Family Stories - Jack in WWII

Family Stories

Jack in WWII

   Jack sailed out of San Francisco Bay, leaving behind a drawing he sent to his mother, Lucille (which I now have).  It was a long ship ride and eventually he and his fellow SeaBees arrived on Saipan.  That island was in the mopping up stage after invasion by allied forces.

   Before too long, Jack and other SeaBees were given new orders (and another round of shots).  Code named Operation Iceberg.  The soldiers were not told where they were going until after they were aboard ship.  Okinawa.  This was in April of 1945.

   The SeaBees were some of the first personnel off the ships.  Their job?  To build docks so the ships could come in, instead of having to send landing vessels.  My dad reported that they were doing this under almost constant fire from the enemy.

   Now I've read the history about this battle.  It officially went from April 1st to mid June.  Highest number of casualties in the Pacific War (not counting the a bomb).  But these are the stories from my father, who was there.

   He went from building docks to building the air strip (so planes could land, of course) to building buildings, water systems, etc.  A never ending list of thigs to make and fix.

   One of Dad's favorite stories happened early in the conflict.  Since the SeaBees hadn't had time to build water pipes to the main camp from the fresh water source yet, everyone coming up from the docks were required to help haul water. One day dad was hauling two big containers of water, coolie style.  He was with several others, doing the same thing. Now snipers were a real problem, so officers were ordered to hide their rank insignia at that time.  Coming down the hill was a brand new naval officer.  Full uniform and everything.  Since my dad's arms were full, he didn't bother to salute.  This clearly new officer took offense and started yelling at my father.  With a sigh, an older man behind my father put down his load and walked over to the young officer.  He flipped down his cap to reveal that he had the rank of Admiral.  Even the officers had to haul water.  As my dad stood and listened in silent glee, the Admiral chewed up the new officer.  Everything from reminding him that he was out of uniform to comments about his intelligence and personal habits.  The admiral concluded by ordering the young officer back to his ship to await the Admirals further orders.  Dad said he never saw that young officer again.

   Some of the historical reports talk about the psychological problems at Okinawa.  This battle had the highest percentages of what was then called "battle fatigue."  The almost constant firing of the guns (both Allied and Japanese), the harsh conditions, and the sheer horrors of war combined to cause problems in record numbers.  My dad didn't talk about that much, but he did relate stories of men in his unit who lost all their hair overnight, or had their hair turn green, due to stress.

   Jack didn't come home with a lot of psychological problems, but he did deal with malaria.  Like so many other veterans of the South Pacific, he came down with the disease there and had re-occurrences throughout much of his adult life.   I remember a few of those malaria bouts from when I was a child.

  Dad didn't talk about the Okinawa natives much.  Partly, I suspect because he didn't want to remember what he had seen.  The Japanese had made slaves of the Okinawa natives.  One third of the native population was either killed or committed suicide.  The Japanese were known to use the natives as human shields.  Horrors indeed.

When the information about the Navajo Code Talkers, the super secret radiomen of the war was released my dad realized that he had been around one of the Code Talkers at times.  To my dad, he was just another radioman.  Jack didn't realized that the radioman was Native American.  If dad had thought anything about it, he probably would have classified him as some sort of Hispanic.  My dad didn't think anything about the Code Talkers armed escort either.  At the times my dad saw him, Jack was a little busy - trying to build something while dodging bullets.  If an armed guard meant that the radioman could get them help, dad would have been fine with that.

   The official invasion was over before the end of June.  It had been a bloody, muddy, long time.  There were still Japanese soldiers hiding out in the caves (some stayed there for years), but mostly it was peaceful.  The island was being transformed into a stepping stone for the next part of the war - the Invasion of the Japanese mainland.

