radio shack, retype it on mimeograph stencils, and then print the newspaper for distribution throughout the ship. With a wastebasket under one arm so that I could heave into it when my seasick stomach complained severelyand with freshly printed newspapers under the other armI then went throughout the ship, leaving a copy of the newspaper under each cabin door! I never did overcome the problem with seasickness while in the Navy. We made nine round-trip voyages during the year I was on board ship, and each time we left port (eighteen different times!) I again became deathly ill. This terrible feeling continued until we reached our next port. It would gradually leave once our ship had again docked next to land. When I reached the age of twenty-one, I was discharged from the Navy and returned to my home in Fredonia, Arizona. Dennis Knight_ Dennis Knight served as a fireman first class in the Naval Reserve. He was in the Pacific and South Pacific, New Hebrides, Tinian, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. I was just about to turn eighteen years old when I joined the Navy. After watching newsreels, I decided the Navy seemed to always be dressed in their white uniforms and looked to be much cleaner than those they showed of the Army, thus my choice. I really didn't know anything about the Navy when I enlisted. I thought an ensign was the lowest rank. But, I learned quickly. They sent me to islands of the Pacific, which were very interesting to a young fellow from Seminole, Texas. I enjoyed looking for seashells along the shore and appeared to have a gift for finding fruit, mango, banana, and papaya trees. Considering the chow we were eating, this fruit was a real treat. I had quite a following on these excursions. I was assigned to an L.S.T., and we had a crew of 330. These ships were used to transport troops, tanks and sometimes supplies. Their main purpose, however, was to bring in the tanks. We would drop anchor about a mile off shore and head to the beach. The bow doors would open and down would come a ramp which would then discharge our troops, tanks and trucks down the ramp and on to the shore. These ships were not primary targets of the Japanese. If they were returning from a mission and spotted one and still had ammunition, they would fire on us. In January, 1945, we were near the Island of Tinian. Sometimes we would suffer hours and hours of boredom punctuated by a few seconds of sheer terror. I attached myself to the 20mm cannon with a shoulder belt, it was damaged, and I replaced it with an unauthorized one, which was difficult to get disconnected. When the strafing started, they were getting too close and somebody on the Con ordered us to take cover. I couldn't open the belt. My loader had just put a fresh magazine of 60 rounds of 20mm HE shells in the gun less than two feet from my face. If a single one of the aircraft machine gun bullets hit the magazine; it would explode with the power of a case of dynamite. I had to empty the magazine for my own protection. The Navy's improved sighting mechanisms were worthless, or I didn't know how to use them. I couldn't have shot the back end of a bear if I was holding it by the tail. So I stood up above all the modern sighting mechanisms and fired the gun exactly as I would if I had been shooting ducks. I was shooting at the airplane which was getting bigger every second as it dived on us. The plane was apparently locked into the diving position. The pilot was already dead. I was firing at the engine to the left and caused the wing to break off. The plane veered and missed the ship by a number of yards on the starboard side. We later figured it must have had two 500 pound or one 1,000 pound bomb. When it hit the water, the explosion drenched the entire 300-foot ship. For this bit of luck, which somebody deemed heroic, I was awarded the Bronze Star: on paper only. I never saw the medal until about ten years ago when Senator Hatch arranged for them to send it to me. At the time my only award was a five dollar a month raise and six cases of beer. I didn't drink beer, but about 300 other guys did, so I was very popular with my buddies. The part that I like to remember is the beautiful verdant jungles on most of these islands. Iwo Jima was the exception. The northern most island in the Sulfur Island Chain was Chichima, which as far as I know, is remembered by me as we took the surrender of the island and also by George Bush, Sr., who parked his airplane off the shore of this island. 166 Charles Perry Leavitt From journal entries of Charles Perry Leavitt: I spent six weeks in San Diego at the Naval training station becoming a sailor. During this time, I took an officers classification test to determine if I could be given a commission. This held me up at the 'Paul Jones' until results were known. There was a holding section for Swabbies without orders who had graduated from boot camp. Finally the test results came back. I was called into the middle of a beautifully carpeted room nearly surrounded by a continuous desk where the officers sat. They popped question after question at me from all points of the room. I weathered the storm and came out an ensign, one of the few without ROTC. Officers like this were called 'mustangs'. My first orders sent me for indoctrination at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and from there to Cambridge, Mass., to attend a top-secret communication school at Harvard University. At this time in Boston, the Navy was asking for volunteers for the Underwater Demolition Teams (U.D.T.) which today are called the Special Units or the Navy Seals. At that time they were called 'Frogmen.' I volunteered, was immediately accepted and sent to Miami Beach. The Germans were sinking ships within sight of Biscayne Bay. We were quartered in a hotel, which had been taken over by the Navy and were taken out by destroyers for demolition training in the Keys. We had the privilege of being assigned to help in the filming of the movie, They Were Expendable, a dubious honor since we played the Japanese. At the conclusion of their training, everyone had two weeks leave if they could pass the physical. My orders finally came to ship out of San Francisco on the USS Sea Snipe. This was a dirty smelly old barge. Finally, I was headed for war zone. But first we had to pick up 1,500 Seabees at Point Hueneme. I was seasick before we even passed under the Golden Gate Bridge. The basic job of the U.D.T. was to swim ashore enemy-held islands and secure them for the marines that would follow. We worked in deadly silence, knifing or strangling sentries and taking out machine gun nests. We checked for mines, and set up our own. We left as silently as we came, often leaving the sign, 'Welcome Marines,' written in the sand. I never felt that I would be killed. I had a real desire to be out there. There were a few exciting experiences, but nothing compared to Marines landing on those beaches in the Central Pacific. I had one ride to the beaches with them in their landing craft, and it was almost my last. Japanese bullets came through the drop gate like it was made of paper. Many men did not survive the ride. I did only because I had a lot of Marines in front of me. We were asked to leave Admiral Mirchers' task force (38 or 78) and to proceed by destroyer off the coast of Borneo. We all suffered with the heat and had skin itch plus prickly heat. This is almost unbearable when in salt water. Our objective was to go ashore on Tarakan, a small island off Borneo and determine the Japanese strength. We went in by APN boat and used rubber-landing boats for final approach. We were to be picked up the next morning at 5 a.m. by APN boats and sled. The island was heavily covered by trees and low foliage, and we got lost soon after landing. A compass was of little value other than to know in general the direction we were going. We did not have an accurate map of the island and little information as to its shape and characteristics. We followed the contour of the island around the north side. There was plenty of evidence that Japanese were there, but we could not spot any. It was almost 10 p.m. when we stumbled on a group of Japanese women and kids. They had a Japanese guard with them. The guard was eliminated, but in the screaming and confusion, so were some of the women and kids. We heard the Japanese siren giving the alarm when the shooting began. We knew that there was a sizable force on the island and that the dependents had not been able to leave the war zone when they were bypassed. It was the only time in the war that women and kids had to be killed directly by my team members. I still feel it 167