This is Seabees93.net's cache of David Friederich's website for the USS Cassiopaeia, www.friederich.net.   This link is no longer operative and we have been unable to contact Mr. Friederich. 

                                          Anchors Aweigh

                                by David Friederich

Enlistment and Bootcamp                                                                                    

I was 17 yrs. old in May 1943 and WWII was in full swing. I lived on a farm near New Memphis

Station, Ilinois. I'd lived my whole life on the farm and didn't want to be a farmer. So soon after

my birthday I boarded a bus for St. Louis, Missouri 35 miles away. I went to the Federal Building

and enlisted in the Navy.

I started the physical but was underweight. They told me to get some bananas and eat as many as I

could and drink all the water I could hold, and then come back. I did this and returned, weighing

in at 115 1/2 lbs. I was 5'6". I passed, 1/2 lb. over.

Being only 17 I had to have a parent's permission. They said they'd send the paperwork to my

Father. I went back home and in a couple of days the papers came. They were quite detailed, I

remember, and although he was reluctant to do so, my Dad and I went to the bank in New Baden,

Illinois which was 7 miles north of the farm. The papers had to be signed before a notary. The

paperwork was mailed back and several days later I returned to St Louis. I was sworn into the

Navy at 2:30 PM on the afternoon of June 11th, 1943 with the oath:

"I do solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all

enemies, foreign and domestic, to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, and to obey all lawful

orders of the President of the United States and the officers above me, so help me God."

I was taken by bus to Jefferson Barracks where we were given a more thorough physical, then were

returned to our hotel in downtown St Louis. The group that I was in were sent to the Park Hotel in

downtown St. Louis, where we were fed three times a day, and allowed to roam around the city.

Some of the guys who lived in St Louis went home for a couple of days. Several days later we were

marched to Union Station to board a train for transport to the Navy Training Station at Farragut,

Idaho. I had never been on a train before this. We went west through Kansas City, up to Omaha,

across Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana and into northern Idaho. In one place they had to put a

special engine on the train they called a Mountain Engine. It was a giant steam engine with many

more drive wheels. In some places in the mountains we could look out the window and see the rear

of the train curving around the canyon walls. I had never been away from the prairie and had only

seen mountains in books and a few movies. We arrived at the station at Athol, Idaho to begin

processing. The first thing they told us when we were assembled was to empty any dirty stories we

had out of our wallets. They passed a bucket around and several guys dug stuff out of their wallets

and put them in the bucket. We were given another physical, blood typed and shots were began.

Several of the men failed the physical there because they had gonorrhea. I had never heard of it.

We were issued Navy clothing, assigned to a training barracks in Camp Bennion,Group 420-43.

Each camp had a group all in the same phase of training. The marching song at Farragut was:

                                    "Idaho's a hell of a state,

                                      the asshole of the 48,

                                    hinky, dinky, parlyvoo."

And here I was in Athol, Idaho. Camp Farragut was a group of camps surrounded by a forest of

tall pines. We from the Midwest called them Jack pines at the time. They were thin and very tall.

The blue lake nearby surrounded by the tall green pines is a sight I still remember it as one of the

most beautiful lake setting I have ever seen.

We were issued wooden rifles to use for marching in formation. We had hours of marching each

day, a lot of loud "hinky dinky parlyvoo". It helped toughen you up faster, I think, although

coming from the farm I was in pretty good shape physically. We had an obstacle course and a big

swimming pool. The pool was all under cover in a large building. I could not swim so I was sent in

the evening with a group to learn. The first evening I was shown how to hang onto the edge of the

pool and kick my feet. Someone mentioned floating on your back and that if you could do that

you could pass the 150 yard test that way. I immediately found I could float on my back as long as

I kept my back straight and didn't let my belly drop. So after a couple of evenings of practice in

floating, I was sent for the test and did the full 150 yards. Every time I started to sag in the middle

I would start to sink, shoved my belly up and I would be ok again. One guy in our group could not

do it and they put ropes on him and from each side of the pool dragged him back and forth over

the course for the 150 yards. Everybody passed. We also had to step off a diving board at the 15 ft.

level into 15 ft. of water with our life jacket on, and head back against the collar in the proper way

with both hands between your legs to protect your testicles. I was scared, but thought the ones

before me were doing it, so I could too. I just walked out and stepped off, going all the way to the

bottom, where I pushed myself back up, and with the help of the life vest I popped back up like a

cork. They had two men fish you out.

