andy@almanor.org

The following was written by Elmer D Phillips and is quoted verbatim as he handed it to me, his son, Andrew Martin Phillips, Sr. in 2004. Elmer passed away Jan 30, 2006.

IN THE BEGINNING

My parents were Walter Martin Phillips and Maggie Ethel Steffey Phillips.  I was born fifth day of March, nineteen hundred twenty-three at home. Out in the country on a farm back of which was the Red River.  This river separates Texas and Oklahoma.  The small community was Julian, Texas; Hardeman County.  Quanah was the county seat.  (Later when I went into the U.S.N.R.C.B I spelled Julian phonetically.)

At two years old, Dad lost the farm because of medical expenses.  We then moved to Teacross, Oklahoma, for one year share cropping.  At three years old we moved to Tokio, Texas, a few miles west of Brownfield, Texas.

I had three older brothers and one sister, which was the first born - Laura Josephine, Marion Lee, John Sydney and William Glen.  I was the baby in the family.

At three years my memory kicks in.  The rest of the family left by wagon for Tokio.  About a three or four day travel each way.  They left me with Grandma Steffey and came back for me later.  Grandpa Steffey had died shortly before. He was buried on my third birthday.  

At Grandma Steffey's, I wanted to color something.  She gave me the crayolas but no paper.  Someone had recently papered the wall by the front door.  Guess what I used for paper?  If you guessed the wallpaper, you were correct.

CAN DO

By Elmer D. Phillips

SCHOOL DAYS

Tokio and Happy School Districts.  Happy was the closer school.  The year I was five, they started me to school at Happy, four miles each way.

The spring before I started to school, the community of Toko had a blacksmith shop for community use.  Plowing that year, if someone broke a plow point, they would oft time bring it there to Dad with a piece of wagon spring steel and do Dad's plowing while he went to the blacksmith shop to make the plow point.  He always took me with him to turn the bellows.  The bellows pumped air into the soft coal to make it burn hot.  Heating the steel red hot, he would use tongs to take it out of the fire to the anvil and shape it by beating it with a hammer to the same shape and size of the broken point they had brought along.  To temper the point, as he made them, he would put them in about thirty or forty weight oil to cool.  This made them come out with a bluish color as you see on fine guns.  They would last much longer than ones tempered with water.  To temper with water made steel brittle.

In the farming communities the children always stayed out of school to help bring in the crops.  I picked cotton at four and five.  I have to admit it was probably not too much.  I had a small sack which if I had Dad or Mother would put in their sack. If I had done enough, Dad would try to give me a dime.  I would not take the dime.  I would cry for an Indian head penny instead of the dime.  We also picked cotton for a neighbor.

Dad became sick in late December 1928, complaining about stomach pains.  The old country doctor gave him a physic.  Four days later when Dad was worse, he gave him another physic.  By this time, he was spitting up blood. Finally they took Dad about forty miles to a hospital in Lubbock.  Ruptured appendix.  Peritonitis had already set in, in a big way.  Mother went to the hospital with Dad.  All of us children stayed home.  Josephine was now fourteen years old.  Dad died the last of December, about nine o'clock at night.  I thought the wind was rattling the front door.  I shouted, "Come in Henry Wind." Another neighbor farmer walked in by the name of Henry Winn.  He brought us the news Dad had died.  Dad was buried in a cemetery in Brownsfield, Texas.  Later on, during the dust storms era, the whole cemetery was covered with sand.  Dad's grave, along with many more, could not be located.  The family stayed all winter at Tokio until the fall of 1930, when we moved again to Floydada.  On the way, we burned the band out on the old Model T Ford.  No money to get the car fixed. We picked cotton for the family in exchange for fixing the car.

Arrived in Floydada and moved in with mother's brother Raymond and Aunt Ellen.  Uncle Raymond worked for the Quanah Acme and Pacific Railroad.  The railroad had for their emblem Quanah Parker's Cherokee headdress. Quanah Parker was the last Cherokee war chief.  Mother started to work as a domestic and we moved to our own rental house.

Although I finished first grade at Happy, I put myself back in the first grade.  Mother was working and did not go to school with me.  Geraldine Cardinal lived behind us.  She wrote a note "I love you, I love you."  Teacher saw the note and was going to make me read it.  I ate the note.  Mrs. Welch was the teacher.  She only taught phonics.  I had a very bad speech defect and could not do phonics.  What a wasted year.  She wanted to hold me back but Mother would not hear of it.  So I went to second grade on probation.

Second grade my luck changed.  A young teacher, first year out of No. Texas State Teachers', she divided the class up in groups.  I was in the bottom group.  She recognized my problem and worked with my speech problem.  Put me on sight reading.  Six weeks later, I was put in all of Miss Terry's top classes.  She was the best teacher that I had.

On to third grade.  We went from room to room for some of our classes.  A very uneventful year except for Halloween. My older brother and friend jumped out and scared me.  Two or three long jumps later, I hit an electric post guy wire. Then they were scared.  They carried me into the house where I came to about five minutes later.  That fall I stayed out of school to work in the cotton field.  We worked for the Terry boys, Miss Terry's brothers.

Fourth grade - chopped cotton in summer before school started.  Worked in cotton fields during cotton season.  Had a paper route after school.  Sold papers on Sunday morning.  Started paper route after cotton season was over.  In that part of Texas cotton was pulled bolls and all, not picked.  My cousin Melvin and I were in the same class for fourth and fifth grades.  A real estate agent spent some time every time he saw me.  He helped my speech problem.  Mother worked for Mayor Hanna doing house chores, taking care of Mrs. Hanna who was dying of cancer.  On the night she was buried, some of the mayor's friends took him out on the town.  They went to Old Lady Kelley's, wound up in New Mexico about two o'clock where they were married.  Mayor Hanna could not stand the humiliation and never came back to Floydada.  Mrs. Kelley, without any luck, tried to claim the mayor's job as an inheritance.

Fifth grade - Miss Salsbury's room.  I worked anytime I could find a job at whatever.  Papers, cotton, etc.  I missed about one-third of the school year.  When coal would come into the elevator and coal yard, Bill and I would unload one of the cars, Marion and John the other.  We would start about six in the morning and worked until the car was empty. Shovel the coal into wheelbarrow, push it up a ramp and dump it in a bin.  Car would carry from thirty-two to thirty-six long tons a car.  A long ton was two thousand, two hundred pounds.  John and Marion would unload the other one. This way we paid for the coal for our house.  We finished the day covered with coal dust.  We were the same color of the coal.

Miss Salsbury was dating the young man next door.  In those days a woman could not be seen on a date where her students might see her.  This was considered reason to fire the teacher.  Saturday evening she stopped by the Shaw's house. I spoke and did not think anything more about it.  Monday morning it was all over the school.  She accused me of spreading it.  When I denied it, she said I was lying.  She persisted, I was the only one who could have known about the date.  She made me mad enough I would not tell her who was spreading it.  It was her younger brother.

Marion went into the Civilian Conservation Corps.  Was stationed at Grand Canyon, Arizona.  Next year John went into the C.C.C. and was in southern New Mexico.  That left Bill and I to unload the coal.  Usually two cars came in at once.

Sixth grade Miss Salsbury again a homeroom teacher.  Myers for geography.  Coach Winters.  I was in school for one week, start of school.  Returned five days before midterm.  Was out working in the cotton fields.  I did not have time to look at my geography book.  Made a sixty-seven on it.  Passed on probation in geography.  Ninety-eight average served half of year. Miss Salsbury subjects, Spelling 99, English 98, and History 99.  And what did she do.  Stood me up as a model and very much scolded all the other kids that didn't do well.  Coach Winters would have some friends over for a game of dominoes.  If one could not make it, he would look for me to make the foursome.  I became pretty adept at it.  I could hold my own.  Fanny Bolden, another teacher, I did not have.  Her father was school janitor.  I would fill out as a fourth player croquet with he and his friends.  Wintertime and snow on the ground, which was tracked into the school.  Going up the stairs, Fanny Bolden fell. Coach Winters nearby rushed over to help her up. Asked Fanny are you hurt.  She replied, no, I hurt my elbow.

Midsummer 1934 or 1935.  Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash trying to fly around the world.  Post was a famous aviator.  Will Rogers was a movie star, comedian, philosopher, and one of the best known and loved people in the United States.  He is still often quoted.

I was at a park called the Rock House.  Oldest home in the three counties.  Every year three counties held their picnic at this place.  Carnival rides, dancing, live music.  This was the big event in three counties.  All of the farmers always came.  In the early afternoon Dudley pulled up in his car, loaded with newpapers.  Seated beside himself and rumble seat, all he could haul.  He only found my brother Bill and myself whom had sold papers.  He gave me the papers and headed back to Floydada for another load, about seventeen miles.  Before he got back, all papers were sold.  He dumped the second load and headed back for another.  They were all gone before he returned.  Third load was about half load which we quickly sold.  Papers sold for 5 cents a paper.  We received 2 cents for selling.  Bill and I could never make change fast enough. People would pick up a paper and drop a nickel.  Some dropped a dime and walked away.  When all the papers were sold Bill and I dug through the loose dirt looking for the coins.  Then I went back home and gave Mother a little over $8.00.  Her first question was "Where and how did you get it?"  I told her I earned it selling papers.  Seemingly what a whopper as we had no radio and had not heard the news.  After much pleading, she agreed to go to the next door neighbor's house and heard the news on the radio.  Bill came in a short time later with about $7.00.  Men would work in the fields from sunup to sundown for a dollar a day.  I wonder why she really could not believe me.

Another character that visited Floydada and was pulled over by the Sheriff for speeding.  Put in the jail.  Blackie Thompson, another on the 10 most wanted list.  Mother had gone to school with him and did not know he was in town until later. Blackie sawed the bars and escaped.  Had the nerve to walk across the street to J.C. Penney, purchased a bottle of shoe polish, asked for a shoe box too.  Left a note on the sheriff's front door, which was under the jail.  His wife cooked for the prison. "Room for Rent, see P.G. Stegall, Sheriff." Hotwired his car and drove off.  Three days later he was killed in a gun battle with the Texas Rangers.

