WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs
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WWII Heroes
We Were Just Doing Our Jobs
Linda E. Minton
Copyright © 2017 Linda E. Minton
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1541305701
ISBN-13: 9781541305700
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017907655
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, North Charleston, SC
As Americans, we love our country and seek ways to serve our country. As a young Hoosier, I volunteered to serve in the United States Navy, a decision which led to much deeper insight into the challenges and dangers that faced the United States. I came to have special admiration for those with whom I served who had faced wartime combat, had watched comrades lose their lives, frequently had suffered serious wounds, and yet continued to serve and prepare others to meet life-threatening days ahead.
My admiration for those veterans who trained and guided me was unbounded. I will always salute, remember, and tell the stories of how much their service meant to me, my family, and my country.
—Richard G. Lugar
United States Senator (Ret.)
List of All WWII Veterans Interviewed
Max Bates US Navy
Vernon Bothwell US Army Air Corps
Thomas Boyd US Army
Lester Brown US Army
Scott Brown US Navy
Robert Buchert US Army
Albert R. Clark * US Army Air Corp
Gilbert E. Coleman * US Army
Ralph Cooley US Army
Lewis Cowden US Navy
James Crabb US Navy
Robert Crouch US Navy, Pearl Harbor survivor
Clell Downey US Navy
Elmer Eakle * US Army
Glen Eakle US Navy
Henry Eakle * US Army
Melvin Eakle * US Army
Paul Ross Feeney * US Navy, USS Indianapolis
William Fischer US Army
Eunice Walter Francis * US Army
Frank Milton Francis * US Army
John R. Geilker * US Army
Halbert Gillette US Navy
Richard Greenfield US Navy
Wayne Guerin US Navy
Edgar Harrell US Marines, USS Indianapolis survivor
Lester Hartley US Navy, Pearl Harbor survivor
Irvin Herman US Navy
William Hill US Army
Robert C. Hlavacek * US Army
Paul Kennedy US Navy, Pearl Harbor survivor
William Kincheloe US Army
Richard Kolodey US Marines
Donald Kuhlenschmidt US Air Corps
Earl Lautzenheiser US Army
Gene Leffler * US Army
Harry Lyons * US Army Air Corp
Cleatus Lebow US Navy, USS Indianapolis survivor
Evanula Ledbetter * US Army
Charles McDonald * US Army
Herman McGregor US Army Air Corps
Arlin McRae US Marines
Wilbur Meyer US Navy
John R. Miller US Army
Robert Miller US Army
Jerry Moser US Navy
William Muller US Army Air Corps
Ralph Myers US Army
Richard Negus US Navy
Harold Norlin US Navy
Albert (Bud) Oliver * US Army
Harold (Pete) Palmer * US Army
Robert Pedigo US Army Air Corps
Harold Pettus US Army
James Pike US Marines
Paul Pitcher US Navy
Robert Poole * US Army Air Corps
Robert Reed US Army
Richard Robinson US Army
Allen Sanderson US Army Air Corps
Dr. William Schmidt US Army
Robert Sisk US Army
Robert Swift US Army
Harold Weber US Navy
Bob W. US Army
* Deceased
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part 1 Pearl Harbor
a. History and reflections by Pearl Harbor survivors
b. December 7, 1941, USS Arizona Memorial
Part 2 Pacific Theater
a. South Pacific islands and Japanese cities
b. Tinian Island – Importance to the war & USS Indianapolis
Part 3 European Theater
a. Germany, Sicily, North Africa
b. Major battles of WWII
Part 4 China, Burma, India Theater (CBI)
a. History of Burma Road
b. Flying the Hump
Part 5 Evansville, Indiana
a. Building the LSTs and P-47 aircraft
b. Women in the Factories
Part 6 USS Indianapolis
a. Story of the sinking – lost at sea
b. Survivors’ Stories, Reunions, Memorial
Part 7 Indianapolis and Knox, Indiana
a. Military sites and bases
b. Companies that aided the war effort
Part 8 Famous People
a. FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt
b. Hollywood celebrities and USO clubs
Part 9 United States Allies
a. Australia – WWII military history, War brides
b. England – WWII military history and interviews
Part 10 Conclusion
a. Faith in the Foxhole, 1940’s Stories, Index, Bibliography
Author’s Note
WWII has been depicted in movies, books, magazines, and newspapers. The stories in this book are told through a series of interviews. These men and women have presented their personal experiences of the war. They have shared sad and often painful moments of their past.
Where did I find over sixty-five WWII stories?
Cruise ships seem to attract WWII veterans. There were three veterans enjoying the open seas. Several of my friends knew many of these vets. Six of my uncles served in the military during WWII. Two WWII vets have spoken to elementary children at my school. By telling their story, they are teaching history to a new generation.
Survivors of the USS Indianapolis and the families of the men lost at sea have reunions in Indianapolis. I attended a public presentation at a recent reunion. A survivor spoke of his harrowing experiences in the ocean following the sinking of the ship. Another survivor was willing to talk about his time aboard the USS Indianapolis, before it sank.
