Oral History Program Don Hyrum Hansen Interviewed by Marvin Hansen 06 August 1972 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Don Hyrum Hansen Interviewed by Marvin Hansen 06 August 1972 Copyright © 2012 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. 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It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Hansen, Don, an oral history by Marvin Hansen, 06 August 1972, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Don Hyrum Hansen. The interview was conducted on August 6, 1972, by Marvin Hansen, in the home of Don Hansen at 1264 Liberty Ogden, Utah. The subject of this interview includes the personal experiences of Don Hyrum Hansen during World War II. MH: Do you want to tell us a little bit about your history— where you were born and what you did during World War II? DH: I was born April 14, 1924 in Richmond, Utah. I attended grammar school at Park Elementary School in Richmond, Utah. My four years of high school commencing with the ninth grade were at North Cache High School. I graduated in May of 1942 from high school. I suppose primarily that you are interested in what occurred around World War II. I was a junior in high school the year the War broke out. As I recall, this particular Sunday was fast Sunday in our ward and when we returned home from fast and testimony meeting we turned the radio on. The announcer said that Pearl Harbor had been struck by the Japanese. They did not know to what extent that Pearl Harbor had been damaged, but that there were many ships that had been sunk and a lot of personnel that had been killed. We, of course, were very much stunned about this particular thing. We were very much concerned. The entire nation had been very concerned about what had been transpiring in Europe for the past several years. Our country had a draft program and had been drafting men into the military service training. This, of course, meant that in the next day or two our nation would be mobilizing. I think on Monday Congress met and declared war on the Japanese as well as on the Germans. The months ahead were very trying months for those who 1 were in charge of our Government. I am positive that many things were kept from the American people to try and keep the people from fear. People on the West Coast were upset and certainly the Japanese people living there had their integrity questioned. They were taken from their farms and more or less were placed in concentration camps, or work camps. They tried to move them inland and have them work on farms. Of course, they were watched very closely. The people of the United States were, of course, very leery of people from German descent, especially those who had immigrated to this country. Lots of people were very doubtful of people who were of German descent. I recall very vividly of Doctor Noble who lived In Richmond. He had been on a mission to Germany and his wife was of German descent. She was very close to the people who were of German descent, and a lot of people were very skeptical of her. This proved to be false as time went on because she was dedicated to the United States Government. In the next few months the country had to mobilize quite rapidly. They had to get busy and build defense plants. People were very concerned of a possible attack on the West Coast. There were many things I am sure that transpired that I didn't know anything about. I had to register when I was 18 for the draft. My senior year in high school, there was a lot of opportunity for employment especially after I graduated from High School. There was a lot of employment in the defense areas. Certainly in the Utah area, Ogden was the defense center especially with the defense depot he at Ogden and Hillfield. When I graduated from High School I had been wanting to get away from Richmond mainly because salaries were not very high doing farm work like thinning and hoeing beats— putting up the agricultural products didn't offer very much. I had always wanted to come to Ogden anyway. I 2 came down here that summer and was only here a few days when I was hired at Hill Airforce Base. I worked there in May till the latter part of September. Then I went back to Logan to go to Utah State University. I had a lot of experiences at Hill Airforce Base— the security was very tight there. I can say that I watched the Airforce personnel very closely. I had a deep feeling for them. I knew it wouldn’t be very many months and I would be going through the very same type of training that they had been going through. These were men who were taking specialized training in various fields on airplanes. A lot of them would leave Hillfield and go directly overseas. Their training was primarily that of learning to repair airplanes. I returned to Logan and went to school winter and spring quarter. Near the end of Spring Quarter, I received notice that I was to appear for my physical in Salt Lake on the first day of April, 1943. I travelled from Logan to Ogden on what used to be called the Utah-Idaho Railroad System. It was in poor condition but we made it to Ogden. At Ogden we were transferred on the old Banburger, and it was in much better shape. It was in much better shape than the old Utah-Idaho Electric. It was taking people to Hill Airforce Base and to the arsenal to the south of Ogden. I had my physical on the first day of April in Salt Lake. We appeared at a federal building there in Salt Lake. In course of the day, we had our physicals. Near the end they said that they could take a certain number for the Navy, a certain number for the Marines, and a certain number for the Army. Some of my friends were going to the Navy ; and some were going into the Marines and the rest would ultimately end up in the Army. I felt like I would possibly like to go into the Navy. I had a friend who was in the Navy and I felt like that possibly it would be a little better deal than being