Bootlegging caper.  Sheriff Stegall would raid stills and take the moonshine into the county jail, where doctors or druggists could fill out a prescription for medicinal purposes.  Over a two-year period, some of the moonshine was missing.  The sheriff could not account for the loss as he had the only key kept where he lives.  In come the Feds to find out what was happening.  Caught 16 year-old Junior Red Head was selling it out of her locker in high school.  You might have guessed it, Sheriff Stegall's daughter.  Too much for him to bear.  He hung himself in the basement of the courthouse.  I was only about eleven when this happened.  This was shortly after Blackie Thompson had escaped.

I was meeting the bus for my Lubbock newspaper for my route.  Bus stop was a small hotel.  Two men parked their car and went in and checked in.  One carrying a grip hard suitcase, the other a musical instrument case.  The clerk said they wanted a newspaper everyday left at their door.  When I knocked, they answered through the door.  Not only did they want the newspaper but asked if I would go and get two orders of food and bring it back, both a.m. and p.m. When I knocked and identified myself, they would slip a $5.00 bill under the door for the food.  When I came back, I would put the change on the carry out and slip the bills under the door.  They would then slip a dollar under the door for me.  They stayed six or seven days and never left the room, but the Sheriff suddenly went on a week's vacation. Selling papers I was familiar with the pictures of the 10 most wanted list.  I believe it was Pretty Boy Floyd and Machine Gun Kelley.  No one will ever know for sure.

Seventh grade - I do not remember the homeroom teacher.  We changed for every subject.  Worked pulling cotton bolls in fall.  Unload coal.  Mother was taking in washing in sixth and seventh grades.  White standard shirts I could iron in ten minutes flat.  Midterm passed with flying colors.  Played softball as catcher or short stop, according to which way I was throwing. I would throw with either hand.  Quit school in late March and moved to California with family. California here I come.

CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME

1937 California.  Left Floydada early spring headed in 1927 Chevrolet.  The car had a vacuum tank to feed gasoline to the engine.  When it lost the vacuum, the car would stop.  If the hill was too steep this tank would not pull the gasoline. This happened several times until the car finally gave up and stopped.  From Floydada we went to and through Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.  We stopped the first night at Carlsbad Caverns.  They sent me in to buy a pound of coffee.  I bought the only coffee I saw.  They could not speak English.  Much to our surprise when we started to make coffee, they were green coffee beans.  The first time I had seen any kind of coffee beans.  Mother slept in the car and boys slept outside rolled up in a quilt. Brother John was in the C.C.C.'s (Civilian Conservation Corps).  Another boy, Rex Mooney, a friend of John's, went to California with us.  John joined us when he was discharged from the C.C.C.'s. Rolled up in quilts one night, it snowed about two inches.  When we woke up, the next morning we discovered to our surprise, between us was a big cat had left footprints.

Up the Rio Grande River past the Elephant Butte Dome.  Socorro, New Mexico, where Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.  On north and picked up Route 66 to Gallup, New Mexico.  Left 66 to go see some old friends that had lived on the next farm in Julian, Texas.  Crossed the Continental Divide on a dirt logging road.  Some snow in spots.  They lived near Inscription Rock National Monument.  The house was made of logs.  Some type of oil paper for window panes. Wintertime they would caulk between the logs with mud to keep the cold out.  Summer remove the mud for ventilation. Their main crop was pinto beans.  He also gave guided tours through the National Monument.  This helped to give them some money.  

Inscription Rock National Monument has a large rock at the bottom of the hill.  All the early Spanish explorers used this as a marker along the way.  They carved their names and date they were there.  Near the Rock was a pond of water from which everyone hauled their water.  Most of the people were Ramnah Navajo.  top of the hill was the mine of a lost tribe of Indians.  The dwellings had only the mud foundations left.  The foundation was baked clay I think.  Size wise only about five foot, six inches across.  They had to be very small people.  The foundations were round like an Eskimo's igloo.  The pond at the bottom would stay the same level regardless of how much water was hauled.  There must have been a large pool of water nearby at the same level.  George and Emma Jones were not related but family friends.  George had a brother and family living nearby.  They came by and said hello.  They had a pretty blonde daughter about 17 or 18.  One of the Indian boys had taken a shine to her.  Made her a beautiful engraved silver ring. The Ramrah Tribe make about the best jewelry of the Navajo tribes.

Left and went through Indian reservation of the Navajo and Zuni Indians.  The Zuni Indians in the older days were cave dwellers.  Old Zuni was carved into a cliff.  Only way to get up was a rope type ladder.  This way they were safe from the other tribes of unfriendly Indians.  We left the spare tire and had to go back for it about a mile.  He had whistled at us but we had not heard him.  In my opinion, the Zuni are the best jewelry makers, followed by the Ramrahs.

After leaving Zuni country, the next place we stopped that I remember was Williams, Arizona.  About fifty miles south of Grand Canyon where the car broke down.  We could not get it fixed.  After two or three days, we sent Mother through to sister Josephine in Live Oak, California.  The four boys had a total of fifty-six cents left to see us through.

We caught a Santa Fe freight train and made it into Needles.  The railroad cop took us off the train.  Turned us over to the local police.  That night we slept in what was the courtroom.  Back of the courtroom was the jail.  We were told if we tried to ride the freight out, we would spend the next night back there.

We split into two groups.  Marion and I in one, Rex and Bill in the other.  Marion and I hitchhiked a ride out of Needles. Our first ride, the man said he was taking a short cut.  He left us off about five miles from the main road, Highway 66, about ten at night.  We walked up to the main road, spent the time to daylight.  Bought one donut we shared.  The first food in twenty-four hours.  Hitched another ride in an overcrowded car into Bakersfield.  Was dark by the time we arrived.  We spent the last of our money on a loaf of stale bread.  Then caught the Southern Pacific freight up the Valley to Marysville. Walked across the bridge (Feather River) into Yuba City about two in the morning.  We were stopped and questioned by the city police there.  Marion was doing all the talking.  They asked him where he was taking his son.  Marion is seven years older than I am.  When they found out we had relatives in Live Oak, they left us to go on about their business.  

We arrived at Josephine and Herman's house.  Mother was glad to see us.  Rex and Bill arrived the next day.

LIFE IN CALIFORNIA

Live Oak, California, is a small town, just north of Yuba City in Sutter County.  We rented a house in early spring of the year. Marion found some odd jobs before the fruit season started.  I met many of the local kids.  Fogensans, White Drew, Fosters and several other families.  Peach thinning was about to start.  Mother worked in a cannery canning spinach. Marion and John got a job thinning peaches.  Bill and I did not find work.  Apricots started when the peaches were thinned. Four boys went to Arbuckle to pick cots.  The farm labor boss let me work on a ladder.  Arbuckle is a town on the west side of the Sacramento Valley, about 80 miles from Sacramento.  About thirty pickers working.  I was always within the top ten in the amount picked.  When the farmer saw me, he said, "I won't pay that kid a man's wages."  An argument between the boss and the farmer about my pay led to a brief fight there.  The farmer paid the wages. We went on south to Hollister to pick cots.  Again the farmer would not let me work on a ladder but gave me a job in the cutting shed for drying cots.  Setting up trays and boxes for the girls and women cutters.  About eight cutters, two were his girls; Sal Rossi the farmer.  Fifteen cents an hour plus he would pay me for the amount I cut.  Same as the girls were paid.  At days end I would have more apricots cut than anyone in the shed.  This kind of surprised the girls to say the least.  Back up to Live Oak where Mother was.  Few small jobs for about two months.  Marion and John picked peaches for the Hatamayas.  They would not let Bill or I work on ladders.  I worked in a peach cutting and packing shed until R.C. Jones let me pick on a ladder.  Jones had two varieties of Freestone peaches.

After peach season we left again on the road to cut wine grapes at Lodi.  About thirty miles south of Sacramento.  We lived out of the car and small tent when away from home.  Fall of 1937, Okie Camp outside Lodi.  A sneak thief slipped into Monty and Helen's tent.  Was going through Monty's pants pockets.  Monty woke up.  The thief ran with Monty's pants.  Monty in hot pursuit screaming put down my pants you blankedy blank.  All the while, only clad in his underpants and barefooted. Thief dropped the pants but got away.  Monty's wife Helen was a Ransome, sister to Hazel.  Later on we would all laugh about the incident.

On down to Los Banos to pick cotton for Sam Hamburg.  Sam was one of the better large cotton and wheat farmers in the San Joaquin Valley.  We wintered on the Hamburg Ranch that winter.  We were given a one-room cabin in the Hamburg ranch workers.  Mother joined us when we went to Los Banos.  Maria, a young Mexican girl, would wait for me to come to the field so she could pick with me.  She spoke no English and I did not know any Spanish.  After picking with her for two years, we could carry on a limited conversation.  I have never figured out why her mother, older sister and mother's boyfriend would allow her to pick with me.  This was highly irregular for the Mexican tradition.

Maria was a cotton-picking fool.  I was a stubborn Okie boy who refused to let her beat me.  So we raced all day long picking cotton.  She never beat me but was always close.  Two different days I picked four hundred forty-nine pounds. Second high in the field of about one hundred fifty workers.

On a rainy day the other boys went into Los Banos grocery shopping.  On the way, they came across Maria and her family stuck in wet sand.  The stopped and pushed and pulled them out.  Maria asked "Where's the Babe, the baby?" Because of this, I was called Babe for years.

March fifth, San Joaquin River flood stage. Volunteers needed for sand bagging levee.  All night long I worked with a large Negro man filling and pitching sand bags.  About five a.m. the river dropped, we stopped.  The levee had broken on the other side near Chowchilla.  Some fifteenth birthday present.

Back to Live Oak as peach thinning would start soon.  Went to work thinning peaches for Ray Chandler.  A very nice man but I could never figure the man's politics out.  A strong backer of Herbert Hoover.  In Herbert Hoover's orchard in Kern County, Shafter, had a sign posted, "No Caucasians will be hired." In this time of the "Okies" looking for work, he would import his help from the Philippines.

Mr. Chandler would hire the Okies.  The first word out of his mouth, "I pay on Tuesdays, do you have enough to eat until then?" If the answer was no, he would hand you a five dollar and say "Remind me on payday."

