The Things Our Fathers Saw—The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation From Hometown, USA-Volume I: Voices of the Pacific Theater

by Matthew Rozell

  Naval training was very exact. You had to march to class. You had to stand at attention before you sat down. You had to do everything just right. You couldn't speak or talk to anyone marching. I learned to swim there. And you learned how to live with people both through boot camp and school.

  The Vast Pacific

  From there I was shipped to California. And I got there and was very disappointed because I landed in what they call an ‘ACORRN’ outfit. It meant aviation, communication, ordinance radio, radar, navigation. What it involved was to get us ready for land invasions. We then were trained by the Marine Corps for rifle range and bayonet. Just like Marines, we practiced a lot of landings off the California coast and then we set sail for the island of New Caledonia, which is a great big French island off the coast of Australia.

  You see, the Pacific Ocean is so large that it encompasses about one-third of the surface of the earth. It is an enormous ocean; I think the Pacific would have more water than all the land combined in the world. It’s really big! I know my first trip was 6,500 miles from California to New Caledonia.

  It took us about three weeks to get there, and I know we all bathed in salt water the whole time; it was very difficult to stand it because it was like a suit of armor on you. I did not like New Caledonia because the French people there were very indifferent. They were not welcoming hosts at all.

  We were jungle trained there. One day, the President Adams, a big troop ship manned by the regular Navy, came in. We were slated to go into Guadalcanal with the 3rd Marine Division. And they were very well equipped at that time, very fine soldiers. So, we got into Guadalcanal, which at that time was pretty well over—the battle had started a couple of months before that. As a matter of fact, two boys I grew up with who were brothers were killed in Guadalcanal.

  In Guadalcanal we got further training and I got shipped away from the Marines and got traded into [supporting the landings for] the New Zealand infantry because they were going to make the next invasion near Bougainville at the Treasury Islands, which mainly consists of about two small islands, Mono [and Stirling]. They put us in the northern part of any land forces at that time, so our contingent supported anyone on landing ships with the New Zealand infantry division. They put on a big attack on those islands. They handled themselves really well and I got to meet a lot of good friends there. The New Zealanders were really fine soldiers, well taken care of, and we had quite a fight. They killed about five and half Japs to one, until we secured it.

  We established a radio base and then they took the jungle. It was a great big rainforest. Our Seabees [‘CBs’-Construction Battalion] came in and they took the rainforest down, and in a few weeks we had an enormous airfield there on Stirling Island, which was flat. It was not a very large island, probably about three and a half miles long and maybe a mile or mile and a half wide, but enough for what we wanted. The airfield was so large it could take two bombers at a time. The object of all of this was to knock out all the bases in Rabaul. Rabaul is in New Britain and New Britain was off New Guinea.

  We were on constant aerial attack for quite a while. The Japanese at that time were very powerful. They had big airbases in Rabaul and they even controlled Bougainville. Now Bougainville was just north us, about 20 miles, which was invaded by the Marines about, oh, maybe, a week or two later [John Leary supported this invasion from the air—see previous chapter]. The island is about 90 or 100 miles long, maybe about 40 miles wide of rugged rainforest. They only took a small part, about 12 square miles. There was a very mountainous volcano, just a very rough country out there. The natives there were very ‘third world’. They were Melanesians and black people, they were very fine-looking people. They loved us and we traded with them. They got along very well with us. Only men could trade because the women were owned by the men. Boys and men would come down—they were very good at dickering.

  One day, a friend and I bought an outrigger canoe so we could go out in the bay when things got safer. We stayed there from, I think it was October [1943], until early summer. And things did get better there. We fell behind the lines, things got too tame for me there. And one day, a ship came in called the USS Witter. Some of our men were being transferred and the captain told me and buddy we were going to have to leave. One of us would go to New Guinea to practice what we were doing [landings] in the Solomon Islands. And the other would go aboard the ship. So I wanted to go aboard the ship, I wanted to get some sea action—I’d had enough of this jungle. My buddy wanted it too. So the captain gave us a game and I beat him out on it, and I got aboard the ship.

  Six weeks later I got a letter from him with two pictures. That night his orders were changed and he went to Australia instead. He'd had a beautiful time on the beaches of Australia; he had two girls behind him and a nice big bottle of beer! So I kicked my own behind—I was always ‘volunteered’, but this time I volunteered myself!

  The Destroyer Escort

  The ship duty was a lot harder than I had anticipated. On a ship you only had four hours on duty at a time and eight off, as a rule. Every morning an hour before sunrise, you had an hour duty at ‘general quarters’, which was ‘ready for action’, same thing in the evening, an hour after the sun went down. That’s the two most dangerous times to be aboard a ship because of the cast of the ship’s shadow and the silhouette out in the water, you were most apt to be attacked at that time, especially by U-boats [submarines], however, I was on a ship that was very deadly to U-boats. The destroyer escort had wonderful gear on it for that time. We had a crew of about 325—not a big ship, thinly armored, but we had about 26 guns on there.