There are three interviews from Pearl Harbor survivors. They saw the attack on December 7, 1941 first hand. Like all the WWII veterans, these stories will never be forgotten.
Many interviews were obtained in Evansville Indiana. The Evansville area has many WWII vets and women who were important to the war effort. Several of the women interviewed worked in the factories making airplane wings or weapons.
Some WWII veterans wear their gold and black military service hats. Whenever one appears in a nursing home, airport, restaurant, or a military air show reunion, I have asked to hear their story. The veterans’ stories are in their own words, or told posthumously by family members, and edited as needed.
— Linda Minton
Indianapolis, Indiana
Pearl Harbor—December 7, 1941
The Beginning
“A lot of the guys went down with their ships. Then a lot of torpedo planes came in dropping torpedoes.”
—Paul Kennedy
Pearl Harbor survivor, US Sacramento
Part 1
Pearl Harbor Quotes
Scott Brown: Scott was fourteen years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. “Everyone was glued to the radio, listening to FDR.”
Lewis Cowden: “I didn’t think about it. I had an automobile, and that’s all I was interested in at that time. I was seventeen years old and very immature. I was also running out of gasoline stamps!”
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Bob Crouch (Pearl Harbor survivor): “First thing they hit were the airfields ... They destroyed them totally! We never got a plane in the air. A bomb went down the turret of the Arizona. The Japanese targeted the battleships in the harbor. The submarine dock was full, but they never touched it. They never touched any oilfields. They were after the six battleships.”
Clell Downey: Clell was fifteen years old when he went into the navy. “I was just a kid and had not learned to be afraid yet.”
Bobbie Downey: “It was on a Sunday in Columbia, Tennessee. We were going to a Sunday afternoon movie. I was waiting on my parents, and they were upstairs. I called up to them and asked, ‘What’s the holdup?’ My parents said, ‘I think we are at war.’ I asked if we were still going to the movies. Being a fourteen-year-old child, I went to pieces and started to cry.”
Irvin Herman: “I didn’t think too much about it then. It was so far away and so remote.”
Paul Kennedy (Pearl Harbor survivor): Lt. Fuchida was the Japanese pilot leading the raid. “I was looking up at him, and he was looking down at me. He had his canopy down. As soon as it cleared our ship, he dropped that torpedo in the water, and it went across the harbor...It hit the battleship Oklahoma... and it went down in twenty minutes.”
Dick Negus: “I was thirteen years old at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. That evening my dad was called up to go to the coast to look for Japanese ships. They didn’t see any enemy ships or subs.”
James Pike: He heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio. “I just took it as it came. Roosevelt was making a speech, and he said we will just go over and whup their ass for them.”
Sunday, December 7, 1941
The Japanese dropped bombs on an unsuspecting naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pearl Harbor is a name that will always be synonymous with the beginning of WWII. It was 7:55 a.m., a beautiful Sunday morning, when Japanese aircraft appeared in the sky. Through a series of errors and misinformation, they arrived undetected and wreaked havoc and destruction upon the US naval forces stationed here. Three aircraft carriers were out to sea and thus saved from the attack.
The facts: 2,403 were killed
1,143 were wounded
18 ships were sunk or run aground
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the empire of Japan.
—President Franklin D. Roosevelt
The United States of America declared war on the Empire of Japan on December 8, 1941. Many young men rushed to join the military.
The USS Arizona remains sunken, still commissioned, in the harbor. It is a memorial today. The still leaking oil is called the tears of the fallen soldiers who remain entombed in their final resting place.
The USS Arizona Memorial was established on May 30, 1962, to remember the 1,102 sailors and marines killed on the USS Arizona. The tour guide at the memorial stated that Elvis Presley played a huge part in donating money to the USS Arizona Memorial. He waived his $5,000 appearance fee and wrote a $5,000 check too. He raised and donated $65,000 for the memorial. That was a lot of money in the 1950s. He declined a statue of himself that the organization wanted to build for his donations. He said, “This is not to honor me; these soldiers are the heroes.” He didn’t want any of the glory. Colonel Parker, his manager, also wrote a $5,000 check, with a nudge from Elvis.
Turret from the USS Arizona
We were downhearted and blue because we knew we had taken a beating, and to see that flag!
—Paul Kennedy
WWII veteran
Lester Hartley—US Navy
Pearl Harbor Survivor
“I saw two torpedo planes come down and drop their torpedoes.”
Lester is a Pearl Harbor survivor. On September 6, 1940, eighteen years old, Lester joined the navy in San Francisco. Lester was assigned to the USS Jarvis, a ship that his brother, Charles, had previously been assigned to as well. They were on the Jarvis at the same time. Lester boarded the Jarvis on November 11, 1940. “We came into the navy yard at Pearl Harbor on Thursday evening, December 4, for a ten-day upkeep.”
What happened on Sunday, December 7, 1941?