From thinning peaches, the next crop was cherries.  He had four different varieties so they lasted three or four weeks. After cherries 1938 we went and picked apricots elsewhere.  Left Mom in a cabin on the Chandler Ranch.  Back to the Chandler Ranch to pick plums.  The Santa Rosa varieties and Tragedy.  A large blue sweet plum, a member of the prune family for eating fresh.  Then on into the peach season.  Mr. Chandler had about five different kinds, all clings for canning. Also we would be sent over to District 10 across the Feather River to help pick peaches for George Ellis. George's father and Ray had been partners one time.

He would do anything he could for George.  George had about fifteen acres of peaches.  Also he owned the Ellis Dairy.  Ellis Lake in Marysville is named after George's father.  In 1938, I picked 169 boxes a day average for the season.  After the peaches, we went down to Lodi.  Left Mother behind for grape season, about six weeks.  Worked for a big German man by the name of J.J. Schmidt.  Lived near his place on a river.  Slept in or on a quilt on the ground.  Mr. Schmidt was very outspoken.  A lot of the Chamber of Commerce people did not like him.  In a chamber they were discussing what to do about the Okies that came in.  Mr. Schmidt stood up and said, "Let us catch this little pig that is squealing."  Of about twenty there, he started naming names and when they came to Lodi.  There was only one native of California in the whole group.

Picked up Mom on the way down to Hamburg Ranch to pick cotton.  Stayed at Los Banos about all winter working in the cotton field, picked cotton all winter with Maria.  Took Mother back to Live Oak.  Went on down to the Imperial Valley, picked pears, tied carrots and picked some long staple cotton.  Then back to Chandler Ranch in 1939 to start the cycle again.  

Chandler Ranch, 1939, thinned peaches, picked cherries, picked plums and peaches. After peaches, we went up to Brownsville.  Our good friends the Ransome family had just moved up and were working in the lumber industry.  I got a job tailing off the size planer, catching the lumber behind the planer and stacking it.  The mill closed for the winter in November. I worked with Bill for Mr. Rich, a Seventh Day Adventist.  If you did not catch him before sundown of Friday, he would make you wait until sundown Saturday.

After working for Mr. Rich, Bill and I worked for Mr. Gray at his small mill.  Bill set chokers in the woods.  I had the job of flying carriage.

Flying carriage is the vehicle the logs are held on by dogs.  Dogs being two strips of metal on an arm with points to dig into the logs.  This carriage is pulled back and forth by cables controlled by the saw man.  The blade of the saw was about five or six feet.  The saw man would give a hand signal how thick he wanted the next cut to be.  I would have to throw the lever to move the log each inch. This would have to be done when the log came back on the carriage, when it cleared the saw blade and before it got gack to the blade.  Beside the saw man, this was probably the most important job for production. We cut between 25 and 30 thousand board feet a year.

Elmer D Phillips in the CCC's

The mill closed down for lack of logs.  Bill and I joined C.C.C.'s (Civilian Conservation Corps).  Was sent to Camp Foresthill above Auburn, California.  Pay in the C.C.C.'s was $30 a month, $25 was sent home to support the family and $5 was given to the C.C.C. member.  Building forest roads and clearing brush was moved from the main camp to a spike camp. Spike is a small camp away from main camp. This spike camp was building a road down and across the American River Canyon for logging near Michigan Bluff, a small community.  This was the year Mussolini's army invaded Albania.  Newscaster Walter Winchell said "For twenty years Benito Mussolini has bragged, 'All roads lead to Rome.' Tonight the Italian soldiers are proving it."  That was a disaster for the Italian army.

This year was a bad flu season.  Half of the camp was sick.  All of our spike camp cooks.  Main camp was unable to give us anyone to cook.  They asked if anyone had done any cooking at home.  Being the dumb kid I was, I raised my hand.  I was handed the job until they got enough cooks well.  We were the last ones to get a cook, about five or six weeks.  I had 50 or 60 men to cook for. Breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and dinner.  They gave me a kid absolutely worthless to help.  He could not even peel potatoes.  Breakfast menu - eggs up, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, juice, oatmeal and potatoes.  Lunch - sandwiches, cook for the ones in camp.  Dinner - two kinds of meat, steaks or roast for beef, pork chops or roast pork.  Six days a week I cooked cakes from scratch, the other day I made pies.  This was one thing the other cooks (3) did not do.  I was putting in about 16 hours a day due to the cooking. This was good training for the military, don't ever volunteer.

When the cooks got back, I asked the man in charge if I didn't deserve a week off to go home and rest.  He agreed, so I went home to Brownsville.  Sticks and John were cutting piling for the Brown Brothers.  They got me a job with them. If you got a job, the C.C.C.'s would discharge you if you notified them of the job with verification.

I started going with Hazel Ransome in Brownsville.  We went everywhre together for about two years.  We broke up in 1940. She opted to marry a sailor she had known before.

CUTTING PILING

Discharge from he C.C.C.'s because I had a job.  I went to work with Sticks and John for W.R. & C.H. Brown, aka Brown Brothers at Challenge.  We lived in Brownsville, about four miles down the hill from Challenge.  Piling was for the Defense Department jobs in the Bay Area.  A few pine but mostly fir about 16" on the stump.  Across the piling, down to about 6" to 8" at the top.  Shortest about 45 feet up to a few at 110 feet.  Mostly between 60 and 80 feet.  I did a lot of the peeling with a spud.  Homemade instrument with a shoven handle steel head about 5 inches wide.  Handle entrance into head had about 30 degree band, then become parallel to handle.  The front part of the head was sharpened on the top side very sharp to cut the bark.  Sometimes I would fall the trees with my brothers.  Sticks used an axe lefthanded, John used the axe right handed.  I could use the axe with either hand.  To fall there were no power tools so everything was done by hand.  To fall, you took a saw (2-man) cut about one-third through the tree, then cut with axes on about 30 degree down to the depth of the saw cut.  One person chopping an axe from either side.  Then take a falling saw about 8 foot long and 4 inches wide.  If the tree didn't lean in the right direction it would pinch the saw.  We used steel wedges and drove them in by a sledge hammer.  This freed the saw and helped to guide the tree in the correct direction.

After a month Bill came to work.  I had to break him into the cutting of piling.  Then Bill and I worked partners.  Bill was by far the slowest of the four boys.  Not many in the woods would beat us.  Sticks and John always would.  On a day we would cut and peel one thousand linear foot and up.  Summer and winter the tree was different.  Wintertime the bark would stick to the tree because the sap was down.  In spring when the sap came up, it would loosen up.  When most of the order was cut at Challenge, Bill and I went to cut piling at Railroad Flats for about a three week job.  We boarded with a farm family from Lithuania by the name of Slopsticks.  I never told anyone about the name where we boarded until 1964.  I took Gerry one weekend for a ride up there.  We stopped at the small grocery for lunch things. I inquired about the family.  Was told he passed away but she lived across the street.  Gerry and I went over to talk to Mrs. Slopsticks.  The clerks in the store had said she was lonely.  She remembered me.  After Railroad Flat, Bill and I went to Viola, east of Redding and just before Lassen Peak.  We cut for Northcutt Lumber.  The man we worked under was Pete Hooper.  I had a hard time getting Bill to flatten his axe when he cut the limbs.  I would hit what he had left with my knuckles when I was peeling.  He would start limbing when the tree was felled.  I would start peeling.  I would have the stop peeled about the time he had it lynched and top cut off.  We would have a cant hook and turn the piling. He would limb and I peeled.  We turned the piling twice to get all the limbs and bark.

The first day at Viola we cut 1,080 linear foot.  Walked by the two other cutters, they were regular loggers.  About 6 foot 3 or so inches, 250 pounds and not fat.  The most they had been able to peel was about 500 linear foot.  They did not believe how much we told them.  Next morning our piling had a lumber crayon on the end where they had counted. They counted for about three days.  They started about daylight and worked to dark.  I think we almost killed them working.

One day Pete Hooper came over and asked Bill and I to work 8 hours the next day.  He said he had hired two men that said they could beat us by 200 linear feet in a day.  Nothing to us so we said okay.  When we went to the tent where we were camping in the meadow, there was Sticks and John.  Bill and I cut over 1,200 linear feet in 8 hours. We were beat by over 250 linear feet.  We didn't know they had a so-called bet.  If they didn't win, they would cut the day for nothing.  Other he said he would pay them double.  Next day Pete counted what was cut, reached into his pocket for his billfold.  They laughed and told him to put it away.  They told him we were brothers and they taught us how to cut.  We cut for Northcutt Lumber in three or four different places.  Sticks had his Notice of Induction into the Army in 1941.  John volunteered for the Navy.  Bill was waiting for his call to report.  I would not break in anyone else. It was hard and dangerous.

I went down to Mother at Yuba City and started to work winter of '41 and early '42 at Camp Beale, the Army induction in construction.  (Camp Beale is now Beale Air Force Base.) Then drifted on down to Benicia working as a laborer. Guess who walked by going to work on the Benicia arsenal dock.  Pete Hooper after a short chat, he said the Pile Bucks were making 10 cents an hour more than a journeyman carpenter.  That $1.37 an hour sure beat the 87 1/2 cents of the labor that I was making.  Pete said I had a job working for him if I could clear through Local 34, the Pile Drivers Union, which is part of the Carpenter's Union.  Pete wrote me a note to take to San Francisco.  Time I arrive the Business Agent had finished roll call and left for the day.  Lucky me.  I went upstairs to the Financial Secretary's office and showed the man the note.  Dan Campbell, the secretary, looked at me and asked, "How old are you?" I replied 19.  He asked me when I was born.  When I told him 3-5-23, he replied, "We do not have an apprentice school in this local.  Now damn it, now when were you born, '21 or '23?" You had to be at least 21 years or finished apprentice school.  I told him to put it down, 1921.

First job under Pete at Benicia, chopping butt of the piling, putting on a steel ring, to fit the steam hammer head. Make a raft of a dozen or so, typing them together with a steel cable which I stapled. This all was done with the piling floating in the water.  My steel caulked boots that I used in the woods came in handy.   After Benicia was finished, I worked on Nicolas Bridge - Mare Island driving piling.  Went to work on the Port Chicago dock that later blew up. Then on to Oakland Army dock by the foot of the Bay Bridge. Volunteered for the Seabees in June '42, was held on the dock until 10 December before they would release me.

