did not sound good at all. The captain asked me to 'procure' the volunteer and train him for the mission. I called the crew together in the mess hall and painted as dark and foreboding a picture as I could regarding the job. Then I asked for a volunteer. Before I had finished the question, Schwarzback was waving his hand. I looked around to see another hand but to no avail. I really did not want Schwartzy, but he was the only volunteer. I have thought since then that the crew was indeed happy to have him raise his hand! For the next two or three weeks, I spent time with Schwarzback teaching him what to do when the time came. Some of the things we talked about were his ability to swim and get the anchor to shore. He assured me that he was an 'Olympic Class' swimmer. It was required that he keep his clothes on as well as a life jacket before coming from the deck house. He was to stay in the deck house until called. During this same period, he also gave me instructions. He made out a will and in it he gave away all of his possessions. As I remember it, he had listed many things which he supposedly possessed, such as two houses, several cars, and many other smaller items. He wanted me to put this document in the safe and, if he was killed, to get it to the right people. He named a girl friend, Ginny Slack, as a primary recipient. I had really worked hard with that young man because I knew the full importance of his assignment and tried to impress this on his mind. I wasn't sure I'd succeeded. The Invasion day came and as we finally hit the beach a call went out for Schwartzy, who was holed up in the deck house. Out he came: no clothes on except shorts and a tee shirt and no life jacket. Immediately, I thought how ineffective my instruction had been. There was no time to send him back to get clothes and a life jacket. He ran down the ramp with buoy in hand and dove into the water. The line was played out to him. The current and wind caught him immediately and carried him away from the ship. Low and behold, it was then that we figured out that he couldn't swim! He floundered around in the cold water and hung on desperately to the buoy. Time was ticking by and our troops were set to leave the ship. I told Lynn, our sound man, to heave him a line. All Lynn would have had to do was change hands and heave the line to Schwarzback, but instead he wound up with an eight pound lead weight and just missed Schwartzy's head by an inch or two. At his point, we dragged Schwarzback to the ship. He was like a drowned rat stretched out on the ramp. Now we needed another volunteer, and quick! Edgar Cannon, our top seaman, grabbed the buoy, went in the water, swam ashore, and planted the anchor in the sand. The moral to this story is that the crew had more respect for Schwartzy from that point on because he had volunteered even though he knew he couldn't swim and ended up nearly drowning. Nevertheless, he had the guts to try. As we were unloading the remaining soldiers, I noticed a small, wiry boat with two men in it rowing toward shore. My recollection is that the two men were Federko and McLees. They did pick up Edgar Cannon and return him back to the ship. So much for the Schwartzback story; even though he had broken all assignment rules during the landing, his status aboard ship actually improved after this! He finally had a 'tall tale' worth telling. Calvin Reid Bybee_ Calvin Reid Bybee served in the Navy Third Fleet and became a second class petty officer. Reed Winfield Campbell Reed Winfield Campbell attended Weber College after the war. He served in the Navy and was discharged in January of 1946 as a petty officer third class. Reed saw plenty of history made at war's end in the Pacific. He, among other Weber alums, watched as the American flag was raised on Iwo Jima, and his ship, the USS Calhoun, advanced to Okinawa where it was sunk by a Kamikaze. Reed was awarded the Victory Medal. Robert E. Campbell I enlisted in the Navy in February 1944 to September 28, 1949. I went through boot camp at Farragut, Idaho, for eight weeks. I shipped out to USNTC, Shoemaker, California. From there I was transferred to Target Repair Base, San Pedro, California. From there I was assigned aboard the landing ship USS LSM 265 and went to Hawaii. I then went to the Marshal I Islands before proceeding on to the Island of Ulithi in the South Pacific. We picked up a contingent of Marines for a big upcoming invasion. I had Just turned 18 years old, and it was a very special thing for me at the time. We joined a convoy of 1,500 ships and headed north for the invasion. On April 1, 1945, Easter Sunday, we invaded the island of Okinawa. We went to the beach and unloaded the Marines and equipment. For the next few weeks 144 we ferried supplies from the cargo ships, Amphibious Assaults (APAs), to the beach, all the while fighting the hordes of Kamikaze pilots who were trying to sink the big ships. They came in low to get under the radar, and we had a hard time firing at them because we didn't want to hit our own ships. With our ship being so small, you could see their faces as they flew by to get to the big ships. We were a few thousand yards from the USS Missouri BB53 when they came in for a run. We shot the tail off of one, and it landed on the beach. I have a photo of ityes, we were very proud at that moment. Later, we went to the Island of le Shima, just off the coast of Okinawa. We put supplies ashore, and at night we gave weary troops hot coffee and fresh baked bread. I have a photo of a sign where Ernie Pyle, famed war correspondent, was killed by a sniper dated April 18, 1945. In him, we lost a good friend. We shipped out to the Philippines, then back to Okinawa and Island of le Shima. We weathered a plane attack one night and spent it at general quarters for 16 hours. Later, we went again to Subic Bay in the Philippines, and while we were there, the war came to a close. I received awards for the American Campaign; Asiatic Pacific; Asia Occupation Service; Philippine Liberation Ribbon; WWII Victory; and Good Conduct medal. They called us the Greatest Generation, but I'm no hero. I was a green kid fresh off the farm. We had a job to do, and we did it. I was one of the lucky ones. I made it home and all in one piece. Thank you, Almighty God! We were at battle conditions for 30 straight days, and at times I wondered if I would make it. Scared? Yes. Brave? Not quite. I said a lot of prayers. I respect and honor all vets who served their country. THANKS! Robert E. Carney Robert E. Carney may be remembered for his participation on the Weber varsity basketball team before and after the war. He left Weber to serve in the Navy from May 1945 to June of 1946. He attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade. He served in the South Pacific on Patrol Craft 1080 and was trained for the invasion of Japan. John Webster Carter John served in the Navy Armed Guard from 1943 through 1945. The ship that he served on was the President Johnson. It was a 45-year-old ship that was 685 feet long, 65 feet from the beams and sank in the water 37 feet. Their mission was to transport Marines in the Pacific conflict. John was thankful that he never had to shoot at anyone. He is grateful that he was able to return home unharmed except for some hearing loss. While he was in Manila, there was an enemy dive bomber that attacked a carrier and only missed his unit by 150 feet. John attended Weber State College in 1945, taking architectural drawing and welding. He drew up the plans for the home that he was building and showed them to his instructor. The instructor was so impressed that he brought the entire class to look over the plans and the house when it was finished. Mr. Carter and his wife still live in that home. Carlos Daniel Cerna Editor's note: Charles 'Chuck' Powell changed his name to Carlos Daniel Cerna in 1997. The small Task Unit 77.4.3 (voice radio call sign 'Taffy 3'), with planes primarily from Taffy 2 and 3, turned away a superior Japanese task force from entering the Gulf of Leyte in the battle of Samar Island, lasting three hours on 25 October 1944. No question that 'GQ Johnny' (USS Johnston) was the fightin'est ship of them all in Taffy 3! At about 0730, we were hit by enemy cruiser shells and took major damage from three 14-inch enemy battleship shells back aft that disabled our ship to half speed. At about 0950, GQ Johnny was dead in the water and without power or communications aboard ship. Enemy shells kept pouring into the ship. After a minute or two of silence on the Director, Hagen looked out of his hatch and said, 'They've abandoned ship. 145