Commander Wykhuis 1943 SC-531 Crew 1945
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Beginning of Military Service
2. Eastern Seafront Duty
3. European Duty
a. First Action
b. SC-638 Assignment
4. Salerno
5. Anzio
a. SC-522
6. Vis, Yugoslavia
7. Southern France
a. SC-638 Turned over to France
8. Back To The USA
9. SC-531
10.Pago
Pago, Samoa.
11. Noumea, New Caledonia
12. Pearl Harbor and Home
13. Epilogue
CHAPTER 1
Beginning Of Military Service
During the summer of 1940, I worked on the West Boundary
Ranger District of the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. Larry Haack
of Milwaukee who graduated from the University of Michigan Forestry School
with me, also worked on the Willamette and we traveled home by
Train, choosing the southern route through El Paso, Texas,
where Larry wished to meet a friend.While at El Paso, we also registered
for the Selective Service "draft". I suppose one could say, this was the
beginning of my military service.
On arriving in Oostburg, I did not look for other employment as young men about to be drafted were not about to be hired, so my Dad said I should help out if the store. I recall asking him what his thoughts were on enlisting in the Army Air Corp for pilot training. He responded by saying "why place yourself in double jeopardy with the additional risk of flying an airplane". (At this time air travel was not considered as safe as it is today). Nevertheless, I respected my Dad’s position and waited for the draft.
The first call up for service in Sheboygan
County was in February of 1941 and I received my draft notice on the second
call in March. We left by train shortly thereafter from Plymouth, Wisconsin,
with a large group of young men bound for Camp Grant, Illinois, just west
of Chicago, where we put on uniforms, had some close order drill, and then
left by train for Camp Livingston near Alexandria, Louisiana. Other men
in this draft whom I remember were Lamont Dulmes from Adell and Owen (Puzzy)
Russelink from Cedar Grove; Les Verhelst, Lee Hilbelink and Lincoln Davis
from Oostburg. At Camp Livingston I was asked to transfer to the 107th
Engineers, Co. C 32nd Division and we had war
games most of the summer along the back roads, and in
the woods and swamps of Louisiana.
In the fall, a University of Michigan graduate in our company learned that V-7 naval officer training was open to qualified candidates. He suggested we get a 3-day pass to New Orleans which was the nearest naval recruiting station and sign up. On arrival I had no trouble qualifying, but he didn’t make it. The recruiting officer said (of all things) his "overbite" was too much and also was a little under weight; but to return in the morning for further examination. After breakfast we bought some bananas and he ate about 6-8 of them to get his weight OK—but to no avail. He would not be accepted. (It was our belief all the officer wanted to do was check with higher authority). So we returned to camp Livingston and within a month I received Naval Orders to be discharged from Army service and await further orders. The date of discharge was Saturday, December 6, 1941 and I could not leave until the following Monday when the pay officer would be available for my severance pay.
On Sunday, December 7 after services in the morning, most everyone was laying around camp doing nothing when after lunch suddenly at this unusual time, we were called to company quarters on the compound when we were given notice of the Pearl Harbor attack and that the USA was now in a "state of war" as proclaimed by President Roosevelt.
Lamont Dulmes came over shortly and asked if I would drive his car home as he wouldn't be needing it anymore. So I didn't need to buy a train ticket and on Monday morning after being paid, started out for Wisconsin, arriving in Oostburg and arranging for Lamont's car to be driven to Adell at the home of his folks.
Audrey and I began dating about the time I graduated from High School and continued until I was in college at U of M. Forestry School at Ann Arbor, MI. Because of my uncertainty and too young to marry I asked to discontinue our dating. Now on arriving at home in December 1941, I had a strong desire to contact Audrey again. (I believed I always loved her). Surprisingly this was a mutual desire since my sister Una had recently received a letter from Audrey wanting to know my whereabouts. So I called Audrey and picked her up on arrival at her cousin's home in Milwaukee and we were together again. Praise the Lord.
CHAPTER 2
Eastern Seafront Duty
My naval career began at Notre Dame University V-7 training in January of 1942. After about six weeks our class was transferred to Northwestern Uinversity at Chicago and I was commissioned with many other men sometime in May of 1942. Dad and Mother, along with Audrey, attended the ceremony at Northwestern. My orders were to report to 1st Naval District at Boston for Eastern Sea Frontier Duty.