I was doing a lot of new things I had never done before. We got two shots every Friday, one in

each arm. I had cat fever in both arms several times, sometimes too sick to eat. But they had a

guard over the garbage can where you dumped your tray, and several times I had to go back and

sit down and eat what I had anyway. I was issued a scrub brush and bar soap and instructed on

how to wash my own clothes. We were also shown the proper way to tie them on the line to dry,

with the square knots in the proper way. If they were not tied on the line to the satisfaction of the

company commander he would cut them down with his pocket knife and step on them. They had

to be washed again and hung to dry according to Navy regulation.

We were taken to the rifle range and fired an old 1903 Springfield rifle, bolt action with a clip. It

was called a 30.06. We fired 37 rounds without ear plugs. I was deaf in one ear for a day or so

after. Also, my shoulder turned completely black from bruising. That was the only time I got to

fire a rifle in the Navy. It had something to do with going through the mechanics of ceremoniously

going through the book on Naval Regulation. They needed bodies in the South Pacific in a hurry.

We had guard duty at night. It was for a fire watch for the most part I think. We had to march up

and down in the dark and cold Idaho nights with our wooden rifle and challenge anyone who came

near, demanding that they halt and identify themselves, and then to advance and be recognized.

We had an obstacle course through the woods with lots of mud holes, trees and vines. I had always

been impervious to poison ivy at home in Illinois, but in Idaho I contracted poison oak so bad

that I was put in the hospital and given a shot of something every day that heated me from head to

toe. I was given a large bottle of Calomile lotion and used it from head to foot. I even had it on

top of my head and on the bottoms of my feet. I also had tonsillitis during my eight weeks of basic

training and spent a few days in the hospital. We had hot days and cold nights.

About six weeks into our training we were allowed to dress in our uniforms for the first time and

marched to the railroad station at Athol, Idaho. From there we took the train to Spokane,

Washington 45 miles away, arriving there at 4:30 p.m. We had a couple of bottles of Olympia beer,

walked around a little while, and at 9:30 p.m. were back on the train to be transported back to the

station at Athol. We marched back to our barracks at Farragut again.

There was a really beautiful lake two miles from the station, Lake Pend Oreille. We would march

the distance and practice rowing lifeboats on the lake. Lined up like galley slaves with a coxswain

to call rowing cadence and steer the boat.

We had some instruction in ju-jitsu. The instructor threw each of us a couple of times.

We had to put on leaky gas masks and walk through a room filled with enough gas to really give

you tears for a time. We did a lot of drill, marching with our wooden rifles. We had classes in

aircraft and ship identification, and were given aptitude tests. I had a high score in the electrical

test and applied to go to electrician school, which happened to be in St. Louis. I didn't get it. They

needed bodies in the South Pacific to man the ships they were building as fast as they could.

When we were nearing graduation we were told that we could go home for a two week leave before

being assigned, and we were allowed to make reservations. Even though I'd spent a several days in

the hospital, I graduated. We received our first pay, and on graduation I boarded the train on the

Great Northern Route going through Butte, Montana and across the Dakotas, Minnesota, and

Wisconsin to Chicago, and then changing trains to go on to St. Louis.

During my two week leave at home I was treated royally, as most guys were at the time who were

going to an unknown destination and fate. This was a popular war. Most families had someone in

Service so they treated us like we were part of their own family. People generally asked less

questions of their government and were more patriotic. I remember where I last saw my Father

standing in the yard at home, under a white locust tree. He raised his hand goodbye. I was never to

see him again.

My sister, Hazel, drove me to Belleville and we parked the car and took a bus to St. Louis. There

we went for a cruise on the Admiral, and then visited the Woolworth Dime Store where she bought

me a miniature prayer book, about 1 1/2 inch square, a paperback, which I kept with me all

through the war and still have it.

We went to Union Station and I boarded the train to return to Idaho. I remember sitting down on

the train waiting to leave. Hazel had seen me to the gate. I really felt like crying, but didn't. To

quote Julius Caesar:

                                        The die was cast.

                                   I had crossed my Rubicon.

In our barracks in Farragut, Idaho, I would hear guys who would cry at night. I sure felt like it,

too. One who cried a lot was a kid from St. Louis. He was killed in a kamikaze attack on the

Franklin at Okinawa. I felt very homesick many times. I had never been away from home before.

But when things got tough I always thought to myself that I gotten myself into this, so I had to

take what came. I was to use that thought many times through the following years.

On the train back to Farragut one of the guys I paired off with was a guy from St. Louis. His name

was Marvin Hayes, and we became pretty well acquainted in the days that followed. We went back

through Montana, I recall it was around Sept 1st, and it was snowing in Butte. I recall seeing a car

that had those electric window defrosters with wires in them on all the windows and two on the

windshield and two on the backlight, and chains on all 4 wheels. At some stations and stops for

fuel and water (steam engines), women and girls would come out to the train and hand cakes up to

us. Sugar, flour and most of the other ingredients were rationed at the time, but they were all

trying to do something for the men who were going off to fight the enemy.

