Utah WWII Stories- The Pacific

Eutaw World War Two stories the Pacific was made possible in part by the Stephen G and Susan E. Dankers Family Foundation the Georgette's and Dolores doory Eckles foundation the Cleone Peterson Eckles endowment fund and the Willard L. Eckles charitable foundation. Additional funding was provided by the steward Education Foundation to see Comstock Clayton foundation Kennicott Utah copper the University of Utah the Utah Humanities Council and the contributing members of KQED. Thank you. We were all ready to fight the Japanese until we were killed off. We hated them because they did what they did on Wilens and what they did to the Philippines and what they did to Pearl Harbor. We hated them because they were the enemy there. Their life was to die for the emperor if you will. It didn't matter what the

danger was. They had an objective to accomplish. Our patriotism was just too strong and just as valiant. But we didn't we we were suicidal in a way we fought a war and I had no sympathy for any of the Japanese that I feel. I felt that was one less that I had to fight one less to kill one of my men. This country was worth fighting for and what took my life it was terrible and I did think I would never come back anyway. When I went over. There. There's not just one story of World War Two. There are as many stories as there were men and women to fight. More than 3600 never returned to Utah to tell their stories.

These are some of the sixty seven thousand that did. America and her allies had done the impossible in Europe. In three and a half long years of severe casualties and bloody fighting. They had defeated Europe's first modern superpower Nazi Germany. But the nightmare of World War 2 was still not over. On the other side of the globe America was locked in a death grip on a battlefield of such immense proportions that nearly defies human comprehension. This battlefield was sixty four million square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

An arena of combat so large that all the earth's continents could easily fit within its boundaries. And in the skies above. The depth the law. On worthless volcanic outcroppings and in steaming Island jungles. Utahns along with hundreds of thousands of other Americans. Would offer themselves up with bravery and courage. I'm Rick Randall. KQED is proud to present the third in a four part series. Eutaw World War Two stories the Pacific. As told by Utahns who were there. When. The Japanese were a ruthless relentless. Military. People. They had. Already gotten a reputation for atrocities. And. Our feeling was.

That. The US Navy. And us dive bombers. Had a great mission to perform to keep the Japanese from their goals of occupying the Pacific. The world's first use of aircraft carriers in a naval battle occurred at the Coral Sea in May 1942. Dive bombers from both sides are terrorized and crippled each other ships. From that point in time naval battles would never again be the same. As. I. Peeled off to enter my diary. I became aware that a Japanese Zero was circling around to get on my tail.

And he did get on my tail as I pushed over in my vertical dive and my dive flaps open and I was. In a vertical dive and he settled down right behind me in my diet. My first inclination was start to do Jake as we say to evade being shot down. And I was given a very strong inspiration to stay in a steady diet kind of steady diet is required to get a hit on the ship to stay in a steady diet. Don't worry about that zero. Not gonna shoot you down. You'll be OK. So I settled down and a steady diet of him on this. The Japanese air well and made our way in the night and pulled out alongside of me.

I'm not sure whether he waved at me or not. That's my imagination. I think he waved at me. I was afraid. But this admonition from the Holy Ghost stuck with me. So he gave me the confidence and it comforted me. All right. All the way through the war and I never was hit by any anti-aircraft hair. Never did have any bullet holes in my plane. All the rest of the war. Well we got about a day out of Pearl. And we picked up speed again. Realizing that something else was going on. But where. Well that was midway. There was a Japanese invasion fleet. Head. And we

were going to do some to go but. We weren't seeing the Japanese. We knew they were coming in felt like they were coming in. But we hadn't. Nobody had seen them. And so they sent us up the planes that they had those little navy water planes and all that take off. They were so slow that it took so long that they couldn't do much. So they used us to investigate that. So I would fly fly missions every day out there to see how far I could go out to see if I could find the Japanese planes. You know how big the Pacific was so we were sending scouting missions not from our ships but the Elmes trying to locate the Japanese fleet later. So we launched all the flight. Them the skullbone next to us. And the last ones would be the torpedo planes from for a squadron. And they'd lumber down the flight deck and then some of them

trying to dip the hole but we weren't able to make it fun when we all got off. The commanding officer of Torpedo Squadron mate was Lieutenant Commander by the name Walter. And he was the only one that found the enemy to begin with. He radioed their location but by then the dive bombers were close enough to do anything. And Waldren had to attack. Because he didn't have enough gas to stay around so that the attempt to do. A task that they were all shot. The. Is discovered those Japanese planes coming up. From the Southwest to invade this island. We stayed down low and we looked for the submarines and everything else and I sank one submarine after. June The fourth is when. When they hit us and when you get down.

And later on in that afternoon that's when they made the attack on the Yorktown. Turned out the Japanese. Had followed the Yorktown planes. And the bomb. The Doctor. Said she couldn't recover. So they directed the planes whoever was on. The earth tell them stop the hell and stop the Japanese submarine torpedo. Both thought. Of course. They send in the destroyers and picked up a lot of the survivors. So the next day. We went through that Japanese Curly here. Which we finally caught up with them saying. They had six to go. What do. We got for. Imperial Japan

was now on the defensive. Facing a determined enemy with the ability to produce more ships planes and ammunition. From that historic moment. The Empire of the Rising Sun. Began to set. I thought the Americans would be there before the end of the year. I really thought they would be. In fact I thought the war would never last that long. And I made up my mind that I was going to make it through through. Those captured in the early months of the war at places like Corregidor baton Wake Island and China are about to endure almost three and a half years of captivity. Surviving as a Japanese prisoner of war was an experience never imagined that the Geneva Convention the Japanese regarded those who surrendered as

cowards brutality solitary confinement torture and starvation were common. They began. Early sending men to Japan to work in the mines and smelters and so on. We woke up one day and we saw this huge miner out to Anita Miru. So we went down to the ball way down in the bottom of the bowl and there was about 250 of us in there and I had like five gallon can on each side of the hole. And that's what you use for a toilet. Nothing but water gruel and a little bit of barley. And that was in the Japanese had come down at night and they would say took out my scar. You know do you have a watch or you have this or that. And they robbing everybody down there. They would beat you.

And so we start on down there for 12 days. And the men just went downhill. They just went downhill. We thought when we got that van. They'd be back out of not non-obese a removing all everybody up their slave labor. You know it was slave labor. They were very vicious. We were in an area where it snowed and froze and we had poor clothing worked hard in the mine in the coal mine coal mine. I can shovel work and shovel. All kinds. I been on a day shift all day. And they had 24 hour shifts to come and going all the time. But we worked hard. And we work in nothing but a G-string. That's all the clothes we had that kept the whole of the land. Well I started out. Helping to carry iron ore up to the feedforward of this blast furnace.

And then I. Carried it in the baskets. The. Camp Commander was a Japanese lieutenant. Came to me one day and the office sat down and. Gave me a cigarette which. Was. Not just their ordinary issue. It was a special one and a glass of socky and he told me that he had just learned that my city Salt Lake had been shelled by Japanese submarines. Pretty good deal. Where did you come from. What are you doing here. I said putting the Geneva Convention all I have to gauge is my name rank and serial number. He said don't know that we're fighting our own war and we're making the rules as we go in if we kill you today no one will know about it.