My first assignment was on a minesweeper out of Woods Hole, Mass. Worked as a junior deck officer until further orders to report to a shipyard in Quincy, Mass. where I met Lt. (jg) Sard. We were the assigned officer with 12 men to receive a large fishing vessel when commissioned. These vessels were designated YP and our shakedown cruise followed in Cape Cod Bay. Thence we were ordered to proceed to Caribbean Waters for anti-submarine warfare. At this time the German U-boat activity on the East coast and Caribbean was still very much alive. Near the entrance to Cape Cod Canal I counted fourteen (14) mastheads of ships sunk on approaching or leaving the canal. Our first stop was New York harbor and tied up at a Naval Station. In the morning when we wanted to leave, the officer in charge advised us the New York channel was mined by German subs,already sinking one ship in the channel. About five mine sweepers swept day and night for eleven days and finally we were allowed to leave.
Our next stop was Charleston harbor for more work needed on the ship's engine and some deck work. So I called Audrey to see if she would come visit as we estimated out time at Charleston to be about two weeks. Audrey came by train and we had two or three days together. Then we proceeded south again and that same night our engine failed. We were towed next day to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The tug boat towing us believed he could pass us over the harbor jetty now under water at high tide. Instead we were grounded and the vessel was hardbound on the jetty. We salvaged guns, depth charges, K-guns and ammunition. Then the Coast Guard blew her up right there.
After Sard and I transferred our crew, we
both requested Subchaser Training Center at Miami. We completed this training
in June of 1943 and I received orders to report on board USS SC-638 in
Mediterranean Waters and to Norfolk for further transportation with delay
time of 10 days at home. So I called Audrey and asked her to marry me and
both arranged to travel to Oostburg. We were married at the Presbyterian
parsonage on July 12, 1943. The reception was at my folks home. Audrey's
dad and stepmother, also James and Mary Bloomers were all there. Una and
Lee stood up for us. And Uncle Jim Wykhuis offered the cottage by the lake
to spend our honeymoon.
Audrey returned to Long Beach, California, and I to Norfolk. Along with about 12 other officers on travel assignment to the Mediterranean we had passage on an LST (Landing Ship Tank) in a convoy of about 80 ships, mostly Liberties and LST's. We were lead ship on the starboard column. As we entered the war channel at Gibraltar we began to come under enemy attack by strafing and torpedo runs from Nazi aircraft. One morning early somewhere east of Algiers we came under torpedo attack and while I was on watch starboard of the bridge, I observed a torpedo wake not more then 20 feet astern of our LST. That was a close one. I reported same very loud to the bridge and the skipper and I observed the wake as it proceeded in the direction of land. Two ships were left stranded behind the convoy on their own and I don't recall any others being hit. On reviewing this attack the only logical reason for the torpedo missing eight columns of ships is that the target was the Convoy Commanders vessel which was the lead ship in the Center Column with the torpedos missing other ships and passed by our stern, or possibly pilot error setting torpedo too deep for shallow draft LST's.
The Convoy destination was Bizerte harbor in Tunisia. Of the traveling officers about half found their assignments and the rest of us were berthed in bombed out buildings designated as barracks. The first night "red alert" sounded loud and clear. We hurried to the only shelter close by. This also was a bombed out brick structure and we entered a first floor room with ruins of upper floors on top. We took a very close hit that almost crumbled up our abode but fortunately it held together amongst dust and debris.
The USS SC-638 came into harbor a few days
later and I reported on board, relieving the Skipper on further assignment,
Jim Doran was now the new skipper. Tom Nason was Second officer and I was
third. Sometimes the second officer was designated Executive officer and
the Third officer was Gunnery officer. The rest of the ships compliment
was 24 men in various ranks of responsibilities. I was glas when Jim Doran
let me
do ship handling immediately. He said it was necessary
in case of serious injury or death of other officers. We had limited ship
handling at Miami but it all came to me very easily and I enjoyed it. Primary
knowledge of all officers and crew is position at "general quarters". (This
is the highest condition of any ship always sounded by ships horn under
imminent attack.) My position as 3rd officer was at the deck guns, and
depth charge racks. I generally stood with the 40 mil. gun crew forward
of the bridge.
At the time I came aboard the 638 the initial landing was made in Sicily, but we returned for submarine patrol and any other assistance needed. There was no more serious engagement at Sicily and soon the armies moved through the city of Palermo; this became our forward base.
CHAPTER 4
Salerno
Then we begin training at Bizerte for the
next landing which turned out to be Salerno (south and east of Naples).
We led troops in LCVP's on the 3rd wave going in on the U.S. landing area.
While returning on one of our trips into the beachhead, I counted 8 shell
holes in the port bow gate of the LST. That was always a favorite target
of German guns when troops, tanks etc. were deporting from LST's. We engaged
in much anti-aircraft firing and much bombardment by large Cruisers and
Battleships both British and American. There are high hills and small mountains
surronding the beaches and we had many alerts with German planes attacking
from the north with much return firing from all ships in the beach area.
It did not take very many days to secure the beach at Salerno as the armies
were rapidiliy advancing from Sicily, and meeting up with troops moving
out from Salerno.