When we got back to Farragut we were assigned to a barracks awaiting shipping orders. It was a

dark and cold place and we were all a little sad, having just left home again, knowing that it might

be a long time before we saw our families again. We just had crude tables like picnic tables.

Marvin and I had talked quite a bit, mostly about girls, and he had a good list of them while I

didn't have any. So, one evening he laid out four slips of paper with names and addresses on them,

for me to pick one to write to. I never forgot the names for some reason. There was Antonette,

Viola, and two named Delores. The name Delores Randall appealed to me so I chose that one. We

were shipped out the next day and I was not to see Marvin again for two years.

Later I received a bunch of letters from a class of seven year old girls and their teacher from a

school in Chicago. I answered each one of them. One 7 year old promised that if I wrote back she

would give my address to her 17 year old sister. Of course I wrote back and I had a two year

correspondence with both of them, Iris and Elaine. They sent me a Xmas package one year and I

got the wrapper and some of the remains in the bottom of a mail sack: Marmalade and several

items came through. The Teacher, Nameoi, was a most faithful writer, many times writing

something every day, long letters. The time we didn't get any mail for three months I had 35 letters

from her. My cousin, Laverne, wrote often. Lucille and Milton Wilson, an older married sister of

my friend, Bob Ford, lived in East St. Louis. She wrote often. My sister, Hazel, wrote often, and

Dad wrote at times, too. A former classmate, Alice, in New Baden, also wrote. Alice had a brother

in the Marine Corps on Guadalcanal, and at one time I attempted to find him but didn't have

enough time or transport, so I never met him. I also exchanged letters with a girl from Pretoria,

South Africa, and I recall her writing about a trip she took on a train down to Durban for a visit

with her aunt and a shopping trip. I remember her vivid description of the South African

countryside. Her name was given to me by a South African Sailor who we transported. Her name

was Evelyn Halpern.

My cousin, Herbert Friederich, had been drafted early in the war and was in the 1st. Armored

Division fighting his way up through Italy. He earned the Bronze Star, at Anzio, I think. We

exchanged V Mail often. V Mail was a photastat copy of the letter we wrote on a special form.

Delores was 15 when we started writing to each other, and I was 17. Her letters appealed to me, I

believe, because of both our ages and the way we related to each other. I started writing her love

letters. She finally sent her picture, and I liked that, too. I realized early on that you had to write

letters to get them, so I became a prolific letter writer.

On Our Way

On the train to Seattle I paired up with Philip Frisby from Lexington, Missouri. We became good

friends and later were assigned to the same ship. We had no dining car and no food on the train,

so we went without eating for more than 24 hours, arriving in Seattle at 3 o'clock in the afternoon,

where we got off the train and were served scrambled eggs and not much else. We then reboarded

the train and headed down the coast, with everything blacked out, because of the fear that

submarines might shell the trains. The tracks were right along the ocean in many places. I didn't

see the ocean because we made that whole run at night. We finally picked up a dining car after

midnight in Portland, Oregon, and they had food prepared for us by about 3 AM. We left the train

near San Francisco, boarded busses, and were taken to barracks at Camp Hayward out on the

desert near Stockton. It was blistering hot in the daytime and frosty cold as soon as the sun went

down.

I decided to become a pipe smoker while there, so bought a pipe in the ship's store and some rum

and maple tobacco. I then set out to smoke the guy out of the bunk over me. My tongue became

sore and I became so sick of the smell of rum and maple that I still can't stand the smell of it. I did

smoke a pipe for a time in later years but NEVER again rum and maple tobacco.

On September 16th, 1943, we were loaded onto busses and transported to the Navy Station at

Alameda, on San Francisco Bay, arriving at 3:30 in the afternoon. We went aboard an old rusty

cargo ship, At 6:30, just after dark, we sailed out of San Francisco Bay, passing under the Golden

Gate Bridge. The Benjamin Ide. Wheeler -- It smelled very bad as the rusty decks were oiled with

fish oil. There were 188 of us, and we had bunks with about 2 ft. of space to the bunk above you,

and we were told to sleep in our clothes and life vests, which we did. The springs of the bunk above

you sagged into you, there was so little space. Our bunks were on the second deck in one of the

holds. In the center of the hold in a wire cage was a big kettle with a burner under it. We were fed

two times a day, two ladles of stew, a piece of bread, and coffee. It was a Merchant Marine ship,

and they were paid 87 cents a day to feed us. The crew had a mess hall with a choice of foods like a

restaurant and one day a couple of guys were using an orange to play catch with. We were hungry

all 23 days it took to get to the French Island of New Caledonia.