He said. I guess we'll take you up next. If you're not going to talk. So it took me out of the compound now to a brick wall about 20 feet high and then I noticed all down along whatever six feet there was a couple of links a chain handcuff hanging on it. He backed me up to the Wall Street smarm put the handcuffs on clown put a blindfold on. I thought well this is it. And then I heard a squad Marjon hobnails on the flagstone path and when they stopped to get here that rifle butt hit the ground. Well guess it's ready aim fire and that's when the Hill will ever know what happened. How far are we gonna let somebody know that at least we tried. And I'm standing there thinking about all these things. Well my mother think well my poor dad. And finally O'Hara walked over the smirk on his face. Haha you see. Don't you know we're Knights of the Bushido of the order of the

Rising Sun we don't execute at sundown. We execute at sunrise. You haven't told us by morning what we want to know. We like to kick you in the morning. And then took me back in the cell put the handcuffs on him and put them up over a peg on the wall so my toes barely touched the floor. I had them there all night. I don't know how long I was to or where I was those I guess mostly out yonder somewhere. But. The next morning they came in and I felt a persistent little buggers. They let me down and my arms went down. I felt the book come off of the shoulders. Took me back out and picked me up to Wallingham. This time they didn't march up a firing squad. Matthew stood there talking to another officer talking in Japanese and then Phania. Another guy came out and yelled at him and he walked over and they said something a little hairy came over and jerked a blindfold off.

And give me says You're lucky you get the last reprieve. We're going to fly you back to Tokyo headquarters for interrogation. In about that time somebody behind him said and I'll bet you talk to them. And he took me in interrogation and had a stack of maps and charts about that high that looked like they were wet soggy and they were set monium the table and they set me down right by him. And then he said. I want to show you now how much intelligence we have on the U. S s Hornet it had pictures in dry dock. In New Jersey. Remember what Dr. Norful core they built the carrier. They had pictures from the day they laid the keel until the night of the christening of the carrier. They even had pictures of the Navy guys in dress uniform dancing with their wives in the hangar day.

So when I got back to my cell I got the old coat going and I told the guys don't take any more stuff tell them anything they want to know they already know. They came in and button this up took back to Shanghai. They took the eight of us into court. The court convened they conducted the whole court in Japanese. The interpreter wouldn't tell me a word of what was going on. They held another tribunal and they told us through this one interpreter that we had been ordered for execution as war criminals. Maduna the virtues of the Emperor and his niceness that he had saw fit to commuted to life imprisonment no special treatment. No work detail no correspondence order in. No communal living no get together solitary confinement and obey the court rules and the guards. Took us back and put us in solitary

confinement. I thought well this is nice but that's what happened and we stayed in solitary for two years and nine months. The Japanese had been in Asia since 1936 37 and they had conquered most of the important part of China. And natives were satisfied that they were moving on West and going into Burma. China being encircled by the Japanese had no way of supplies. The only way they had any supplies was the American Air Force. Supplying them with gasoline and food flying over the Himalayan mountains called the hump. And they just couldn't take everything up there. And we had several convoys a day we did get on the road and to carry supplies and we never saw those trucks again they just kept on going on

they were used in China have to look after the company. I found out I was assigned as the 190 first combat engineers like pontoon bridge company. We left two shallow mountain shallow valley. All through there right behind us they made this famous. Lido road. And as the Japanese were pushed back the road proceeded up through these valleys and on all sides of the mountain it was an engineering marvel. We were at the top Toledo radio. And at the road going over to Michonne and joined the Burma Road and from there on the trucks and go on into China. I was a company officer in the 93rd engineer general service regiment all enlisted men or Afro-Americans. All the officers were Caucasian. And we would mind the rock and put it through a rock crushers and take this then dry Jael's stick it in the mudholes and then the next

Reynier next convoyed go by we repeat the process. It's kind of a discouraging way to build roads or maintain roads. But that was what we did. We were we were down close to the Salwen river but we were cut off again and behind enemy lines and. We went ahead and built this. This infantry foot bridge now crossed the river and. Something is dead man. And we came strong the guy line back in and dug another one and we started putting the lines back on the pontoons and the Japanese broke through on a pencil moving on both sides of us. We were pinned down. And we dug foxholes in the sand on the dirt on the side of the river. And. The guy cranked up the radio and called up called for some help. We had a couple of green P-51 pilots come down the river so we could hear him roaring just going like heck. I don't know what they thought they were doing with they saw this bridge and boy they let those.

They let those bombs go under Bloor bridge all to heck. That night. We dug in and we're in a double foxhole as Bill Leonard and I he was his turn to stand guard and it was my turn to sleep down there and I put my helmet on the back of my head. And all of a sudden it was pitch black. I heard a crash on the back of my head. And. Bill said oh my gosh. He reached up and picked up a hand grenade and threw it out. Japanese hammer type hankerings. Stood out about 50 feet out there. Never did go off. And through the through the day and the night then I it kind of got to me I guess my nerves kind of went to. The guys you'd say went to hell in a handbasket. Some of the things that were worse than the Japanese were the things in the jungle. The leeches the spiders all sorts of animals.

You heard all night long they would scream scream monkeys by the thousands of squeaks and goes through the trees. There's a lot of ticks and there's blood sucking flies and all kinds of animals and insects it's hard to describe. And snakes. Holy smoke. I killed the snake. Twenty one feet long. We were on a patrol and I turned around waiting for my friend and coiled in a big Bush alongside this game trail was this. This. Big snake staring me right in the eyes. He was probably maybe 10 feet away boy. BAIER came off my shoulder just like you never do that. And I sprayed that guy. And he started flashing around anyway. I don't know why we did put a rope round pulled it back to camp shields. Everybody had their picture taken with his dog and snake.

On Marshall Island center gate in Japan's Pacific fortress. No need to call at all. Jumping from the Sea Rim to with giant reefs heavily fortified. They got it and approached it on off like a cluster of scorpions. They had to be taken out of what the cost. And so we actually landed one day ahead of the main assault. And as we came ashore I I'll never forget the feeling inside. It was the heaviest tractor around. And you knew you were there. Going Our battle that only lasted like about a half hour. We had. Seven men killed and wounded. This was the first territory taken away from the Japanese. That

was to start when. Those submariners were hardly trained bunch. There is nobody to help you when you're out there. On the submarine where patrols lasted from 45 to 75 days. And were filled with the constant threat of danger. Fear and terror. For your emotions. Living beneath the sea. Close. Borders created additional hardship. Trolling the depths of the limitless ocean. Engaging enemy ships and submarines. As well as rescuing down airmen at sea where some of their duty. We found out that George Bush had been shut down and he had to

hit a radio tower on Chichi Jima. So he was on fire and he came out to see knowing that there were subs there to do rescue work. And I think you have a problem with it. There was a Japanese patrol boats and also submarines Japanese submarines around there. We moved. He had been in the water about three hours I guess. So then we moved in I got him and then took him aboard and submerged again till we could do some more rescue work. The next day we had a fighter pilot shot down off of Suribachi on a wall. The curve was dragging him into shore and the shore batteries were firing at him. So we went into a periscope depth made an approach on him. He didn't want to grab it because he thought it was a Japanese. So finally as the shells were getting close to him and getting close to our periscope. So he. Decided you better grab on. So we made the approach on him and he grabbed onto it in his

life raft and. We turned around and headed out to see if we could get out of range. Then. He. Played up to four fifty three feet which is the hatch could be open on the monitor. And she was hanging in the shares with his life raft. And when the guys opened the hatch he had a pistol pointed at that first guy that opened the hatch. He said I would have shot you if you had had slanted eyes. We lost 52 boats. A loss of thirty five hundred five men. And they're all down there so what we call a turtle patrol. Pilots in the Pacific Theater flew thousands of miles across the vast open water. For P-38 fighter pilot Phil Shumway a simple engine

overheating forced an open water landing that left him alone in a nine day ordeal to survive. I could see little island. It was a long ways away. It looked like but I got out of my boat and started pushing and swimming toward it. I hadn't been doing that very long until I became dreadfully ill and began to vomit and I got back in that boat just sick to death. And I didn't wake up until the middle of the night. And oh my you know little yellow moon and on that those waves on the side I will never forget them. The next morning. When I could see I couldn't see any island. There was for the next nine days. In the South Pacific

quite often it's the big storms. Big storm I mean. Waves high. This. Rough rough sea. I had my boat hook to me with a. Little. Card. And I'd go in that in turn and tumble me over and over and I'd get back in and the next thing it would be up on top of the wave and. Then. All right. But thank goodness for it because I cut it during two times. There were two storms. I had a friend that stayed with me. It was a bird albatross and that albatross stayed with me. And that's when the terrible storms and when it was over here he was again. And so one day I had then I had my cap down on my eyes and I was watching that little bird. And he went around circling

around and got very inquisitive and he came and he he leaped upright on my little boat right by my toes and he was still more inquiring and he came and looked right up under my hand and I grabbed him and I eat him. Homebodies feathers I've always been a religious man. I ask the Lord help me. Many times but the Lord heard me then the eighth day and night and in the evening. I saw coming up over the horizon. A Navy convoy just as the big old son was sinking into the. Ocean.

