This post is for my dad who served in the Navy during WWII. He kept a detail log that we found with other items that he kept from his time in the Navy.
His first ship was the USS Snowden, which was a Destroyer Escort or DE-246. He boarded this ship on May 22, 1945 in New York.
From my dads log, we see that the ship headed to Guantanamo Bay for training shortly after he boarded the ship. After training, they sailed thru the Panama Canal and a brief stop in San Diego. He noted that he got to go home for a weekend prior to sailing to Japan to take part of the expected invasion.
After leave, they headed to Pearl Harbor, with full expectation of having to invade Japan. But there is a simple note on his log, “VJ Day”. Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945. Dads ship landed in Pearl Harbor on August 15th. The questions I wish I could have asked him about that entry are what was it like to hear the news that the war was over? And did you have fun in Pearl Harbor? I imagined he took part in a scene like the one below.
On September 18, 1945 my dad picked up the USS EF Larson DD-830 and left for Tokyo the next day.
On the way to Tokyo, on September 27 the ship hit a sea mine. One thing dad kept is some shrapnel that I assume came from this event. Dad never mentioned this event to us. He only talked about steaming thru the sea mine fields and they were the lead ship, protecting the larger Destroyers behind them. He talked about during the day they would shoot the mine with their 20MM machine guns. But at night, they could not see the mines, but their orders were to get to Tokyo. So they kept the same speed at night and never slowed down. The Navy was not concerned if they hit a mine at night. They had to get to Tokyo on time. Dad mentioned that they ordered all personnel to stay in the back half of the ship at night in case they hit a mine. On his log he mentions several mines they found on the trip to Tokyo and in the Yellow Sea near China.
Once they were in Japan, the ship was assigned to shadow a Russian war ship. When the Russians left port, they would follow. They traveled to several ports from October to December of 1945. They went to Okinawa, the China port of Taku, Saipan, Guam and then back to Tokyo Bay. During this stint he notes that he took a trip to Sapporo by train on November 21st. So it appears that he was able to move about the country without any trouble.
On January 14, 1946 he arrived in the port of Nagasaki. Dad talked about how he hitched a ride with two Marines in a jeep to tour the city. On August 9, 1945 the United States dropped the Atomic Bomb on the city of Nagasaki. Dad described being in the outskirts of town and seeing a few windows blown out. Then as he got closer to the city, the trees and buildings started showing damage. By the time he was in the city center, he saw complete devastation.
During the winter and spring of 1946, dad’s ship continued to shadow the Russian ship, visiting many ports in Japan. Finally on March 31, 1946 he headed for home aboard the Belle Isle AG73. He arrived in San Francisco on April 22nd. His last entry reads “Discharge 26 of April 1946.”
The story he always told when he was discharged was about the warning they received. As they disembarked, the Navy paid them in cash for their service. They were warned that many sailors were mugged so be careful. Fortunately, his sister, my Aunt Pat was going to school at UC Berkley and met dad in the city. To keep his money safe, he gave it to his sister for safe keeping. Unfortunately Pat needed to pay rent so Dad never saw his war money. He would tell that story with a glint in his eye, but I could never tell how he felt about Pat “borrowing” his pay. He would smile from ear to ear and chuckle as he told the story; often in front of her. She just smiled too.