Our next interesting duty was attending mine sweepers into Naples Bay. Our main work was anti-aircraft if attacked, and firing and exploding anchored mines whose cables were cut by sweepers and came floating on the surface. As I recall, we exploded about 6-8 mines in Naples Bay that day. It was thought this bay would be loaded with mines, but no so.
By this time the armies had moved forward capturing Naples and were about 10 miles north. With no further orders from command we decided to anchor or dock somewhere in the Naples area to get a little sleep overnight and went into a bay north of the city and found an old dock with old stone warehouse buildings and tied up there. (Talking with Tom I asked if this would be the area the Apostle Paul traveled through on his way to Rome and both agreed it very well could be. "Putcoli" -Acts 28:13 would be just north from us across this small bay---rather interesting! To get the spelling of this name, I checked with my Bible which I kept on a shelf next to my bunk in the Ward Room.)
In the interim of time from Salerno to the next landing we had various convoy work in the war channel and supporting beachheads with supplies. We were also ordered to Oran where radar was installed on the ship. This was an excellent addition for navagating, especially at night, for this radar could pick up an object at a distance of 24 miles. It was especially helpful in convoying since radar scope would show up all ships in the convoy and keeping our position in the screen forward of the convoy to obtain as close to 100% sonar screening as possible for detecting submarines.
We were in Naples harbor one night tied up between a British ship and others I don't remember. Naples had become an excellent supply area and at this particular time there was a tremendous amount of ammunition of all kinds piled on the docks across the bay from where we were. Had a "Red" alert around midnight and in all the confusion and noise from our AA guns we heard an "abandon ship" order on the British ship next to us. After the attack was over, the British officer said they were hit with a "dud" which went straight down through the ship and never exploded. By this time they had a wrapping around the ships bottom and holding their own. If that would not have been a "dud" we would have never known.
Training for the next landing began soon. We had practice landings in and around Bizerte and east along the Tunisian coast. Soon orders came in very much detail (as they did on all landings) consistings of separate sheets of instruction in book form about an inch thick. Our orders were written on 1/2 page where we would be in convoy and duties on the landing. We were also issued winter mackinaws with hoods for both officers and men. We thought this was foolish in the warm climate but weather did get colder as we approached Christmas season and later were very happy to have those heavy jackets for standing watch. I remember one time snow was actually falling at Anzio.
CHAPTER 5
Anzio, SC-522
All convoys were formed in the Gulf of Tunis
and when, we left we knew we were headed for a place north of Naples, called
Anzio. We arrived in that vicinity after midnight, and going further in
shore to the "anchorage", which was just north of the town of Anzio, we
stood by to take in the first waves going ashore. The LCVP's would be lowered
down from troop carrying vessels (mostly Libertys) and would circle in
groups of five. We would approach the circle and show our stern light for
them to steer on. They would form a V-shape group and follow close on our
fantail. We would then proceed into the beach and in about 10' of water
(we drew 8' astern) we would turn and come about, shouting through a megaphone
to the LCVP's to proceed straight on course to the beach. Then we would
go back for another group. In this manner all subchasers assigned to our
beach would be operating until all troops landed. Then all subchasers would
line up in a straight course from the anchorage to the beach, with stern
lights. This was the manner in which LCI's and LCT's were given direction
to the beach. LCT's carried one tank; LCI's carried about 200 troops. Later,
LST's, which were the workhorses of the war, moved in wherever possible
on the beach, opened their doors, lowered the ramp to unload more tanks,
and loaded troop trucks and othe supplies. To everyone's surprise there
was very little resistance on the landings, which were completed about
6AM. At this time about first light, stood close in and watched troops
and tanks maneuver inland through field glasses.
After 3-4 days the troops were not advancing because of a counterattack and we were ordered to stand by to escort troops "off" the beach and back on board ships if needed. But through reinforcements and counterattacks, the beach areas and town were secured and troops moved inland. So began one of the longest periods in the war of protecting a beachhead. We landed on January 22, 1944 and the beach was not secured until May.
Some incidents during this period in which
the 638 was engaged follows:
1) Going in on the landing area in the dark at night
we backed down on 3 separate floating mines, almost hitting one which could
blow the ship out of the water. Seven ships we know of
were sunk on this landing. Four were mine sweepers, one an LST and I don't
recall the others. When we first discovered the mine problem we lined up
about six men on each side of the bow of the ship as lookouts. In this
way we were able to avoid hitting other mines while proceeding "dead slow"
to the anchorage area. These German mines were swept by our own sweepers
just before the arrival of our landing forces.
2) The following morning, another LST anchored off the
beach and swinging on her anchor, hit an unswept mine and was sinking.
