WORLD WAR II: A STORY [PART 1]

From the journals of a WWII Navy Vet

My grandfather was in the Navy during the entirety of World War II. Years ago, he documented his experience from before the war to after its conclusion. I have taken his journals, removed personal identifying information, and am publishing them here. Names have been shorted to initials. I hope you enjoy and find them as insightful as I have.

INTRODUCTION

I have recorded the following at the request of some of my family members before the events fade from my memory.

As you read the accounts of my life before, during, and following World War II, you will find that I was no hero. I was just an ordinary country boy caught up in a conflict over which I had no control.

For my effort I was awarded five "garden variety" medals — none for heroism:

• American Defense Medal — for service prior to Pearl Harbor

• American Theater Medal — for service inside USA

• Pacific Theater Medal and three Battle Stars — for service in the Pacific Area

• Japanese Occupation Medal — for occupation duty in Japan

• Good Conduct Medal — for acceptable behavior

My ship, the USS Saratoga, received a fleet commendation for our part in the Solomon Islands campaign and my service record bears an entry which states "during these battles he served with distinction" whatever that means.

I ENLIST

My father died in the summer of 1931 from the effects of a ruptured appendix. I was only eight years old. My mother took the proceeds of my father's life insurance and bought a small farm near Edinburg, Missouri. We were very poor and the farm was almost worthless for raising crops. Also, The Great Depression was in full swing. There were no jobs to be had. Our government had various programs to help the poor. One of these was the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) which created jobs for young men. The CCC Camps were usually in state or National Parks where the young men did work to improve the parks, built roads, etc. My two older brothers each served in the CCC. In the summer of 1940, it was my turn. I enlisted and was placed in a camp at Crowder State Park only two miles from my mother's farm near Edinburg. This was the end of my formal education since I would not be able to go back to school for my senior year in High School.

At the camp the environment was very much like the Army. We lived in Army barracks, wore Army uniforms and were regimented to Army routines. While I was at the camp I helped build a sewage system for the camp. The work was very hard — the pick and shovel routine. Then I was put on a stone cutting detail. We "faced" all the limestone rock that was used to build the park superintendent's home. While at the CCC camp I was paid $30 a month. I got to keep $8 and the remainder was sent to my mother.

After I had been in the camp about five months, three of my buddies talked me into going to the Navy Recruiting Office in Chillicothe, Missouri to see if we could enlist in the Navy. We all took written tests and on December 10, 1940 I received a telephone call from the recruiter asking me to report that afternoon for enlistment. Of the four who had applied, I was the only one who had been accepted.

My Aunt Bee drove me to Chillicothe. There I met ELN from Jamesport, Missouri who had also been selected for enlistment. The recruiter got us a room in a hotel where we spent the night. The next morning we boarded a train for Kansas City where we reported to the Navy Recruiting Office there. We spent the day taking test and being physically examined. ELN and I passed all of the tests and took our oath of allegiance that afternoon, December 11, 1940. I was only 17 years old at the time of my enlistment. That evening we boarded a train for Chicago, arriving there early the next morning. At Chicago we got on an inter-urban train that took us to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

BOOT TRAINING AND SERVICE SCHOOL

The next 10 weeks was a period of very tough adjustment. First we were sent to the barbershop where our heads were shaved. Then we had to completely strip — all of our personal belongings were taken and sent back home. Then we were issued our uniforms, bedding, etc. We were taken to our barracks and were taught how to string up our hammocks. In those days hammocks were issued to all recruits and went with us when we were transferred to other assignments. I slept in hammocks for the whole first year of my enlistment. We were given all kinds of inoculations and we marched, marched, marched. We could not leave our barracks unescorted for the next four weeks. Every place we went, we went as a group, marching to the cadence of our squad leader. After four weeks we were transferred to "paradise." In paradise the routine was almost the same, but we could now go places unescorted including the canteen if we had any money. As recruits we only got $21 a month and I had to send my mother as much as I could. In paradise we learned all kinds of things relating to seamanship, survival and so forth.

