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Q. Why did you enlist?
A. The United States was at war and men between the ages of
eighteen and thirty eight were subject to be drafted into the
Army or Navy--I chose to enlist so that I could learn to fly
rather than be drafted as a soldier or sailor.
Q. Did you enlist with any of your friends or family?
A. Yes. My brother and I were sworn into the Navy cadet program
in Kansas City, MO. and immediately were sent in different directions.
After a few months he changed from the Navy to the Army Air Corps
and became a multi engine airplane pilot. I stayed with the Navy
and became a fighter pilot. I flew from two different carriers
during the battle for Okinawa.
Q. Were any of your close friends or family killed in battle.
A. Yes, my nephew was shot in the chest and died a few days
later. This was the Vietnam War. He was a Lieutenant in the U.S.
Army. There were other friends of mine killed but not close such
as buddies.
Q. If so did you witness this?
A. No. I witnessed no one dying although several were killed
from my squadron and from the carriers that I served on.
Q. Where were you stationed?
A. Several places from coast to coast in the continental United
states, Hawaii, the Admiralty Islands, Guam and the two carriers.
These included Las Alamitos Naval Air Station just east of Long
Beach, CA.
Q. Did you ever have to fight on the front line
A. Yes, but not a front line such as a soldier or marine.
Flying was a different kind of a front-line.
Q. If so, what was it like?
A. For my front line duty, being in the Navy, I had the relative
comfort of a large ship between flights against the enemy--no
mud, rain, snow nor freezing weather. This didn't lessen the
danger. We were constantly under threat of a Kamikaze planes
and subjected to instant death or being wounded during our attacks
on enemy positions.
Q. Did you ever make physical contact with opposite side?
A. Yes. In the sense that I was shooting at them and they
were shooting at me. I couldn't see them but they could see me.
I could see their antiaircraft fire coming at me. I was not hit
but my plane was damaged.
Q. Did you have sympathy for them?
A. I can't recall sympathy ever crossing my mind. I was out
there to kill them. If I did kill anyone then I won and they
lost and I'm happy about the out come.
Q. Have you read All Quiet on the Western Front?
A. Yes. Enjoyed the book and the movie.
Q. If so, were the situations in the book similar to yours.
A. No. As indicated in my answer to question 4. There were
many men in the Army and Marines in WWII that had similar experiences
as the soldiers in WWI
Q. Did you meet any new people and become really good friends
with them?
A. Yes. Many but mostly temporary friends. But a few close
friends
Q. Do you still have contact with them?
A. Yes. The members of my squadron still have reunions every
year or two. That is, those of us who are still around.
Q. Was life different for you when you came back?
A. Yes. Four years had gone by and I couldn't return to being
nineteen years old again.
Q. Did things at home change?
A. I would say that things at home were pretty much the same
as when I left home for the service, but I had changed. I did
not want to go back to what I had left before going into the
service.
Q. Was it hard for you to forget certain times during the
war?
A. Yes. I remember my time in the service and in combat very
vividly and I never want to forget it. I enjoyed what I was doing.
Like one of my squadron members said: "War can be fun if
you don't get killed."
Q. What was the most traumatic experience for you?
A. Probably the most serious experience I had was losing control
of my plane over enemy territory due to a mechanical failure
of the plane. I regained control and nursed the plane back to
the carrier. Or maybe the time my plane loss of power during
takeoff from the carrier that dumped me in the ocean in front
of the ship. I had to out swim a 20,000 ton ship traveling at
twenty knots straight at me. I won that race too. There were
other incidents that were nearly as scary and also interesting.
Q. Did you ever kill any one?
A. I can't say yes or no. Had no way of knowing. But if I
didn't it was not because I didn't try.
Q. Do you still think about the war all the time?
A. Not all the time but frequently.
Q. Did you meet your wife during the war?
A. Yes. Right there in Long Beach. We still live near by.
I worked for thirty-five years in Wilmington.
Questions for your wife.
Q. Did you choose to work as a nurse?
A. Yes. After two years at Compton JC, I went through nurses
training at Los Angeles General Hospital.
Q. How many people would come in per day?
A. If you are talking about L.A. General, there were hundreds.
If you are talking about Letterman General, they came in by ships
and airplanes full, not everyday but far too often.
Q. How many people on the average would die when they came
into the hospital?
A. I was not privy to that information, but the great majority
of people coming into a hospital will leave alive. Even war wounded
men and women who make it that far will survive.
Q. Where is Letterman General Hospital?
A. The hospital is located on the Presidio in San Francisco.
Letterman General Hospital was a receiving hospital that received
the wounded and sick Army men and women from the Pacific and
redistributed them to other Army hospitals nearer the patients'
homes.
Q. Did you lose any family or friends in the war?
A. One friend.
Q. Why did you enlist?
A. There was a need for nurses in the Army. I qualified and
I thought it was the patriotic thing to do.
Q. Did you enlist with any friends or family?
A. Yes. Three of my classmates at L.A. General and I enlisted
together and then shipped to Fort Lewis in the state of Washington
for basic training before being shipped to San Francisco. My
three friends were assigned to hospital trains and I was assigned
to Letterman General.
Q. Did you meet any new people and become good friends with
them?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you still have contact with them?
A. A few. Especially the one I have been married to for the
last fifty four years. |