Almost every night we had a call to general quarters when someone in the Navy Armed Guard or a

crew member reported a near miss from a Japanese Torpedo. I was told later that the crew got a

bonus evertime they were under attack, so maybe that's why we had a lot of sightings of torpedoes

streaking across our bow. We were kept sleeping in our clothes and life vests in that hot hold all

the way to New Caledonia.

                            The Ancient Order Of The Deep

When we approached the Equator, we had to be initiated into the Ancient Order of the Deep. This

is a Navy tradition and is recorded in your permanent record. We were now in King Neptune's

domain. The crew and all shellbacks prepared for the initiation ahead of time. We were told to put

on our swimming trunks and come up to a certain area on the deck, where we were blindfolded

and a water hose turned on us. I was pushed to my knees and told to crawl. I was crawling under

benches while being blasted by the a fire hose and pummeled with mops and brooms. A gash was

cut in my hair and tar was smeared into my hair. My shorts were pulled open and the tar brush

was applied to my pubic area and the immediate vicinity. Finally I was raised to my knees and my

face pushed into a fat man's belly, and I was ordered to kiss it. At that point I was grabbed by two

guys, placed still blindfolded on a table, shocked with an electrical device that was like a cattle

prod on my wet body, and then dumped off, thinking I was being dumped over the side of the

ship, falling about 8 ft. before hitting the water in a big canvas water tank that had been rigged on

the lower deck. There two guys grabbed me and whipped off the blindfold. It was quite a hair

raising experience. It took a long time for the tar to come off. I had to have all my hair cut off and

start over again. Here is a picture of my Shellback Certificate.

We had cold salt water showers on the deck, where there were three sided sheds set up with open

troughs set up with salt water running through them to use for toilet facilities. Later when we

crossed the International Date Line, one day was Sunday and the next day was Tuesday. Another

time we had two Wednesdays in a row, and it happened to be Ash Wednesday, so it was announced

that the second Wednesday would be Ash Wednesday.

We had a boxing match in a ring set up on the deck one evening. Everyone had to take a turn

being paired off with someone your own size. I was paired off with a short but stout guy, and when

I hit him he just went wild -- pushed me out of the ring, got me against the rail, and tried to pick

me up to put me over the side. I was fighting for my life by now and managed to get loose from

him and away from the rail. No one attempted to interfere. I was not a very good boxer.

On the 23 day voyage to New Caledonia the engine quit several times on the cargo ship. One time

we wallowed in the troughs for 24 hours before they got it going again. We didn't see any land

during the whole trip. We'd change course every seven minutes day and night, because they said at

the time that it took that long for a submarine to target you. It was not done in a predictable

pattern. We traveled in this way all through the war, except when in a large protected convoy.

Noumea

We arrived in the harbor on the morning of October 10th, anchored out and were off loaded onto

a barge with an engine attached to it, and ferried to the docks in this conveyance. We were picked

up in trucks and transported to a receiving station outside Noumea, built next to a leper colony.

There was a large cross in the field behind the fence. The barracks were on level ground but all the

toilets were up a steep hill and next to the fence of the leper colony. The large wooden cross was in

the field just beyond the fence. To go to the toilet you had to walk up the steep hill and stand in

line. They were pit toilets, with a trough on the side for a urinal. The camp was so overcrowded

that the facilities were overcrowded, and the lines so long that they had guards along the lines. If

anybody gave up and urinated on the ground, he was led away and locked up for three days on

bread and water. This happened pretty often, especially at night. I was there for several days and

nights. I don't believe I've ever had such a lonely feeling as I did in that barracks. It was down in a

bowl. It was just the atmosphere, I guess, when Taps were played before lights out.

ABOARD THE USS CASSIOPEIA AK 75

 
 I had actually been assigned to a ship the day I arrived, but they didn't take us to it for several days. I had asked for a battleship, then a PT boat, the biggest; and when I didn't get that I asked for the smallest. I'd also put in for submarine duty. I was assigned to a Navy cargo ship, the USS CASSIOPEIA AK 75. It was a 10,000 ton Liberty Ship built by Permanente Metals Corp.,Richmond, California, under a Maritime commission contract; sponsored by Mrs Chad F. Calhoun;It was launched 15 November 1942 as MELVILLE W. FULLER; Hull # 504; acquired by the Navy 27 November 1942; commissioned 8 December 1942 as the USS CASSIOPEIA AK 75; Its Length was 441'6"; Beam 56'11" With a draft of 28'4" she sailed from San Francisco Ca. on Dec. 27th. 1942; Lieutenant Commander W.E. Carlson in command.It had five holds where cargo was stored, cargo booms to load and unload our cargo. Crew quarters were below the center part of the ship.