We learned the rifle "Manual of Arms" and practiced tearing down and reassembling various firearms. We had to pass all kinds of physical tests such as climbing a rope hand over hand without using our feet. We had to stand guard on lonely outposts at night. I nearly froze standing guard during a bad snow storm. I got to where I could not hold my rifle so I put the rifle butt in my "peacoat" pocket and wrapped my arms around it as I walked my post. However, we nearly all survived and after 10 weeks we had graduation. We marched onto the parade ground, then stood in formation while the Admiral told us what a great job we had done. Graduation meant we could go home for ten days "boot" leave. I really enjoyed my "boot" leave because I did not know it but this was to be my last time home for two and a half years.

At Great Lakes we all went to church services each Sunday morning. The Chaplain also had special "prayer meetings" in his office on Wednesday evening. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior at one of these meetings. From that time on Christianity became a stabilizing force in my life. While I was in the Navy I did a log of drinking, cussing, and carousing but when things got tough I always turned to God for strength.

Before going on "boot" leave all of the recruits had applied for service schools to train for a specific area of work while in the Navy. My first choice of school was Aviation Metalsmith school and my second choice was storekeeper school. When I returned from leave, one of the men in my company had the measles. We were placed in quarantine and could only leave our barracks to go to the mess hall. While I was in quarantine, the quota for Aviation Metalsmith school was filled and I was assigned to storekeeper school. The first month of the four month course was at Great Lakes Training Center and was rather uneventful. I was then sent to the Ford Motor Co. in Dearborne, Michigan for my final three months. At Ford we spent mornings in the classroom and afternoons working in the stock rooms at the huge Ford Plant. While attending school here, I had a tattoo of an anchor and "USN" put on my right forearm. I thought I was a real "salt." Of course, I soon realized that the tattoo was a stupid mistake.

I graduated from storekeeper school in July, 1941 and was sent back to Great Lakes Training Center to await assignment to a permanent duty ship or station. At this time I was also promoted to Seaman, second class. My brother, M, was now at Great Lakes taking his "boot" training. We had a nice time visiting while we were both there. We would not get to see each other again for the next six years.

SEA DUTY

I received my sea duty assignment two weeks after I returned to Great Lakes Center. I was to be transferred to Commander, Carrier Division One. I was told that I would be on either the USS Saratoga or the USS Lexington, aircraft carriers. After a three day train trip to San Diego, California I went aboard the Saratoga. I could not believe how large the ship was. The flight deck 75 feet above the water, was 125 feet wide and 915 feet long. It was the largest warship in the world at that time. It had a crew of 3,150 officers and men and had all of the services of a small city — soda fountains, barbershops, laundry, tailor shop, etc. I remember how excited I was as I looked at this huge ship as our motor launch approached it. the ship was docked at North Island adjacent to the San Diego Naval Air Station. When not at sea this was the Saratoga's home port for the next six months.

I spent my first few days aboard ship in a receiving unit. I was put on some work details but spent most of my time just getting acquainted with the ship. I got lost many times as there were over 900 compartments on the "Sara." Luckily they were all coded and you could tell by the code what deck you were on and your position forward to aft on the ship. In a few days I was taken to the disbursing office which was to be my duty assignment. My next five years were spent computing payrolls and paying the crews of my various assignments.

In my early days on the Saratoga we spent about half of our time in port at San Diego. We would go to sea for a few days at a time usually to allow new pilots to qualify as carrier pilots. I was fascinated with this activity and spent a lot of time perched on a search light platform on the back of the smokestack watching the planes take off and land. Some of the young pilots would lose control of their planes and either crash into the ship or drop into the "drink." Some of them lost their lives in these crashes. Most became experts who were to fly their "Wildcat" and "Corsair" fighter planes, "Dauntless" dive bombers and "Avenger" torpedo planes in the impending war.

In October 1941, we sailed to the territory of Hawaii to join the whole Pacific fleet for practice war maneuvers. As we entered Pearl Harbor, it was like being in another world. Everything was green and beautiful and the air seemed cool and different from what I was used to. While there I got to go into Honolulu a couple of times. A narrow gauge railroad provided transportation from Pearl Harbor to Honolulu. The area between the two locations was mostly pineapple and sugar cane fields. Honolulu was a very old city inhabited by a mixture of nationalities and cultures — Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Polynesian, etc. The main attraction on Waikiki Beach was the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

During the maneuvers our lanes made mock strafing and dive bombing runs, the submarines and destroyers fired torpedoes and the cruisers and big battleships fired their big guns at floating targets. We were certainly a very formidable fighting force and I felt so important being a part of it.