The 638 hurried over and began taking men off the bow. We out a mattress
on the deck forward because the sea was rough and our bow would go up and
down. As our bow rose up we would yell at those men to jump and one at
a time they jumped on the mattress and also picked up a few who clambered
down their anchor cable. (What a way to abandon ship.)
3) The days following the landing we often had 3 air
raids at night with flares lighting up the entire anchorage. (One time
I took a newsprint on deck and could easily read it). On all such raids,
subchasers, which were equipped with smoke generators on the stern, would
go back and forth throught the anchorage to envelope everything in the
protection of a cloud of smoke. In this way enemy aircraft could not see
a good target. One evening as we were beginning to smoke we observed a
large number of men in the water near a Liberty ship and started to pick
them up. In all we had 124 soldiers who, 11 days before, left New York
harbor. A sergeant said they were ordered to abandon ship - but the
ship was never hit. Our central ship signaled over and asked what we were
doing. Soon after we were ordered to put the men back on board the Liberty.
We went alongside and the troops started climbing up the nets to get back
on board. At the same time, new flares lit up everything and ordered our
boatswain to use an axe to cut off our forward line and threw off all other
lines- then backed down to get stern out, then all engines forward and
away. At that moment, planes came over and dropped bombs. As I was watching
astern, I saw a bomb land right in our wake. One moment earlier we could
have been blown out of the water. That was anothe close one.
4) Later the Nazi's developed what was known as a "radio
controlled" bomb which was quite effective. We were alerted to the
possible sighting of 3 enemy aircraft during an "alert", 2 of which carried
the bomb and the lead ship did the radio control when to release. We were
also told if you saw a red light on the lead ship you were the target.
One night during a "red alert" I was about to climb up to the bridge and
saw that red light and gave a loud yell. Within a moment she dropped on
our port beam about 50' away. The ship seemed to rise up about a foot.
We lost all use of our guns after a very high column of water and debris
(much sand and gravel) came down on us and with all gun barrels pointing
straight up. Also lost some electric circuits, but the engines were OK,
and we developed no leaks anywhere. It took us about 2-3 hours cleaning
up everything before we were operable again.
5) While on the beachhead one day we were ordered alongside
our Control Ship and given a message to deliver "in person" to some officer
on the frontlines of the forward units on the beach. We proceeded into
the harbor, tying up alongside an LCI (British) on which was the harbor
control officer. Jim Doran, our skipper, requested a jeep for this delivery.
While Jim was gone we had an air raid. Six German planes dived down on
targets in town, followed by 3 Spitfires. Ground fire from the beach and
the 638 and LCI alongside managed to hit a Spitfire. Fortunately the pilot
bailed out and we could see him land safely on the edge of town. When Jim
returned we threw off lines and proceeded out of the harbor. As we were
rounding the end of the jetty the Germans began firing their 88's or the
larger railroad guns from up in the hills (there was nothing out of range
of these big guns which fired into the anchorage many times)-- one shell
hit the LCI which we had been tied to only moments before. The LCI was
blown in half, all aboard were killed and she sank at her berthing. That
was another close one. (Thoughs were the Germans got wind of a strange
ship in the harbor and we were, no doubt, the target.) Nevertheless, LST's
were also just beginning to come in to unload their cargo which were trucks
loaded with troops and supplies. But they were not close to the dock where
the LCI was berthed. We will never know. (Nevertheless, it still was a
close one).
6) After about 3-4 weeks, subchasers were given a 3-day
rest to fuel up and renew supplies. I regret I cannot recall where this
following encounter occurred. Nevertheless we were tied up to two subchasers,
and soon after, a British launch tied up alongside the 638. One of the
British officers came aboard, talked for awhile, then asked if we could
spare a gallon can of jelly, of which we had a fair supply. He said he
would send over a bottle of "rum" in return. I asked our "cookie" to bring
over the jelly. But by nightfall no rum came aboard and the launch left
early. "Out-foxed again". We left shortly thereafter and never thought
about the incident except for news of 2 subchasers that were sunk at this
place. Checking our log, these were the two ships that were hit and sunk
with many men killed. (Another close one should we have stayed overnight).
About this time at Palermo, a new officer came aboard to relieve Jim Doran of command. Now Tom became the skipper and Smithy took my place.
Before the army troops at Anzio met with the allied armies from the south through Casterno pass, the 638, along with the USS SC-522, was ordered to proceed to Palermo to take on fuel and supplies, then to proceed to Taranto and report to a British officer in charge of Adriatic Waters. The skipper of the 522 was an "old Swede" by the name of Thorsen. We called him the Old Swede but he was senior to Tom, so in this trip, the 522 led the way. Thorsen was a good man and a good leader.
