WW2MarineVeteran—Sorry I did not get to M&J till just now to see your yesterday’s comment with many questions and answers I’ll try to answer a few of yours now—I was born Oct. 28, 1924 in Hudson. N.Y. !941—Pearl Harbor Attack—you like me— I wished we could join up immediately—but was still in High school—In 1943, I took and passed the Navy deck officer V-12 sent to the Program at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. arrived there June of 1943 an apprentice Seaman, officer candidate. July 1943 my right arm was badly broken in a training accident, I was sent to the Samson Naval base Hospital-this took time to heal—and being an anxious naive kid volunteered to resign the V-12 program and be sent to the fleet—I wanted to get into the action—sent to boot camp at Great Lakes for only 4 weeks since I was already partly trained and had all of my shots. Sent to The Marine Base in San Diego and assigned to Radar Operator school at Point Loma—Then as Radar Man first Class sent to Astoria, Oregon to board The U.S.S Saint Croix APA 231—With 26 Landing craft- A 5 inch gun in the stern an an array of 20 meter rapid fire anti aircraft guns and in the bow a gun tub with twin 40s. My post was in the Radar Room on the bridge—We sailed for Guadalcanal January 1945 where the convoy for the Okinawa campaign was assembling—we were to load troops for Okinawa from a transport that had engine trouble—as we pulled along side they signaled to abort—they had fixed the problem—so then to New Mea, French New Caledonia to start taking troop to the Philippines for mop up operations—Then a series of back up runs to pick up more troops out of the Jungles of New Guinea again for Manila—Then the Marshall Islands and when the bomb was dropped on Japan—We joined The entire fleet for the surrender in Tokyo Bay with General MacArthur—Then to Guam and Saipan to pick up you Marines for an attack landing in Northern China, the port of Tsingtao to land you Marines to take the surrender from the Japanese, due to the fact that Chiang Kai Chek was battling the Communist of Mao and retreating south and they were not doing anything about the Japanese occupation army there.. We went through the Typhoons through stormy seas to get there. Then leaving you Bellhops in charge sailed south to French Indo China to pick up Chaing’s vanquished army and transport them to Formosa landing the first Nationalist army and government there. With the war over transported Troops home to San Francisco on the “Magic Carpet”—What a sight coming into San Francisco Bay—Sirens wailing—fire boats spouting victory fountains and crowds of wives ,Mothers, Sweetheart, ,etc.. shouting with joy as we pulled into the wharf and started the vets down. the gang way to their loved ones—A Harry James recording was being played over a loud speaker—" t’s Been A Long Long Time" and it had been! That’s part of my story Marine—I was very familiar with you Marines since we has sailed the waves together. Hope you read this Thursday, and it has answered your questions.
WW2MarineVeteran—Sorry I did not get to M&J till just now to see your yesterday’s comment with many questions and answers I’ll try to answer a few of yours now—I was born Oct. 28, 1924 in Hudson. N.Y. !941—Pearl Harbor Attack—you like me— I wished we could join up immediately—but was still in High school—In 1943, I took and passed the Navy deck officer V-12 sent to the Program at Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. arrived there June of 1943 an apprentice Seaman, officer candidate. July 1943 my right arm was badly broken in a training accident, I was sent to the Samson Naval base Hospital-this took time to heal—and being an anxious naive kid volunteered to resign the V-12 program and be sent to the fleet—I wanted to get into the action—sent to boot camp at Great Lakes for only 4 weeks since I was already partly trained and had all of my shots. Sent to The Marine Base in San Diego and assigned to Radar Operator school at Point Loma—Then as Radar Man first Class sent to Astoria, Oregon to board The U.S.S Saint Croix APA 231—With 26 Landing craft- A 5 inch gun in the stern an an array of 20 meter rapid fire anti aircraft guns and in the bow a gun tub with twin 40s. My post was in the Radar Room on the bridge—We sailed for Guadalcanal January 1945 where the convoy for the Okinawa campaign was assembling—we were to load troops for Okinawa from a transport that had engine trouble—as we pulled along side they signaled to abort—they had fixed the problem—so then to New Mea, French New Caledonia to start taking troop to the Philippines for mop up operations—Then a series of back up runs to pick up more troops out of the Jungles of New Guinea again for Manila—Then the Marshall Islands and when the bomb was dropped on Japan—We joined The entire fleet for the surrender in Tokyo Bay with General MacArthur—Then to Guam and Saipan to pick up you Marines for an attack landing in Northern China, the port of Tsingtao to land you Marines to take the surrender from the Japanese, due to the fact that Chiang Kai Chek was battling the Communist of Mao and retreating south and they were not doing anything about the Japanese occupation army there.. We went through the Typhoons through stormy seas to get there. Then leaving you Bellhops in charge sailed south to French Indo China to pick up Chaing’s vanquished army and transport them to Formosa landing the first Nationalist army and government there. With the war over transported Troops home to San Francisco on the “Magic Carpet”—What a sight coming into San Francisco Bay—Sirens wailing—fire boats spouting victory fountains and crowds of wives ,Mothers, Sweetheart, ,etc.. shouting with joy as we pulled into the wharf and started the vets down. the gang way to their loved ones—A Harry James recording was being played over a loud speaker—" t’s Been A Long Long Time" and it had been! That’s part of my story Marine—I was very familiar with you Marines since we has sailed the waves together. Hope you read this Thursday, and it has answered your questions.