We left Hawaii after the maneuvers and sailed to Bremerton, Washington Naval Shipyard for routine repairs. While we were at Bremerton, it rained all the time. During the rainy season the people there call it "Oregon Mist" — Missed Oregon, Hit Washington. We left the Navy Yard on December 1, 1941 and sailed for our home port of San Diego.

WAR

After a leisurely trip down the coast we arrived at San Diego early in the morning on December 7, 1941. We had docked and most of the crew was in the mess halls for the noon meal when a startling message came over the intercom. "Now hear this! Now hear this! This is Captain Douglas speaking. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor and we are now at war. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor and we are now at war."

We were stunned by this announcement. Most of those in the mess hall were speechless. About half left without finishing their lunch. The announcement by the captain was followed by a series of other announcements. the ship became a beehive of activity and prepared for departure the next day. All hands were to report to the pay office as soon as possible to sign up for maximum life insurance. All leave was cancelled — although I did manage to go ashore in San Diego for a few hours that afternoon. We began loading all the available planes from the Receiving Station and from the San Diego Naval Training Center. The Captain announced that we were to proceed to Pearl Harbor as soon as possible. At this time, we had not received too much information about conditions at Pearl Harbor but when I went ashore, the newspapers were full of news. Large headlines read "USS Oklahoma Sunk" and "USS Arizona Burning." Everyone on the street looked stunned. At daybreak on December 8, 1941, we sailed out of the San Diego Harbor and past Point Loma. As soon as we were at sea we started bringing our planes aboard. When in port they landed on the airstrip then flew back aboard as soon as we were at sea. From that time till the end of the war some of them would be in the air during all daylight hours looking for the enemy.

All port hole covers were bolted down. At night no lights were permitted topside. We were threatened with being shot if caught lighting a cigarette topside at night.

Everyone onboard was issued a life jacket. For the next month we would carry it wherever we went on the ship. During many nights we would not "turn-in" but just lie on the steel deck, using the life jacket for a pillow. Gradually, though, our morale improved. We quit sleeping on the deck and even quit carrying our life jackets.

There were many radios on board ship and we could pick up stateside broadcasts for about two days out. The second evening out we were gathered in the pay office listening to the news when the announcer stated that the Japanese radio had reported the USS Saratoga was sunk by a submarine 300 miles off the California coast. Of course, we were not sunk but the Japanese knew exactly where we were, and the news was very demoralizing.

We arrived at the entrance to Pearl Harbor in the morning of December 14, 1941. One of the first things we saw was the battleship Nevada beached with its bow in the edge of a cane field. We found out later that after all the officers on the bridge had been killed, a Chief Petty Officer took over the wheel and guided the sinking ship onto the beach to keep it from closing the harbor entrance. As we circled Ford Island the next thing we saw was the USS Utah resting upside down in the mud. As we approached "Battleship Row" the sight was awful. The Battleship Arizona had been completely destroyed and had settled into the water with its tangled bridge and 14 inch guns still exposed. Behind it was the Oklahoma resting upside down in the water. Then we saw the West Virginia, California, Maryland, and West Virginia — all of them either resting up right in the mud or damaged to the extent that they could not get underway. In the dry-docks at the Navy Yard, the destroyers Cassen and Downes were completely destroyed — both were burned, twisted masses of metal. Across the bay, the seaplane tender Oglala was resting upright in the mud. It is impossible to put into words the emotions felt when on views such destruction as this. These were the ships we had been on maneuvers with just a few weeks before. We were sad — we cried — but also we were angry — very angry, and in our hearts we vowed we would avenge this cowardly deed.

We had not been allowed to mail any letters since the attack on December 7, but when we got to Pearl Harbor, we were given post cards on which were pre-printed messages which we could check off messages that seemed appropriate, such as "I am well" and "I will write as soon as possible." A short time later a mail censoring system was set up on each ship. I found out later that whole sections were cut from some of my letters going home. Anything that could be interpreted as a "code" was cut out.

All homes, businesses, and military installations ashore were blacked out at night. No one was allowed on the streets at night in Honolulu. Everyone was afraid the Japanese would return for another raid or a possible troop landing.

TO BE CONTINUED…