in the army. So I chose to go into the Navy. I 3 was afraid that I might not pass my physical high enough to go into the navy. They checked my record over and said that I would be able to go in. So I elected to go into the Navy. I returned home and on the 8th day of April I had to appear in Salt Lake to be transported from there to our training station. Then we arrived in Salt Lake on the 8th day of April. I went the same route that —well I didn't go the same route, my parents took me to Ogden. Then I caught the Banburger out to Salt Lake. The people at the federal building had our orders ready so that we could go to our place of training, which turned out to be Farrgeot, Idaho. We boarded the Union Pacific train about 9 PM in Salt Lake City. Then we traveled from there to Pocatello, Idaho. It was a very slow train that we were on. In fact we were pulled on a siding when we arrived at Pocatello to catch another train on out to Pendleton, Oregon. Then from Pendleton, Oregon we went on up to Spokane. If I remember correctly, we were on the train about two days. We arrived in Spokane, Washington on a Saturday evening. Then we had to wait for a troop train to carry us on up to Farrgeot , Idaho. We arrived there about 2 AM in the morning. Then we had to lay over there in the receiving station until Monday morning when they processed. After we arrived there, processing commenced on Monday morning. Of course I remember us going in and then having to stand in line. They is issued us clothes and then we had to go to another place to stand in line to get our haircuts. We got the usual G.I. haircut by shaving our head actually. They took the clippers actually and cut your hair off completely. Then we were able to see each other’s knowledge bumps. We were then assigned to a company in the training station there in Farrgeot, Idaho. I went to Farrgeot with eight other fellows from Cache Valley. There were about six of us who were from the same 4 graduating class. Ultimately, in our group there were three of us that ended up in the same company. The other three went into another company. The training was from about the 11th of April to about mid June at which time we completed our basic training. I then came home for about ten days. We came back on the train. If I can remember correctly we got off the train in Trenton, and I think that my folks met me there, and I went home for ten days. Then I had to go back to Farrgeot, Idaho. It seemed that the time went by very fast when I was home. Of course we were very apprehensive wondering what had happened. At that particular time after you finished boot training, you could be assigned to a school like a radio technician school or a signal school, or hospital corpsman school or any number of the service schools the government had or you could be assigned directly to a ship. Within a day's time you could be in Seattle or turned to Bremerton, Washington or be assigned aboard a ship as a seamen and be out to sea within in a couple of days. Actually, at that particular time, the ships were moving very cautiously wherever they went on the ocean for fear of being torpedoed by Japanese submarines or the German submarines. Of course we were concerned about the West Coast more than we were about the East coast in as much as we were on the west coast. I was very fortunate, after two or three days of being in the receiving unit. I had applied prior to my leaving Farrgeot on my ten day leave to be accepted in a Ships Company and I was very fortunate in being accepted, I remained there in Ships Company working in the outgoing unit as a clerk until the first part of January 1944 at which time my six months was completed. At that time it was mandatory that if you had served six months that you be moved out to a ship or assigned to a unit that was going overseas, or to a school if you are fortunate. I wasn't 5 fortunate to go to a school, but I was fortunate to receive an assignment to a land base unit that was going overseas. Many of my friends in personnel whose tour in Ships Company was running out at that time felt that this would be a better thing to get on. We were friends, and we had requested that we be placed on this particular draft that took us to the old Tand Fer Ran Racetrack south of San Francisco. We didn't know when we were talking to our friends in personnel whether we would be able to go or not. They were able to get us this draft. There was other drafts going out but we felt like that we would like to go on this one. There was no objection. About the middle of January we went too and took a bus down to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and then from Coeur D’Alene we went to Spokane and caught a train from there to Portland. At Portland we had a layover for about six or eight hours. Then we caught another train down to Oakland and took the ferry across to San Francisco. Then we caught a bus out for the old Stenfer Ran Racetrack In the south part of San Francisco, where we remained from about the middle of January until the last of April. However, during this particular period of time they did give us a two week leave home. This, I think, happened in about February. They didn't know how soon we would be going overseas. We knew that we were going to be assigned to a land base called Man Aklan. It was supposed to be an advanced base but we didn't know exactly what we were going to do. We were assigned to the communication unit in this particular thing. We remained at the Stenfer Ran Racetrack until the middle part of April at which time we boarded a ship, a Dutch ship which had been converted into a transport ship. It was a ship about 500 feet long. It was called the Slauder Dike. The ship, at the time the Germans took over the Netherlands, was out to sea. The people on the ship did 6 not want to go back and have the Germans take them so they were able to be taken in by the United States and there it was