THE SEABEES

WWII, Boot Camp.  Left San Francisco 1 p.m., on December 10, 1942 by train to Chicago.  Three or four days later some of the boys wanted to go downtown about 2 a.m. in the morning.  We only had our California clothes.  We got about 6 blocks before we decided downtown was a bad idea.  It must have been 10 degrees below zero with a wind of about 80 miles per hour.  We almost froze before we got back to the station.  We passed the next 3 hours in the station waiting for the train B&O going down to Cincinnati.  Had a couple hours in the station there.

In the station, talked to some English flyer that had been in Georgia for more flight instruction.  Most had the clip English accent.  Had some of the Georgia accent.  Another joined the group, he had a Georgia accent - you would have sworn he was born and raised in Georgia.  Boy did he sound funny in that group. They all teased him about the accent.

On to Williamsburg, Virginia.  Met by busses to go to Camp Perry.  A new camp with only outside frame walls and siding.  Bare stud was the inside with a potbelly stove as the only heat.  There were no sidewalks, only mud.  Went through the line for shots.  Through the clothing line for clothes. Had to send all of our civilian clothes home. When we got our turn for clothes, they ran out of the pea coats. Weather about 10 degrees to drill in the swamp of Chesapeake Bay. The heaviest coats was light denim jackets. Drill for 6 hours. Then lunch, same as we had had for breakfast, white navy beans, cabbage, corn pone.  Rest of the day we build wood sidewalks.  About half of the camp came down with the flu. Sick bay was overrun with patients. Only way to get anyone in sickbay was pick them upon on their cot, carry them over there, walk off and leave them. The Seabees were so new we had Marine drill sargeants.  No mercy shown. They said the C.B. stood for Confused Ba------.  They were probably correct if you can imagine a bunch of construction people trying to drill and march.  Most of our rifles were made of wood.  Firing range we had 22 calibers to use. Broke boot camp and got 24 hours leave to go into Richmond, Virginia.

Bussed into Williamsburg to catch the bus.  1 1/2 hour wait had to stay inside the bus station. Shore Patrol there to enforce this order as given by the town fathers.  My group had a little sweet revenge. When the bus came in about half boarded the bus and headed for the back.  We received a very dirty look from the bus driver.  One boy wondered about that.  I suddenly realized "Jim Crow" law state.  Everyone said "To hell with him", we are not moving.  One black lady wanted on the bus.  The driver did not want to let her on.  He was told if he did not, he would not be able to take the bus out from the station.  His common sense led him to the conclusion to let her on.  One against was not very good odds for him.  She sat three seats behind him for about 60 miles in Richmond.  This was a bunch of California boys. Caught late bus from Richmond back into Williamsburg station.  Our official graduation from boot camp was to be a parade around the marker where General Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington.  Then back to California by cattle train. Old railroad passenger cars stripped down.  Reoutfitted with pipes and canvas strung between for beds.  Four high.  Back in California, Port Hueneme about last week in January, 1942.

PORT HUENEME, SEABEE BASE CAMP

Port Hueneme, California, and Long Beach Hospital.  Arrived back in California in January of 1943.  Port Hueneme ws the Seabee Camp (i.e. U.S.N. C.B.) point of embarkment for the Pacific.  Some target practice but mostly waiting. Here again was the Marines in charge of the rifle range.  I made the range once there. We were made to shoot lying down, prone position, etc. Always with the strap wrapped around our arm.  Being I had hunted in the woods at Brownsville and Viola, I could shoot more accurately than most.  Final shots we were told to shoot the way most comfortable to us. I stood up like I was hunting and had five of the six shells before the Marine Master Sargeant saw me. He yelled at the top of his voice that I could not hit a bull in the hind end (cleaned up) shooting that way. Before he could get over to me, I had fired the last shot. I turned and said check the target. Up came five bullseyes and one Maggie red drawer, meaning that I had missed the whole target. I looked at him and said, "Check the target again." Up came another bullsey with a voice on the radio said, He elongated one of his holes." The sargeant jerked his thumb at me and said, "Get out of here, you will do." I could never again even put six bullseyes in a row in my lifetime.

Received a 48 hour pass on Friday p.m.  I went home to Vallejo. Hitchhiked home.  One short ride to next town. Second all the way into San Francisco doing from seventy-five to ninety miles per hour. He never slowed down for any town. He dropped me off about eleven p.m. at the Greyhound Bus Station. I rode the bus into Vallejo. After a short visit, I rode the bus back to Oxnard. I left Vallejo Sunday afternoon and back into Oxnard about 4:30 or 5:00 Monday morning.

Was told I had mess duty to carry food over to our sick bat at 6:00 a.m.  At sick bay, I told the striking corpsman I did not feel well.  He took my temperature at 100 degrees. Gave me some A.P.C. pill and was told to come to sick call that afternoon.  At the noon time to carry the food over, my buddies did not wake me as they said my face was flush red. So they went over to carry the food without me.  The chief asked why I was not there.  He headed over to our Quonset hut to really chew me out. I met the chief about half way over to sick bay. After a short exchange, he realized I was not goofing off.  I was having deep chills that shook my whole body. At sick bay, the striker corpsman put me to bed and wrote the fever I had that morning. The regular corpsman came in about 30 minutes later.  Inquired who had put me to bed and how high was my fever. When he was told he said that my fever was high.  Took it and read 104 degrees. Then hell broke loose, he ran over to the next battalion for a doctor as ours was out of camp. In came a young doctor and took one look and ran out for the head doctor of that battalion.  One look and they went to base hospital for the second in charge of the medical ward there. One look and they called base hospital for the head of that department. One look and one question and they called the captain of the base hospital.  The captain took one look, bent over and raised my head.  Turned to the first doctor and said, "Give him a spinal tap." The young doctor replied that he had never done that procedure.  The captain told him to do it because you have to learn sometime. Very painful as he tried four or five times before he hit the right spot. The fluid was cloudy. "Spinal meningitis." This whole episode took about thirty minutes.  On to Long Beach Naval Hospital by a big gray Packard ambulance. The ambulance had a governor set at 90 miles per hour. We were bumping it all the way through all the cities to the hospital. We had a series of C.H.P. motorcycle cops which were pulling out a half mile or so ahead of us.  When we caught up with them, another one would pull out.

Early the next morning a Dr. Gray came in to examine me.  Gave me another spinal tap.  He was so gentle with it I asked him when he was going to do it. He replied that he already had.  What a difference.  He put me on sulfa thisal pills.  Two every hour around the clock for two days.  Made me drink water or fruit juice every thirty minutes. He would either cure me or kill me I guess.  Today's maximum dosage of 6 or 8 every 24 hours. They form crystals in the kidneys. The first two days I was out about one half the time. Otherwise, my vision was as though I was looking through a window that had water running down it. They never brought me a bed pan. Getting up in this condition can cause ear problems. The same corpsman had the two isolation rooms to take care of. I had been going to the bathroom between the two rooms. On the fourth or fifth day, the head nurse over the medical ward caught me out of bed.  She raised hell with everyone including corpsman, doctor, etc. Dr. Gray was a full commander.  She was the head nurse. Annie somebody, her nickname everyone called her was Tug Boat Annie.  She entered the Navy when the nurses were enlisted personnel and carried Boatsman rating.  This was during World War One. A wonderful nurse and person as long as you didn't cross her. She could spot an illegal sipper in a uniform at twenty paces. She would tell you but didn't do anything else. Fifteen days later, I was discharged to go back to my outfit. They had sent my rifle to the hospital so I had to carry it back to my outfit. A 30-caliber Winfield, weighed about 8 pounds. Full length rifle. Left hospital 7 a.m. - ferry to Los Angeles 8:00, trolley to Los Angeles Railroad Station. Seven other sailors were going back to duty. Since I had the highest rating, they were my responsibility. The train schedule very bad. I had to carry the rifle all day long in Los Angeles. Military weapons were illegal to check anywhere. Arrived back in Oxnard about 1:00 a.m. the next morning, which was March 18th. I called the base and they sent a bus to pick us up.

Back at Port Hueneme, I stood some guard duty but mostly waiting to be sent out. One night on guard duty, one of us saw an officer from our outfit going to the restrooms.  The officers' quonset hut had a space of about 20 feet from their head.  He halted the officer which was there in his skivvy at 2:00 a.m. and made him stand there until he called the corporal of the guard to identify him as he had no papers on him to do so.  This took about 20 minutes on a foggy and chilly night.  Much to Ensign Jones' credit, he commended the man for doing his job. Before Jones was discharged he became a commander. I later saw him at one of our Seabees Conventions. I was very weak and run down from the illness. The order pack comes in the afternoon of March 4, 1943. Be ready to load starting at 8:00 a.m., March 5, 1943 - the ship was the Mormac Wren, a Bethlehem Steel ship cargo C1 type, owned by the Moore McCormick Lines Ship Wren, hence the name Mormac Wren. Commanded by Captain Wallariton. We were soon on our way. What a birthday present for my twentieth birthday.

SS MORMAC WREN AND TRIP TO GUADALCANAL

Left Port Huemene March 5, 1943, to destination unknown. Sailed mostly south for a period of 3 or 4 days. Then we turned west. That Pacific Ocean is a very large body of water. Quiet blue and smooth most of the time. We saw porpoise running alongside the ship. Seagulls followed us for a day for any food garbage thrown overboard. Flying fish would come up from the water and sail 2 or 3 hundred yards alongside. I was in hold three, second deck down. Our bunks were pipe, i.e. 4 post with a pipe where the canvas was laced with rope in between. The bunks were five high about 20" in between. I headed for the top one but Pinky, William Pinkard wanted it because I don't want anyone above me sea sick. I took the fourth bunk. Pinky had bragged I don't get sea sick. Guess who got sea sick first, Pinky. About one in five became sea sick. We had about five hundred men and officers, plus the ships regular crew. In addition, we had armed guards., Navy men to man the guns. One live in on the fan tail. I think six 30-caliber machine guns that used round containers to hold the shells. This container weighed about fifty pounds.

Our head on the ship was a trough which had sea water running through it.

The chiefs had the number one hold, which was in the bow of the ship. This was the part of the ship which rode up and down the most. Chief Clark carpenters mate from Oklahoma City never came up on deck for 3 or 4 days.  The other chiefs would take him a sandwich or crackers. Boy was he ever sick. First venture on top deck to go to the head. Sitting down for serious business when someone fed the fishes beside him; he just swapped ends.