Now I could tell they were Irish. So I watched them as they zigzag this way and that. And then they turned and I can see they were coming by me. And it was dusk by that time just Twilight. And I stood up in that little boat and hear one of those big ships wind on this side and one on this side. Almost ran over me. And I screamed at the top of my voice and wave my bucket. Man overboard. And they just slipped on through the night. That was the worst. I mean come so close. I got back in my little boat. I spent a horrible night. All of my wounds were infected.

And I had a fever and I thought I'd just jump over and end it all. It can't get any closer than this. But I knew better than that. Long as there's. Life there's hope. So I got back in the boat and. The next morning. I could see an island. And then pretty soon I saw two point forty fighters going up and down the beach I thought I made it to the beach. I said I'm going to make that island. I'll never get back in this boat. I'm going to either make it or die. So I said my last prayer and. Get out of the boat and started swimming. I guess I didn't really believe myself because I was pushing the boat. In a little while. Over the horizon came a big flying boat. We called him Dumbo's. Here it came right up over me.

I leaned back in that boat and I began to wave and wave and they just went right on over me. And all of a sudden I saw them turn up on their wing and they. Slide. Down right here. And those sailors from out there those side windows that they looked from. And they were waving to me and we found then in about 30 minutes here came over the waves a little. Boat. Two big sailors came down that road ladder. They grabbed me by their arms. I kept my boot I kept my boat. And what was left of the bird. And when I got up. And those strong men they took me and laid me on the bed and I had no strength as long as I had who was in charge of myself. I still had strength but when they were there to take care of me

that's the last that I remembered for two or three days. If we came in on site pan. It was just like a California beach had beautiful palm trees like great sandy beach. You think landing on Santa Barbara beach or something. It was just beautiful. And then we came within range and the atmosphere changed. I. Was responsible about 250 soldiers and Marines at the exact time on the beach. That was our Marines and soldiers that know that their life can depend on how good they are. When we were just about into the beach with the first White House because we were already out there about 50 yards off the beach.

And attacked I mean these were that's what I. And. One of these Japanese made a good shot. Hit an SUV. Dead center and there was about twenty five soldiers our sailors and they all seemed to be falling off klepto bad and everything in their back America Americans dead center. And I just went Wow. We had to finish taking the rest in and ignore. We were sort of maybe about 50 yards off the beach on the beach really got. A. Lot. The boats got hit as they were backing out and so forth. There was a Marine laying out there right out in the open and his machine gun was gone. The bullets were coming down and they were coming down all around me and some of the guys got to get around the. So I rolled over. This kid was laying down like this on his face down and he was just shaking like this. And I called him by name and talked to him and he says Gunny I'm

too scared to move. I'm too scared to move. And so I talked to him for a little bit and I said OK when you get your act together I say we've got to go right across that railroad trestle to your right somewhere up and that this is where we're going to be I guess about four or five o'clock he finally came up to the line that was OK from there on out. But the emotional stress that you have to be trained to handle it. And that's what we try to do in the ring or the guy gets killed. You can't do anything for him it just won't he just try to get him out of there. But but you can't do that. You have to let some of the wounded stay but you haven't gotten that enough to carry him all back. You got to let the people behind you take care of them. Why not my recall hit me with a question him as he was by. I've sprung it on people many times. He'd been shot pretty heavily right. Just one shot right through I don't know which direction they ran. Stress.

Part of the bodies are returned about an hour and a half and he blade and then he says I don't get it I know I'm going to die. Where am I going to go what am I going to go. And I held him in his arm. I tried to tell him to come back where he came from. I got the sense that we're all going to go there. All of us and I as I said we get rewards for what you did good on this earth and I guess for a lot really bad. I have to account for. And just that was that. That's all I got out and you only had about 30 60 seconds to turn. Now I recall that question. Where I'm a gonna go. When you're 19 years old and you know. You're scared all the time. I'm scared. Every. Night is the worst. You get in your pocket on the line. Oh no it was pretty hard with the rain coming down. My cousin kept crawling in there and throw anger rage which he did.

Some of the whole I was lucky I didn't get on an. Island. We used flame thrower to shoot down into them caves to try to get them out. And that brought some love. Now a lot of them were cooking. It was hard to do things like that but that's war. A lot of them. Come out of the occasion. They were scared just like I had been scared in captivity. They were scared. We had an interpreter talk to them and tell them that they were going to take them back and they had a whole fence to stand down there. They had the women the soldiers and stuff like that in different

differe barricades. At the charge we were clear back around the other side. Now type a challenge for plunder. I'm Lijun about 4000. Everybody can kill. Women. Man soldiers. Shoot and then they just kept coming. We have a gun. I don't know I had the Rolling Stones. And they charged up right over the army lines that night clear back to the Marine artillery which is about 3000 yards in the Marine artillery. I think there were 10 guns. They had them point blank 155. And those guns were firing. And they were red hot. Those sales were going off four tenths of a second and some of the guns. And that stuff we killed most of.

It because of slaughter. And we had a lot of killing our shelf life with bullets. You could snap as you went by. We started going up on the backside of Mount tapetum. That was the highest point on site and that's for Hill 500 was not all the guns were up there. And then we went from there all the way down to the end of the island down to what we called Marvi point where that dirt airfield was. And we think women. Are not too far away we could see what you do doing. Jumping off cliffs because they are going to kill him yet they tell him what to do and they die for. And.

Japanese man. And his family his wife and this little girl and two little boys. They were probably within 50 yards of. And. This is one of the things I wish I'd thought. I could like. I had the time but it catches you off guard so quick sometimes you just don't know. He took the little baby out of his wife's arms and threw it over the cloth and then he pushed this little boy and the little boy was trying to. Not. Hang onto his dad's leg and find that getting him over and then he threw the girl over and then he threw the other boy over. And hit his wife stood in each other and he hesitate and he pushed her over and he jumped. We had interpreters go over there and watch him. Try to keep him from jumping off. There was a lot of it then you know there was a lot of dead. And down the road a long way. Now.

The Japanese were not ever told to be captured. So you know they were expected to die while they are in the frontlines. And so when they were captured they were never told what information they should or should not give. And so it turned out favorably for the American forces that they were able to be interrogated. Japanese Americans played a vital intelligence role in the Pacific. Are Dangerous frontline duties involve great risk but saved many American lives. A second wave of group. And I asked people who served in the occupation and were military intelligence and many of us were attached to them kind of TELEGIN score. It consisted of people who. Were trained and knowledgeable about the Japanese language and they were essentially used as interpreters translators interrogators and in certain instances they were used to go into the

battlefield and seek out information and frontlines. And documents were captured they were able to translate those documents so they were able to find out the field positions the strength of the enemy. And in many instances they captured the Japanese prisoners in the area of to interrogate them to get information. And these people served very bravely in many instances where they were exposed to the enemy. Plus they're exposed to the American forces because no one could identify if they're Japanese or Americans since they look exactly alike. The. Battle of Lady golf with the greatest naval battle in modern history. But for minesweepers get her first black in the biggest

battle was getting. We. In this typhoon. And I was getting low on fuel and there were. At least 200 ships in this convoy heading up to let to go. And we were about right in the middle of the convoy. Being part of the 7th Fleet. We had no radar. The 7th Fleet was like belonging to the French Foreign Legion. As far as the rest of the Navy was concerned we were MacArthur's Navy. Keeping station and that storm was something else. Well the next morning came along. And there wasn't a ship in sight and we had been right in the middle of that go. Somewhere during the night. We got right to that.