made into a transport. Its accommodations were not very lavish. It had six or eight compartments down in the hold of the ship. If I remember correctly it was three decks high and two decks below the water below the waterline. We were the second deck on this particular ship. We were given shots and everything preparatory to going overseas. We were given issued gear which was similar to what the marines had. We were issued rifles. We had two sets of clothing; one was naval clothing and t e other was clothing that resembled that of the Marines and Army. We sent some of our stuff home like our Naval Dress Blues and naval stuff that we would not be using. We took two sea bags with us overseas. One with our mattress and our pillow blankets. The other sea bag was our clothing and our rifle, and helmet, gas mask, and etc. We were alerted that we would be leaving. We were instructed not to inform anyone that as to the exact time we were leaving for security reasons. We had to let our parents know that we were leaving in a few days and then were not allowed to call or anything. We were awakened about 4:30 A.M. preparatory to boarding the ship. If I remember correctly we were in the second estilon. The first estilon had left ten days prior. I think that there was about 4000 of us in the second estilon. By the time we got on board ship it was midafternoon. In fact it was about 4:00 PM that we were all aboard ship and been assigned a bunk onboard ship. About 4:30 P.M. they raised the gang way. We were aboard ship there at San Francisco. I don't recall the pier that we were at now but about 4:30 in the afternoon, they said that we were getting ready to shove off. They started the motors on the ship and the barges came along side of the ship to help move it out into the bay and eventually out through 7 the golden gate. I recall as we passed through the Golden Gate there was a ship coming in and we waved to the personnel coming in. They were Marines and Naval personnel who had been overseas for twenty months. We certainly looked at them and wondered if we would ever be coming back . We were wondering what would happen to us in the next few days. As we proceeded on out through the harbor, word came over the loud speaker that we were to eat, that chow was being served in the chow hall. So as our turn came we went on down to eat. About this time we were out in the breakers and it was a little choppy. The ship, though it was a heavy ship , rocked some and it was a good opportunity for people who had a tendency to get sea sick to get sea sick. We filed single file down to the chow hall and we had to stand up to eat at tables after we got our chow. This particular evening they had given us stew-greasy stew. I think that we were' the middle of the group in being fed that evening. As we went up the gangway or the ladder to go out of the chow hall, a lot of the fellows had gotten ill and thrown up. If you had a tendency to be the least bit sick or to throw up, this was a very good opportunity to do so. A lot of them became sick and threw up as soon as they got topside. They would go over to the rail and throw up on the ship or the side of the ship if they could make it. This was a little disturbing so I felt somewhat sick, so I decided the best thing for me to do was to go down stairs and go to my bunk. I know that I didn't get undressed. I just crawled up on my bunk which was a steel frame with canvas over it and laced around it. I did get sick so I lay there very quietly so that I wouldn't try and do anything that evening. I remained there through most of the night. The sickness seemed to pass over, but a lot of my friends were ill. It took some of them three or four days to get over it. By morning we were out to sea—way 8 out to sea. We couldn't see land at all. In fact, I don't remember when land disappeared. We were informed that we were going down the California coast out from land several miles down the coast and then cutting across to New Caledonia. So for several days we were out to sea. It was quite warm it was in May. As we got nearer the equator it was quite warm. Certainly being on board a ship like we were on, there was not adequate water or adequate showers. The showers that we had were so that we could have a salt water shower anytime but fresh water was only on for a shot period. We had to have canteens that were filled with water at all times. Also we had to wear them on our canteen belts. We were also instructed that we were supposed to wear a life jacket at all times in case the ship was torpedoed. In fact we slept with them. We would have at any time an inspection by an officer who was in charge. You would have to fall into the various divisions on top side and be inspected and the officer would inspect your canteens to see if they were filled with water. We did on the fifteenth day out pass an island. It did look like heaven to me to see the island. It was so green and pretty. About the twentieth day out we did hit New Caledonia. Some of the people in our ship repair unit had to disembark there to go to school for a period. We pulled into New Caledonia. It was a French Mandate island. It did look really beautiful from aboard ship. It looked like it would be a heavenly place to be. We were there for a few hours. We anchored there in the harbor. The harbor there sent out a boat to pick up the personnel who were disembarking. They disembarked and then later that day we pulled on out. Our instructions were to go on up to Marobi Bay, and New Guinea where we were going to form in to a convoy. We proceeded on up there and it took us a day or two longer to go up to New Guinea. We pulled into Marobi Bay 9 and anchored and another ship, the David Crocket, a freighter, was there. It had onboard some of our personnel who had left a few days earlier and were going directly over there. They were a slower ship. They had some of our personnel on it that were taking