On March 13, 1943, we crossed the international date line.  Shellback initiation as custom for anyone who had not been across it before. They were mild with me, charging I tried to break away from the unit by getting sick. Many hijinks put three in sick bay. One boy who was always dirty they scrubbed clean with salt water and salt water soap. Hung him on a side arm and turned the fire hose on him. Our highest raning officer was also initiated. They put a sticker suit on him and made him crawl to the crown - center of the ship. When he got about three quarters there, they would turn the fire hose on him. I think he almost drowned the guy before. After several tries, he reached the crown.

First stop for the ship was Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides chain, which belong to the French. Many war ships were tied up there behind the sub net. The carrier Enterprise, which had her bow blown off. Patched up with coconut logs and cement. Several destroyers, the heavy cruiser from the English Navy. Their newest model.

I am assigned to go from our anchorage about two miles over and pick up the movie each day. Getting across on the way back, we came upon this orchard with beautiful golden yellow fruit. This was my introduction to the papaya fruit. Sure tasted better than the food on the ship.

On the British heavy cruiser, I saw this sign which read, "Attention all officers and chiefs. Your are required to take a bath at least once a month to set a good example for your men." We picked up the movie film and left.

I went with a swimming party on the beach for swim. Had to go to sick bay for running ear. Our battalion doctor Fowler had been a baby specialist. He took a Q-Tip and packed both ear canals solid with sulfa diajine powder. Next day I was swollen so you could not tell where my jaws began. The sent me over to an ear specialist at the Mobile Hospital. Hereafter referred to as a Mob Hospital. To say the least, the ear doctor was not happy. It took him five hours to dig out both ears. I never knew there was that many words of profanity. He wrote 8 to 10 pages both sides back to Dr. Fowler. Put in a brown 10 x 12 size envelope, sealed it, wrapped the string around the button. On this he melted wax, then put his stamp on the wax.  I got the impression he did not want me to read it. I would also bet that never was put in my permanent record.

Convoy time we headed up. One day we blew the main turbine steamer. Had to limp back to Espiritu Santo at about 4 knots. That convoy was chased away from their destination for four days before they get into Guadalcanal. Met by the first half of our battalion at Tenaru Beach. Unloaded and set up camp in former Marine Corps area.

GUADALCANAL, SOLOMON ISLANDS

We put ashore at Tenaru Beach. Joined the first eschalon of our battalion. The camp was located in an area that was a Marine camp before. This was the dark of the moon time. Only P.C. Charlie came over 1:00 a.m. each night. He seldom dropped any bombs, only a nuisance to wake us up. Our latrine was at the far end of camp. So the last two or three rows walked to the nearby ditch to use at night. Moonlight the Japs would bomb. They had no radar so this was their thing as well as the day. One night after about a week, there was their bomber, missed Henderson Field.  Five hundred pound bomb about four hundred and fifty feet away from the tent.  I rolled out of the bunk. When I heard the bomb falling, I hit the ground. Shrapnel about fourteen inches from the ground. Concussion felt like a big hand pushing me up and down. Minor scrapes from nose to toes. I lost our tent and my bed roll in this one. To add to the confusion, the shrapnel also cut the coconut fronds and knocked off coconuts. The next thing that happened a few days later, we were unloading a ship off Taluga Beach. Day raid came up, so we jumped on a barge to go ashore as per standing orders if possible. Zero strafed the beach just as we were there. About twenty hit the ground. Our lucky day. In between us but no one was hit.

Secretary of the Navy came for a visit to the Island. The Japs decided to pay us a visit. Three four-motor Bettys, heavy bombers, came in to bomb Henderson Field, where he was staying. The new night fighter, "Black Widow" was not in combat yet. They had taken the same equipment, stripped down a P38 fighter plane and installed it. All guns were directed and fired by radar. He dove on #1 then came up from under #2 then dove on #3. He had all three on fire at the same time. Part of one wing hit our chow hall. Back to the drainage ditch. They had the planes in search light, finishing anti-aircraft on them. The last two or three rows of tents were fighting to see who could be on the bottom. We sure did not come out smelling like roses. This radar equipped P28 put an end to nearly all of the P.C. Charlie's raids at night.

Moved camp away about one half mile. Set two tents about 10 feet apart. Dug a foxhole for the two tents. We have five in ours and six in the other. The foxhole dug for eleven men, so we could all sit on the side like shelf to sit on. Tent area about three feet wide, total depth about seven feet. Covered foxhole with coconut logs across then lengthwise. Then put the dirt from the hole on top. Each end had a hole to dive in that was sloped so no time was wasted. A close by bomb. We had 35 or 36 men in our foxhole. Blood Knoll Ridge. Some of the heaviest fighting and casualties on the Canal. Americal Divisions went back to New Caledonia to reorganize and train. They had lost their colors.

Back to the story of the M.P.'s and the Army Officers Club. A ship came in about five o'clock as Navy say 1700. We boarded the ship and stared to unload as usual. A crew for each hold. Five holds on each ship. First thing was to uncover the hole. On came an M.P. Captain and ordered three holes covered up. This did not set well with anyone, including the Merchant Marine ship Captain. The M.P. officer went down the hatch to check the cargo and he signed for it. He came back the next morning about 0800 with the ducks, water going truck and boat. Went down to get the cargo which had been in a special cargo wire net, bolted down to get into. The Captain the night before had posted to M.P.'s to sit on the cover for the hold all night. We had found out this was the liquor supply for the "Army Officers' Club". With ship drawings willingly supplied on how to dismantle the ventilation systems between the holes.  0900 he did not even have a bottle of coke left.

Second shipment to replace. One night we had a raid very close by. Lost another tent. The foxhole dug for eleven men had thirty-six or eight men in it. Someone cut one and almost gassed us all. No one would ever admit being guilty. When we were unloading the ships, it was eight to twelve hour days. We had ships most of the time. If we were on a ship and could not get off because of the time limit, we would go out with the ship. Pass ammo or any other thing when we were under attack. Torpedo Junction has six ships showing from the original invasion. We had lost many ships between Guadalcanal and Salvo Island. This was referred to as the slot where the two Navys would meet when the Japs came down. This place is known in history as "iron bottom bay". The most ships were sunk here than any other place in the world. A group of Army came in Military Police and all. The first thing the Army did was build an Officers' Club. Before this there was only an Army Field Artillery, which worked well with the Marines. Second Army group was the Americal Division, which had left guns and everything else. They went down to the beach for chow. Marines were pulled off the ships to retake the second shipment to the Officers' Club, they got about 50%. Guess who got the rest?

When we had first landed, we had appropriated about 30 tons of sugar for our unit. They had U.P. boats to run from Espiritu Santo up abount every two weeks with fresh beef. This as supposed to be for the officers. We had Spam, powdered eggs, canned corn beef. We always managed to get our share for our unit. It went into the battalion barges. When the ships came in with beer, we would kick cases over the side of our barges in about six feet of water, then salvage for ourselves. Anything we could use or wanted was fair game. I wonder why the Commander on Guadalcanal called our commanding officer and the 4th Specials in for a briefing. "HaHa". The reason has it he said something was not copacetic to him. Why we could steal more in one day than they could unload in a week. Repercussions in 1965. I was working on a job, sitting down to eat, about eight of us at noon. Something came up about the war. This carpenter asked where I was. When told, he asked my outfit. He had been there in the Army.  When told, he came from a sitting position to his feet like his legs were spring-loaded. He exploded "you are one of those S.O.B.'s that stole all our beer." I did not flinch and replied, "I plead guilty." As you know, I don't drink very much beer. Another thing, I wonder about McHale's Navy TV show. Our chaplian was Father McHale, better known as Father Rake Off for his habit of walking up and cutting post when the boys were gambling.

The ship John Penn came in about noon. Their commanding officer Army did not want to unload his men for that night about 10,000. He was ordered off with all of them by the Captain. Our bomber went out for an air raid in the p.m. When they came back, a Jap torpedo plane followed them in. Everyone thought it was a straggler that had been hit and couldn't keep up. Everything all lit up on it, let go the torpedo, sounded like over my tent. I saw everything I had ever done in about ten seconds. The torpedo hit the John Penn and set it on fire with aviation gasoline on deck. Only five men got off that ship. One of our boat or barge crew with four or five men aboard and half loaded with ammo went in and pulled them out of the burning water. The coxswain in charge was Al Mezzapesa from San Jose.

June 15, 1943, the Aussie (Australian) spotter called via radio. Something big is about to happen. The spotter kept moving around if caught he was shot as a spy. (Spotter is a volunteer who usually had lived on the island and were familiar with them) There are about one thousand planes here at Bouganville. We had a toehold there and was about to supply and reinforce it. June 16th unloading as usual. I was one of the swingshift, so I was in camp. About 10 a.m. air raid signal. Ship pulled up anchor and started to move. The First Special men came ashore because of the warning. We, the air power, had flown the bombers off the Solomon Islandes and replaced them with fighter planes. The Japanese were caught in a cross fire from all the islands. Officially only 254 planes got into Guadalcanal, fighters and bombers. Causalties, 1st Special, 16 dead, wounded unknown. One destroyer sunk, one destroyer escort sunk. Tow or three L.S.T.'s (Landing Ship Tank) sunk. The four cargo ships, not one got out. What the bombers did not get the Japanese did that night.  The cargo ship Celino AK76 was pushed into shallow water and beached. The raid lasted about 3 hours. Bombing and strafing. A L.S.T. was sunk about 200 yards from my tent. One survivor of about fifty people. The lone survivor was standing on the rear deck above the engine room fully dressed. The bomb went down the breather stack for the diesel engine. He made his way to my tent. Only thing he had on was 1 sock. The concussion from the bomb stripped off all his clothes. He said he had landed about 60 feet from the L.S.T.  I reached down in my sea bag and fully dressed him, shoes and all. His eyes looked like saucers. No white, only pupils. I took him over to our sick bay for our doctors and corpsmen to take care of him.

The Aussie spotter the next day asked if we had a turkey shoot down there.  Only 1 Japanese plane returned. It was so shot up, it will never fly again. The way the spotter had to operate was send one message, then move to another area, so the Japanese could not triangulate his position. The short wave radio could not have been too heavy. June 19th I was ordered to go back on the AK76 Celino. All they said was your group is scheduled there. We started to unload with everything covered with scum. What a mess and stench. They were at the same time removing the bodies that had been in warm tropical weather for 3 days. As I said, the smell would have stunk the garbage gut dog off the wagon.

