Joe says that he was drafted into the Navy and reported for
duty on June 20, 1944 at the age of 18. It’s a little known fact that in WWII a
person who was drafted into the military did not necessarily go into the army,
which of course most did.
After basic training Joe was assigned to the newly commissioned
Attack Transport U.S.S. Rockingham.
The ship experienced the horror that was Okinawa in the
Spring of 1945. The Japanese threw everything they had in the form of Kamikaze’s
at the American fleet off that strategic island. The Rockingham helped several
ships off loading and rescuing sailors that had been hit by this new form of
warfare after they had been hit and sunk or damaged.
Joe says that his most memorable and terrible experienced during
the war was that the Rockingham was under fire for 9 days and nights from the
Japanese.
The Rockingham continued to transport troops back and forth
across the Pacific including “Operation Magic Carpet” which was the transporting
troops back home from far off campaigns at the end of the war.
Joe was discharged from the Navy on March 24, 1946 with the
rank of Seaman First Class.
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