care of ducks and chickens that the officers had arranged to take over for their personal use. They decided that they wanted to have fresh eggs so they had arranged to have this particular group take care of them. After we had gotten there, we were told that the ship had run out of food for the ducks and chickens. So the commander whose name was Stevenson he was a high school principal from the mid-west. He looked a lot like Hitler. He had a moustache similar to his. He decided that he had better go over and check on the chickens. He had taken with him a Great Dane dog on board slip. When we embarked from San Francisco this dog had been tied to the mid-ship and he took care of the dog each day. He would feed it steak sandwiches. He took real good care of the dog. While the enlisted personnel were eating stew and other junk, the dog was eating steaks. We resented this quite severely. At any rate, he decided that he would go to the David Crocket to check on the chickens. He wouldn't go without his dog. They lowered the whale boat off from the ship and the gangway down so that this officer, who was the Lt. Commander, could go over and take his dog with him. I recall very vividly as he went that the sea-was a little rough that evening. The boat pulled up long side of them in the whale boat. He went down the gangway with the dog. The dog jumped to get in the boat and missed the boat and landed in the drink. The Lt. Commander said they had to help him get back into the boat. It was quite laughable standing there watching the old man. The old man looked just as grumpy and ornery as Hitler himself. Anyway he went over to the Davey Crocket and 10 came back and said that we had to take the stuff that we didn't eat over to the chickens to feed them. They had to take the chow or, in other words, the slop that we didn't eat, over to the chickens. In a day or two some more ships came and formed the convoy. We went on up through New Guinea and through New Britain. This particular time the navy was concerned because the Japanese held a passageway or narrow. One side was held by the Japanese and the other island was held by the Americans. The Navy was afraid that the Japanese would try and bomb us or that they would try to torpedo the ship. I think that the Americans had been doing considerable bombing and kept the Japanese pretty busy. We went safely through without trouble. However, the order had come out the day from Marobi Bay that they wanted three hundred men on topside. From dusk to dark and from daylight till it was fully light with their rifles and 100 rounds of ammunition. When you have to carry hundred rounds of ammunition around your belt it gets quite tiring. They issued a hundred rounds to everybody. We proceeded from there on up to the Admiralty Islands which was going to be our home for the next year or so. When we arrived there the Admiralty Islands looked just beautiful. There was a little island out in the middle of the harbor. It looked like it would be heaven on earth. After we got there they wanted some of the personnel to go over on a work detail to the main island to prepare a place for the ducks and the chickens. Some of them went and they took others of us on detail to work over there. They were trying to prepare quarters for us to live. We were anxious to go, all of us. We went over there and found that it wasn't really heaven on earth, because it was a coral reef. The island was clay and it had a lot of red clay. We went over there on a work detail. We decided that we would snoop around and go up into the hills and jungle area and 11 see what we could see— which we shouldn’t have done. Because, when we got up there, we found foxholes that the Japanese had been in. There we were without rifles or anything. Even though the place had been secured, the Japanese were still there. When we realized we had done, some of us decided that wasn’t such a good idea so we didn’t do that again. The Japanese were there. The Seventh Cavalry Division was there to secure the island for the army. There were having patrols going back up into the hills all of the time. The island was being developed. The Seabees were there. The army was there. The army engineers were there. The engineers were working on the island. The island was about 50 miles long. There was another small island that was at the one end. This small island had a fighter strip or plane base on it. When we were there, there was considerable activity going on as far as airplanes were concerned. If I remember correctly, they were bombing Sipán from there. We got there in May and in December they were getting prepared for the Sipán campaign if I remember correctly. I had been assigned to work in the communications unit with teletype. We had a large shack there for the communication unit. There was sandbags stacked around the communications unit stacked about 8 feet high. The engineers and the Seabees had developed roads that were graded. They made the island quite attractive in this respect. We lived in tents for the first few months that we were there. Then they built huts back up in the hills against the jungles. I was a little apprehensive because there were still Japanese but they never did bother us. On this particular island the Navy had built a great big naval supply unit with docks. They built a large spare parts distribution depot or spare shops for ships. They built a base hospital. They built chapels, outdoor movie theaters. They built some large huts to disperse FX items. 