   Jack finally got news from home.  His beloved Betty had died.  After escaping the tyranny of Lildon and her father by marrying Jack Danley, she had given birth to her son, Doug.  Unfortunately, one day while she was home alone with Doug(then almost 3 years of age) she had a grand mal seizure and choked to death.  Jack Danley dumped Doug with the local social services and left town.  he eventually surfaced in Illinois where he lived off a series of women for the rest of his drunken life.  Jack, hearing the news about Betty and Doug, telegraphed him mother and grandmother, asking them to take Doug in.  Jack promised to pay what he could for Doug's care and to take over raising the child once he got home.  I am sad to report that these two women could not find it in their hearts to care for their relative by marriage.  Doug went into the foster care system, where he stayed until his teen years, when Jack was finally able to convince social services to let him care for Doug

Back on Okinawa Jack and most of the rest of the SeaBees were getting new orders.  Operation Olympus.  As usual, they had no idea where they were going, but most were pretty sure it was going to be the Japanese mainland.  They got new kits and a new round of shots and waited.

   Note:  Jack was diagnosed as being highly allergic to the tetnus vaccine in later years.  The doctor who diagnosed it concluded (probably rightly) that getting all those shots, over and over again was probably the cause.  Jack wore a medic alert tag the rest of his life due to that.

     Many years later, my dad found out (in an American Legion magazine of all places) that he was indeed scheduled to go to the Japanese mainland on the next invasion.  The predicted casualty rates were horribly high, especially for soldiers like the SeaBees, who would have been amongst the first to land.

   But the invasion didn't happen.  The United States dropped the atomic bomb instead.  I find it odd that I am grateful to the atomic bomb for my existence.

Since he wasn't involved in the invasion of Japan, Jack was still on Okinawa in October, 1941, when a massive Typhoon (given the English name of Louise) hit.  There had been smaller typhoons in the area in June and September, so the allies had started preparing for them.  But there was no preparing for this one.  I think now it would be considered a super typhoon.  

   The physical toll was massive.  Many of the buildings built by the Seabees were flattened - approximately 80% of the housing on the island was gone.  At least 12 ships in the area were fatally damaged, with many more needing repairs. Officially the winds were measured at 100-120 mph and it rained heavily for over 20 hours.  I say officially about the winds because my dad said that the winds went beyond the 200 mph wind gauge.

   Since he was a Seabee, jack was involved in the typhoon preparation work.  He was in fact, up in a crane, doing last minute work when the first heavy winds hit.  The crane quickly became an unsafe place to be and my dad slowly climbed his way back down to the ground.  He never forgot the terror of that climb and was in fact, afraid of heights for most of the rest of his life.

  Once on the ground Jack began to look for a place to be safe during the storm.  The new buildings were already beginning to blow away.  The troops were told to find a cave, a ditch, anything.  And good luck.  The first few caves my dad tried to get into were already full of troops and natives.  Finally Jack found a family burial cave where he and several other soldiers waited out the storm.  He told me that if it hadn't been such a strong typhoon he never would have been in that place.  Too eerie!

   The storm did eventually move off and the Seabees went back to work. Rebuilding.  Eventually new orders came in and Jack found himself on a boat headed for Japan as part of the Occupation troops.  He didn't like Japan and didn't talk about it much.  I always wondered how much the anti-Asian propaganda he had grown up with had affected him. 

   Jack was glad to finally be on a boat going home.  It took what seemed like a long time.  A ship full of men with nothing to do but gamble and talk.  Mostly talk.  In retrospect, Jack always thought his ability to fit back in the peacetime world back home had a lot to do with those weeks talking to other men with similar experiences.  It was an early version of what is now known to be one of the more effective ways to deal with ptsd.

  Dad was finally released from active military service at the Navy base in San Diego, CA.  Almost every time we visited San Diego, he always insisted in driving by the base.  He would point out the gate where he had walked out a free man.

   All of the returning soldiers and sailors were told not to tell their families about their war time experiences  That the families back home just wouldn't understand and it would shock them.  Dad said he tried a few times, but he found that others just didn't want to hear about the reality of the war.  It is no surprise to me that Jack's friends after the war were mostly veterans like himself.