It was tied up to the Nickel Docks in Noumea. Several of us were taken to it in a jeep with our gear, and were welcomed aboard. The bunks were only two high with an eight ft. ceiling, and I grabbed a top bunk, which proved to be the best because someone had cut a small hole in the air duct and I would get some fresh air that way.

 
The Nickel docks at Noumea, New Caledonia were by the Nickel Mines and Smelter, the principal  industry in that area. Tall smokestacks were always putting out a red, smoky dust. I slept with my boxer shorts and a towel to wipe the sweat off. It was terribly hot day and night most of the time, and we wore shorts and sandals, a sun helmet, and a towel while we were not in a battle zone. I wore my watch on one wrist switching to the other, then one ankle and the other, continually rotating it, or you'd just get a raw sore where you wore it too much. I had raw sores on my shoulders very often. We spent a lot of time close to the equator, so it was pretty hot on steel ships. A lot of the guys got ring worm in the hot climate, but I didn't. They painted it with laundry     bluing I was told at the time. Anyway it was a blue medicine of some kind.

 
Our Captain was a 30 year veteran in the Merchant Marine and a Naval Reserve officer. He was very liberal about Navy regulation. The first apparent practice was, at wakeup call in the morning, the boatswain's mate would flip open the P.A. system and say: "Drop your cock, pick up your socks, it's daylight now and past 6 o'clock, out of the shade and into the sun, your daily work has now begun".

 
The Explosion at the Nickel Docks

                                   aCCOUNTS AT END
Photo and text obtained by Dorothy Irvin of Coos Bay, Oregon...from Mike Christi in Noumea, New Caledonia

I had been on the ship at the Nickel Docks for two weeks while we were loading, bombs, Barrels of

Gasoline, all sorts of explosives, 10,000 tons of it. The deck was finished off with wooden pilings,

crated aircraft, and several 50 ft. LST landing craft. The 50 ft. tank lighters, I believe, were built in

Louisiana by Gar Wood Boat Co.

It was a bright sunny day and I was chipping paint on the deck, Port side, near the stern of the

ship when the whole world exploded. I heard a terrible roar, and looking up toward the bow of the

ship, I saw a whole truck and many barrels rising into the air, going up so high, it seemed to me at

the time, that it was minutes before they began to fall, while lesser explosions were taking place. I

was pushed under the gun tub on the stern of the ship by the hot blast of air and the rush of men

to get undercover before the debris began to fall. The yellow TNT from a bomb landed on soft

garbage in an open can next to me, with twisted steel around it. Whatever it was it didn't explode. I

had been down below the rail. Some who had been standing up and a couple sitting on the rail

were blown overboard. One was seen hanging on the ship's propeller. Within five to 7 minutes they

had chopped off the mooring lines with fire axes because they were fastened around bolands on the

docks and we began to seperate out and away from the dock. Some in our crew were wounded, I

recall one was a Baker and He had been on the dock beside the ship and I saw him partially under

some pileings trying to escape the falling debre. He was blinded by injuries to his eyes but

recovered his sight after about 2 weeks. Several were blown off Some were blown off the docks too

and someone was looking down and saw a man hanging on the prop. when it started, and saw it

chop him to pieces. Our first thought was that we were being shelled by a submarine from outside

the harbor. We later heard that 110 to 120 men had been killed in the explosion and many more

injured.**See Footnote.

There were three ships at the Nickel Docks. The one on our right (Starboard)was another AK, the

USS Andromeda AK 76 or 15, I am not sure anymore. It backed out soon too. A Navy ship has to

always have steam up to get underway and sufficient crew to do it. The ship on our left was a

merchant marine ship, the SS CHADBURN. We saw the captain with a fire ax running toward the

bow of the ship to chop off the lines as we were backing out. A Navy tug was coming in to put a

line aboard to tow her away from the dock.

It was a fantastic fireworks display, star shells shooting in all directions, fires burning everywhere

all around the harbor. We were told later that a lot of windows were blown out in the city of

Noumea and many people went running into the hills. We had several fires on the deck of the ship

and broke out the fire hoses, the Boatswains mate directing the firefighting with most of us staying

under the three guntubs near the stern. We quickly put out the wooden pilings that were burning

on the deck and after we were clear of the docks and the falling debre, we began to clean up the

debris that had fallen on deck. I picked up what looked like a piece of black sponge, smaller than a

baseball. I suddenly realized it was a bloody piece of meat. Shocked, I walked to the rail and

dropped it over the side, saying nothing.