12 They built large mess halls, the food w s rather pod for being overseas. The food there was much more superior to the food that was on ship when we were coming over. Of course we didn't have any milk or stuff like that, but we did get a lot of stuff that was called Australian Kangaroo. The Australians were there. Some of the English were there. We did have occasion to contact them. The unit I worked with was communications. It monitored circuits from the US. It was a relay station for Guam. They would relay messages from Guam to the Admiralty Islands and from the Admiralty Islands down to Australia. They had to decipher messages and prepare messages. It was actually a command there, the highest officer as the Navy was concerned. He was not the rank of an admiral. He was just under that, he had one star. I am not sure what you called him. He was in charge of all naval operations there. Upon the hill overlooking the bay was a signal tower that had direct connections with the radio shack and via teletype. When the ships would come in they would pass information to us and we would keep a record of all the ships in the harbor. The locations were given to us and signal maintained positions at all times. In early December, if I remember correctly, they were staging for the Sipán campaign. At that particular time we had over 1500 ships in the harbor. They were from small LCI to LSM, LST, Destroyers, Destroyer Escorts, large Battleships, and Carriers. Everything that the fleet had was there. One day they left; that was when they had the big invasion of Sipán. After that it became the staging area of the Heiwajima Campaign. It was either the Heiwajima or the Leyte Campaign. One particular day that I remember very vividly, it was about 10 AM and we heard an explosion. We were working at the communications shack and the officer in charge told everyone to lay on the floor. He 13 thought that we were being bombed. Now to this day I am not sure whether we were, whether a Japanese plane had flown over and gotten a location on the ammunition ship Mount Hood or whether it was an accident. In a few seconds he said “I guess it’s not.” There was no siren. The base siren didn't go on to indicate whether there was a raid, so we ran outside and looked out into the harbor. We could see stuff falling into the harbor. We were informed almost instantly that a ship had blown up. The ship Mount Hood had blown up which was an ammunitions ship. They were unloading ammunition there from the ship. They did have an ammunition dump that I didn't mention. They were taking the ammunition off of this ship, then they would take it over to the ammunition depot. Then the ammunition would be issued to the ships as they would need them. As the atmosphere cleared, we couldn’t see anything. Apparently, all the personnel onboard the ammunition ship plus the personnel assigned from the base to unload the ship. Those barges that were alongside the ship were all destroyed. No one’s life was saved. For many days after this, you would walk along the beach and see pieces of flesh that had washed up. We would go over to this little island, which was a recreation island, to go swimming. You would see little bits of flesh and that. I guess that the naval department knows how many people lost their lives. To my knowledge, I just don’t know how many. But the ammunition ship was a good sized ship. I would judge it to be about 500 feet long. It was a nice sized ship. This was the only real causality that I saw of this particular type. However, we did have problems with some of the boys taken Ethel Alcohol and making drinks out of it to try and get themselves happy. So, as a result, many boys would become blind and would suffer with effects for the rest of their lives. Some of them even died. It was a sad thing 14 to see this particular thing happen. There was on one side of this particular harbor or one side of the base or island, a ship repair unit. This ship repair unit, if I can remember correctly, it had three dry docks and other facilities for repairing ships. If ships were damaged at sea, they were brought in there for repair. I recall the Nashville- I think that the Nashville was a cruiser, was brought in. It was damaged. They put it into dry dock. When they raised it, there were bodies that came out of the compartment that had been damaged. As probably many of you know, the way ships are constructed. As probably many of you know, the ships are constructed in sections so that if one area does get damaged, they can shut the water tight doors and keep the ship afloat. This is what happened to the Nashville. Not too far from our communications shack east of us and across the small river coming out of the mountains, there was a cemetery. This is where they buried any personnel that passed away on the base or any that they brought in on the ships. This was done under the direction of the graves registration people, with the aid of the natives. We were not allowed to associate with the natives at all. There were native villages around, but they were off limits and were guarded closely by Naval Personnel. The villages that were assigned to the Navy were guarded by Navy Personnel and the villages assigned to the Army were guarded by the Army Personnel. They did not want us to collaborate with them. Certainly it would not be beneficial to collaborate with them. From what I understand, they were quite diseased. The natives didn’t live much past 25 years of age. I guess there was considerable disease there. Mosquitos were there which brought in disease such as Sleeping Sickness and of course Malaria. So they did not let us have anything to do with them which I thought was an excellent 15 thing. As time went on, the government decided that they were going to establish a burial up in the New Guinea area, for all the personnel who had died in the Pacific. As customary the officers would be buried in caskets similar to what we have here. The enlisted personnel would be buried in wood boxes. They decided that they would transfer the dead personnel to New Guinea and they brought the caskets. They were metal caskets. They brought them down and dug up those that were dead. This was the job of the grave registration personnel and the natives. As we passed the graveyard and when they would dig up a person who had died, they had the other