Profiles Spring-Summer 2013 HFDFW

 

Melvin was drafted into the U.S.Navy in January, 1944 at the age of 19. He reported for training at the Great Lakes training station in May of 1944. Later Melvin trained in amphibian training at ATB Littlecreek, Virginia. He and his fellow sailors trained on a LSM (Landing Ship Medium.) After a few weeks, he and his crew were sent to Houston, Texas and picked up their new ship, LSM-122.

The ship soon sailed through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor where Melvin saw the devastation from December, 1941. A flotilla of ships was formed led by the son of J.C.Penny and sailed to Iwo Jima. There they delivered pontoons so the Marines on the island could begin building huge floating docks on the beaches.

In the spring of 1945, LSM-122 was part of the invasion of Okinawa. There Melvin witnessed massive Japanese kamikaze attacks on the fleet. There were suicide planes, boats and swimmers trying to cause devastation to the American naval ships in the invasion force. After 30 days offshore taking supplies from merchant ships to the beaches, LSM-122 sailed for Guadalcanal to pick up aircraft fuel. There the crew found out much to their relief that an atomic bomb had been dropped over Japan. A few days later they learned another bomb had been dropped in another city on the Japanese mainland.

After the surrender of the Japanese, Melvin’s ship was given the task of ferrying troops from Okinawa to Japan for the occupation. The ship made many trips including Hiroshima and Nagasaki where Melvin saw the total destruction of the cities that were hit by “Fat Man” and “Little Boy.”

After riding out a typhoon in a secluded area in Okinawa where many ships were destroyed, LSM-122 sailed for the Philippines where the ship docked in Manila harbor. It was there that Melvin learned that he had enough points to return to the states for discharge. He boarded the ship “West Point,” for the return journey along with 25, 000 other servicemen and women on board the vessel. Again Melvin sailed through the Panama Canal and eventually docked at Pier 92 in New York City.

He was discharged in February 1946 with the rank of Fireman. He had received the WWII Victory medal, the American Theater, Asiatic-Pacific Theater medal with 1 star. LSM-122 received 1 Battle Star for its service in the south Pacific.