LOOKING BACK
In the early 1950's many Americans were obsessed with a fear that the United States might become the target of an atom bomb. As a U.S. Navy man I knew the power of bombs and an atom was much, much more powerful. We really didn't think much about where we might go or if we might end up as a battle casualty on some beach diat we had never heard of. I do not apologize for the fact that I was elated that the bomb did end the war. I know no veteran who did not feel the same. After all we were trained for battle. We were disciplined as service men but dead men don't carry the torch. Rare indeed is the well trained Soldier, Sailor or Marine who would hesitate to go into battle when ordered to do so. Of course there is fear. I suppose there are those with iron nerves who appear unshaken in the threat of danger, but I suspect that most of us would prefer to stay alive. I also believe that most of us would go to the aid of a fallen comrade even if such action required that we put our own life on the line. Somehow we rise to the occasion. There are exceptional men who go far beyond the call of duty. Probably most of us will never be called to meet that supreme test. What makes us capable of meeting one challenge head on and perhaps cower in fear when we are faced with another? I do not know. I remember those war years well. It has been more than fifty years but the memory is vivid. Probably no one can describe it and it is possible that each felt different. I simply felt a heavy burden. First, I must tell you, there was no fear of the future. Perhaps that may seem strange. I think that one just setded into the day to day routine and refused to think about the future. I served in the Navy more than a year before Dec. 7, 1941. I was a seagoing sailor and would go where I was ordered to go. We had little choice, at least I was not aware of any. Of course one could ask for a transfer and it might be granted. I did this and after serving more than three years abroad the U.S.S. Trenton in the South Pacific I was transferred with thirty days delayed orders to report into the Naval Station at Quanset Point, Rhode Island. At that place I joined the ship's company of the U.S.S. Dutchess A.P.A. 98. This was my first leave in almost four years. The Dutchess was being built in the Baltimore Navy Yard. She was to be a ship that carried men who would go ashore on whatever island we were trying to take over. She was officially called and Amphibious Personal Attack ship. That simply meant that we would bring men in close to the beach and they would go ashore to do what was required. The year was 1945. I went aboard her at die Baltimore Navy Yard. As a Machinist's Mate First Class I was assigned duty in charge of the evaporators. The evaps in engineers jargon. You might ask what are they for. Simply put they were machines that boiled sea water in a vacuum and condensed the resulting steam. This process produced fresh water for the crew's use and also supplied water that the ship used to produce steam. That steam under pressure of two hundred fifty pounds or more was the driving force that turned the engines and most of the machinery. While serving aboard her I saw Pearl Harbor again. While on the Trenton I went ashore several times in Honolulu. We did not see the wreckage on Battleship Row because we anchored far out near Ford Island and we did not go ashore. We arrived at Okinawa while die battle was on. Kamikaze planes flew overhead but their targets were the bigger ships. These were bomb loaded suicide planes. The
pilot simply tried to fly his plane into a ship. Of course the pilot gave his life to the Emperor. What fanatical zeal!! A hazy period follows. We did drop anchor in the harbor at Nagoya, Japan. We just missed that killer typhoon that destroyed many of our sister ships. I honestly do not remember where we went from there. We were anchored in San Francisco Bay on that celebrated VJ Day (Victory Japan). We also hauled soldiers from the jungles of the Philippines back to the States. We went back through the canal in the spring of '46. The Dutchess was decommissioned on the east coast. I was granted another thirty days delayed orders to report into the Naval Station near Olathe, Kansas. In June I was assigned to the U.S.SJ.W. Wilke a destroyer escort vessel stationed at Key West, Florida. My six year cruise ended Oct. 1,1946 and I was paid off at the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville, Florida. On a Sunday, while there, we saw the "Blue Angels" perform. The were a group of elite fliers who did precision flying. Sometimes they were called C.A.P.'s that stood for Chief Aviation Pilot. That means they were enlisted men (not officers) with a Chief Petty Officer rate. It was a sad day. One pilot ended his career. He went into a power dive and didn't pull out of it. A nagging question has bothered me for these fifty years. I served all the time the war was fought and was never battle tested. Why? There are times of reflection when that feeling borders on guilt. Why? Why didn't I try harder to get into the heat of battle. Merciful God! I don't know why.