So I did a 90 degree left turn and we were heading out and all of a sudden I saw a big Masco across the horizon. I said myself I hope it's ours. And it was one of our cruisers and he told me how to get to the convoy. Got in there and they told us to start sweeping up. We were still in 25 and 30 foot waves and sweep was almost impossible. They told us to recover our gear and while I was recovering our gear the ship wouldn't answer to the helm and get on top of great big wave and it would just roll like this and just stay there and then it would slowly come back. And one of the crew members came up said Mr. Blackett you better come down looking for crews corner. So I went down and the water was up to my knees but each time it rolled it just stayed there longer and longer. And you get on top of these big waves and you knew it was going to capsize. And so it was about 5:30 in the evening it was still a little light. I said well let's get off let's abandon ship.

And we went to the life rafts. And the life raft got on top of these big waves and wind with blown about 70 80 miles an hour and just take the rafts and just roll and just. Run. End over end and you just hang onto the rope. And there was a way M-S 3:41 that was fakie the raft was on up out of the water. And so they threw this grappling hook over. And I could feel something sticking into my arm. And I looked down and the grappling hook had gone through my life jacket. And was starting to penetrate my arm right here. So I had to let go of their life raft. And pull a grappling hook out. And then you all kinds of things go through your mind. What am I going to do when I get washed up on the beach. I have no shoes on. I'd throw my 45 away because it was too heavy. And. I saw a life ring there and I grabbed on to the life ring and I held on for dear life and it so happened the life ring was tied to that 3:41. And they spotted me.

The only thing is it came up on the other side. And so they started pulling and they pulled in. When the ship went up on a great big wave. I could look right down the keel to the stern. And I just held on and they kept pulling and pulling me up on the other side. And got me onboard. And at two o'clock in the morning the storm went through and Lady golf became like a millpond and when it got light we spotted the raft out the seven men plus sharks swimming around them. And we got them off and really did lose a man. October of 1944. As she battles raged around the Philippine Islands a deadly Japanese naval attack force would catch a nearly defenseless U.S. amphibious invasion fleet open and vulnerable in the San Bernardino straits. Much like the

Alamo. The little big horn Lake Island and baton. Desperate American fighting men found themselves out gun and outmanned against overwhelming odds. They had already passed a word to abandon ship. That there and gone to. We hadn't yet heard it and they. Somebody came up and started beating on the door. And of course they opened it up and they told us to get out. And as I as I went out. It was it was a mass. Casualty. We had a half a her gun tab on a port and starboard side of the gun. Two guns in each one that. I knew was there dead bodies. Around quite a bit. As I said a little prayer to my mother.

My dear wife. And. Then I said to myself I says it's a hell of a long way for a swim that was just. That damn. I feel my life jacket and I jumped in after I swam I swam away from the ship. I don't know maybe 50 yards and I ran back and it was going down. And. The. Funny part of it is they were chauffeured and. No steel vetement. Right after that. It was so peaceful. So quiet. Nobody. Said just bobbing up and down with water. Somebody said something about the Japanese destroyers coming to pick us up.

They could see the flight. They kind of made us a little bit apprehensive. And then the courage went by. Or. Maybe 50 100 yards away from us. Then here on the morrow. The biggest ship in the world has ever known. I. Mean never seen anything so huge in my life. All of the men were in whites all the Japanese and white. But these three guys are the men up there and as they went past as they saluted the men in order. To give you a little extra recognition that the Japanese navy had

martial the army. Had. To say in here six Americans became prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippines after the fall of Bataan Corregidor. Five first class mail. And logo. I was stationed on North Coast Guard Killary battery. They let us build three tunnels because the Americans was starting to strafe. That day we went out to work at the usual time in the morning. And noticed the Japanese was acting very strange. Instead of hitting anybody with their clubs. They just stand around. Kind of leaning on it.

You don't. Add to our age at which some. Planes bomb. That. An air raid where they wouldn't let us go back up. They want us to get in those tunnels how those tunnels were three or. Fifty each one. They just had an opening in each hand. Not for one man to get in. So. Then they started shooting. I don't know what the shooting was like my head obviously immediately shot up gasoline into the other hole. And I got back about half way. I smelled gas. And then they started to fire. I got so many men and. They threw. Some kind of a. Paper rag or something with gas on the up of the match you know threw it in those. Trenches. Well big flames shot through

there. I. Made my way. Toward the other end. Some of the officers had separate little. Places to go their selves. Dr. Mangalam. He came out. I heard him. He says. He's. About. To. Do not kill He's man don't do it. And I. Think he said something for the love of God. Here's. Something you. Don't do. They just shot him. All I knew. Was either die or get out of here. Shoot. Some way or another. I made it through the. I got down on the beach.

As they come over there by the same man. So he. Swam out as far as I could a new water wave shoot him and the empty deer guns twice. In magazine five shots. Comes up two hundred shots. One hit. Of Them side. Temple. Kind of knocked me out for a long while. I got out far enough so they couldn't shoot you. Still trying to swim across the bay in daylight like that. I just went on. Parallel to the shore. After a long night in the dark shark infested water. A wounded starving Nielsen managed to swim to safety. Harbor by naves and finally rescued by a flying boat. He eventually was taken to Washington D.C. to meet General George C. Marshall.

Commander of all U.S. military forces in World War 2. He apologized. He says. I was very sorry that we could help I should have been killed. I think I can tell my wife they I think about six or seven different times and I should have been bad. And I don't know how it happened. I didn't say. So I figure I think that the Lord's got me mixed up with somebody else. Bill Taylor was captured on Wake Island in December 1941. He was one of the few Americans that escaped from the Japanese and lived to tell about it. They're going to move here to Beijing. They're going to move us up on railroad cars and so on. So I had I was able to steal a pair of pliers and on our car. There's one bar

out here with two bars in the window and this one more bar was out. I said if we can get that bar off there and get that burn then we can go. I could go out the window. So I asked Jack as he wanted to go and he said Ya want to go with you. I said I'm going out tonight. I said we got some some supplies. I said I'm going to go out the window. This is the way it was it was just going take take take it. Jack Durani says I got the wire off and it was up to me. That's it. And that is a time when if you hesitate you're never going to go out. I said let's go. I said Pitch Black traveling. Thirty five to forty miles an hour so it's moving along. The thing is you don't know what's your job and then do. So I jump and then he jumped. We didn't know we had jumped off in a concentration of Japanese. Their whole army was out there and it was a very critical part. And I didn't know until the next day that we were out

there. I was hurt myself and Jack broke his leg. So. One of the most wonderful things that happened is the train went by. And the two little red lights on the back of the caboose I saw I was. Free for the first time. All these years. What a wonderful feeling you know. Taylor was recaptured by collaborators of the Japanese unescaped once again. Later he was harbored by the Communist Chinese and eventually found himself in the presence of their leaders. I met with the generals and we had banquets and so on. Then Mao showed up and he came and gave me some rugs Chinese rugs told me I was the only prisoner of war that ever escaped to North China during the war. He had been through this. He had been through this on the long march and how he had done all these things. People never believe me to see that picture.

Navy privateer bomber pilot Lwin Peterson and his crew were eight hours out of their base on Tinian. They were alone in the mission had been uneventful. Until curiosity changed their fate. As I made this turn to head back toward base. My co-pilot Wallace Robinson said. Enemy ship below. And I was almost right above it. And. I had full throttle so that I can still in my mind's eyes see those bullets splashing that the whole that ship. Well he didn't blow up. He didn't have any bomb so I told him I was going to make one more run. This time. The ship blew. It was a terrible explosion and it was right in front of me. The crew wandered down and then see it sink because it was stopped dead in the water.