We were told that twelve truck loads of bombs had been on the docks in front of the ships and

something went wrong. That is where the explosion originated.

We anchored out in the bay and inspected the ship. Some bow plates were slightly curved so you

knew where the ribs were, but they decided it was allright and we were fully loaded and ready to

go, and our bombs and barrels of high octane gasoline (130 Octane) we carried were needed at

Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. The Marines were landing on Bougainville and they needed all

the air support they could get.

Two Medals were awarded to two men for their part in saving the ship. One was to a Chief Warrent Officer. I guess he was the one who chopped off the bowline, putting himself the closest to the explosion.

**February 2000. Another shipmate now tells me he understood that around 300 were killed. Because of the long period the event was top secret, we may never know. Unclassified 1947. Pictures taken at the memorial service at the cemetery show a great number of graves.

 
Guadalcanal

We sailed from the harbor at Noumea the afternoon of the following day. We arrived at Guadalcanal on Friday the 13th of November. We anchored off Tanerou Beach, with Lunga Point east of us.

A ship like ours had suddenly exploded here. It went up in a giant woosh of smoke, fire, and shock

waves. The largest part found was an air funnel on the beach seven miles away. We were living on a

floating giant bomb. They had a crew of close to 200 like we had. They were expecting an attack

that night because it was the first anniversary that Tojo's son had been killed there. (Tojo was the

Japanese War Minister.) We were ordered to the more protected anchorage at Tulagi, 26 miles east

of Guadalcanal, coming back the next day to begin unloading. I was told that Tojo asked

President Roosevelt to let a destroyer come in and retrieve his son's body but was refused. I don't

recall if it was on this trip or the next that some Japanese still in hiding had slipped down to the

ammunition dump near Henderson Field and set it off. It happened at night and that was the

biggest fireworks display I ever saw outside of battle. The incendiary bombs, star shells, and

tracers going off in all directions. It lasted all night and we had a ringside seat from our anchorage

off Tanerou Beach.

At a later time another ammunition ship like ours blew up off Hollandia, New Guinea. Skulls and

bones continued to wash up on the beach at Guadalcanal for as long as I was stopped there. We

had a skull that the barber kept on a shelf in his corner of the recreation room. It was supposed to

be Japanese. It had a bullet hole in it.

Next to Guadalcanal was Savo Island. So many battles were fought around it for a period of time

when the Japanese kept trying to resupply Guadalcanal. Night after night a convoy coming down

the slot would be met by our ships. So many ships were sunk there that the waters around it were

called Iron Bottom Bay. I thought a lot about that at times that we passed that way with a motor

launch on trips to the boat pool at a place called Gavudu about 26 miles east of where we usually

anchored off Tanerou beach. On one of these trips I recall a heavy rain squall that we were able to

stay out of by running just out of range, just getting a few drops. It was the story around

Guadalcanal that at one point when the Marines had withdrawn and turned the island over to the

Army, the Japanese had thrown the Army back to the beach, even before the Marines had left on

the ships. It was said that the Army guys were on the beach waving at the Marines to come back,

and they had to unload again and go back onto the island and drive the Japanese back into the

jungle again. (I took it for the truth because I heard Marines telling it so often.)

Underway we always zig zagged, going the seven minutes on a compass heading and then seven

minutes in on another heading. Submarines took that long to target a ship. It was done in a

random pattern so your course could not be predicted ahead of time.

Merchant Marine ships were stockpiling the cargo in New Caledonia for us to reload and deliver to

the forward areas. We would unload at Guadalcanal in the beginning and then return to Noumea,

New Caledonia to reload, and then return past the New Heberdes to Guadalcanal. As the Army

and Marines moved up the Solomon chain we started going farther foreword, next to 80 miles

beyond Guadalcanal to the Russel Islands.

We could see the planes taking off from Henderson Field from our usual anchorage offshore. They

would take off wing to wing with another group right behind them. They reminded me of

blackbirds in the evening sky. We hauled a lot of bombs for them to deliver every night to the

northern Solomans, 100/500/1000 lb. bombs. We stacked them in the holds in wooden racks like

cordwood, 10,000 tons a trip.

Several trips we acted as a fleet supply ship. We went into Pervis Bay in the Florida Islands off

Guadalcanal and waited until the ships came to us. We had canned foods, clothing, peanuts,

cigarettes, just about anything they needed. I recall that we also had a lot of eight inch cruiser

shells, powder cases, and torpedoes. I saw a battleship there with a snub nose welded onto it. The

bow had been blown off. The California and the Iowa were there. We were lost in a rain storm one

night in the anchorage and bumping into a ship, made our way to the stern where they had a

gangplank rigged. We tied up and went aboard the cruiser St. Louis, staying until the rain let up a

little and we were reoriented as to where our ship was located. I saw the cruiser New Orleans, the

Salt Lake City and the Phoenix there, too. We supplied a lot of eight inch cruiser shells and

powder cases.

