4.4.7 Finding the War

Finding the War

Just as we were finishing the Amoebic Dysentery Survey, we were put on alert to prepare to ship out.  The Allied invasion of Europe had been successful and the war in Europe was winding down. President Roosevelt had recently died; that was shocking.  I could vaguely remember Hoover, but FDR was OUR PRESIDENT who had pulled us out of the depression and led us in war from the despair of Pearl Harbor to the liberation of France. Unfortunately for us, the war in the Pacific Theatre of Operations was still going strong, even heating up now that some of the efforts in Europe could be diverted to the Pacific Theatre.   

We carefully packed all the Laboratory equipment and supplies for the move; especially carefully packed was the whiskey that Major Larson bought for us as the Officer’s Club went out of business.  Officer’s Clubs were required to donate all profits to Army Emergency Relief when they closed down for transfer to a new location, so none operated at a profit.  To avoid it, they sold most or all stock at huge discounts.  I paid Major Larson $6.00 for a case of Seagram’s VO that he bought for me and secreted it among the supplies of the Parasitology section.

Shortly before we were loaded aboard ship, Okinawa was invaded and Tokyo Rose announced that the 31^st Station Hospital was being sent there, giving the name of the ship and the sailing date.  That was helpful for us because the US Armed Forces was keeping both secret.  Right on Tokyo Rose’s schedule we drove our vehicles to Noumea, were loaded aboard a rather small ship and, all alone, left New Caledonia.  Some guys were sick before we cleared the barrier reef, others took a bit longer.  I loved the sea, but was a bit concerned about the Japanese submarines that Tokyo Rose promised us.              

Two or three days later we docked in Espiritu Santos, another French Possession, in the New Hebrides where another Station Hospital was loaded aboard.  That filled the ship and we spent the next two months on a leisurely cruise to Okinawa.  We were in NO HURRY; the longer it took, the better because we had a pretty good idea of what awaited us at the end of the journey.

Our next landfall was Einiwetok Atoll in the Marshal Islands. The Marshals had been captured sometime earlier and there was not a palm tree standing on the major islands.  Other than one day ashore on a small island, Mog Mog, set up for beer drinking as relief from confinement on troop ships, we spent several weeks on board ship while a convoy was being assembled. Other than an occasional KP detail, there was nothing to do but read, sleep, gamble and talk.  Our morale did not suffer; we loved it. If they delayed long enough, Okinawa might be secured before we got there.

We eventually left the Marshals in a large convoy, complete with destroyers and destroyer escorts to protect us from Japanese submarine attack. A few days out, the DEs began scurrying about and many of the ships, including our own, began lofting big garbage can-like depth charges off the stern.  They would sink to a predetermined depth and detonate sending geysers of water into the air.  We were assured via loud speaker that all Japanese subs had been destroyed and we made it to Ulithi in the Caroline Islands without further incident.

At each of our stops, our mail would eventually catch up with us.  Pat and I wrote each other every day.  After Mail Call, I would arrange all her letters in chronological order by postmark before reading them.  Then, I would read all my other mail before rereading her letters. 

Again, we lay at anchor while an even larger convoy was assembled. The Carolines had been recently secured with terrible casualties on both sides.  We were entertained daily by navy planes bombing a nearby island that had been bypassed in the campaign.  The boredom was relieved a couple of nights by Japanese air raids; they were not nearly as entertaining as watching the navy planes zapping the Japs.  I wasn’t sorry to leave Ulithi and we arrived off Okinawa 64 days after leaving New Caledonia.            

We dropped anchor in Buckner Bay shortly after noon.  We had finally found the war; it looked like the whole island was blowing up—explosions everywhere you looked.  Whiteside sat down by me between two winches that had become our personal retreat on the voyage and said “they’re disembarking this afternoon, but I got our names on the top of the list of volunteers to stay aboard and unload the ship.”