There was an oil slick on the leeward side of the boat. I said that's it. The crew said Can we just make one more run. And I said well we running low on fuel. OK. I don't know how close to being down I was when we were struck. The bullet come through the windshield on the starboard side right side. And hit the copilot and blew his head right off that his skull was laying on the right between us upside down like a salad ball. And. My visibility was greatly impaired. I couldn't see any place. Immediately. I knew that I had lost my I put my hand over my left thigh and. Cupped it over there and. Everything went black. I had the Course. Set on the repeater compass to go home.

And I line that up and then I turned around and hollered for the navigator and he took one look at me and the copilot and tried to jump over the top and grab a hold of the controls. And I actually had beat him with my fist to get him away. I said. Jossy I'm fine. Just. Call me Martin forward. We'll get Robbie out of here and we'll be going home. They wanted to give me a shot of morphine. He had a first aid kit. And I just said no I don't want to mark fien I want to be able to land this plane. You get Timmy which was about seven hours away. I told them I was going to fly the plane and on the nose wheel with a little power setting and then try and break it. Did Aviom want a bailout. They said no. So I ordered him to get a parachute put behind their back and get against the bulkhead.

I later found out that not a one of them did it. The windshield had been so covered with blood. And I was flying mostly out of a little bubble window on the side of me. And when the runway came up I could see the white line I could see everything and I reached over your shop the throttles off and brought up and landed another glass of water that I had been drinking. It had been heated. To control my shock. And it was still sitting on the navigation table not a drop and spill. When I parked the plane. Made a pretty good landing I guess. I regret. That one has fallen. Victim to Tyler Perry on Jeopardy here at a profit. We listened a lot to Tokyo Rose. It was a morale booster.

We can't put Tokyo girls on the radio all the time because he had good music and it was American music. And she'd tell us where the next invasion is going to be and a little bit about the war. She would come over and say Thank your wife's home sleeping with your best friend. While you're overseas fighting. And this kind of stuff this is what she peddled. It was a bunch of baloney. But we all enjoyed list. She was amazing when I landed on Tinian that night on the radio they called the name of no band every everyone of my crew. How she got it. I don't know. She'd say Tokyo on P.T. boat soul and soul and there they're going to strike. Did she tell her you were going to go. I don't know how you do it. This years. After we had left Guam and was on her way there.

They opened the sealed orders. And then. While we were still aboard ship we all found out where we were going. I'd never heard of that place. Well they called it a pork chop or the Pacific. It looks like a pork chop. Well we can see the Wal-Mart from the battle wagon cruisers and stuff Wal-Mart any cheaper. Way out. Since we got there. And we started firing our mortar. And we'd. Go in a circle with fire in this next one and fire behind it just keep fighting. To. Get ammunition for. An. Ambush. And. Get it out of the crate and get ready for work. There. Are. Four of those nine. Big. Guns. Coming across the ocean. And you can see the.

Water going down and the. Concussion catches them. While they're still shooting. The planes are coming in and they're dropping their bomb and their napalm. And all this sort of stuff. This is what you're seeing is explosions all over the place and the cloud. You can see. We had one mortar hit our ship. It was a dud bounced off. One more come over and hit the well-decorated on our magazine. And so I ran down and I picked it up and threw it over the side. A lot of people can't remember that but I did. I was shaking when I let it go. I was just out walking around in the deck and there was D-Day and I looked to the starboard. Here's this big troop ship is full of Marines and they're coming down these rough platters. Just. One after another. And they're carrying it to landing craft. That would go into the shore. That's how I watched that going

I just realized. What's going to happen to those jets. And we watch these small boats get mortar shells. You. Cruelty. It this time. And they just kept going in every way. And. When we hit the shore and the front drop down and you go run an hour and you get out of there things you can. We hadn't we had went very far until kind of a little. Ledge. And right on top that ledge was a dead Marine laying on his face. And I remember that I looked at that guy and I just turned sick at my stomach I didn't know word it heever cry or just what you know just just something I've never experienced in. And I thought. Gee I just can't see myself in that position. And I just said that to myself from then on I was right. And when.

The noise is. Beyond anything you can describe it it's just. That it's so shattering to have one of those big shells go off. When you're close to it it blows dirt all over you and your head just feels like it's. Going on like that I know your eyes are blurry. This is when Marines were wounded and under fire for me to go out and take care of my right. Am I really going to be able to do this. And. These Marines in my company and Platoon was pretty close good friends with. Never been very religious at that time. But I think at that time I started praying as. If I was in the belly up and God help me please help me. I'm going to need all the help I can get. So and for some reason I guess that.

Kind of helped. Whenever you was out at night you know that cold that day and they usually had some kind of a word with ours because the Japanese didn't say our. So we would we would purposely this take a day I have in mind we had that Chevrolet Well we were taking ammunition and supplies up to the flight guys. And I remember the flares were shooting up and then they'd come down and perish. And whenever whenever a flare like lightship if you're in the middle of a step you just hold it like that just don't move. Eyebrows because if you do give your position away. So anyway we was going up this ravine and we heard three guys coming down off the side. And.

This arm and I knew a friend of mine Marie. He challenged these guys and they didn't say the right word. He asked him right there because they. They they didn't say the word. Right. Were they Japanese. Japanese. They dug in the hill like they dug here in our shelter. You couldn't they had caves there too. And the rock the volcano had caves through it. Had been in that case. There was one pill bombs that we couldn't get past and that was it was a really mean one. We couldn't get in there and we'd lost too many men trying to take that thing. So our artillery observer called back and they. Brought one of the little pack Hauser's like the University of Utah uses to shoot. And they put the gun in place pulled the bags down and the first

guy was citing that gun. Ended up was like only maybe a hundred and fifty yards away. He was hit right between the eyes and he just went fell right back. And was laying there and the next guy came up and looked off to the side. Had the shell in and fired it. And that first shell went right in the slip. And. Then as it did that then we moved in on the box and we lost several guys that were from the flank but we've knocked out the flanks and all that. Now we were in a position just to roll up the line. I was right off. That call came in when the first floor. Right there when the second. One. When the flag goes up. It was just a satisfying great feeling to see those stars and stripes flying over the highest piece of ground on the island and watch and. Watch that flag. Just. You.

Right. We got it. We've made it. We have the high ground. And that that stuff. They have the high ground on our left flank had control of it from then on it's just a matter of time. Every day was pretty much the same wounded dad wounded dad get him out of there making the sacrifices a lot of the men do to put their lives in danger to retrieve the body or the wounded. Two Marines have been hit on my right flank and so I feel it is my responsibility to go out see if I can do anything to help them. So I call out both men. Both men and kill. Right. I remember I started to crawl away and something hit right to the side of me and I recognize it a grenade before it went off. But at the time I recognized it and. I cut some fragments right in my face.

I got a bad dressing out put it around there and somebody on the other. Flank was all in for a corpsman so I. Started to crawl over that way and. I could see where the grenades were coming from. So I hollered one of the Marines down the hill to throw me a grenade. Took up that side of me and I put it in my pocket and started to crawl to where these grenades are coming from I. I had to probably get that. Placement. Take those grenades or landed behind me all the time so I just kept catching grenade fragments in the back of my legs but. They didn't do too much damage except they don't like it at all. I. Grab my pocket. To pull the pin out to throw it in there. And the ring came off the pan stadion. I always remember the shock. What did you know. I got my knife out straight out the bed and pulled it out and crawled over by this big hole that was there when these convenient come in from a.