Our orders were to proceed up the eastern coats of Italy and thence across (actually north) the sea to a very small island called "Vis" along the Yugoslavian coast, where we were to relieve British launches who were intercepting German E-Boats convoying barges down the coast to Albania (Nazi). Yugoslavia was Allied. The next morning while traveling with the 522, we observed at a distance a low column of smoke from shore blowing straight out to sea, rising slowly as the distance seaward increased. I felt a strong need to steer out to sea and not go through-- and suggested to Tom. He didn't think it was necessary. A short time later I again suggested we steer to seaward and pass well under the smoke. Finally Tom consented, and signaled to the 522 our intention and the 522 did change course with us and we passed under the smoke without incident. Later we learned there was an air attack on a town called Bari, where the U.S. docked "gas" ships if gas was ever needed. One such ship was hit and some 600 people and crew died or killed. We indeed were heading straight through the poison gas mixed with smoke of the burning ship. Fortunately, we passed well under and were not affected. Later there were other attacks on this port with apparent loss of life from these gas loaded ships.
On approaching Vis, we met the British Launches who were leaving. Some were badly shot up on their bows and other parts of the ship. Our whole crew was somewhat alarmed at what kind of war we were about to be engaged in. The dock at Vis was very small so we mostly anchored out somewhat from the dock. When Thorsen and Tom returned after reporting to the British officer there, we learned more about our work to come. That afternoon a plane flew over too high for our guns, and it was presumed to be a German observation plane taking some pictures. There was also a few British Spitfires on a small field and sometimes would escort us back from longer journeys up and down the coast.
Our orders were simple. Patrol only at night as much as possible and engage E-Boats and barges encountered. Thorsen was senior officer, and when underway, we followed astern and either to starboard or port somewhat, so that our 40mm gun would always bear on an imminent target. The coast here, as you may observe on a map of the area, is covered with islands and channels. We began by laying to in a channel believed to be used by E-Boats and barges, and standing a radar watch. It was never our intention to go out openly and patrol and be a target when we had radar. (Possibly a week or 10 nights went by and we encountered nothing).
At about this time the U.S. air corp operating out of Foggia air base in Italy began large raids on Ploesti oil fields in Rumania. Their route traversed our area and we would watch 200-300 and up to 1000 planes come over in the morning and begin returning later in the afternoon. Planes which were hit, flying low, and seemingly about to crash, would ditch their crews and come down in parachutes. When we observed them, we would pick up men in the water and bring them to Vis. On one occasion we pulled an officer aboard. He was a navigator he said. He seemed to be O.K. but we set him down to rest. A few moments later he just fell over and died. Such tragic things were not unusual in war.
Some time later we were ordered back to Vis for something unusual. There were LCI's laying to at Vis and other vessels. The plan was to land about 3000 men under a British Colonel to attack German forces who were beginning to surround Tito's defenses. The 522 and 638 were to escort all these troops with LCI's to a selected beach near a town called "Split" on the mainland of Yugoslavia. On the appointed night we left after dark with LCI's following, and before daylight, going back and forth, landed all troops at the landing site. There were British Commandos and American Rangersalong with Yugoslavian troops. Then the 522 and 638 laid off shore until troops returned to be escorted back to Vis.
While laying-to, our lookouts observed enemy planes approaching. They turned out to be 2 German ME 109's (Messerschidts). They made a big circle and approached us from the south. Fortunately our bows guns were also pointing south so our 40mm guns were at an advantage and when in range opened fire. One was hit and plunged into the sea. The other for some unknown reason banked his plane and turning to port, exposed his belly and was also hit. He turned inland over some high hills, and when last seen, we observed smoke from his engine.
When the troops all came back on the third day, the British commander confirmed that we also got that second plane as they observed it crash into the ground. We then proceeded to escort all troops back to Vis and this diversionary incident ended.
Sometime later while on patrol, toward evening
we observed some unusual vessels proceeding into a channel to the north.
Bringing engines up to full speed and following 522, we skidded over underlying
rocks which put us out of commission. One of our own men went overside
and reported all props bent and shafts out of line. We immediately signaled
522 to proceed without us. After about an hour 522 returned without encountering
enemy (they were Yugoslavian) and took us in tow to Vis, thence to a ship
yard at Brindisi which had a dry dock. The 522 proceeded back to Palermo
in preparation for the final landing in Southern France.
Tom asked me to go for new screws and shafts by truck and driver to Naples. Traveling over mountains day and night we were back in Brindisi in 3 days, and in another few days were on our way to Palermo also. On arrival there, we received our orders for the landing of Southern France and learned all convoys were already under way about abeam of Naples, heading toward Corsica (Island). As soon as we took on ammunition and supplies, we headed out at full speed and met the convoys the next day. On approaching, we received orders to take up position in the first convoy group, and all sailed on to the bay between Corsica and Sardinia for a period of rest-- and then on to Southern France.