After the June 16th raid, the only things were nuisance raids. We kept the ship booms swinging, unloading the ships. Ever since Espiritu Santo, my ears kept running. I would go into sick bay about once a week. They would swab them out and blow some sulfa powder in.

It wasn't all bad as we did have some fun. Pinky got some prophylactics from sick bay. One night during a black out, we blew one up and raked A.O. (Okie) Phillips across the face.  Okie took a swat at it and exclaimed, it's a bat and it is as big as a cow.

Some of the boys stole two walk-in refrigerators out of the supply dump. This was guared by the Army M.P.'s. They brought them back to camp, tore them down; made some parts by hand. Viola, a softy ice cream machine. The cooks would make apple pie every Friday night, pie and ice cream. On Fridays, we usually fed about 4,000 men.  We only have about 1,000.  Navy personnel which included Marines, Army had to wait until we were all fed, to see if any was left. They did not like this, but orders were orders. This was the only ice cream machine on the island.

The Japanese Admiral that bombed Pearl Harbor was known for always being on time up to the minute. We had broken the Japanese code. So we knew he was leaving Bouganville flying back to New Britain Island with his entire staff.  We sent 3 P38 fighter planes up high in his flight pattern. They dove out of the sun about 11 o'clock. Both of the Japanese Bettys (4-engine bombers) hit the water. Two of the pilots are still arguing about who shot him down.

Pinky (William Pichard) had taught Sunday school for one term before coming into the service. He was a carpenter like myself. He never had been around at all.  So to try to make everyone think so, he turned bad mouth vulgar. Every time he saw me writing to a girl he would make a vulgar remark. I told him several times I did not like it, warned him the next time he would be sorry. He was good for about a month. Then he started again. I said Pinky, if you don't have anyone to write to, I will give you an address but you will have to knock this baloney off. I gave him an address to write. He sounded like he was back in Sunday school. He gave me his letter to read, so I mailed it and mine. When I was building the dock in Benicia, I was having to walk by this house of prostitution. What I had given him was a fictitious name and this address.  After about four days and I knew the letter was off the island, I told the other boys what I had done. When Pinky later entered the tent, he wanted to know what everyone was laughing about. Pinky was not happy. Next two weeks he could not set foot out of the tent without being asked if he had gotten an answer.

Hells Point Ammo Dump. This ammo dump was across the road about five hundred yards from my tent. The Marines were practicing with flame throwers. A weapon valuable for getting the Japs from the small dug caves inside of steep hills. About 11:30 a.m. the first blast of ammo went off where it had been lit by the flame throwers. As usual, I was a coward and did not have to be told to evacuate the camp. I went about 8 to 10 miles to C.B.M.U. camp for the night. No sleep the fireworks were beautiful and noisy. At six the next morning, the first fire unit went back into what was left of our camp. At the first unit was our commanding officer, Commander Yost. Lt. Jones, Headquarters CO, was assigned to clean the camp area of the unexploded shells and things. I heard one man lost part of one hand doing this.

Commanding officers for the outfit. Number one came down with a severe case of malaria. He was replaced by Commander Powers. I don't think he ever took a sober breath. He only lasted less than two months. Early on we also lost our main doctor to malaria. Commander Yost was our third commander. A retired Coast Guard called back to duty. The first thing he said was that he could unload the ships faster. We were all well worn out by the time he arrived, about eight months from our arrival. His military attitude and so forth did not sit too well. At night when no ship was in, we had movies in our theatre stage with screen sitting a low point. Coconut logs pulled in rows for seats. We could seat 2,000 men. Dark of night when the movie was over and we saw him there, someone would yell Hey Tony, the answer was what do you want. Reply Yost another ton of cargo. This all changed with the Hells Point Ammo fire. He was the last out of camp and first back in. He earned the men's respect. Just before I left he was going to leave our battalion to become a Captain in charge of all supplies for the Solomon Island area.

Most of our officers were pretty nice. A few exceptions, our executive was hated. William Kipple, Lt. Junior Grade. They said he was a genius at math but could not carry on an intelligent conversation. He tried to send men for a bucket to dip water out of the hole. They were setting up blinkers towers to talk to the ships. The holes were about 3 feet deep and 10 to 12 feet from the water's edge. At least two feet below sea level. Another Lt. from New Orleans was very nice to the men. The officers did not like him as he spend all his off hours with the enlisted men. About thirty-five years of age, a self-made millionaire. Resigned Chief Building Inspector of New Orleans to join.

They had mess stewards to serve the officers. They were Negro. One by the name of Hamilton went berserk on June 16. He was running around in circles, about every 10 steps he would fall down and say "Oh Lord, don't let them get me." They drug him back to the foxhole, next day they shipped him off the island.

The rest of my tour of duty on the canal was pretty laid back. Working ships, going to the doctor. Eleanor Roosevelt came on the island. We had to put gunny sacks on the road side of our shower. She was not asked to speak at our theatre, which was the most seats on the island. This was in response about the Marines that whistled and cat called. Her son, Jimmy, was the C.O. of that battalion of raiders.

Guadalcanal received about 90 inches of rain per year where we were. It rained only about 90 days. Then only about 15 minutes per day. Did I say rain, it poured. We would go out in the rain to take a shower. If lucky, we might finish it before it stopped. If not, over to the shower to rinse the soap off.

The natives of Guadalcanal were not a very good looking people. Sores over their body, very dark in color. Once in awhile we would be sitting in our tent talking, suddenly it seemed out of nowhere one of the older men would be standing withing the group. Part of his teeth missing, the rest filed to a point. The British, which had Guadalcanal as a protectorate, grew coconuts for agriculture. They used the natives from a nearby island of Malitia. They spoke pidgen English so we could talk to them. These were probably Polynesian heritage. Much better specimens, no sores. I asked one from Malitia about the natives with the sharpened teeth. He responded, "Don't you know. When they were young, they were raw meat eaters, i.e. cannibals. But he added we civilized them. We would form war parties and carry off their young women to Malitia and get them in a family way.  Then we would dump them back on the canal.  This went on for several generations until we civilized them."

I made friends with some R.N.Z.A.F. (Royal New Zealand Air Force) on the island.  A light bomber group. On the night raids we would send one of our planes with them for we had radar and they did not. They would come through our camp and put Chelsea, an English brand cigarettes in a Planters peanut can. The American boys would not smoke the Chelsea cigarettes. I would go through our camp with a gunny sack, fill it half full and take it over about a mile to the R.N.Z.A.F. camp, doling them out for them to have. They did not like the American brand cigarettes. This happened about once every 10 days.  So I had many friends there.

We got a new doctor shortly before I was sent off the island. He spent at least a week going over all of the medical records. He asked for the battalion to be relieved because we could not continue. Request denied. He said hell, I know how to get them off. He sent out within two weeks 225 men to the hospital. A month later, he requested we be replaced. Request denied. This time he sent 237 more men.  We had one man crushed between the barge and the ship. Hamilton, the black steward from June 16th. 16 men killed June 16th. Man from Alaska got on torpedo juice was discharged as an alcoholic. One suicide.

June 16                    16 killed
June 16                       1 mess steward, psych case, sent home
                                    1 crushed
                                    1 suicide
                                    1 from Alaska, alcoholic
Doctor sent out        225
Doctor sent out        237
                                482 men did not finish first tour of duty. Could be others I didn't know about. This was out of a battalion of 1,010 men              

I know there were a few sent back with malaria. Plus the one who lost part of his hand.

When I was sent to the hospital on the canal, more New Zealanders came to see me than my buddies. Of course they had a lot more free time. I was in the M.O.B. #8 (Mobile Hospital #8) for about 10 days before they sent me on my way.

The pictures I had taken on the canal were stolen from my sea bag. I could not take the sea bag when was flown out. I am very mad about one picture in particular. One of a native woman walking down the road by my tent. She was carry a baby in one arm and a baby pig in the other. Her breast was about 2 inches around and hung to her waist. Both the baby and the pig were nursing. The sea bag finally caught up with me after six weeks after I was discharged.

At 6:00 a.m. boarded the C-47 aircraft. A cargo plane with side seats that folded up when carrying cargo. About 35 or 36 people on this plane. The start of my ride from Hell and back.

RETURN FROM GUADALCANAL

The ride was anything but routine. Army plane, Marine pilot, co-pilot, navigator Navy nurse. About 45 minutes into the flight, all other flights were cancelled. We were supposed to land at bomber #2 on Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. Monsoon, heavy rain, made it impossible to land. We were instructed to fly to New Caledonia island. The pilot pulled up and tried to go above the storm. Downdraft, an air pocket or whatever. We fell several thousand feet. It was so violent, many of the ambulatory had to be taken away by ambulance on New Caledonia. Broken arms, legs, cuts on heads and elsewhere. Our big problem was we had broken every instrument we had. Radio, compass, under the storm we did not know which way we were flying. About 1400 or 2 p.m., we broke out of the storm. The pilot recognized two islands if you call them than. Total of both about an area with the coconut palms. He set the course by the sun for New Caledonia. We came up on the offside of the island from the airport. He openly debated about dumping the craft in the water near the beach but decided he had enough gas to make the airport. We flew through a divide between 2 mountains. Closer to either than the bottom. When we were taxiing on the runway, the engine coughed three times. No gas, only fumes. We landed about 8:00 p.m., 14 hours after we left the canal. The plane had no extra tanks and was supposed to only last from 10 to 12 hours at the most. The pilot had cut the motors down as low as he could for us to stay in the air. The ones able, like myself, which had had my seatbelt fastened, walked over to the Red Cross. The Red Cross in Europe charges for everything.  This was a French island. We have been almost fifteen hours since we ate. The pilot had also had everything kicked out of the plane to lighten the load. Personal belongings, U.S. mail, only kept the tools to work on the instruments. Over at the Red Cross when we told the girl there what plane we had come in on, she opened up everything, no charge for us to eat.  Also she told us they had reported us missing and had had planes out seven hours searching for us. By truck to M.O.B. #6, New Caledonia.