Japanese soldiers down there locking down their throat about fast I couldn't. See us close enough to get a shot it was my 45. Now I had AIDS so. I pulled the pin off and. Then the spoon came off. We had three to five seconds before it exploded and. I counted three and drop it went off almost crawled down. This Marine was in there. It's like we all tore up and got it bandaged up. Finally a Marine crawled up with a stretcher and we rolled him on both crawled off. I knew what to expect I saw these kids going into that. One after the other. I. Wish I could tell them to not go. You know sure enough you know here they come all right about

after noon they're bringing brought back to our ship one after the other in terrible shape you know. That. We would treat them. We had an. Operation room going all the time. We lost 100 percent of officers. This friend of mine caught a burst across his chest. I think about four rounds whacking me here with a man boom machine gun. I seen this man boom shot and it was in a big pillbox is a slot shoot. I crawled up there and was going to throw a grenade and I threw a grenade and it hit the shore. Rolled down. I ducked down with a blow off and I turned around for another friend. I should throw me another grenade and he threw me one and this time that that Japp seen me and he threw one right at me and I seen it coming right at me and I dove off the side thing hit.

And it hit me and it it hit my leg my arm and it felt like a ball bat hit me in the back. It really whacked me. Then I took that grenade that I'd asked for and I was so mad. I was so mad I feel nauseous. I just run right up through it right in that hole. A grenade went off several pieces hit my helmet one piece when under my helmet into my live shot into my jaw bone. And another piece went behind my heart. I walked back down with the other wounded back to the battalion and they put me out to the hospital CHEP. The Smaill. Curfew which was probably the craziest smell I smell. And World War

II. And when those nurses walked by they just melt. Alvin Lee and I a lot of us were commenting let Sam go by. He had seen a woman you hadn't smelled anything like that you forget what in the world even looked like you know. These kids were just. So nice. Great. And they would have these kind of fun fights with Mulet that maybe people they say 10000 gobs put down their swabs to fight one sick Marine in those kind of things. And then they would laugh and cut out and you know they would be nice and easy to deal with. And the nurse that came and looked at me you know she was an older nurse you know. And it's pretty hard you know and she looked around everybody yeah. There was a moment of tenderness. As they pulled my lips

out and looked down and said well we can't do anything for you now cause other guys were worse off than I was. Jamie was supposed to be a three day operation. And that's what they expected it to be. But they had no idea that it was. Going so deeply as it was. So the fighting and the dedication to the Japanese you have to respect them for what they did. Because they made up her it rough for us. But. We still won. Iwo Jima was half the distance from Japan to the Mariana Islands the main base B-29. Hundreds of crippled planes. Crews were saved by landing at a wall after bombing Japanese cities in the spring and summer of 1945.

We fly these missions that would be all 18 hours that the longest and maybe 12 are somewhere in that range. We started out mostly flying missions that we carry demolition bombs the most the first missions were on the southern Japan air because the planes on those airfields we were bombing were of course bombing the ships that were built around the invasion of Okinawa. The results weren't as good as what. What General roommate wanted. So initially we got 2000 pound 24 pound bombs. You can even feel the explosion right up in the air as long as we were. But then he decided that we would go to a different format on bombing. In other words we'd go to doffing incendiaries. With

incendiaries is not exactly a precision bombing it's a bombing of Darrion areas. So you would start fires in in the different cities that you bombed and then it would create fire storms and then most fire storms or something else. I mean he just you could see down in the cities and seeing the. Streets burning and imagine the people running for cover and not meeting him he'd get out. There were over a hundred thousand people killed and more each night. That in Sandy a raid on Tokyo killed more people than either of the atomic bombs. After a while I just kind of felt I hate this airplane when I realize what we were doing bombing civilians up there in Japan innocent people were. Sorry. I just I just couldn't couldn't take it hardly could hardly take it

feel like I just didn't didn't like what we're doing. I guess the hate for the plane. I guess I was trying to transfer some of the guilt that I was feeling for doing this. But of course it was war and it was it was our job to do this. Marine. They were on in there. And. They were surprised when. They. Never did. Have. An island that we went into it did. Fire addresses were coming. They had come in get all this why get all this stuff. Here. And there. Get all of our equipment. And. Water. You know. It was.

It. Is. Up. On. The. Line. John Kerry was terrible. The Japs today knew very better that I'm going to drop everything like that they had been warned. Before we got had all that on in them OK. Push them back bring him out. He had to have. Raised a big bomb to knock. Men. Would. Go and. Get the Japs and stuff that was. There when it came. Time. How much sort of stuff. Ever. Was. That. You're. Trying to get up. From. When we got. To.

Now. The battles have progressed fastest to. Instead of waiting for our hospital to sit there they asked for nurses who would go on detached service. And my classmate and two others volunteered. We. Can ship into the landing. And then finding Bartsch to just sit at the chin. We've. Got. A. Track crossing red dirt road. With kids here. They can. See some snow. Outside. We were part of their surgical team. They're to be brought in. And. Take care. It was. An. Emergency. Care.

To. Prepare them for it back. Okinawa is. Probably more dramatic for the Navy and for anybody else because of the kamikazes. Harvey's. Right. Both. Oh I can see all these suicide planes coming down. I'd like to head on them. Sailors come there and get some my whole set and have no place to go. Sit in the harbor. We just anchor dead on here come a call close to one hit at the cruiser and went right through Fort Dix. Killed everybody in sickbay. This one went straight down. In our 20s quit our machine guns we had machine guns 15 30.

Or 40 just kept popping up. We. Had he come down and I held my hand up. This was not now Lord and kamakazi come down and he just took the flag off the mast like this. He went up again and he come down to hit a Dutch merchant ship. The place for you he it but all the crew is on the other side was in the water and I still think what my time. Guan Rocksteady any time that. Our standard gun watch. Captain on five range gun no. But I seen that plane come out of the cloud. But only got half a gun crew and I couldn't get trained on a day anyway. And I stood in that spot and I look and I look. In my brain finally told my feet You better move. It's got to hit where you're standing.

You know I had a set of foam. I hit the end of that phone cord going up to get up her shoulder jerked her back were drilling steel back belts my head. And got got hit on the other side of the ship. It. Came because they didn't always make their target. They were shot down before they ever reached their target. Although. They did. Much damage. I think it's over two months to take that island. That was one of their worst battle Mark casualties he ever expected. I was sent to Wendover in December of 43

and all of these bomb groups who were were going through. And then along about the 17th of December 1944. An air of secrecy permeated the entire base. Just 90 miles west of Salt Lake. There was a small remote air base surrounded by desert. Colonel Paul Tibbets and the five on 9th composite group trained there for a top secret mission which brought an early end to the war. He and all the gay went over Hiroshima and Nagasaki are now familiar names that ushered in the atomic age. They ask. Three of us in the machine shop to join the 5 0 9 composite group. We were told that it was. High risk. We were told that there was a remote possibility we wouldn't be returning.

Colonel Tibbits was a man's leader. He would walk up in his coveralls as the rest of us had on his hands in his pockets. He didn't say anything about. What he had. Or what we were going to do. Some of us thought it would be an A. Well we all felt it with a turn the tide at the war. I was escorted by two employees. With guns full regalia. Through security fences to a B-29. It was dark at night. That I had to perform a functional fit as the manufactured part. With the Bombay. I had seen a couple of the bombs and of course that went over the bomb would be lowered into the pit with a hydraulic system.

And danda but the plane would be towed over the pit and then the bomb squinched up into the Bombay. We knew that it was not a conventional type bomb. Just by just by the looks. Many Navy ships made the journey across the Pacific. But few people knew in midsummer 1945 that one ship. Had been secretly chosen to deliver the ultimate weapon against the empire. The. USS Indianapolis and its crew of one thousand one hundred ninety six successfully transported the atomic bomb to the island of Kenni. Passage there was uneventful. The journey after turning into a nightmare.

