WWII Heroes: We Were Just Doing Our Jobs

by Minton, Linda E.

  On July 2, 1944, he sailed from San Diego, California, on the Poelau Laut, an old Dutch liner that had been converted into a troop ship. The ship had a Dutch captain. Irvin tried to use some of his Pennsylvania Dutch to communicate with the staff, but it didn’t work too well. Irvin’s grandfather had come from Germany at an early age. The Poelau Laut was the ship Irvin was assigned to as a troop to go overseas.

  He arrived at the island of Pavuvu about a month later, located in the Solomon Islands. On Pavuvu the 4th JASCO joined the First Marine Division. At that point they were divided into communication teams and different battalions. Irvin’s mission was to engage in training maneuvers in preparation for the invasion of Peleliu.

  They left Pavuvu on September 4, 1944, on LST troop ships for Peleliu, a two-mile-wide by six-mile-long island in the Palau Islands. On Peleliu, they landed on the beaches after several days of intense shelling and bombing of the island by the navy and air force. “Approximately ten thousand Japanese soldiers were dug in the cliffs and caves,” said Irvin. “At night they would slide open some doors in the cliff and throw mortar shells down on the beach. They were shelling the beach as we were coming in for the landing. Fortunately we got to stay on the beach, since our job was to set up communications with the ships to bring in supplies.

  “The troops made their way onto the island and toward the cliffs. We had landed on the eighth wave at approximately eight thirty a.m. on Orange Beach. There was so much confusion and turmoil on landing that it was after noon [when] we finally got our radio in service for shore-to-ship communications. They dug foxholes in the sand on the beaches. In about three weeks, the majority of the Japanese had been annihilated, and Peleliu was essentially secured. After a month on the island, we left on troop transports for our return to Pavuvu.”

  Irvin said when they had some breaks from their training, they made some shell necklaces that he brought home for his wife, Dolores. They picked the shells off the coral reefs. “If we had time, we would bury them and let the worms eat the living parts out of them,” he said. “If we didn’t, we would use gasoline to clean the guts out.” This was a pastime for the sailors.

  Okinawa

  Upon returning to Pavuvu, Irvin’s team prepared for Okinawa. They experienced a mock landing on Guadalcanal when they were getting ready for the landing on Okinawa. “On April 1, 1945, Easter Sunday, we landed on the island of Okinawa,” said Irvin. “Unlike Peleliu, there was no opposition on the beaches. The Japanese were hiding away from the beaches on the island.”

  “We were still on Okinawa on V-J Day, August 6, 1945. However, Japanese planes were still conducting kamikaze hits against our ships in the harbor,” Irvin said. “About four o’clock one afternoon, a plane hit the battleship New Mexico.’’ He heard later that about thirty-four sailors were killed in that attack.

  The 4th JASCO was disbanded on August 31, 1945, and the naval personnel were assigned to other naval vessels. Irvin was assigned to the troop transport APA-150. As a side note, one of his buddies was assigned to the ship that also had Ernie Pyle onboard. He has several pictures of Ernie Pyle on the ship.

  While Irvin was working in the radio shack aboard APA-150, there was a typhoon on Okinawa. “So our ship moved out to sea for a couple of days until the typhoon subsided,” he said. “Then we returned to Okinawa and picked up marines and took them up to Tientsin, North China, for occupational duty. From here we set sail in the South China Sea for the Philippines. The second day out, we ran into another typhoon. Our ship reversed course and rode with the typhoon, instead of bucking it for two days, until it subsided.” After this excitement they resumed the trip to the Philippines. The ship anchored in Subic Bay, Philippines, and they had one day liberty in Manila. Irving said this was the only time he wore his white dress uniform.

  Going back home

  “Then we received army personnel aboard ship to take them back to the United States for discharge,” he said. “On November 16, 1945, we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge and arrived at Treasure Island naval base near San Francisco. It was good to be back home.

