Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?

Coming from the theater after a Sunday afternoon matinee.

What was your initial reaction?

Shocked, stunned.

How old were you?

15

Was it then that you decided to join the service?

Well, I was too young to enlist then, yeah, I guess you want to go.

When did you enlist and how old were you?

1943. 17.

What branch of the service?

The Navy.

Why did you join the Navy?

I was always kind of interested in the Navy.

Where did you train?

Camp Scott, Faragutt, Idaho.

How long?

About 90 days.

Where did you go after that?

I went to storekeeper school. Then there was some additional training.

Where? Back at Camp Scott?

Yeah.

Where were you stationed after training?

I was assigned to the Wyandott.

Where was it?

It was being built in Oakland, California.

So you were sent to Oakland?

Yeah, that's where we boarded it.

What was your job on the ship?

Storekeeper.

What did you do?

Supplies...Well you got to load the ship, get the supplies on. Got to take care of the supplies.

What type of ship was the Wyandott?

Auxiliary Cargo Assault Ship.

Once you were on the Wyandott, where'd you go?

Well, first you've got your shakedown crew. Make sure everything's working fine.

After that was all settled we headed out to the Pacific.

What was your first mission?

Oh Lord.

Or one of your first?

We had several loads to haul before we got to go where we wanted to go. I have no idea where we went after we left Pearl. The Marshall's are out there.

So you went to Pearl Harbor first?

Oh yeah, we went to Pearl first. I remember going to Guam, Newantiak. Down in Taknotobia in the Philippines. We kind of bounced around like that.

You said you were chased by subs.

Yeah, one time.

How did you get out of it?

I can still see those destroyers.

Shooting it?

Yeah, trying to save our butts, I guess. Shooting at it.

Were you in convoys a lot?

Not until we went to Okinawa.

Did you have to refuel often?

I remember seeing it once. The guy pulled it(the tanker)along side our ship like it was a car.

So you mainly delivered supplies?

Delivered some stuff to start off with.

Was it mostly naval, marine bases?

Yeah. Islands that hadn't been captured, you know, like Guam, Saipan, and those places. Daylube. Philippines. It was in the Philippines that we loaded for the invasion...(paused to collect himself)of Okinawa.

What role did you play?

Well, we had part of the 10th Army on there. We had materials they needed, their supplies. We were hauling them up. That's what is says, assault ship. An attack ship. We made it up to Ganeretto. That's when we caught the bombs. We were up there in the Ryukin's. That's where we caught the bombs, up in there.

So you were at the battle of Okinawa?

Yeah, we were in the Okinawa invasion. I remember we got up there. We were going to hit 'em. We got up and had our briefing at 2:30 in the morning or something like that. Went to our battle stations. I was in a position where I was looking at where we were going to hit them. Anyway, it got to be daylight. We're in the back were you've got your heavier ships and your lighter ships. We started bombing her (Okinawa), softening her up. I can still remember those guns. After pounding them we sent out bombers. Finish the job I guess. I don't know. We did have troops on the ship.

Were they Army or Marines?

10th Army. Most of them were east coast. I got to deal with most of the east-coast guys. Good bunch of buys.

So you dropped them off?

Yeah, they had to get to the islands. I mean whatever their target was.

Where did you go after you were bombed?

They towed us in. ..It took us a couple of weeks to get the ship patched up so we could get going. They had to tow us in backwards. I remember that.

What ship towed you?

Don't know?

Once the ship was fixed where did you go?

First we had to discharge our gear. We did pretty good. We got 85%. Then after we got rid of all of it, we left our boats, we left everything up there. We had to get back to the States to get patched up.

What dry docks?

San Pedro, California.

How long did it take to fix?

I don't know, but some guys got transferred.

What year was this?

1945

What happened to you?