At Christmas time in 1943 while we were loading at the Nickel Docks in Noumea, a barge came

around to the ships that had some colored lights strung on it in the shape of an Xmas tree. A

group was singing Christmas carols. There was very little chance to go ashore in Noumea. A group

of us would go to church ashore on Sundays when we were there. The Sermon was in French, but

the Mass was in Latin just like it was at home. The Cathedral was a long walk up the hill

overlooking the city. A beautiful church, it felt good to go there.

They had a whore house in Noumea that was famous throughout the Pacific. It was called the Pink

House, I guess because that's the color it was painted. Eleanor Roosevelt flew in one day and asked

about the long lines in front of the house, and was told what they were for. I don't recall what her

comment was, but I'm sure she had one. She flew up to Guadalcanal, too. A morale builder for the

servicemen.

We had a guy on the ship, I won't name here. Soon after he was transferred onto our ship it was

apparent he didn't like to take a bath. Because of the intense heat, if you didn't take a shower and

change clothes every day, you would become ripe in a hurry. We sweated day and night. So the

guys near him in the sleeping quarters were soon complaining loudly, and he was so lazy we called

him Horizontal, because that was the position he was in if he wasn't eating. One evening a group

of guys whose bunks were in his area got together and took him up for a shower. They also took a

bar of lye soap and a scrub brush and scrubbed him good so that he was rosy pink all over. It

didn't cure his laziness but he did take a shower frequently after that. All that had to happen was

for someone to sniff the air around him and he would go and take a shower.

There was another guy on the ship that was in a poker game one night and won $600.00. He went

to bed early in the morning and stuffed the money down in his shorts. Everyone knew what a

sound sleeper he was, and he was a small guy. You had to try to sit him up and slap his face a little

to get him awake. So, someone stole the money while he was sleeping. The ship was searched all

the way down to the bilges, our lockers..everything, and it was never found.

This same guy was on his battle station with the earphones on our three inch gun and while we

were at Leyte,Philippines the only communications with the bridge. He fell asleep, Why they put

him on the phones when he was a known sleepyhead I don't know.

Bull Halsey's Whiskey

Early in 1944 we left Noumea with a load for the Fleet Headquarters Base in the Russel Islands.

Just before we left the Nickel Docks, a truck arrived under guard and 98 cases of Black & White

Scotch were brought aboard and stored in the #4 hold. An Officer with a 45 in a holster on his belt

patrolled the hold around the clock. One night the smallest guy on the ship offered me a drink

from a bottle of Black & White Scotch. I took a sip of it and didn't like it. I had drank a little

beer, but nothing like this. I learned later that he was the one they had put a rope around and

lowered him down through one of the ventilation funnels. He then passed up the Scotch.

When we arrived there was a great uproar and the ship was searched all the way down to the bilges,

but there was no evidence.

NOTE A shipmate "Bosco Eudaly" has sent me his version of the "Bull Halsey's whiskey"

Incident. It is much better than I recall and well worth reading.               

                                         Bosco Eudaly's version

                                     The Whiskey Incident

 ACCOUNTS AT END                                      Robert "Inky" Hinds Version.

As soon as the unloading was finished we began loading again, 55 gallon drums of diesel fuel, 55

gallon drums of water, many torpedoes and 30/50 caliber ammunition, canned foods, all sorts of

things. We pulled away from the island and were met by nine destroyers for an escort. We passed

the Island of Bougainville where they were fighting, to a place named Green Island where they

were setting up a PT boat base. We had to go through a gap blasted out of the reef, it seemed only

about 10 ft. clearance on both sides. The PT boats would come alongside and we would pass the

stuff to them in cargo nets. We unloaded all day and before dark we would go through the reef

where the destroyers were, and we cruised at full speed zig zagging all night, going back inside the

reef to unload each day. The Japanese were using a lot of submarines in the area to re-supply their

troops on Bougainville, and we were also within sight of a Japanese base on New Ireland. The PT

boats were keeping them bottled up, hitting them every night. This was near the main Japanese

base for the Solomon at Rabaul, New Britain which we also bottled up and bypassed. I believe we

were given this assignment because of the incident with the Black&White Scotch.

