My 1102 Days of W.W. II/Chapter 8
VIII. MOVING ON UP - ULITHI
After a stay of about nine months on Bougainville the American and Allied forces had cut the Jap's supply lines to a point where they were of little trouble or danger to us. So it was time for us to move on up again. On 10-1-44, we went aboard an LST to take us out in the harbor to a Navy troop transport. About half way out the ship signaled us to stand by as they were not quite ready for us.
The bottom of the LST was just as flat as a pancake and the bay there rolled continuously. After about half an hour nearly every man in headquarter company was "sick as a mule," and emptying their stomachs over the rail as they had not been on water for nine months. Members of C and D Company were accustomed to being on water almost every day. We went aboard the transport a short while later and left along with a flotilla for parts unknown, again.
On 10-10-44, we made a stop at the Admiralty Islands, 200 miles N.E. of New Guinea, leaving there the same day with more ships and escorts, and crossing the equator during the night while heading northwest. Looking at a map of that area you can see that we were surrounded by the enemy's fortified islands, Rabaul, New Guinea, Palau, Yap, Turk and Guam. We had a number of alerts of enemy planes and submarines, but had no encounter with the enemy. During these alerts we had to go below deck to an assigned area. It was hot down there at night and most unbearable in the day time.
After another nine more days (10-19-44) we pulled into Ulithi Atoll harbor. We unloaded our gear and set up camp on the island of Asor, which was only about half mile wide and one mile long. Ulithi, about 900 miles east of the Philippines is a small group of islands in the Western Pacific that belongs to the Western Caroline group. There are 6 or 8 of these islands but we used only 3 or 4 of the larger ones.
Expecting the Japanese to still be on these islands, the American Forces, as customary, blasted them thoroughly with shells and bombs before invading. After going ashore we found that the enemy had moved out before our arrival - no doubt in a hurry as they left so much of the equipment behind. Ironically, one piece of this equipment (an old Aircompressor) had been made in the United States. We also learned that we had killed a number of natives. One of these regretfully was the daughter of King Ueg, the Chief of this group of islands. This tragedy was hard for the Chief to endure and still befriend us. He and his natives were moved to Fassarai, a near-by island, as we needed this group of islands, along with the well protected harbor for a Naval Supply Base. The Chief, paralyzed from his waist down, was carried around in a wheelbarrow by the natives.
These islands and the coral reef connecting them formed a circle of about 15 miles in diameter. There were only two places deep enough for ship passage into the harbor. Those were kept closed by nets (under water) when not being used. At low tide one could almost walk from one island to another.
This atoll made an ideal harbor, but we were only 200 miles from Yap and 400 miles from Palau and Guam, right between the latter two. For a while we had some enemy planes fly in under radar and give us a scare. One plane dived into the mess hall on the next island. We did confiscate a two-man submarine inside the harbor before it did any harm. The submarine ended up as a display on the beach.
The first five or six days on Asor, the flies and mosquitos were so thick there would be half a dozen flies on every bite of food before you could get it to your mouth and the mosquitos would suck you dry day and night. The Japanese left this island in a terrible mess. There was also a filthy mud hole (lake) on the island that we filled in and had the island sprayed a few times by plane. After that it was ideal as far as the insects were concerned.
The day before we arrived there, a typhoon had gone through this area. It left things in a mess. Large boats were way up on the beach and others sunk. An LST was left standing straight up, resting on its stern with one-third of the bow section protruding out of the water.
It required 18 days to make this most dangerous move of aout 1700 miles (way the crow flies) from Bougainville to Ulithe. The slowest cargo ships in the group governed the convoy's speed and it was necessary to pick our safest, and no doubt a much longer route, through that hornet's nest of enemy controlled islands. In avoiding the typhoon by allowing it to pass ahead of the convoy, we also lost considerable time the last two or three days out.
This harbor was known as the secret supply base of the Pacific for the famous "58 Task Force", which consisted of battleships, carriers, cruisers, destroyers and all of the smaller support ships.
The Task Force would stay out on a mission for 10 or 15 days; then return for rest and recreation and to replenish their supplies. After approximately 8 or 10 days they would head out to sea again to blast anything and everything that belonged to the enemy. While out on these missions the men were constantly on alert and badly needed the rest.
Some ships returned badly battered up by the enemy. Among them was the "Carrier Franklin" which had lost her complete superstructure. Usually there were a number of dead compatriots on board as we could hear the mournful sound of taps from the bugler as they were being laid to rest on Asor.
At times there were up to 1500 ships in the harbor and at night it looked like a lighted city. We had gangs working out there at night and even when the lights were on we had to depend on the compass to return to camp, even in the day sometime. A few times at night we were caught out in the harbor during an alert when all the lights went out leaving us in pitch darkness. This made it very difficult to find our way back to camp, as there were no landmarks to guide us as we had at Bougainville.
Due to the limited amount of storage space on the islands some of the Merchant Marine ships sat in the harbor for months before their supplies were used up by the task force. This area was considered a combat zone which gave the crews of these ships additional pay while there. I decided then that I had volunteered for the wrong service.
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Having been on Asor for five or six months we did not have enough work to keep us busy. There was no place to go and nothing to do there, so life became rather monotonous. I kept myself busy by carving out a checkerboard with my pocket knife and making a footlocker, both of which I brought home. Otherwise Stoney, another chief, and I passed some of the time away playing gin rummy.
About this time I applied for a commision as Warrant Officer, never expecting to hear from it again. Five months later the approval caught up with me. I will explain that later.
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After we had things well under control, alot of beer came in. The Army did the hauling from the beach to a large storage quonset hut. This was doled out at two cans per day, per person, for the enlisted men. Two cans per day was not enough to satisfy some people. While a barge of beer was being unloaded at the beach, a man from C Company checked out a truck from the OD's office which was the same type as the Army used. He drove to the beach, backed in, was loaded up by the crew and off to C Company he went, instead of going to the warehouse. This beer disappeared immediately.
On unloading the beer from the ship some of the men became so intoxicated while working down in the hole of the ship that they required help in getting back up the ladder. They would go back under the wing out of sight, open a case, drink what they wanted, turn the case over and send it out with the full ones. As a result of this a marine guard was stationed in the hole when unloading beer from then on.
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Our crew loaded a LST barge from a large cargo ship and we went along to unload it onto another one. The skipper in pulling away from the starboard side and being parallel to the ship he could not see his way clear from the left side, but assumed it to be. At the same time there was a much larger LCI coming at right angle from the left just ahead of the ship, which could not see our barge either. The bows of the two crafts slammed together, knocking several of our men that were riding on the bow into the water.
The skippers saw one another in time to reverse their screws full throttle, but not in time to prevent the accident. One man was sucked under the LCI by the surge of water from the screws of the two crafts and was carried about one quarter of a mile away by the current before we were able to pick him up. He was very lucky not to get hurt but was exhausted when rescued.
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Ernie Pyle, the well know newspaper columnist of World War II was killed on Ie Shiraa, an island near Okinawa. On his way there he had stopped at Ulithi and had lunch with us in our chow hall. He wrote many syndicated editorials for several American newspapers.
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All the islands that we had been on were not far from the equator and the weather was hot and very humid in the day, but it did cool off at night, particularly on the islands that were mountainous. The island of Asor was only about ten feet above sea level and it was the hottest one yet. We wore wide brim safari type hats to protect our faces from the sun. When working on the beach (unloading barges) the thermometer would reach up to 120 degrees F. At this temperature the reflection of the sun from the beach sand and the water would blistered our faces.