On the road

On the road

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Profiles Spring-Summer 2013 HFDFW


 

James enlisted into the U.S.Navy on December 6, 1944 at the age of 17.

He was trained as a Quartermaster but according to James, spent his naval career mostly in training or waiting at some receiving station for a permanent assignment.  This was not at all unusual in stories that this writer has heard from military personnel during World War II.

One night, as James was pulling guard duty, he had the occasion to guard a perimeter fence surrounding a naval base. During his patrol he observed a figure walking towards him. James yelled “Halt!” The man, who turned out to be an Army Air Forces officer, had been out too late and was drunk. Luckily, James did not shoot, and loaded the officer into a jeep when an MP finally drove by.

When the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August, 1945, James was on the west coast waiting for an assignment. Eventually he was shipped out to another receiving station in Hawaii. He boarded the escort carrier U.S.S. Kwajalein and sailed to Guam. While on board the carrier, James witnessed the massive Typhoon that hit the Pacific fleet during this late summer of 1945, seriously damaging many ships and resulting in many casualties among the fleet.

After four months on the island of Guam, James got a permanent assignment to LST (landing ship tank) 930. This ship had been involved in the landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

The ship was designated at this time a small hospital ship, the entire port side on the second deck had been set up as operating rooms and aid stations.

During James’ time on LST-930 the ship sailed to Milne Bay, New Guinea where they loaded surplus war equipment to transfer to Hollandia, New Guinea. Later the ship sailed to Saipan, back to Guam and then to Hawaii. During the trek from Guam to Hawaii, both of the ships engines quit, and she was towed about half the distance to Hawaii.

James was awarded the American Theater medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Victory medal and as James states “The same as everyone.”

He was discharged from the Navy with the rank of 3rd class Quartermaster on July 8, 1946.
  

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