We proceeded to a place somewhere off the coast from St. Raphael. As usual on all landings, the aircraft carriers and battleships with cruisers and destroyers lined up in a half circle to bombard the landing areas after aerial attacks were completed from the carriers. This was always a sight to observe and always seemed there could be no enemy alive on those beaches. I believe we were the third ship taking LCVP's into St. Raphael harbor, which was our landing site. On coming out about the 3rd trip in, the LCT's/tanks proceeded in. As we were moving out on our last trip with very little resistance, consisting mostly of small arms shelling from the beach, a British LCT signaled us "He is dead". As we approached their vessel, an officer called over saying this officer was killed by fire from the beach and could we take him to the headquarters ship. This we did and it was about the last worthwhile work on the beach at St. Raphael. The troops moved in fast. Before we landed, the German forces were already retreating and only left half a token force.
After patrolling for about a month, we were finally ordered into Marseilles harbor to take on ammunition and a full supply of fuel and food, and then back to the harbor of Toulon, which was a large French Naval base, mostly loaded with sunken French ships. Here we were ordered to send one officer and half of our crew to a U.S. Cruiser nearby for transportation home. Then we took on a French naval officer (he was a 2-striper) and about 10 men for training. Along with the men came a full wooden barrel of wine, and it was set up on the fantail. During the two-week period of training, we had a glass of wine each evening at supper. It was new wine with very little strength. We then came back to Toulon and turned the ship over to the French, lowering the American flag and raising the French tri-color to fly on the old 638 from then on.
Tom and I, with remainder of our crew also boarded a U.S. Crusier and returned to Oran, and the left on a fast transport to New York, arriving there about the last week of November.
I called Elsie and Len Kranendonk and was invited to stay overnight. I was to leave by train for Chicago the next day. That evening Elsie took me to see the Fred Waring show. (Len sang in the Waring chorus). After the show, Elsie introduced me to Fred Waring as he moved through the crowd, aspecially congratulating all service men in the audience.
The following morning I boarded a train for Chicago. It was an old one of about WWI vintage. It has an old pot-belly stove in each coach, and as we traveled, there was much coal dust and smoke coming through the windows. (This was just one small thing the folks at home sacrificed to carry on the needs of the war). In Chicago I went immediately to a men's room and a black man (custodian) took off my shirt and cleaned the collar and front and it looked somewhat more presentable.
Nevertheless, on arriving home at Oostburg,
I no doubt had to explain my awful appearance to Audrey and all. We were
together again for awhilw, and following orders, left for San Francisco
with Audrey and arrived there on or about December 12, 1944, and stayed
there at the same hotel where Scotty and his wife, Sally, were staying
(Scotty was second officer on the 522). As I recall, we learned to eat
avocado from them while in San Francisco, and we still favor avocado very
much today. Our orders were to leave by Transport on the 19th. Being so
close to Christmas, Scotty and I went up to Naval Headquarters to extend
our departure until after Christmas so we could celebrate the holidays
with our wives--but to no avail--the war had to go on.
CHAPTER 9
SC-531
Reporting in at Pearl Harbor, my orders were endorsed for further transportation, along with a master Sgt., was on a PBY that also carried the mail and it had a good load. We flew for three days, only during daylight hours,and reported to headquarters at Espirito Santos in the New Hebrides, and then aboard USS 531 which was operating on patrol at this base. I relieved the skipper and assumed command in a proper ceremonial event on board with the crew in attendance.
Steve was the second officer and should have taken command instead, but did not want that responsibility. We also had a new Ensign who had recently reported for duty on first assignment. His first name was Ray and was a very good man. The Esprit de Corps of the crew was not good and the ship was not in the best condition all around. With as much diplomacy as I could muster with time to understand the problems, I told Steve we would have a full inspection of men and the ship the following day since we had a few days left in port before relieving the other SC presently on patrol. (The skipper's name of this SC was Smith and called him Smitty).
During this inspection I found much that needed attention. For instance, both of the crews' toilets were not functioning properly, other things were broken and needed to be repaired. Men needed new uniform parts and shoes. Fortunately there was a full supply depot at this base. After talking to the officer in charge, he very willingly accomodated us with all we requisitioned. So we "fixed up" the ship and as this was being accomplished in a period of about a month, I interviewed about 3-4 men a day to become more familiar with each one's circumstance. I found about 8 men who had been on this vessel for 2 years or more, which in my opinion was too long on these smaller ships. So I called them together and told them I intended, within limits of my authority, to find replacements for them so they could be sent home for further assignment. Within the next 3 months I challenged every personnel officer ashore or on board other larger ships passing through for replacements and did suceed in getting those 8 men transferred. These 8 men were higher ratings so we just trained men to take their places. For instance we had a Motor Machinist 2nd Class (MM2) to be in charge of the engine room. We asked him if he felt able to take over and said he could. He did such a good job, so we promoted him to 1st class, and along with other such promotions things were looking up, and morale was the way it should be.