Lester was a fireman first class at that point. “I was asleep on a cot in the Repair Shop on the main deck, as there was not any air-conditioning on the ship. The only air-conditioning you would have was to open up everything. It was enclosed, but the doors and portholes were open. Where I was sleeping, I could see out over Ford Island. All the battleships were all lined up side by side. This was where the attack started. My station for general quarters was on number four gun, on the fantail.” They had to cut the awning down before they could start firing their guns.
“I was the hot shell man that day,” Lester continued. “That meant you caught this hot shell and laid it down on the deck some place. I was busy there, and I didn’t see a lot of things that other people said they saw.”
Did you see the pilot?
“I saw two torpedo planes, that were 150 feet out from our stern, drop their torpedoes. I did not see them hit the battleships. There were more than that, but the two planes are all I saw up close. They were about fifty feet or less off the water. They were down real low and had their canopies open. Lot of them did, when they were flying real low. You could see the pilots real clear, almost as clear as I can see you. That’s the way it was. I didn’t have enough sense to be scared! Nothing scared me that day. Everything was busy that day... everything that we had been trained to do for a year. It was automatic. The Japanese pilots had their jobs to do, and they did it.”
Lester remembered seeing “boats in the water and oil in the water. They were picking up bodies; some of them were dead, and some were alive.
“It wasn’t long before I got my orders to go down below in the fire room and start the high-pressure compressors. There were sixteen torpedoes on the main deck that had to be charged with air to make them work right. I got those air compressors going, and it took until six thirty or seven o’clock that night. So I stayed down there all day. Our lunch, or whatever we had to eat, was brought to us. Cooks were scattered around all over the ship, and they brought us sandwiches or whatever.”
“At approximately ten thirty a.m., we got underway. We backed away from where we were moored and went out to sea. From then on, for the next four days, we were at sea looking for the enemy. The sea was very rough, and we were either on watch or battle stations most of the time. We had very little sleep.”
“Wednesday evening we were running low on fuel and had to come in. We fueled up and tied up to a buoy in the harbor. All night, we provisioned the ship [supplied it with food and water], and we even changed some of our ammunition. We found out that some it wasn’t any good anymore.
“There was an enemy sub in the harbor, so we were on guard. We didn’t sink it; one of the other ships did. USS Jarvis went out the next morning looking for submarines. There were eight ships of our class, and four of us went out submarine hunting. I don’t know where all we went. We dropped all our depth charges, but don’t know if we ever sunk anything or not!
“In October 1941 the Jarvis was in a convoy taking supplies to Wake Island. The supply ships unloaded everything. We left Wake Island and headed back to Hawaii. There were two evenings when it was calm and beautiful. Back when I was a kid, at the movies they showed this luxury liner out at sea with a few scattered white clouds. I saw that for two nights.” This was a pleasant memory. “For guys like me who were on the night watches, we didn’t want to go to bed. It was real nice.”
“It’s about the middle of December, Wake Island is being attacked. On the way to Wake Island with a task force, the Jarvis was fueling ship. I got my arm mashed in an airtight door. We were lucky to have a division doctor on our ship, and he put a splint on it. When I got back to Pearl, I went over to the hospital ship, and they x-rayed it. They said it was perfect, so I just left the splint on it for a coupl
e weeks.”
“While we were fueling our ship, Wake Island fell, and they had to give it up. So our task force was dispersed. Part of us went up toward Midway. Tankers go until they run out of fuel, and we escorted one ship back to Pearl Harbor. The Jarvis was a convoy ship used for everything. It had four five-inch, thirty-eight caliber guns on it and torpedoes.
“In January they were planning an attack on some islands south of Hawaii. One of the first big drives. We got a dispatch to go back and pick up a tanker. So we wanted to rendezvous with the tanker. They always wanted ships to have full tanks of fuel before they attacked. The lookouts before daylight spotted gunfire—splashes of light on the horizon. When we got up there, our tanker had been sunk. We pick up approximately 175 men off the tanker. Some of the men had gone down with the ship. We didn’t stop because the submarine was still in the area. We picked up everybody by just cruising around. We shot holes in the little boats there, so they would sink, and headed to Pearl. I don’t know what happened to the attack that was going to occur.
“It’s getting late in January, about the last week of January, and we were sent with another destroyer over to Hawaii. They said there was a submarine off the coast of Hilo. So we went flying out there!” Lester went on to say, “We spent several hours there. Occasionally we would drop depth charges. The second day we got a good contact, and one destroyer went one way and the other one went the other way to drop our depth charges. Then in a little while, you could see the debris coming to the surface and the dirty water. Well, later on in the war, Japanese submarines would release junk to make you think they had been hit. Apparently we sunk this one, because we never heard any more about it.”
“We went back to Pearl Harbor, and from there I got transferred to Norfolk, Virginia, for diesel engine school. I had been transferred previously on—December 6, 1941, but that didn’t happen because the war started. There were PT boats being loaded on the transport headed to the Philippines, so that’s why they wouldn’t take us onboard for transportation.”
You almost missed the big show?