  Four hours on [duty] and eight hours off didn't last too long because often we'd go a thousand, or up to two thousand miles into enemy waters. Then, you would have four on, four off. Now at four off, you relieved your buddy for meals, we'd call that ‘chow’, general quarters, or anything at all. You weren't off at all. Now when they put stores aboard for your provisions or ammunition, all hands had to show forth. So, if they pulled into the place at midnight, you had to get out of bed and help load these groceries or these bullets and whatever else you had. It was a lot of work. You could not backslide on anything. You had a lot of responsibility. Therefore, I found it harder than being on land.

  I had a commander whose name was "Fearless Freddy." He was a very unique character who a lot of people thought was psychologically off. He loved battle extremely and he expected you to be that way, too. He wanted you to be a red-blooded American. He loved battle more than any man I've ever met. I would rank him with General Custer or General Patton or someone. He wasn't afraid of the devil! He won a big medal in the beginning of the war on the Lexington, and I think he was aboard every one of our group of ships when they were hit in Okinawa! They said he jinxed everything. But he loved fighting.

  Rescue

  I think the first thing we did, after working around Bougainville and Emirau Island, [was a rescue operation]. We got a call one day to rescue a downed Marine plane near Truk in the Caroline Islands, one of the great Japanese forward bases. This Marine plane went up there and bombed it, and it was hit by anti-aircraft fire and fell at sea. Our mission was to go and rescue them and we were about 1500 miles away, so we went up into that region and made a search. We would go a couple square miles in each direction, in a box-like direction. And we had no results after three days because we got another call, there had been a big wind and the plane was seen about 200 miles to the west. So we steamed in that direction and again, we could not find them. After the fourth day we were told to leave, but our captain was a very fine gentleman, and he said he could not do that. He said, ‘We’ll cut our power to conserve our fuel and we’ll keep looking.’

  On the fifth day, at night, we thought we had a submarine scare and so we started to fire depth charges; I guess it made a great big flame at night, and way out in the far distance, we noticed a flare! So, we headed out and found these Marines! Two had been killed. I believe there were five of them and th
eir faces were three times the size of normal. They were all in the water, except for the officer who was alive but injured, and all these guys struggling with sharks! So, we put them aboard and they were very happy and we were happy, too. One of them had my bed, later. They told us they would never criticize the Navy! It took about three or four days to bring them back to base.

  They were almost on the equator. I would say I crossed the equator sixty times, being on the Witter. Then we took part in the New Guinea operations. In New Guinea, like everywhere else in the war, we had the ‘hop, skip, and jump’ philosophy. And that meant you maybe took one island out of ten, and neutralized the rest by air and sea. In New Guinea we just hopped along the coast. Now New Guinea is a very large, mysterious, beautiful island. I had been all over the coast. And it would be about from here [upstate New York] to Denver, Colorado, in length, extremely big and that includes great big mountains that you can see from the shore and enormous rain forests, just tremendous amounts of rain. The rain we have here is nothing. You could get a few feet in the ground in no time! I know when we lived in the tents on that island we were always wet, extremely wet. They also had large meadows and big rivers and all kinds of natives and some of them were very black and very different.

  After that, we worked that whole region and we did a lot of convoy duty, and one day after a long period of time we were to go to Australia. That night, being the radioman [on duty] taking Morse code, I found out that our orders had been changed. I think that night our captain got drunk and insulted the ‘big guy’ on shore! The guys were up cleaning their gear the next day to go to Australia, and I said to them, ‘You’re not going anywhere,’ and they said, ‘Well, maybe instead we will go to Hawaii,’ and I said, ‘Well, you’re not getting in there, either.’ So we had to make this long journey, 5,500 miles to Hawaii and when we got about a hundred miles from Hawaii, we were relieved of our convoy duties! And we ordered [back] to the Marshall Islands... [In all] it was three weeks, an 11,000 mile trip![41]

  As the book went to press, I was contacted by the Japan's largest news wire service, “with over 50 million subscribers worldwide, publishing articles in Japanese, English, Chinese and in Korean...” They wanted a veteran’s “reflections as we approach the 70th anniversary of the double bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” (which he offers in Chapter 13, ‘The Kamikazes’). So, seventy years after the war, Mr. Peachman got to address the Japanese people.

  Alvin Peachman. Author photo.

  Mr. Peachman was my high school U.S. history teacher. At the time, I had no idea that he had fought in World War II.

  chapter seven

  Captivity-Year 2

  As 1943 unfolded, America entered upon its second year of war. In Europe, the Axis war machine was being confronted in North Africa and at Stalingrad. Vast amounts of men and materiel were being poured into the fight as Sicily and Italy loomed large as new Allied invasion targets, with the planning for the Normandy landings already commenced. Britain had staved off an invasion by Nazi Germany, and by mid-year was resembling a floating air base as nearly a million GIs crowded encampments there to prepare for the great invasion of France.

  In the Pacific, the Allies were also on the move in coordinated attacks, following up on the successes in the Solomons and elsewhere. But for prisoners of war like Joseph Minder with little concrete information, conclusions had to be teased out of scant information and the increasingly belligerent attitudes of their captors.