casket there open. As they would lift the wooden box up, they would dump the remains in the casket and the natives would yell and make funny noises. Then they would close the caskets and then they would seal them. They took these caskets and stacked them three high near the cemetery. Then they had a ship come in and load them onboard the ship, and moved them up to New Guinea, which I understand is where they buried them. It gave you a funny feeling. You wondered if they had them tagged properly. Of course they had decomposed and they wouldn't let us get close to them. Certainly it wouldn't be beneficial for any of us to do so. In about February 1945 ; a group came Into the Admiralty Islands that were called Navy 3205. They were a communication unit that had been assigned to work with us. Because they were supposedly going to go to the Philippine Islands, they would eventually end up in the Manila area as the communication unit there. We got to know these people quite well. In fact, there were several of them who were members of the church. We got to know them quite well. Some of the boys expressed the desire that they would Iike to stay in the Admiralty Islands. I was getting a little tired of being there. I had been there since 16 May, so we talked to the officers in charge of this unit and asked what they thought of a transfer, and if it would be okay if we could work it out with our personnel officer if they would be willing to let their personnel remain. They said that they would be willing to do that because they felt that we had experience that would be beneficial to them. So we went ahead and worked this out with our officers. About in April, if I remember correctly, I was able to be transferred from the Ships Company or Navy 3205 to this communications unit that would be going on in a few weeks. We remained in the receiving station for about three weeks. I still had my regular job at the base. We were transferred onboard ship in about mid— April I guess. I don't remember exactly. When we got on board ship I was very fortunate and ran into a fellow on Sunday who was a member of Ships Company. The fellows name was Farrel Bell who lived three doors north of me. I hadn't seen him for four years I guess, because he had been on a mission. It was a very rewarding experience to see him. He was very good to us. We hadn't had an opportunity to have our clothes washed other than by ourselves. He was in charge of the laundry on ship, and he got all the personnel to bring all their clothing and he laundered them for us and was real nice to us while we were onboard ship. This only lasted about three or four days, then we arrived In Malady in the Philippines. We were assigned to a receiving station there. We eventually went on down to 7th Fleet Headquarters where we were assigned to the communications unit there. We remained there for a month or so then orders came for us to move on up to Manila. Manila had been secured, and they wanted us to move on up to Manila. We flew from Lady in an Army box car so-to-speak. I don't remember the particular style of airplane we flew from there up to Manila but it was quite an experience because we 17 could look out the window of the plane and see the islands of the Philippines. We landed Ray Nichols Field and then transferred south of Manila to a receiving station there, then they eventually moved us on down onto MacArthur Boulevard, down in Manila. Not downtown Manila, but it was the polar grounds. They had built barracks there and built up a nice mess hall and big communication shack. They had a lot of facilities there. It was the communication headquarters for 7th fleet. In fact, it was 7th fleet headquarters that remained there from about the first part of June until the middle of August when word came to us that the Japanese had offered to surrender. They had been bombed, and what a joyous occasion this was for everybody. While we were in Manila we wanted to see what we could of the area. Manila had been damaged very severely during the war by both Japanese and American bombs. The federal building and the other various buildings had been damaged very severely as well. The business district was not very impressive. There was shops when you would walkthrough the area, you had to be very careful because the Philipino people were very sly-handed. They would pick your pockets. If you had a pen or pencil in your shirt pocket when you went to town you wouldn't have it when you came back. Or if you had a watch that had a cloth band on it, you wouldn’t have the watch when you came back .They were very sharp with knives. They were very sly and they were not people who I was very impressed with. I am sure that there was a lot of Philipinos. Their predominant religion was, of course, Catholic . The oldest university under the American flag was in Manila. They had small carts pulled by horses which were the size of our Shetland Ponies. You would see those going down the streets. There would be about six or eight Philipinos hanging on to the buggy and maybe three on 18 the inside of the little buggy, and maybe three or four on the outside. They would go trotting around. There were some automobiles but they were very dilapidated and in poor repair. The place we were staying was where 7th fleet headquarters was. It was the polar grounds. It was on a water front in in Manila harbor and you could see the Petain Peninsula by looking west. The Kadieve Navy Yard was on the left. Kadieve was so far out that we didn't have an opportunity to go there. While we were there, we did do some traveling—not too much because there wasn't much of a way to get around except in a government vehicle. There was plenty of those around. We did get to see a few things. We went to church and mutual and so forth in downtown Manila. There was a Lutheran church that we were able to rent to have our LDS Services in. I was able to see a lot of LDS fellows and