  “On December 19, 1945, I hitchhiked out of Treasure Island on a thirty-day leave. I stopped in Indianapolis for a couple of days before I continued my trip back home to Pennsylvania.” Irvin stopped in Indianapolis to visit his future bride, Dolores, whom he had met when he was seventeen and she was fifteen. They wrote many letters during the war, which Dolores still has.

  “After my leave,” said Irvin, “I reported to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Shortly, I left by train for Camp Shoemaker in California. I was here at the US Naval Personnel Separation Center until April 3, 1946, when I received my honorable discharge, having served thirty-two months in service.”

  Dolores said, “We were the only class that began high school in 1941, at the beginning of the war and graduated at the end of the war in 1945.” She attended Shortridge High School in Indianapolis, Indiana. She and Irvin met in Indianapolis when he was in radio school. It was a blind date at a skating rink. Dolores and Irwin have been married for seventy years.

  Pearl Harbor Memories

  Irvin was fifteen when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. He said, “I didn’t think too much about it then. It was so far away and so remote.”

  China

  He went to Taku, China, after V-J Day, and there was a dragon parade in honor of the American troops when they arrived there. The first night there, they couldn’t get their radio working, so they had to return to the ship the next day.

  Bob Hope Show

  “In early 1944 Bob Hope came to Pavuvu, along with Frances Langford. They flew in separate planes onto our island and did a show for us.”

  In conclusion, “Our outfit was not scheduled for any other invasions and dissolved after the war ended. They did not need our skill anymore. We were glad that the bombing ended the war.”

  William Hill – US Army

  “War affects everyone...the suffering of wives, mothers, and children. There were so many that didn’t come back.”

  What was it like on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, when you were fourteen or fifteen years old?

  Living in Edgewood, south of Indianapolis, he said, “Everything changed—tires, sugar, food was rationed. Many people were drafted—twelve to sixteen million.”

  Bill attended Tech High School and took classes in Morse code training. In 1944, at age eighteen, he enlisted in the US Army at the armory in downtown Indianapolis. Later he went to Camp Atterbury. He tried to enlist in the navy, but he was color blind, and they would not take him. In 1945 he was sent overseas to Okinawa.

  What was an interesting event while you were in the military?

  Bill related this story: “We were in Saipan for a month’s training. The next step was Okinawa. The last evening, it was rec time. One of the guys received a telegram informing him his brother was killed in Italy. He asked if the fellows would sing the song ‘My Buddy.’ He said, ‘Would you all sing this song?’ All the guys sang the song two times for him. In that same spirit, ‘My Buddy’ was sung by the audience at the Indiana State Museum with him.”

  Bill said, “War affects everyone...the suffering of wives, mothers, and children. There were so many that didn’t come back.” He wears his veteran’s hat to connect with other WWII vets. They can relate to each other like no one else can. They are comrades; there is a bond between them. Bill is the last man standing—he is the last one of his division left.

  Indy Honor Flight

  Bill went on the Indy Honor Flight, like many other veterans in Indianapolis. On the way home from Washington, DC, the veterans got mail call on the plane. They never had this honor, of being made to feel so special, when they came home after the war. Mail call during the war meant perfumed letters from Bill’s girlfriend. He would smell them first. He gave her an engagement ring while he was in the service and married her when he came home.

  What did you think about dropping the atomic bombs on Japan?

  B
ill said, “It saved thousands and thousands of people. It was unfortunate, but it saved Japanese, US, and Russian lives too. After the second bomb was dropped, we were elated because we knew the war was going to be over.”

  Bill wanted readers to remember all the men and women who were killed and didn’t return from the war. Currently Bill is in a wheelchair but is very eager to talk about his experiences and explain to children about the war. He has a website that he developed with his daughter. He has talked to children at some local schools in Indianapolis.

  S/Sgt. Robert C. Hlavacek—US Army

  by Deborah Hlavacek Ledbetter

  “I was just doing what I was supposed to do or should do.”