On the way home. Noumea, New Caledonia M.O.B. #6. Arrived by truck from the airfield. Assigned to ward, next morning breakfast and sick call. Third day sent to see a psychiatrist. He was a real piece of junk.  Only thing he was insulting to see if he could make me mad. On this score he did succeed. So much so I rose to my feet and was about ready to paste him with both fists. He made a sudden move from behind his desk and out the door there. Strategic place for his welfare. In about five minutes a corpsman came in and dismissed me to go back to the ward. The next three days was ward routine. In came a group of doctors and corpsmen. They had white and green tags to hang on the patients. The music being played, Frank Sinatra singing "Oh what a beautiful morning." The white tag was going to New Zealand for R&R (rest and recuperation). The green tags were being returned to the hospital in the United States. I had a green tag.

Next morning we were taken by bus down to the docks and loaded on a Dutch ship, the Bloem Fountain. It had an ice breaker-type nose. Small passenger ship.  On the way back to the States on the Bloem Fountain. It was the dirtiest ship I have ever seen. Dutch captain and officers. All the rest were from India. The food was horrible, even worse than when we went over. They fed another group right before us. They were in a horrible mental condition. Had no idea of who or where they were. They would try to eat hard boiled eggs, shell and all if not stopped. That is only one example of what I saw. I can only give thanks I was not part of that group.

The most beautiful sight about ten days later, the Golden Gate Bridge dove into sight. I was very near home at last. Taken by bus from the ship to hospital in Pleasanton, CA, called Shoemacher, now Santa Rita jail.

CALIFORNIA HERE I COME, ALL OVER AGAIN

Shoemacker Hospital. The hospital had many wards. Locked and unlocked ones. Mine was an unlocked one. We were free to move anywhere around the hospital. 48 hours liberty every weekend. I would either hitchhike home to Vallejo overnight or go into Oakland for bowling, show or roller skating. On night bowling with another sailor, two girls sat down behind us. I thought he knew them and vice versa. I guess we were their pick up. Actually one had an aunt in Berkeley, so they would stay with her. Both were members of the swim team at College of the Pacific, now U.O.P. Both were between their junior and senior years. They were really nice kids. Ann Kotoff, the red head, lived at Manteca with her parents when not at the dorm. Her parents could hardly speak English. They had immigrated from Russia. She would come into Berkeley until she graduated. When she came home to Berkeley, she would call me up. So we sould see each other. Lots of fun, nothing serious. In the meantime, they surveyed me from Shoemacher and sent me to Santa Cruz Naval Hospital "The Old Casa Del Rey Hotel" to await my discharge.

One weekend at Shoemacher Hospital, a sailor there wanted me to go out to Oakland to get drunk. He bragged how much he could hold. In Oakland we bought three fifths for the night. I took drink for drink with him until it was finished. He tried to go into Sweet's Dance Hall in Oakland. They refused to sell him a ticket. I walked him around the block, went up and bought two tickets. Followed him around all night to keep him out of trouble. When asked to dance, the girls would just turn away and grab me to dance and say boy was he drunk. I replied that he just can't hold it. I have had a drink for drink with him all night. They could not believe it. Come time to go for the bus back to the hospital. He wanted to go the opposite direction. I said I had lived in Oakland before I had entered the Navy. So I won that one. On the way back, he passed out on the bus.  The Greyhound driver knew his route very well and let us off at the hole by the fence. At about 120 pounds and he at about 140 pounds, I carried him about 300 yards to his ward. Threw him on his top bunk. Miss Glass, the nurse, and I took his shoes off. Searched him for his liberty pass. Took both passes and dropped them in the return box. When Miss Glass woke him the next morning, he asked how he got there. She told him and also had taken his pass and turned it in. I never heard how much he could hold again.

One weekend I was home, my brother John had come home for a R&R from Waikiki Beach in Oahu, Hawaii. He looked at me and said, "There is nothing wrong with you. Why are you goldbricking?" Navy expression for slackers. My response was, "At least I got out of the States." His reply, "What do you mean? They will never make that bunch of gooks a state." I have oft times reminded him of that.

Under orders where multiple males were in the service, they would keep one in the States. Results of the Sullivan disaster. Father and 3 sons were killed on one ship. They sent Marion (Sticks) over shortly after I came back. Later learned he went overseas on the Mormac Wren, the same ship I had gone over on.

One Saturday night I was skating in Oakland. We heard what we mistook for a car accident out front. We ran out and saw nothing. Went on home to Vallejo later. Heard about the big explosion at Port Chicago Naval Ammo Station. It blew out plate glass windows in Vallejo about 10 miles away from Port Chicago. Marley Fox, my step-dad that Mother had married while I was in the service. Marley had a sister that lived in Port Chicago. Her husband operated one of the engines pushing the cars down the docks. His lucky day, he was off duty. Marley could not get any word of his sister's situation. No phones or other communications. Being in a sailor suit, he took me to Benicia 8:00 a.m. Sunday. I caught the ferry over to Martinez. Stuck my thumb up and a deputy sheriff picked me up. No questions asked as the Navy had called all personnel back to their base. Red Cross was giving out coffee and donuts. Stopped long enough to pick them up. Then on to where his sister lived. About 1/2 mile from the blast site. The house had been slid about 8 inches sideways off the foundation, both were okay. The houses on the base were destroyed. Two story barracks were only one story with most of the joist off between the floors. Nearby all the siding was off the sides. It was quite a mess. This was the same thing we had seen unloading on Guadalcanal under war zone conditions. I had no real sympathy when they refused to go back to work after 2 weeks of counseling. Ship got hit and we were back 2 hours later. They were still trying to get their dishonorable discharge reversed. Main thing they say was that only blacks had to handle the ammo.

Santa Cruz Naval Hospital the game was to kill time for the discharge to be processed back in Washington. This took 5 or 6 weeks. Chow in a.m. served by local waitresses. Lunch same - dinner same thing. Sick call between 9:00 and 10:00 we had to be in our room. Three in my room. Two Marines and myself. One was from Westwood. His dad had been the barber there. We had fun on the boardwalk all the rest of the day. Had to get a pass if he wanted to go out at night, had to be in at 10 p.m.  Much pin bowling, teasing the San Francisco girls down for the week vacation. We would call it Frisco just to see how quick they would reply. I almost drove the mad crazy driving 16 penny nails in soft redwood. You had two licks to drive 1st in to win a prize. I would drive two in with the two licks. Of course, I was a carpenter.

Still in Santa Cruz Hospital going home for a weekend. Bummed a ride into San Francisco with some boys in my outfit that lived there. They were also in the hospital. On the way out of Santa Cruz we spotted a man who looked familiar. They stopped and picked him up. Clean shaven, brush type hair cut. He said you don't know me, do you? We all knew him but did not recognize him. He was a first mate on a cargo ship we had unloaded three times. On the ship, he had hair any woman would have killed for to have. Dark auburn red laid in perfect waves all the way to his waist, full beard, all perfectly groomed and manicured. He got quite a kick because we had not known him. He had been one of the nicest people we had met on any ship. Another 1st Special man at Santa Cruz brought his wife and daughter. She seemed to take a shine to me. He had been and was going back to Hollywood as a set carpenter in the building of the sets. He tried to get me to go to Hollywood with him. Said he was sure to have a job for me.

Time passed and I was up for discharge the next day. They picked up my pass so I could not go out. They wanted to be sure I would be there. The big Marine about 185 pounds and I got into a hassle. I knocked him down over his bed when he missed his punch. It was all over as he wanted no more. On the boardwalk the punching bags tied to a scale, I was real mean to the big Marines, showing off for their wife or girlfriend. Not knowing how to punch a bag, they could only hit about 750 to 800 pounds. I would walk up, put in a penny with a 4-inch left hook and hit 1,500 pounds.

Anyway, after that noon brawl, I borrowed the small Marine's pass and went out that night.

The next morning I was handed my battle wagon. That is the expression for an Honorable Discharge because it has that on the front.

I stopped by N.A.S. to see my friend, who was helping to build a dock there. They wanted me to go to work the next day. I told them I would go to work next Monday, about 3 days later. N.A.S. Naval Air Station dock at Alameda, a P.F.C. at last (Proud Foolish Citizen).

CIVILIAN AT LAST

Discharged at Santa Cruz on the way to Vallejo, I stopped at the Naval Air Station where my friend Tom North was foreman for Ben C. Gerwick. I had worked for Gerwick when I was called to service. They wanted me to start the next day but I delayed until the next Monday. About 3 days. At first I worked for Charlie Fields, a bull-headed Englishman. When he could, Tom moved me to his crew to rig on a crane. About this time, Gerwick got rid of the project manager. He had been a general in the Army Engineers. He was replaced by Johnny Loraine. Johnny was an engineer from Colorado Mine University. For measurement figures, he had the most remarkable memory. The pier was 60 feet wide with rails running down either side. It was long enough to tie up 2 World War II carriers on either side. One thing Johnny could not remember was a name. Seeing him several times a week 19 months later, he asked my name again. Last day on the docks. Only one there Tom North, Charlie the crane operator, Dobbs the oiler, Dick Estes, the other rigger and myself. Tom mentions I had been in the service and was medically discharged. Johnny replied that ever since I had been there he wondered why I was not in the service. This job we had been working six eight-hour days. They build the cement piling in a pile yard at the old Oakland mole. Wood platforms set up one side. We would take the crane and set the rebar cages. Then they would set the other side, spread out the form to form the side for the next one. Where the form spread, they put a pin into it and nailed 1 X 4 wood across the top to keep them from collapsing. One Saturday at quitting time, all forms were set and had some 2 X 4 to hold them to be finished Monday morning. They had concrete trucks setting there when the crew arrives. So they hurried to nail some more 1 X 4 across the top. Everyone forgot about the pins. They poured 6 or 8 piling 90 feet long and started to vibrate the concrete. Click - Click - Click. All the forms collapsed. The Jewish superintendent by the name of Al Cantor came screaming out of the office at Charlie Fields, the Englishman. Nothing but profanity and fire for a few minutes. Time Al had run down, Charlie asked now are you finished? Then Charlie replied, "Only one man that never makes a mistake and you damn Jews kill him." He immediately went to the changing shack, put on his street clothes and left the job. I was standing less than 10 feet away when this happened. I beat a hasty retreat behind the crane rig.

