide cliff being on mainland Japan. Time may have confused the actual location. There are a couple of documented places where Japanese committed suicide in this fashion. One is on the island of Okinawa but these were primarily Japanese soldiers escaping the oncoming American Marines. The other is on the island of Saipan when American Marines were closing in on Japanese military and civilian “hold outs.” Japanese soldiers told the civilians and their families that if they were captured by the Americans they would be tortured and sexually abused. Rather than face torture or the humility of being taken hostage, and probably feeling that they had let their Emperor down, soldiers and families stood atop a tall cliff on the north side of Saipan, later called Banzai Point or Banzai Cliffs, and leapt over the edge to their deaths. Although Tafe later talked about Okinawa, his ship, the USS Iowa, was part of the Pacific fleet near the end of the war and, given the facts above, it is likely that he was off the coast of Saipan to witness this horrible spectacle. Also see a YouTube video: The Suicide Cliffs of Saipan in WWII | History Traveler Episode 235

Frank Edward Tafe came into the world in Nashua on December 4, 1922, son of Frank Edward Tafe Sr. and Delia Lefavor. He attended Nashua schools, graduating from Nashua High, in 1941. He joined the Navy, about a year out of high school, which indicates he probably joined right after Pearl Harbor. At the time he thought the Navy was his best bet; he thought that being out in the ocean you are less likely to be fired upon, but he took his fair share of enemy fire.

After basic training, Tafe was assigned to the USS Iowa BB-61 where he served as an anti-aircraft gunner for the duration of the war. Being on-deck, he saw plenty of enemy fire but luckily, was never wounded. After the war he told stories about the ship being attacked by Japanese aircraft. “They flew so low, I could see their eyes as they passed by,” he said.

The Iowa was the only battle ship in her class to serve in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, the Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey’s flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.

Most sailors seemed to like meals served in the Navy, even when out at sea. Not Frank Tafe. He claimed to live on chocolate bars while aboard ship.

And despite the food that he didn’t like, and low-flying Japanese planes, there was still time for levity, although at great expense to himself. Tafe liked to tell a story about an Admiral who visited the ship and was reviewing the sailors as they all stood at attention on deck. As will often happen around a seaport, seagulls tend to circle about, and are not particularly discrete about their “bodily functions.” It seems the Admiral, for whatever reason “tipped his hat” at the precise moment when a seagull decided to conduct a “bombing run.” Most sailors were able to squelch their laughter but not Tafe. He and another sailor ended up doing time in the brig for their outburst.

After the war, Tafe returned to Nashua and was visiting an uncle who was at Memorial Hospital. There he met Joan Falsani, a nurse who was taking care of his uncle. Tafe and Falsani started talking. She found out he was in the Navy and he discovered that she was in the Army and had both been in the war. They had a lot in common. This eventually led to their marriage on July 17, 1948. The two remained in Nashua for the better part of their lives, moving to Virginia Beach in their later years. Tafe left this earth on August 30, 1993. Other members of the Tafe family; Charlie Tafe Sr, Charlies Tafe Jr, and Eugene Tafe were part of Nashua’s Fire Dept. Eugene later changed to the Nashua Police Dept.

US Service Personnel Profiles

 By Gary Ledoux February 26, 2025