CHAPTER 19 MARCH 21, 1945 -- MAY 26, 1945 OKINAWA OPERATION

The following morning the entire 7th fleet sailed from Ulithi. Once at sea we were to see no other ships other than our force of escort carriers and their escort destroyers. My first view of the CVEs was a line of twelve carriers from horizon to horizon. I don't know how many there actually were in that line but I do know that our particular force was made up of eighteen CVEs and that we would be operating in three groups of six.

We arrived on station about sixty to eighty miles southeast of Okinawa where the ships would remain for the next ninety days. All of our flight operations would originate from this area. The only times the ship would leave this area would be to rearm from the supply ships at Kerama Retta, a group of small islands about 10 miles west of Okinawa that

Departing Ulithi for Okinawa

formed an anchorage. These islands were invaded and secured for that purpose. We arrived on March 25th and began combat missions that day against Kerama Retta and Okinawa. It only took a couple of days to secure the anchorage and for the supply ships and troop ships to move in.

 The first combat mission against Kerama Retta involved a flight of fighter planes from VC 93. It was on one of the strafing runs that an antiaircraft shell burst under the plane of Ensign Tony LaMarco. A piece of shrapnel pierced the plane and struck Tony in the butt causing him to be grounded for several days . This was the first causality due to enemy action to be suffered by the squadron. He survived, but unfortunately the wound leaves a scar where Tony will not be able to show it off---- I don't think?

VC 93 pilots on USS Petrof Bay

On April 1, 1945 the invasion of Okinawa began and I was in the first flight from the Petrof Bay to give direct support to the Marines landing on the beach. The landing took place about a mile from Yontan, the Japanese air field. Because we were flying in from the sea and directly over the air field we were able to strafe buildings, planes and anything else that came in our sights. I'm sure that the

planes we saw and strafed had been shot at before but there was a certain amount of enjoyment in making the runs. On one run I saw a fire break out under a camouflage netting. Even though I didn't have any idea what other damage I might have caused or how effective we were in supporting the Marines, I know that I had left something burning.

On our final run we started at 10, 000 feet making a run on the field firing all the way down. When we leveled off at about 100 feet I held the trigger down all the way across the field and fired at a control tower as we pulled up over the hills on the north side of field. When I released the trigger the guns were so hot that they kept right on firing. The other three planes in my flight made a left turn that took them over the landing craft coming onto the beach. I was forced to fly straight ahead until all my ammunition was expended so that I would not endanger the landing force. I never found out but I'll bet those were four 50 caliber machine guns that were of no use after that.

Although many of our flights were uneventful, especially the local combat air patrols (LCAP), there were enough eventful ones to give my adventuresome soul a lifetime of memories. The uneventful flights do not stick in my memory but a majority of the target combat air patrols (TCAP) flights usually had something that I will never forget, especially those that ended up in disaster or near disaster. On March 27th, five days before the landings on Okinawa, the squadron received mission orders for one TBM to drop propaganda leaflets on several locations on the island. This mission was assigned to Lt. (JG) Quentin Schenk, the pilot of the TBM and his two aircrewmen, radioman Joseph Gebhardt, ARM3c and gunner Price Seferian AMM2c. These leaflets were an appeal for the civilians of

Kamakazi attack on USS Petrof Bay October 26, 1944

Okinawa to surrender themselves to the American troops to save themselves from being wounded or killed in the coming invasion. Schenk was in his first gliding approach over Naha, the capital city of Okinawa, when the air around him suddenly turned into a storm of antiaircraft fire. He took immediately evasive maneuvers but not quick enough to avoid

Price Seferian, AMM2c (Photo courtesy of Monica Seferian)

being hit. He felt a sudden jar of the plane and the loss of the hydraulic system and radio. He was not aware of the total damage to the plane nor, due to the loss of communications, the condition of his two crewmen. He knew that his mission was over almost before it started and that he had better get back to the ship while the plane was still able to fly. Schenk was not aware until he was back aboard the carrier that an antiaircraft shell had exploded in the observation compartment behind the cockpit and forward of the gun turret and that a piece of shrapnel from that shell had passed through Seferian's heart killing him instantly. Seferian was the first death in the squadron to be caused by the enemy. The next day Seferian was buried at sea

with full military honors. This was the first burial service at sea I was to witness but would not be the last. Most of the deaths in this frame of time occurred when a plane was lost at sea or in enemy territory and were not recovered. The leaflet canisters were transferred to another plane and the leaflets delivered to Okinawa later the same day.

Three days later Ensign Gordon Collipriest was killed in a mid-air collision with a plane from another squadron. For some reason he wasn't missed until his group landed and he wasn't there. A short time later the other pilot involved made it back to his ship and reported the collision. Twenty one years later my wife, son, daughter and I were vacationing in Hawaii where we visited the Punch Bowl cemetery. On a wall where all the servicemen that are missing in the pacific are listed, the names of our missing are listed with the exception of Ensign Collipriest. Don't understand why!

Ensign G. Alan Collipriest

(Update: In April, 2001 I received a comment in the guestbook of this website
from the younger brother of Ensign Alan Collipriest. This comment was
followed by an E-mail from the younger Mr. Collipriest informing me that Alan
had been involved in a collision with an aircraft from one of the other
squadrons and Alan's plane crashed near the beach. Alan's body was recovered
and was buried in the Marine's Seventh Division cemetery on Okinawa. After
the war his body was removed and returned to Salt Lake City and is buried
there. This information was apparently known to the Navy prior to August
1945 and was certainly known by our squadron commander by the end of December
1945. Since I had no contact with any member of my squadron, including the
skipper, from August 1945 until 1984 I was unaware of this information. No
mention was made of this information at that reunion or any of the reunions
since 1984. I surmise none of the other member of the squadron know any of
this story).

Ensign Charles Janson

On April 12, the day President Roosevelt died, Ensign Janson, whom I mentioned earlier in our double dating adventures in Long Beach, was also killed in a midair collision. Because of the interesting story that goes with this accident I will relate it later. On June 15th Ensign George Vigeant was killed when his plane exploded while making a water landing after being hit by antiaircraft fire. On July 20th airman A.R. Katough was drowned when the TBM he was riding in crashed while taking off the carrier. He was pinned in the plane when it was struck by the carrier. The pilot and gunner got him out and aboard the rescue destroyer but they were unable to revive him.

My squadron lost several planes at the hands of the enemy but I am willing to bet that we lost more without their help. Certainly we lost more than double the number that we are credited with shooting down.