  Bob Hlavacek enlisted in the army before Pearl Harbor with some of his buddies, because he couldn’t find a job in the war days of the 1940s. He did mechanic training at Chanute Field. In the military he dropped the H, sometimes going by Lavacek, which means “head man” or “large head” or “boss man.” He married his wife, Arlene Nigg, and they had seven children, five girls and two boys. Bob was born on August 2, 1921, and died on March 15, 2005, at eighty-four.

  Bob was training as a pilot, but while he was flying he chased the cattle in the area. After he was warned not to do it again, he chased the cows and was pulled off pilot training. So he trained to be a navigator on the planes.

  The Superfortress left Grand Island Army Airfield, Nebraska, and headed for the West Indies. During one of the missions of search and rescue, his Superfortress army bomber caught fire. At that time he had been married only a short time. Debbie said he remembered thinking, “Please, God, do not let me die. I’ve only been married two weeks!”

  Since the plane was on fire, the pilot dove the plane into the water to try to put the fire out. There was a six-man crew and six observers onboard. Bob squeezed through a little window, as he was a very thin man. Bob saved two people’s lives by pulling them out, but the plane was engulfed in flames. He couldn’t do anymore. Refusing to take the medals and honors offered to him, he said, “I was just doing what I was supposed to do, or should do.” Five members of the crew were lost in the crash.

  The crew, lost on a raft floating around Puerto Rico, spent three days without food or water. The guys on the plane had eaten the food and drank the water, so there wasn’t anything left on the plane. Deb said, “My dad was always hungry. He was a very hyper, super nervous kind of guy.”

  After the men were rescued, they spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from dehydration and sunburn. Bob hurt his knee, but he was not really sunburned, since he kept his jumpsuit on in the plane. Most of the others had taken their flight suits off because the plane was so hot.

  Since Bob was involved in a plane crash, he could request ground duty, and he did. After the crash he repaired and maintained planes. Planes would come in 24/7, at all times and on all days. The guys needed to be there and available, so they would take naps or maybe get an hour’s sleep lying on the hangar floor.

  After V-E Day, Bob started training for the invasion of Japan. Many of the veterans interviewed in this book described thinking the invasion would happen soon. All the soldiers were dreading the invasion of Japan. Historical accounts stated one million American soldiers and five or six million Japanese people may have died. Of course only a few people were in the know about the impending development of the atomic bomb.

  After the War

  After the war Bob returned to the Chicago area. He worked in a factory for a while but didn’t like it. Then he was a teaching golf professional. He was a very good golfer. In fact when he was sixteen, Joe Lewis would come pick him up to be his caddy. Some golf courses in that area allowed blacks. Debbie stated, “He trusted Dad so much that he gave Dad the keys to his car.” He told Bob to go pick up his wife, Marva, and take her to get groceries. Joe Lewis called him Bobby.

  Joe Lewis, professional boxer, entertaining the troops

  During the war Joe Lewis would go around to the military bases to entertain the troops with boxing matches. When he was coming to Bob’s base, Bob told the guys, “I know Joe Lewis!” They mocked him and said, “Sure you do!” When Joe Lewis did come, he saw Bob and went over to talk with him. Lewis said, “Bobby, come here. Come stand in my corner.” So Bob stood behind Joe Lewis while he was fighting.

  Debbie described her dad as “a very smart man and a cutup kind of guy!” It would have been a pleasure to meet Bob. He was a hero who didn’t want the honors or medals because he was just doing what was expected of him—his duty.

  Richard Kolodey—US Marines

  “Over a third of the squadron was shot down and killed.”

  Richard enlisted in Dallas, Texas, on October 17, 1942, when he was seventeen years old. He was born in Brady, Texas, on Valentine’s Day 1925. Later his family moved to St. Antonio and Dallas. His father was wounded in Germany during World War I and later died at fifty-nine years old, when Richard was a young man of twenty-one or twenty-two.

  Richard participated in three major campaigns in the Solomon Islands from July 1943 to August 1944. According to his discharge papers, he participated in Bismarck Archipelago Operations, the Bougainville Campaign, and the consolidation of the Northern Solomons. He earned a Presidential Citation for meritorious performance of duty in action and a Navy Commendation Medal. He was honorably discharged in November 1945.

