This is just a little something to get is started. If there are questions or comments...I'll ask him and I'll post them. I think he may be lurking here though...cause he asked me for the link
Dad entered the service on January 11th, 1944. He was drafted and decided to go into the Navy. Boot camp was Sampson NY (Lake Geneva) 12 weeks of boot camp.
Then he went to Naval Training Station Purdue University for 16 weeks of Electrical Engineering.
After Perdue he was transferred to Treasure Island California. He was guarding prisoners in the brig. Stayed there for a bit…then shipped overseas on board the General John Pope (troop ship) Arrived at Milney Bay New Guinea around August of 1944.
While at Treasure Island…some guy missed a bus. Some Marine with a swagger stick (dad’s words) wanted dad to make him run around the grinder. Dad let him walk….so HE had to run around the grinder…lol
New Guinea was a stop over before transferring to Boganville. Went aboard LCT 322 , Flotilla 5, as an electricians mate 2nd class and his duties were maintenance of Hill diesel generator and a Kohler gasoline engine and assisting the motor mac with engine repairs. Served there till March of 1946. Then went aboard the USS Oak Hill, LSD 7. They brought back 3 LCT’s with him, but he doesn’t remember the hull numbers. Then transferred to Philly Naval base onto the USS Wichita.
Now some other stuff….
While at Boganville, LCT 322….he was on radio watch during the Japanese surrender and went down and woke everyone up!! The Australians were firing guns and fireworks.
Some shipmates on the LCT 322… Captain was Ensign Brinn (spelling?) Motor MAC was Gerald Larabell (spelling?) from Grand Rapids Michigan. he only remembers the cook as Rootan. He remembers Whitey Sorrenson, from Utah….he was a seaman on the ship. Davis was an Electricians Mate 3rd class, from Bessemer Alabama.
One story he remembers about his skipper, Ensign Brinn….is he tried for what seems like an hour to get a flashlight to light… banging it, taking it apart…he finally got so mad at it, that he threw it in the water…and of course…once it hit the water, it lit and he watched it sunk.
He also remembers a few guys from LCT 924 (he thinks) …they were tied up along side each other many times. Hickory Star (Cherokee) from Gore Oklahoma and Frank H. Browning, a quartermaster from Hamilton Ohio.
On board the USS Oak Hill…they were returning LCTs to Pearl Harbor (either there or San Francisco…he thinks it was Pearl Harbor) While on the Oak Hill his brand new Foul Weather Jacket was STOLEN. (He’s saying that with a glare in his eyes) Whoever took it left an old on in it’s place….but he’s still mad about it…lol
In total he was in 26 months. 20 May 1946 was his discharge date.
He joined the Naval Reserve for 4 years, but that turned into 8 years. But I guess that was an Inactive status.
Not many wartime stories he said most of the time was taken up by taking supplies to the shore, from the ship…the ships had to anchor out in the harbor. The Japanese used to string the harbor with bombs and such to keep them out…but luckily they never got hit.
Another “small world” story….he met a childhood friend, from the same small town (about 100 people total) walking down the beach at Boganville.
LCT322 -
