| DESA members have shared their memories of the events surrounding the Japanese surrender that ended WWII.
This was a day few will ever forget.
There are many family members of DE sailors who visit this website and are very interested in your memories, so please share them with us, as well
as your shipmates. Keep the memories alive.
If you have a memory you would like included here, contact the webmaster.
Robert Mills, SOM2C - USS Stockdale DE 399 We were at Pearl Harbor on 2
august 1945. We were watching a movie on the fantail when the word came, and I must say we were privileged to watch a fantastic view of fireworks and Very
Pistols that night. We had been training in Guantanimo, Cuba against air attack, and were ready for what might come in thePacific. After the surrender on the USS
Missouri, we set sail for Japan and were there while the USS Missouri was still there. Shortly after we received orders to leave on a mission to search for
downed pilots that might be located on some of the islands in the South Pacific. Fortunately we never found any pilots that were still stranded. Alvin Travis Coleman - USS Upham APD 99
Comments:
On VE Day, I was sitting on the aft deck of the USS Upham in
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as a 16 year old Ship Serviceman - Laundry (I
used a high school record with an incorrect birth date to get in).
On VJ Day I was still on the Upham in Norfolk, VA. After the war, I
helped to decommission my ship plus many others in Green Cove
Springs Florida on the Saint Johns River before moving on to the
carriers FDR (CVB-42) and the Midway (CVB-41)
Rhoderick Blue - USS Brough DE 148
Comments:
On this date we were at Pearl Harbor waiting for further assignment. It was also my first wedding anniversary and I am still with the same girl. I remember that we celebrated quite a bit
aboard the ship. It was even possible, with a little ingenuity, to find a cold beer to celebrate with. I still have fond memories of all of the old crew and stay in touch with a number of
them. Rod Blue Bkr 2/c
Frank Gorges Rm 2/C - USS Pettit DE 253
Comments:
Our ship (One of 30 DE's manned by the Coast Guard) was in Pearl Harbor on VJ day. We had been there for a month and made daily runs with our planes flying by to give us a chance to see
how well we could track them with our 40 MM guns. We did not do too well and I'm afraid that had we gone in on the proposed invasion, we would have been unable to hit any Japanese planes
that were involved. Our ship was assigned the duty of going out to American Samoa and operating out of there to search for lost pilots. We visited many atolls and found no survivors. I
was releived of duty and a group of us came back from Samoa on the SS Matsonia, the flagship of the Matson Line. We came into Seattle and came East on day trains and I was discharged in
Phila.Nov. 1945. Ourduty in the North Atlantic was running convoys and our home port was Brooklyn. we hd a total of 24 crossings with home ports in Ireland and England. Our first convoy
was to Casabalanca.
John E. (Mac) McCullough RM2/c - USS Levy DE 162
Comments:
Before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima Levy had been dispatched to Mille to rescue natives who Intelligence said wanted to get off the atoll. Also some Korean forced laborers
supposedly expressed similar wishes. We were told by Marine officers that we could get very close in, just out of range of small arms fire since Marind air strikes had taken out all
coastal artillery stuff. On our first sweep, with Marine artillery observers directing our fire we raked the beach with quad 40mm fire trying to set fires and one or two were observed.
Although all guns were manned we were not at General Quarters. I was on watch in the radio shack and had a buddy relieve me while I went out on the boat deck to see what was going on. The
moment I stepped outside a "whoosh" went between me and the stack, then another and another. This apparenly was one big gun the Marine air strikes missed. Hilariously the PA systme
crackled and someone yelled, "Duck everybody, duck!!" as the Levy revved up and put distance between the atoll and us. The whaleboat had been slung outboard ready to be dropped if we saw
swimmers. There were none that first day. Levy retired over the horizion while the skipper, Clarence Clarenbach, the Commander Cortdiv 11, Harold Cross and the Marine officers aboard
decided on the next move. That night we went around to the reef side of Mille and saw hundreds of torches out on the reef. The starving Japanese garrison were fishing with torches to
attract and bludgeon reef fish for protein. We opened up on them and the torches went out one by one. A few days later we had Nisei Japanes (Japanese Americans) talk to the garrisons on
bull horns advising them to surrender. No whoosh this time so I guess they were at least listening to what was being said. I was taken off Levy at this point and sent to hospital on
Majuro, our operating base at the time....diagnosed with toxicicity from Benzedrine which I had been taking while on four on and four off day after day...a doctor on Eniwetok had
prescribed them for me and did not caution me on their usage. I was in a ward shared with Japanese prisoners from various Marshall Island battles and several of them died because of
extremem malnutrition. A Japanese "trustie" who spoke perfect English handled their military burials. This prisoner was a Nisei who lived in Brazil but got caught in Japan at the war's
start and joined the imperial Navy. I was flown to Kwajalein, spent several weeks recuperating there, then to Pearl where I was in the hospital in Aiea and finally went aboard the Big E
to return to the states for Navy Day celebration in NY harbor. Entered NY harbor at first light on Navy Day, were reviewed by President Truman and then docked at one of the Hudson river
piers. I went to St. Alban's Naval hospital till about mid December and was returned to duty at the Philadelphia Naval Base. (Philly is my home town so I got "subs and quarters") I was on
a boy cruise and had more than enough points to get discharged but had to wait till my four years were up. I took a 3 month extension on my enlistment, was sent to Bainbridge where I had
gone to "boots" and was honorably discharged Aug. 20, 1946.
James F. Cole - USS Blackwood DE 219
Comments:
We were in Pearl Harbor during the Japanese surrender. The harbor was lit up like the fourth of July plus. We brought quite a few people back to the "States" I also saw my borther Seaman
Charles E. Cole who was on the USS Hornet and anchored there.
John B. Naylor - USS COFFMAN DE 191
Comments:
August 14, 1945 - Our ship was operating out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island, training pilots on this date.
Robert L. Jones - USS Corbesier DE 438
Comments:
We were patrolling entrance to Buckner Bay, Okinawa. It was like 8 or 9 PM. Lot of AA fire was going up from the beach area, couldn't figure out why? Hadn't seen any Jap planes. Went to
GQ twice. Finally the skipper H.V. Jones, JR of Kansas City announced over the loud speaker system; There is a rumor that the war is over and they are celebrating on yhe island. Island
commander has called Condition Red to try to stop the shooting; if it is true we will have beer on the fantail tomorrow. It was true but we didn't get the beer, some one or persons
unknown had stole the beer. That was August 13th, which means the end of the war to us. Thankful that the bomb was dropped, otherwise I would have died in November off Kyushu from
Kamikaze attack along with the rest of the crew. September 2nd, we were still at Buckner Bay but on November 5th we hit San Diego. Amen It was over!
George E Boddy - USS McConnell DE 163
Comments:
We were with the USS LEVY at Mille during the surrender.The surrender of Jaluit was signed on board the McConnell as i have photos and written information about the surrenders of Mille
and Jaluit.Also with us was the BARON DE 166 and the WINGFIELD DE 194 and two LCI's the 392 and 481.Ihave already sent DESA some photos and written information that I have.
James Dee Ray - Douglas A. Munro DE 422
Comments:
We were anchored in Leyte Gulf enjoying the sun and taking on stores.
Frank Gallenstein - USS Connolly DE 306
Comments:
The Connolly was in Manila Bay awaiting orders to go to Subic Bay to escort the Japanese hospital ship, Tachibana Maru, with a full Japanese crew, to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands.
Elmer O. Clarke - Fessenden DE 142
Comments:
We were at Pearl Harbor when Japan surrendered.
|