  Richard qualified for flight air training after boot camp. He was put in the First Marine Air Wing. He was sent to North Island in San Diego for three weeks. “The marines were still part of the navy, and we were flying navy airplanes,” Richard explained. Next he was sent to a marine air base in Norman, Oklahoma, for radio, radar, and gunnery training. He had to learn sixteen words in Morse code and how to manipulate the radio. There was a little radar screen. In Pursell, Oklahoma, Richard went to gunnery school, where he learned to shoot fifty-caliber guns out of turrets.

  What was your job in the marines?

  Richard’s job in the marines was belly gunner and turret gunner. “We would take turns flying in the turret and the belly of the plane,” he said. “We had a gun out the back. Whoever was in the bottom took care of the radar and radio.

  “When I got there, I rode an LST from New Caledonia to New Hebrides, where the airplanes were.” Many of the LSTs were made in Evansville, Indiana, just a few miles north of where he lives now in Kentucky. “New Hebrides was the main marine air base in the South Pacific.

  “The Solomon Islands consist of over six hundred islands, with Bougainville being the largest and Guadalcanal being second largest. I have landed on fourteen of these islands and have flown over all of them.” Richard went on to say, “The marines were doing all the flying, and the navy was bringing all the ships, food, and fuel. The army was down in New Guinea. The Japs had half of the island tied up.”

  Richard has some information from the archives in Maryland that outlined all the flights, or sorties, they flew during his time in the Solomons. He has a letter from relatives in Ohio who wanted some information on their deceased relatives. He has been researching the background of the flights.

  What kind of losses did your squadron suffer?

  Richard was in two squadrons—232 and 233. “About a third of the squadron was shot down and killed,” he said. “They would check the radar, such as it was in those days. Out in the Solomons, I don’t know about the rest of it. If you got shot down in the ocean, they didn’t see you again—you were gone.”

  They lost six planes and eighteen guys on one mine laying mission in Rabaul. He cannot find any living pilots or gunners from those days when he was in the Solomons. He feels like they have all died now.

  How many flights were made in a day?

  “We flew one hundred sorties a day. They dropped millions of tons of bombs over the islands. The marines were left to take care of the Solomon Islands because of battles in Tarawa and the Marshall Islands. I started at Guadalcanal and ended at Emirau. Emirau, which is near the equator, is 120 degrees in the sha
de,” said Richard.

  “At Emirau the airstrips went off both sides of the island. We were bombing at Rabaul, which was the Japanese stronghold in the Pacific. Our planes had a one-thousand-mile range. They put a two-thousand-pound bomb or four five-hundred-pound bombs in them. We could not reach Rabaul. We had to move up to Bougainville in order to get in range of Rabaul. At Bougainville we were about 350 miles from Rabaul. The whole chain of islands runs eight hundred or nine hundred miles. Up to Emirau is 1,400 or 1,500 miles.”

  How did you get many of the pictures that you have from the war?

  Some guys and the Marine Corps had cameras, so Richard was able to have some pictures to keep and to show others seventy-three years later. His sea bag was misplaced, and he lost many of the pictures he had. He has pictures of his class, and there have been twenty or thirty men who were killed from the original class,

  Where did you go for furloughs?

  Richard went to Brisbane and Sydney for furloughs, to get out of the combat area. He saw Sydney Bay and the Harbor Bridge. “There were kangaroo in the park in Sydney,” he said. “They would take half of us at a time, and the others would continue fighting. We got a little room near King’s Cross.”

  He went on to say, “The mess hall was open twenty-four hours a day because we flew twenty-four hours a day.”

  There is a song that went with the Red Devil Squadron:

  Hush, little Nippo! Stop caterwauling.

  Jump in your foxhole and turn out the light.

  Hark! From the east wind your fathers are calling:

  The Red Devil Squadron is flying tonight.

  Hear in the heavens the drone of their engines;