some LDS watches that were over there and we had some real spiritual meetings. Certainly I think we were able to appreciate the church very much while we were there. After the war ended, those who had twenty months service in, they were trying to get them out especially those that had high points. They wanted to pet them out. Of course I didn't have enough points. My overseas duty was to end in December. About Thanksgiving time, we got word that we could go. We were to be transferred over to the Kadieve Naval Yard , and there we would be able to catch a ship out right away. We hurried and got our things together and got over to the Kadieve Naval Yard. .Then we got over there this particular transportation fell through. We remained there until about the 15th of December. If I remember correctly , it was kind of boring. We knew that eventually we would get out and that they wouldn't keep us there forever. About the 15th day of December we boarded a naval transport. It was much better than what I had come over on. We had 19 to go on a motor launch from Kadieve Naval Yard to the ship. Kadieve was quite a ship repair unit I guess, prior to World War II, but was destroyed during the Japanese occupation. It was in very poor repair. We boarded ship about the 15 of December we went from there on up the coast to— I don't recall the harbor that we went to, to get some more personnel. Then when we got further north on the Lousan, the ship turned and headed home. We were onboard ship from the l5th of December to the fourth of January, which took us into the holidays. It might have been a period of time that we might have been happier to have been home, but we were extremely pleased to know that we were going home. We arrived in San Francisco on the 4th day of January. It was real cold. Our orders were that we were to go to Los Angeles first and then they were changed and they said we were to go to Seattle. Then they changed the orders again and sent us into San Francisco. It was a glorious day again to return to San Francisco. My hair was long like some of the youngsters of today. I felt like a wolf dog so-to-speak. When we arrived at Treasure Island, they processed us. There we didn't have any Blues and we were in badly need of a haircut. They were real kind to us. They issued us our Dress Blues about eight that night. They told us that we could go ashore. This was on a Saturday. In other words, we could go off base if we got our haircuts. This was the first thing that we did when we got to San Francisco was get our haircut. Of course, the barbers in San Francisco were out to get everything that they could out of you. Before I got through with this, I didn't only have to have a haircut but I had to have a shampoo and a shave— that all goes along with it. I guess they milked about six dollars out of us for this particular thing. They would take advantage of the returning service men. I had to remain in the area for about three days until they got 20 me all processed, then I came home for thirty days . I didn't have enough points to get out. I had enough time overseas to be rotated, but I didn't have enough time to get out. I came home for thirty days, and I had to come back in February, at which time they sent me back down to Los Angeles to Ternal Island down there at the Roosevelt Base. I was assigned actually to the first slip that I was ever on. I was assigned to that one because it was going to be decommissioned. I remained on that ship until I was ready to be discharged in about the middle of April, 1946. The ship hadn't been decommissioned, but the officer in charge was willing to let me go anyway. S o we went over to Roosevelt Base and on up to Los Angeles. I caught the train on out to Shoemaker, California and I was discharged in about the middle of April 1946. I had been in the service just a little over three years. To me it was an experience that I will always remember, but I wouldn't give five cents to go through the opportunity again. MH: You talked about points. What did you mean by points? DH: You had to have a certain number of points to get out. If you had been in the service so long or overseas so long then you get so many points. I don't recall exactly how they counted the points. If you were married you got so many points. If you had been in the service so long you got so many points. For each month that you had been in you got a point. If you had a wife and some children you got so many points for each dependent that you had. The ones that had the highest points got out first. The government didn't want to pay for the care of the well — actually if you were wounded you got an allowance for your wife, and if you had children you got an allowance for them. It got the government more money for those that were married and had families. The government was interested in getting them out first. If you had been overseas you 21 got a point and a half a month. I really don't recall how that works. At any rate, I got out a little over three years. MH: What was your basic job at Hillfield before you were drafted? DH: I worked in the warehouse out there. I was in the receiving station and we received the materials that came into the base. Actually, it was the receiving warehouse where we opened the boxes and checked the invoices against the merchandise to see that it was all there. Then we would move it on to the various warehouses depending on the type of material it was. If it was small parts, it would go to a small parts warehouse. If it was big airplane parts like a wing or part of an airplane, it would be moved to another area. They took care of all the material that was needed for the base there, especially the airplanes. They would get an airplane motor in and you would have to check it to see if it was there. Then you would send it over to have it repaired. They were repairing airplane motors there and we were sending parts in for it. If they had