Duty here was in an area way back from the war-- so to speak. Harbor entrance patrol was no more than directing ships passing through or coming in. Yet we continued sonar watches all the time and never had a submarine alert or any other kind of alert. This was nothing more than a cruise in the South Seas for me with as much fun as we could discover within our responsibilities. Every week while on patrol, the large base garbage barge would dump near our course. As I recall, we had 9 old Springfield rifles on board. So we lined up men and fired into all the sharks, manta rays, and other such sea animals that were feeding on the garbage. That was good sport. We officers even used our pistols and let the men fire them too. The cook made cakes for the men and had some birthday parties on board with all the trimmings. This is what this ship needed to bring it back to excellent morale.
One day a large cargo vessel flying the Greek flag came in and proceeded down the wrong channel, so we signaled her to stop, come about, and "follow me". She did so. As we were about halfway to the main channel, she turned about and headed back through the same channel. We did the same and continues signalling to stop and come about. Not so-- so we fired the 40mm across her bow. This time she stopped dead in her tracks, came about and again followed us. Shortly, and to our amazement, she stoped again, turned around and headed for the wrong channel, so I said to Steve "I hope she hits an unswept mine and sinks". I was very angry. (The channels not used were actually swept clear sometime before, but no chances were supposed to be taken). Open ending this patrol, I immediately wnet up to our shore C.O. (the mad Russian as we called him) at Naval Headquarters and he invited me to sit down. I told him I was very disturbed over the action of the Greek vessel. He threw up his arms and said, "Oh, all this is taken care of-- we need not take up the matter anymore".
The next morning, our ship was relieved of all duties at Espiritos and ordered to proceed to American Samoan Island for further duty. I was quite sure why we were given this wonderful assignment to the beautiful Pago Pago harbor and surroundings. It was because the Commanding Officer at Espiritos had countermanded his own orders concerning the Greek vessel. I could have given him a bad time, but chose not to do so.
American Samoa (Pago Pago harbor) is the remain of an extinct volcano, surrounded by beautiful wooded hills, leaving a natural harbor entrance on the south. On arrival here, our first observation was a beautiful looking villa on a hill to the left on entering the short channel. This turned out to be the Governors house. The Governor is always a U.S. Naval officer in peace and war. On arrival, I did not report into headquarters immediately. This is a peacetime rule but not adhered to strickly during war. I intended to do so in the morning. But in the morning before I was ready to leave a Lt. (jg) came aboard and said I should report in as soon as possbile. So I did. The Commander's office was spacious and as I introduced myself to his secretary she led me across the room asked me to sit down before an opened door. She went in to report I was here. I could see a naval officer across this office sitting at his desk. Out of spite-- I think-- I waited for a good hour before being asked to enter. On saluting him (He was a 4 striper) he began to call me out in no uncertain terms for not reporting immediately. I believe this went on for 5 minutes. It didn't bother me one bit. When he was through he asked "Where are you from Lieutenant?". I said "From Wisconsin". That seemed to lighten his face somewhat as he also was from the midwest. He said "Have a seat". And following we had a nice discussion. In the end he was rather pleasant.
He expected us to train each day, covering about all exercises in the Naval manual. I got together with Steve and Ray and said we were not going to do it all-- only what could be observed from shore. So we had signal practice, flag signal practice, radio and sonar training, and once a week we would go all out to exercise all in the gunnery area. We would go out a few miles off from the Villa so the Governor could see us. We fired all guns, fired a few depth charges, and practiced some flag signalling. We must have scored a fair rating since I soon had an invitation to dinner at the Villa with the Governor. (In those days naval officers in such positions had male Philippino "bus" boys who cooked and served the dinner}. After the dinner the Captain inquired if I played dominoes and I responded in the affirmative. From that time on I played Dominoes with the Captain about once a week. My other officers on occasion were also invited. What a war !
There was a large naval tug boat also stationed at Pago Pago. The skipper was of the same rank as I but he was regular navy and didn't have much to do with reserve officers so I stayed my distance. I also noticed he was never invited to dinner at the Villa-- which was fine with me. Believe the Captain didn't like him either.
CHAPTER 11 Noumea, New Caledonia
After about six weeks, we received orders to proceed to Noumea harbor at New Caledonia. We stopped at Suva (Fiji Islands) for fuel and water and at evening left for Noumea.