While his skipper was getting the orders. For an escort. I said you don't need an escort to clear lane. Nothing out there. So we're safe. Study eight to 12 walk at night and it was so dark I couldn't recognize you from mine to you. And when a. Submarine spotted us. Their skipper testifies. That for just a moment. Against the horizon a light spot. And. Where you were. And. He. Fired. Six four feet instead of. Two. Of them. It was only a few minutes all word of mouth pass abandoned ship. My friend Jim Hall and I were together. And we ran over the side ship hold them high and. Made it to the surface and swam away. From.

The ship. And I'm all alone. Nobody around here afraid. To let out a big yell. Is anybody out of her great big gruff voice. Over her. My buddy Jim Newhall. I swam over a little ways and it was quite a group out of. The first day. After Nolan or about down to my start yelling shark shark shark and I came. All over. Well dear friend stick in the water get high. And pretty soon somebody let out a scream. And. All of the guy just quiet this quiet that is here with her laugh out of the water. I thought you could hear. A chaplain happened to be in our group. And he started repeating the 23rd song

and everybody in here and Jolan day and. We were all denominations but everybody joined and and that became our prayer for the next five days. We would pull life jackets off of bodies that were cut in half by shart. You could see them come coming close enough to pad. Their swim by me go to him but the guys leg off or why me. You know not at him or not. We. Tried to keep everybody in a group. And we did for the second day at work pretty good all the time. They were high flying planes in the daytime but they couldn't see you.

The third day. Guys started drinking salt water. You got to remember that with no water no food no nothing. But water. The jury inside does funny things to you it makes you do things that you'd never do otherwise you go completely out of your mind. And there were fights started to my more serious. My friend knew how and I decided it's time to move away from this group. There's going to be any survivors will be to. That day came. More screams more sharp fewer guys in the water. Now the high flying plane. Then lo and behold about noontime. Another plane but Dattner high

and everybody else flying. Ready flew over. Them. And we had choice words for him. Tell him I'm blind. And lo and behold the turn. He happened to look down and he's seen in all walks. But he's low enough now that he can see what's on the water and of course he radioed for help right away. The message many men in the water was received at the base in Peleliu PV why Captain Adrian Marques was dispatched to lend assistance and report. In route march flew over the destroyer USS Cecil Doyle. He notified her captain of the emergency skipper on the shore. He didn't wait for orders. He immediately turned the destroyer around and cranked up top speed and headed our way.

And. He. Wasn't getting what he thought. Pretty close. He's right in there running speed. I got to see what I can do. Navy regulations says Do not under any circumstances turn a light on. At night in enemy territory. You can understand that. He turned one on. And pointed it forward. But look out don't about. To watch for. Bhatija in the water. Troy didn't run over anybody. Then he conversed with his. Office. The day. Said well we got one light on. Two light. Can't be any worse than one that's not a one on. So they turned another one down and pointed it toward the sky. And reflected off the cloud. We could see that for miles in. The

prettiest sight in the world. Bar none. He arrived on the scene about midnight. In the afternoon and they diverted all kind of plane go with grop and survival gear. Little rubber rafts. And. A raft fell close. Gemini started swimming too. Now got about half way to it and I gave complete. Just. To. Heck with that. I can't go any further. Jam made it. Kept yelling Come on Woody you can make it come on Mike. And. There were two other guys that made the raft about the time he did. So they're all three in it. The opposite direction. There were two guys in the water. OGM said we're gonna go pick up what.

The other guys know these guys are around here we get them and we'll go get to eat it. They don't work that way. We're going rogue. And aboard those little rafts they had the same thing they have today little aluminum or two piece that you put together. It was two of them. Jim crew went overboard. But the other one together and saw were burned and. The guys were picked up. On paddle by hand. And. If you don't. You're not going appreciate what are going to happen with this or that I can guarantee you. Then about nine o'clock in the morning the Doyle came by. I climbed a rope ladder and got aboard ship. Saluted the flag saluted the hours of the day. Now I had a boat on a boat and I had a boat hanging around my

neck on a lanyard. That's the only thing I had on. And to this day I don't know why but he pulled it off and hung it around the neck of the boat made of the watch. We were all he had created out and I lost sixty five pounds in that five days. I could take my scan and lift. They assigned. A guy to each one of us. Baths. Get up close and find us a bad. And the first thing they did or they offered me a order. One tablespoonful of sweetened water. And I couldn't swallow it. I had. Offered must throw salt water in my neck or my head and I couldn't swallow it all. When we were rescued. I said we were scattered over a 50 mile radius. There were three you had 21 live bodies came out of the

water. Two died aboard a rescue ship on the way to the hospital. Two died at the island of Powell. We were there. In that hospital ship. 317 people came home. Today. Ninety nine overs left. On the island of Maui in Hawaii. And we were practicing to go invade Japan and I didn't have much hope. I died six Ivan and I knew about what happened in Japan. I knew what the terrain the topography of the land as and spam can study that and I knew they shoot down at us and I know I caught it kind of last one why couldn't be that lucky. We were all prepared to win to Japan.

We had done that with the 3rd Marine Division which landed on the west coast of Khushboo. So that's what it was. And I remember the medical officer speaking. He said we've got to plan for a million cash. We've got medical facilities hospitals call films for a million customers. In fact we we've done several months preparation with mixing big barrels of oil and oil diesel oil and. Gels for the flame flame wars and things of that. There's no doubt about it. The Japanese people. Were being sharpened sticks rods and want to go.

They were prepared to go and to hand combat. The Japanese were prepared to defend their island even down to the women and children. It was beyond any kind of an explosion we can't even comprehend because we'd never seen anything like the pictures that they showed and so forth. And it was sort of a feeling of unbelief on my part that they could put together something that would be so destructive as that was. Just in a flash a whole community gone. Three hundred thousand people just got in. And so I. I was relieved. And the day that they dropped that mom was a great day for me and everybody else feeling there was some terrible thing that happened but we were just

getting ready to. All right. Our. Squadron had been given notice we going with him right over. I didn't want to go back. We had it going for us and we didn't feel like that really that they needed to drop that bomb. Well I didn't anyway and some some did of course. But. The thing of it is I still feel I wish they had never invented a bomb because then we wouldn't be living under the threat and our future generations the threat of that nuclear attack. I feel that the bomb saved our life. I there's no question in my life. My whole thing had to be done because the Japan would have. Fought it out to the end and all it took was the Emperor to say it's over boys. Captain Amut cyclone Davis was a fighter pilot and commander of the eight

fighter group known as cyclone's flying circus. He had been stationed at Wheeler feel when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Davis was one of a handful of pilots who managed to get his fighter plane off the ground. Almost three and a half years later the day after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Cyclone Davis for a bombing raid over Japan. This operation distinguished the famed Utah fighter pilot. For flying the first and last fighter missions of World War 2. I took off at daybreak at 62 P-38 and we flew up to that you and I flew off over the water way from the shore for protection until I got to where I was going to make the turn and you know what I'd decided to do. My plan was brief what I would find north

of Kumamoto and turn around and go down through a mountain pass. Bomb Kumamoto from the north going south. And for some reason or another I got the strangest feeling that that was or was improper. Tang I I really should just turn early and go in and attack the South going north. I approached the coast of chi you see I turned that whole flight or 1:54 beach area in any direction. And just as I did where I would have been if I had to turn right at my altitude where I'm at a crash to be the sky went black with fire aircraft fire. And I suspected that the artillery might have decimated me. But as it was I didn't lose a P-38. He went in at a low level attack. You can imagine this fire bomb is much more effective if you can deliver a low level and high

speed because it sets on fire. Everything it touches. We did that become a motive. And the Japanese surrendered four days later. So you know I kind of smile when I tell my story that the two big bombs got their attention. My 62. Brought them to the Shriner's table. One night we were watching him. We could see the harbor and the ship's cockpit. However I see. My feet. Off the satellites to ship source sending kept fly Harrison rockets being fired at the hour. And. We heard him say the war. So