to repair bomb sites and other things they were brought in there. Then you would have to send them over to be repaired. The bomb sites were top secret stuff and they were very fussy about them. It was quite interesting, actually. MH: Do you kind of wish that you were working for them now? DH: If I had stayed with the government, I would have had with my military service. I would have in the neighborhood of about 29 years now. Another year I would have been old enough to have been able to retire. I had many times wished that I had have done that. I would have had a good retirement, but what has gone has gone, and you will have to hope for the best from here on out. 22 MH: What was it like to live here for the first part of the war? Was it quite busy? DH: When the war first broke out, the country was certainly quite unified. President Roosevelt was a very diplomatic man. He would say I hate war, Eleanor hates war, my sons hate war, and we all hate war. Certainly he was a man who was able to do a lot for the country. We were in a real sad economic situation when he took over. With his new deal and his other programs, he was able to give the people something to eat anyway. He was more or less a life saver as far as the American public was concerned. Of course we can look back on some of the things that snowballed and of course the country is in debt and a lot of it may be his ideas. DH: The first part of the war, everyone was busy. They were trying to save this and that and try to get the things that they need for the War like bacon grease and any type of grease. They had to save it to make ammunition. Things were rationed like meat, sugar… I don’t think that flour was ever rationed. Sugar of course was used in ammunition. Shoes were rationed. You could buy shoes, but to get real good shoes— they were just not available. Leather was just not available. There was a shortage of a lot of things. Automobiles— they discontinued making automobiles. You had to keep the old automobile running and in good repair. The automobile manufacturers were busy with making tanks and items for the War, so they discontinued making cars. I don’t think that there were any cars made. They made some cars in the 1942 models, and they had come out in September of 1941 prior to the War on December 7th. So, there were a few months that they had made 1942 models and there were no more made after December. Then, in 1946, they started making automobiles again. Of course there was a real need for cars then because everyone wanted a new car. It 23 took the automobile manufacturers a long time to get caught up. The automobile industry was making jeeps and the other various types of trucks that are used in warfare. The entire economy was set up for war. The defense plants were working around the clock trying to make material. We were sending Russia stuff. If it hadn't been for the US England couldn’t have survived. I guess it was good that England did survive. We would have to had fought the Germans or the Russians—one or the other. I don't know what is worse, the Germans or the Russians. Of course I think that the Germans were a little more determined than the Russians. The Germans were a little more aggressive than the Russians. The Germans were more willing to fight whereas the Russians wanted to get it without a fight. MH: You mentioned things about President Roosevelt that are carrying on today that may have started in his time. What are some of the things you might think are carrying on? DH: When he took over in 1932, there was a great unemployment problem. He had established what was called the WPA; the Workman's Project Association, I think that was what it was called. When he did this particular thing, they would go around to the various communities — it is not like it is today. People had outdoor privies. They would dig a hole and make new privy’s. I know people up in Cache Valley that didn’t have a bathroom inside and would have a new outdoor privy. They worked on projects to put curb and gutter in and try to make better streets. They constructed community buildings. The community building there in Richmond was constructed at this particular time. I believe that they did do some work on buildings like libraries, public buildings, maybe country court houses things like that. They just did things to try and create jobs. They had the CCC which was similar to the Job Corps I guess. They 24 would go out into the forest and make roads. They would try to do things that would develop the forest. A lot of men who had to make a living would go into the CCC. They would try to work the summer or the year round and come home on weekends. Things were really rough during the depression. There was so much unemployment. Of course, things were much cheaper then. Eggs were 15 cents per dozen, milk was 8 cents a quart, bread was 10 cents a loaf. So many things were so much cheaper than they are now. Of course, they didn’t make so much then, either. If you made a couple of dollars a day, then that was top salary. People who made sixty dollars a month could have almost anything that they wanted. They could build homes then from about fifteen to two thousand dollars. Maybe a two bedroom frame home for about two to three thousand dollars. That took care of the lot and everything. Things have really changed, the dollar doesn’t buy what it used to, but of course we make more dollars. MH: So you feel that he was the instigator of Federal Workshops? DH: Yes, Federal Workshops he was. He brought those in. Then he instigated Social Security. It started during his administration, which I think is good in many respects. If the government would watch what they are doing it would work out just fine. I hope that they don’t destroy the Social Security System, with them spending all of it and not saving the money that people have put into it. MH: I want to thank you for the information you gave to me this night 25