The weather was beautiful and seas were calm, but about midnight we ran into one of the worse storms I'd encountered in the war. We had about 2-3 days to travel a distance of 1,000 miles. The wind was on our stern so we wallowed a lot making steering difficult. The stern was awash much of the time, and for safety of the crew we strung ropes fore and aft for walking on the deck. I discusssed our situation with the other officers and decided to slow our speed and favor the sea only if absolutely necessary. So we continued on course, steering 20 degrees off to correct for sea and the wind. I did not get a star, moon or sun sight for three days and had no idea how far we were being driven off course. At midnight on the third day we had radar signal dead ahead at 24 miles. As we proceeded the shoreline began to show and I found we were heading straight for one of the small islands on the east of New Caledonia. We were 20 miles off course and very happy about it all.
Now the storm was abating ae we entered Noumea harbor and we went immediately into drydocks to have our shafts and screws (propellers) checked. Smithy's ship was already here so we would travel together again. He and I went up to Naval headquarters on the possibility of taking a 3 day vacation to New Zealand-- but not so. The commander here said we had to proceed without delay for Pearl Harbor. Everyone was aware that this was in preparation for the final push on Japan itself. From Noumea to Pearl was about 6,000 miles-- a rather long journey.
CHAPTER 12 Pearl Harbor and Home
On leaving Noumea we headed for Espirito Santos. I was senior to Smith, so was first ship in line and responsible for navigating. (This didn't mean much because we always touched base with each other on speed, course and weather). On approaching Espirito in the evening, our radioman came rushing up on deck advising of a terribly big bomb that was dropped on Japan which turned out to be Hiroshima, and was an atomic bomb. This was August 6, 1945. The next morning we left for Funafuti in the Tuvali Group, then on to Canton (sometimes spelled with a "K"-- this was an old coaling station for U.S. ships). The following morning we left for Palmyra station and stayed overnight. This is another beautiful island.
In the morning we left on the last leg of our journey to Pearl for a distance of about 1,500 miles. On the second or third day out, Smithy's ship began to lay behind and signalled that one of his shafts was out so could only operate under one engine. We decided to radio Pearl Harbor to send a tug. Our reasoning was to not have our ship also jeopardized by taking Smithy in tow because of general condition of our vessels and likely to have both vessels down.
At about this time the second Atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and all of us presumed this could end the war-- which it did.
The tug boat arrived in about 1 1/2 days, took Smithy's ship in tow, and proceeded to Pearl. On receiving our mail at Pearl I had orders to proceed to Washington, D.C. and enter Destroyer Escort school. However, when contacting Naval Headquarters at Pearl, I was offered to follow these orders and get home faster. So I turned the ship over to Steve with proper ceremony and the following day boarded a fast transport headed for San Francisco. I don't remember what day we arrived, nevertheless I phoned Audrey immediately and she arrived in another day or two and we were together again in San Francisco. Rather than going to Chicago on our own expense, Audrey was allowed to travel with me on a troop train. She had to sleep in the Nurses' quarters and I slept with the conductor. It wasn't a good arrangment-- Audrey didn't like the rough language of the Nurses, but she could come to the Conductors' quarters during the day and so we had good days to travel.
On arrival at home, Dad said Audrey and I
were to live with them, not to worry, and to take it easy for a few months.
I couldn't agree more and Ma was happy to have Audrey with her for awhile.
A few days later I had to report in at Great Lakes Naval Training Station
at Chicago where I received orders to inactive duty in the Naval Reserve.
It was five years later when, as Park Manager at Wilderness State Park
west of Mackinaw City, MI., I received additional orders to continue in
the Naval Reserve or be discharged. That order came down at the beginning
of the Korean war and I knew I would be recalled as a reasonably experienced
Deck Officer-- so I chose to be discharged. A reserve officer I knew in
Petoskey at that time who was not married was called back to active duty.
So this, as one could say, ended my military
service.
Recently, a news item on T.V. attracted my attention. It spoke of a large Church in Texas which had 52 of its members in military service during WWII. And by continuous prayer, without ceasing, all 52 members returned home.
By implication, I was strangely reminded of the similarity at our First Reformed Church in Oostburg which had 22 members (as I can recall) in service and all returned home. The names of all were listed and posted on the wall to the right of the pulpit where all could easily see. My brothers Roy and Burt and myself were included.
And presumably by continuous prayers, without ceasing, we all did indeed return home.
I believe the Holy Spirit led me to write this account, urged to do so by occasional comments from our children, grandchildren and others. I write not in honor whatsoever to myself, but all honor, praise, and glory to our Lord, and hence it becomes an excellent witness how God answers prayer without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17) (Eph. 6:18). May we all continue to pray without ceasing in the days forthcoming. Amen.
P.S. It is also a miracle when God can save the life of one person experiencing so many "close ones", and only confirms again, we are to continue in Prayer without ceasing.
P.P.S. And I also believe it was Audrey's prayers
(as I always asked her to pray) on top of all other prayers, that gave
God's assurance of my returning home. I can truly say, I had few thoughts
to the contrary.