for. That night was when. Traced. Through. One of. The. Everything sounded like everything I shoot. But I thought we need to do something to celebrate V-J Day. So the quartermaster came to me. I have a letter that told us that we need to get rid of all our pyrotechnics. Now we had a pretty good sized power Technik locker. And. So I signaled the other four ships and said Well why don't we get rid of our pilot techniques tonight in celebration. Well they didn't believe me on this letter and they wouldn't do it. So I said well when it gets dark you stand by and I'm putting on a fireworks display for you. We shot every pyrotechnic we had that lasted for two hours. At. About noon time a young fellow Japanese came and told all of us

topside high all approve and so we was a non-canonical Wilcott and I but we went up turned our tools into the shadows underground shed's heard some Japanese talking I heard him say Senator Mike Southworth who are you. And I tell you the all heart began to beat. They opened the door and the guy that opened the door looked at me and he says Are you an American. I couldn't say a word. Hill hadn't talked to me for so long and I figured if I get out of this hellhole I'll talk forever. Finally I got my voice and I said yes I'm an American my hair was long enough I could just pull it this way and pull your head all over my face. Like it's fleabite dirty dirty. And he said where were you taken prisoner. And I said I was taken prisoner in Shanghai but I was originally with a fellow named Jimmy Doolittle

who. Flew B-25 off an aircraft carrier the USS Hornet in bomb Japan on the 18th of April back in 1942. And he looked at me for a minute. And. Then. He. Guys is you know let's him he's clear off his trolley. Those guys were all executed years ago. And I said like hell they were there's three more of them down the hall here and I guess by then they'd heard me speak in English to somebody else speak in English and they started yelling. So we went down the hall and sure enough three more American by then Major had died so there was only four of us left. And we got out on the parade ground and they gave us a brand new Japanese non-commissioned officers uniform. And it was a nice war felt leather shoes and socks and underwear and all that good stuff. You know I'm all boy.

Morale shot way high. A camp commander got up on the platform and with tears running down his cheeks. He told us through the interpreter that the war was over. And the Allies had been victorious. But when I saw that the fact that he was crying all of a sudden all the hatred that I had for the Japanese. Just evaporated and. I no longer hated them. And I found myself feeling sorry for him because I knew how he felt. And. That hatred that I had was replaced. With joy. That was my first experience with joy. And I'm telling you it was the most beautiful thing that could happen. I never could believe I could be so happy. I know I cried. I know I laughed. I'm

sure I sang a little bit. I was so i'm just overcome with joy. And. We tore down bar and. Tore down fences. Wandered around the countryside. Pretty aimlessly. But. First time you'd been free and. Here's. Our own people. Bombed us with the parachute delivered. Food packages. Dropped from B-29 and as we came down from that saddle and towards the camp we could see that all these prisoners were out there. Waving a. Baby. That was a wonderful sight to see. We were the first signs. Of freedom for help.

And of course as we went by we see drops of the parachutes that we had with the supplies and we could see that they were there gathering them up. It was a wonderful sight to see. And. That kept us going for. A week or two that we waited for on the. We said Where is the army of occupation. He says a short way down the road. And the camp commander greeted us welcomed us. And said we suppose you're hungry. He said What was that like. We'll get your cooks up. What would you like to eat. And just like we had he rehearsed everybody said hotcakes. He said you can't stop for you we knew we would be coming. You have a bag a blanket and a pillow that's the best we can do for you. And when you hear the bell ring come

and we heard the bell rang sharply and we had ham and eggs and sausage and hot cakes and everything he wanted. There were some. More people who had. Worked in the Japanese coal. They. Creasey set him straight. They hadn't been fed and they. Were like they were star. And they came Dosu her patients in the hospital. I don't know what happened to them but those Swee saw. It. It just broke your heart to see what it was. Related to Okinawa and the put in a truck circles across the field to a red cross saying and all of that stuff fell out with about six or a beautiful American girl. And we got fairly close to that. But did it get any closer. We did. We didn't

nobody would go closer. They said Don't you want a cup of coffee or a Coke or something and everybody wants us to look at them. For most of us have been for a lot of us have been over five years. And they were so nice and so cute. You had us army tracks. Are. Gone aha. The. Driver was fairly close and I waved to him. And he was so. Amazed to see an American girl just off the side through a road that he turned his head didn't watch. She slowed down. And. That truck behind. Me. Also was distracted and saw me and he didn't look there was chain change and back for collations just because. I'm afraid I'm distracted drivers.

When I got off the plane when I got off I looked across. And. There. Was an American flying. Beautiful beautiful. Thing. I looked at that way. This is something else. I hear I am. A male. And then I met the Americans and that's why I love America. The. Sweet approached. The California coast was now. We could tell that we are camping in to. San Francisco near the Golden Gate Bridge. We could. See it from me. But. Then we saw how

long the coast spelt that would lie. With the words. Welcome home. Well. Ken. That was such a thrill. I never. Meant to see his or her son to know that. This was. It was. To. Him. It was a thrill to come back stage. It really was. It was a sight. We entered the Golden Gate. And. You see that huge sign on the Hill. Welcome home welcome home. Oh it's great to be home. You know when you go out and see the departing room behind you. Well I don't know that I'm ever going to come back or not. When we came

back and we were real happy. News. A. Ship. Came up meetings. That. Had. A. Whole bevy of beautiful girls on it. Waving hands. I mean beautiful. And they escorted us here all afternoon. And the guys lined the door looking at them picking out the one you wanted. Or two. One. It just looked like. San Francisco. Gone. How many. Just glad B-M.

Is. A beautiful sunny day. And so they signed me to a hotel for the night and said What are you doing for the rest of the day. And I says nothing. He said well let's get started on your paperwork. So where I spent the afternoon doing that then the first thing Monday morning I walked in there. And someone hollers out or some black kid. And there was a gal from the University of. Her neighborhood. Excuse me. Her name ma Matthews. She knew Virginia. She says give me your papers. Knives on a train in the Salt Lake. By noon. Knives oil. World War 2. I think. We brought peace to the world. We got the dictators that we fought.

We figured that they. Be. If they have been rulers of this country. We'd have been slaves. Japan and Germany. Together they probably could have if if we hadn't won the war they probably couldn't control the world we might. Be in serious trouble at this time we might not be a country that likely are with freedom that we have. And as I say. In my lifetime what I have seen and participated in. For either one sacred thing of freedom. I'd do it again. Because freedom. Is by far one of the greatest things that a nation can have. Religion is a driving force of winning a war. Most are civilians here in the United States when they haul reacted to what they had to do to give. Those American

boys something to fight with. And so when you get a whole nation all pointed in the proper direction you know. They can do anything you separate the. The citizens on the home front out perform an outproduced are enemies with the help of millions of women in the workforce. Rationing of food gash and raw materials. And a massive increase in production of munitions. Tanks. Ships and planes. All play a great part in our victory. Let us not forget this monumental effort to defeat evil and preserve our freedoms. Let us always teach our children our grandchildren and all those in the world who love freedom. Of the 400000 heroes who gave up their young lives. And the millions of heroes who interrupted their lives. And endured unspeakable

hardships to answer their nation's call to serve. Let us keep alive their memory in hopes that never again. Will such a sacrifice be required from so many of our nation's young men and women. Who. It.

Right. Here. In. Utah World War Two stories. The Pacific was made possible in part by the Stephen G and Susan Dankers family foundation that Georgette's and Dolores doory Eckles foundation the Cleone Peterson Eckles endowment fund and the Willard L. Eckles charitable foundation. Additional funding was provided by the steward education foundation to see

Comstock Clayton foundation Kennicott Utah copper the University of Utah the Utah humanities Council and the contributing members of KQED. Thank you