It took us three days and nights there to get our cargo unloaded. Along with the PT Boats we had

our two Tank Lighters and two Higgins Boats in the water also. Some of the guys made some giant

fish hooks, and using 1/2 inch line (rope) and 1/2 lb. chunks of meat, caught tuna, which all

weighed over 100 lbs. They would hook them and bring them alongside, and shoot them several

times in the head with a rifle. Then one guy would go down on a rope ladder and hook a grappling

hook into it and pull it up. It was some of the best food we had during my 26 months in the

Pacific. They also caught many sharks in the process. Several seven ft. ones were hauled up and

hung for pictures then chopped in the head with a fire ax for a time and then dumped back

overboard. I recall one tuna weighed 110 lbs.

I went ashore on a PT boat with a group one day and they told us there were wild pigs on the

island. We saw a sow and some pigs and made a big circle, slowly tightening it until we came

together. There was no sign of them. We thought we had them. Then someone spotted the sow with

her pigs at the edge of the clearing again. We gave up.

Finally unloaded, we headed back with our destroyers escorting us until we got past Bougainville

where they left us. I believe we then had to go to dry-dock in New Zealand to scrape the Barnacles

from our Hull. They were dragging us down below our usual 9 knot speed. So they loaded us with

jeeps, trucks and all sorts of vehicles needing repair.

War In The South Pacific

We went on to Wellington, New Zealand, where we unloaded, then put the ship into dry dock,

which means that tugs pushed the ship into a sunken chamber which had blocks set in the bottom

to match the ship, then the water is pumped out and the chamber rises, the ship settling on the

blocks. When all the water is out the ship is also braced from each side with hundreds of timbers.

We set up scaffolding and with chipping hammers and scrapers cleaned all the barnacles off down

to the metal. Then red lead undercoat was applied and a coat of black paint over that all the way

up to the water line. This work went on by all the crew in eight hour shifts, because we were needed

up in the war zone. We were given liberty here and it was almost like being home. There were lots

of cabarets, the beer was strong at nine percent alcohol, plenty of wine and rum punch. Many of

the New Zealand men were off fighting in Europe. We always had a ship's dance when we went

there, with plenty to drink and plenty of girls. I drank a lot but did not get involved with the

women. I was still pretty shy and still 17 when I went there the first time.

One of the guys from Minnesota had buck teeth and hated them so bad that one day he was so

drunk that he went to a dentist and convinced him to pull them. When he sobered up he was really

embarrassed by the way he looked and also that everyone knew about how he lost his front teeth.

Always after that he would put his hand up over his mouth and talk from behind his hand.

One day, a group of our sailors were drinking in a cabaret, sitting around a table when a guy and

his best friend got into an argument. He stood up to throw his glass of beer in his friend's face,

stumbled and fell across the table, shoving it into his eyes. It broke and put out one of his eyes.

We went to New Zealand about every six months. One time it was eight months we were away from

civilization, not seeing any civilians at all. One time we went three months without any mail.

One day there was a disturbance on the stern of the ship. I went to look, like a lot of other guys,

and a sailor had the executive officer cornered and was holding a fire ax over his head. He kept

saying "Send me home" over and over again. The Officer was really doing some talking. He finally

talked him down. He was one of those we had on board who had been away from the states for

three years when the war started, and had been away over six years when we came back to San

Francisco. You could save up your leave for that time and take 90 days all at one time.

We brought a load of cement back with us this time. It was the smoothest ride I ever had on a

ship. We were so loaded down that the water just washed over us. It was unloaded by natives at

Guadalcanal, and with their big bushy heads of hair they all looked like ghosts.

The natives wore a tag on a chain around their neck and on it the British stamped characters to

indicate how good a worker he was and other data about him. They wore shorts and a leather bag,

carried at the waist, suspended by a strap across their chest, a pouch with a pipe, tobacco and

small articles.

The Banana Incident

One time we were in Pervis Bay in the Florida Islands off Guadalcanal and a beer party was

organized. We were taken ashore to a recreation area and given two cans of warm Iron City Beer.

A buddy and I went over to the edge of the jungle where a trail led off the area. There was a sign

that said "Off Limits", but we decided to explore a little and went down the trail. After going a

ways through almost solid vines, we came to a clearing with banana stalks. We'd never seen any

before this. They had small green bananas on them. So he hoisted me up and I pulled some off,

seven of them. They were about the size of fingers. Then we saw some native huts and some natives

and we started back through the jungle to the recreation area. There was some rustling in the vines

and five natives came out on the trail, carrying six ft. long bolts sharpened into a point on one

end. They kept saying, in Pigdin English,"We kill Japs for stealing." We kept moving slowly

toward the beach and they suddenly faded into the jungle again. We thought we were home free.