  ‘Someone is Getting a Cruel Beating’

  Joe Minder

  January 21 to May 1, 1943

  During these past four months, I have worked cutting wood, carrying hay, digging long draining ditches, planting and taking part in this useless garden and made a few burial details. The Japs must be suffering heavy losses on their battlefronts, by the way they are treating us now. They have cut down our food again and have started beating the heck out of us, on various work details.

  May 1, 1943

  Every time we look around someone is getting a cruel beating for some darn thing. I got hit in the head by a bayonet, crushing my sun helmet and putting a lump on my head, which I carried for a week. My worries would be over now if that Jap would have hit me with the sharp edge of that bayonet!

  May 2, 1943

  Started building new garden across the road from the hospital.

  May 3, 1943

  Rainy season has started. The mud finished tearing up my old rotten shoes which I brought from Corregidor, so I'll have to go barefooted now.

  May 4, 1943

  Worked laying stone foundation for ‘Burma Road’, as we called it. Several of us got the heck beat out of us for dropping large stones which were too heavy to handle as we passed them from one another.

  Joe’s second year in captivity was beginning on his birthday.

  May 5, 1943

  Hope a year from today I am celebrating my birthday under the Yanks. I'll celebrate today by eating rice and greens soup!

  May 6 to May 29, 1943

  Food is constantly getting worse and these darn Formosan guards [Japanese guards who previously had duty at the notorious island camps on Taiwan], armed with clubs, are using them plenty every day. Saw a guy get a hose broken across his back yesterday! Two men escaped this week. So far they haven't been able to find them. That of course made things worse. After they escaped, the Japs doubled the guard and made it stricter than ever on us.

  ‘Made to Dig Their Own Graves’

  John Parsons, captured on Bataan in April 1942, described a new policy he witnessed in subsequent escape attempts.

  John Parsons

  Prisoners were put in groups of ten, a policy which was in effect from then on, and in the event any one man attempted to escape or made any move which might be construed as such, the other nine were put to death with him. When this did happen, the ten condemned were made to dig their own graves the afternoon prior to their deaths. Then four stakes were driven around the pit and the man was tied hand and foot spread-eagle over the hole so he was forced to stare at his own grave all night. In the morning the entire camp was turned out to witness the executions and the condemned were offered a cigarette and a blindfold, the latter of which was usually refused.[42]

  ‘The Mothers Back Home’

  Joe Minder

  May 30, 1943

  Japs allowed us to have memorial services for the 2,644 who have died since this camp opened, less than a year ago. About 2,100 of us attended the services. It made me shudder when I looked around at the huge crowd and remembered that there was even a larger amount than that piled on top of one another in this small swampy half acre of ground. Only 11 months ago they were all with us, but their fear of the Japs’ clubs is over now. I almost cried when I thought of the mothers back home who are waiting for their return.

  May 31 to June 30, 1943

  Several papers have been smuggled in from the Filipinos. We understand now why we are getting such rough treatment. Those ‘Yanks’ are kicking the heck out of them now! The Japs are also killing and burning down many Filipinos villages now. Some Filipino guerrillas killed some Jap guards on a bridge near here and the Japs retaliated by dive bombing, and burnt the entire village.

  July 1 to August 1, 1943

  The Japs have enlarged this farm and are forcing the officers to work with us now. They are making everybody go barefoot now. The officers are having a heck of a time wading in this mud and walking over these sharp stones with their bare feet. I have been barefoot for three months, so my feet are pretty tough now.

  August 2 to September 17, 1943

  Even though we aren't getting hardly any meat or extra food from the outside, our morale is high in the sky. We found out through a paper smuggled in by a Filipino that the Yanks had landed in Italy!

  This camp is much smaller now. Several hundred have been taken out to work on airfields in the Philippines, while others left for Japan. I was scheduled to go to Japan but my name was taken off. I'll be one of the first t
o go after the first bunch leaves here.

  September 18, 1943

  About 800 of us are packed and ready to leave camp to go work somewhere in the Philippines. No one knows where we are going.

  12 Noon

  We all made this hike of five miles pretty good and are now waiting here on trains to go towards Manila. These old shoes which I wired together are still staying on my feet. Didn't even get a blister out of that hike!

  6:00 PM

  Jap navy personnel met us here in Manila railroad station with trucks. Just found out that we are going to go to Las Pinas to work on an airfield.

  7:00 PM

  Raining hard, we arrived here to find out this camp is only another mudhole like the grounds at Camp I.

  9:00 PM

  Dead tired. I flopped down on the floor, 50 of us packed in a small room and I got a good night’s sleep. This makes the fifth prison camp which I have been in since I have been taken prisoner.

  September 20 to November 15, 1943

  Things have been pretty good here for the past two months. In the middle of October, 150 new men came down from Camp I to replace the 150 men who had dysentery. My buddy, Greco, was one of the ones who had dysentery, so he went back to Camp I, also. Working conditions aren't too bad. We have been levying down rice paddies. No one has received any beatings yet. This detail wouldn't be half so bad if we only had shoes to protect our feet.