On Saturday night I would sometimes go roller skating. This one night I was talking to a sailor. When the couple skate came up, we went and asked a couple of girls to skate. His accepted but the one I asked replied "I do not skate with 4-F'ers." I was wearing my ruptured duck, i.e. discharge button. The sailor in talking to me knew I was with a medical discharge. I turned and skated way. The sailor almost blew his top at the girl. He chewed her out enough she had tears running down her face. She probably never knew before then what the pin was.

In Oakland I lived in a boarding house. Two blocks from the Oakland Merritt Hotel and two blocks from Lake Merritt. A big blond at the boarding house wanted me to take her for a boat ride. So I said I would take her across the lake and back. From the time we were in the boat until we were back, 7 or 8 minutes. I had really learned how to row a boat being a pile buck.

In this boarding house, I met an amputee by the name of Vic Freimuth. He had lost one leg above his knee at San Diego Naval Air Station. A P-38 fighter that landed at night with no light had hit him. He had spent quite a bit of time in Vallejo Naval Hospital. Some of the girls or ladies would invite the patients over for a dinner when he was in the hospital. On this one occasion when Vic lived in the boarding house, he received an invitation to go to a party in Vallejo. The Greyhound busses were on strike, so Vic had no way to get there. I knew he really wanted to go, so I offered him a ride up there. I told him I could stay at my mother's house. So up we went to Vallejo. The ladies were very nice and invited me in. They all worked at the Naval Shipyard at Mare Island. All were married and were waiting for their husbands, except Beckie, a red head. The ladies had also invited a couple of girls that were at Mare Island. One was a girl with her nose up in the air. She was a college graduate that had joined the Waves. I made a date to take this girl and Beckie to a movie show. Everything was all right until they compared notes. They didn't appreciate me holding both of their hands in the show. The Wave had taken a liking to me at the first meeting. Beckie stepped back to let Geraldine have me. After the show, I did not see Gerry until Christmas time when I drove Vic up to Vallejo again. It seems they had invited Gerry over for the holiday as she did not have time to go home to Rochester. Gerry and I started seeing each other every weekend. I was still living in the boarding house. She was in the Navy Waves. Once we went ice skating in Berkeley with a Marine and his girlfriend. Gerry could skate but had weak ankles. I had never been on ice skates before. I had always roller skated with long strides. The Marine and his girlfriend took me around the rink one time. Then he dropped back to watch me. I skated all night and did not fall. Come to find out, he was under a contract to skate for the Toronto Black Hawks. Because my ankles were so strong and straight he wanted to send my name into the Black Hawks. I declined the offer. Gerry and I decided to get married on a boat ride in Lake Merritt in Oakland. I had kept teasing her by saying "Don't fall for me." She said "What would you say if I said I love you." My response was "What do you want, a ring?" She said yes to that one. At the Christmas party I was in the kitchen while she was drying the dishes. I told her I was married and had five kids. I thought she was going to drop the plate. She wanted to set the date for March 17, 1946, St. Patrick's Day, the only break in Lent. We talked to the Chaplain Father Lynch and made arrangements for the wedding at St. Peter's Chapel, Mare Island. She ran into all kinds of objections from her family. Wanted her to come home to learn to cook. They even wrote the priest and asked him not to marry us. This was all aobut what her dad had been told about me by the Hall Detective Agency. Unknown to us, he had had me looked up. Only they had the information on another Elmer D. Phillips. His father was the top honcho on Mare Island in WWII. His grandfather had been superintendent of Schools for Solano County. I guess every family has their black sheep. Two terms reformatory, one term in state prison. As a result, Gerry was terribly hurt as no one in her family came to the wedding. The wedding was a beautiful affair in St. Peter's Chapel. Gerry had been doing solo work on Sundays. The chaplain assistant was a brother in an order. He put every candle on the altar that were allowed. Also he played the organ and sang, as the singer did not show up. Gerry came up the aisle on the arm of Chief Warrant Officer. That was a beautiful picture. I had all my family there, including two Steffey girl cousins from Texas that were working in Sacramento.

After the wedding, everything went bad that we had planned. The photographer did not show up. The dinner reservations had been cancelled by the restaurant because they had gotten a large Army group. We had no notification of the cancellation. My brothers had been working on my Dodge and did not get it running. I borrowed a Plymouth from "Sticks". It wasn't much better, we had flat tires and lights went out on our honeymoon. The family had planned on us coming over before we left town. The Maid of Honor and the Best Man went to another restaurant for dinner. We did not go to my mother's as it was getting late. We left for our hotel reservation at the Senator Hotel in Sacramento. We arrived about 1:00 a.m. Next morning we left for Lake Tahoe. We got over Donner Pass okay but couldn't get out of Truckee. It was snowing very hard. Found a motel made of logs about four blocks from downtown. We were snowed in for three days in Truckee. Then tried to go into Reno as we could not get to south shore Lake Tahoe, our destination. Car trouble, light went out. Returned to Truckee and the motel. Next day they opened the highway, US 40 over Donner Summit. We decided to come back to the Sacramento Valley side as Gerry only had seven days leave. Went up to Marysville and stopped at the Marysville Hotel. Then another night at a house where they rented rooms. That one was very nice. Then back to Vallejo and Mare Island where the first order from the Navy. Oriental small pox had come in on a ship. Gerry was told "Take you dependent and both of you get a shot for it." Gerry put in for her discharge as the war was over. My shot was a normal injection. Gerry had a severe reaction. She was sent into San Francisco to wait for her discharge. The shot reaction the medical staff showed it all around. Nearly did not discharge her at the proper time.

Elmer and Geraldine Phillips at their wedding.

Supplemental information about the Seabees on Guadalcanal.  This is not part of Pop's writings, but it does give some perspective of what he was involved in.

Navy Seabees on Guadalcanal

By Capt. Larry G. DeVries, CEC, USNR, Ret.

The events that led to the participation of the Seabees in the battle for Guadalcanal in World War II started with the actions taken by Rear Admiral Ben Moreell, Chief of Civil Engineers, and the staff of the Bureau of Yards and Docks (BUDOCKS) in the early weeks of the war. Captain John N. Laycock, Civil Engineer Corps, was in charge of the planning for Seabee units and expanded on the early work of Commander Walter H. Allen at the Great Lakes Naval Base who had pioneered the concept of construction units composed of naval personnel. When the war began, Rear Admiral Moreell expanded and acted on the planning that had taken place and began to organize several units of Civil Engineer Corps officers and skilled petty officers. On 5 January 1942, Rear Admiral Moreell's superiors directed him to begin recruiting the men that were to form the Navy's new construction battalions. Seabee enlisted men were recruited with skills needed in the battalions and came primarily from the construction industry. Civil Engineer Corps officers, many with prior military and construction experience, were commissioned to serve in the units.

Early Construction in the Pacific

Construction of facilities in the south Pacific had been recognized as a high priority requirement for a number of years based on War Plan Orange (later Plan Rainbow Five) and related contingency planning efforts. A more intense phase of construction using civilian contractors started in July 1939 in the Hawaiian islands by BUDOCKS and that contract, and subsequent contracts, resulted in work at Midway, Wake, Johnston Island, Palmyra Island, American Samoa, Guam and Cavite in the Phillipines. A significant amount of construction took place resulting in the initial construction of naval bases, naval air bases, communication stations and fueling stations. After the Japanese attack civilian workers and Civil Engineer Corps officers, who were supervising the work, were subject to capture and imprisonment or death as was the case at Wake, Guam and the Phillipines.

Naval Construction Battalions were organized around the allowance of 33 officers and 1,081 enlisted personnel. They were organized in five companies including a headquarters company and four construction companies. The organizational allowance was designed to provide a self-sustaining unit with individual and organizational equipment, vehicles, supplies and material to perform construction work. The original planning resulted in battalions being assigned as a functional component part of advanced bases known as CUBS, ACORNS and LIONS which were the code names for standard advanced naval bases. Naval Construction Battalions were "completely equipped and self-sustaining able to construct airfields, roads, bridges and buildings at an advanced base and to install, operate and maintain its public utilities."

The first naval construction unit to deploy from the United States was designated the First Construction Detachment. The unit left Quonset Point (Newport), Rhode Island, on 17 January 1942. It stopped at Norfolk, Virginia, and Charleston, South Carolina, and on 27 January left for Bora Bora in the Societies Islands with the mission of constructing a fueling station and other facilities. The 296 men of the unit arrived on 17 February 1942. This unit took on the name of Bobcat Detachment as Bobcat was the code name for Bora Bora. On 5 March, Construction Battalion personnel were officially named Seabees by the Navy Department and the fighting, building bee insignia and shoulder patch was approved.

The initial NCB to be organized was the 1st NCB which was commissioned at Camp Allen, Virginia, near Norfolk, in March 1942. Deployment resulted in companies being sent to Tonga Tabu and Efate, New Herbides, in April 1942. The 2nd NCB arrived in the southwest Pacific in April and May of 1942. The 3rd, 4th and 5th NCBs arrived in the Pacific in June 1942. The 6th NCB, which was destined to be the first naval construction battalion to come under enemy fire, was activated at Camp Allen, Virginia, on 24 June 1942, and went from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Moffett Field, California, and on to San Francisco. It left for the south Pacific on 21 July on the USS President Polk and the USS Wharton with five other ships escorted by the light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50). The 6th NCB reached Esprito Santo on 11 August via Pago Pago, Samoa.

First Seabees on Guadalcanal

The landings of the 1st Marine Division (Reinforced) occurred on 7-9 August 1942 at Guadalcanal (code name Cactus) and Tulagi as Operation WATCHTOWER. The Marine's 1st Engineer Battalion took on the majority of the work at the partially completed Japanese air strip named Henderson Field by Major General Alexander A. Vandegrift, USMC. Work at the field allowed a PBY (Lieutenant W. S. Sampson, USN) to land on 12 August. On 16 August the first element of CUB-1, an advance fuel and supply base, landed. This element, under Ensign George S. Polk, USN, consisted of five officers and 118 enlisted personnel, all navy petty officers of aviation support ratings.

On 20 August Lieutenant Commander Joseph P. Blundon, CEC, USNR, who was Officer-in-Charge of the 6th NCB, arrived in a PBY which landed off Lunga Point. He immediately called on General Vandegrift and his planning was directed at work on Henderson Field. Lieutenant Commander Blundon requested two companies from his NCB at Esprito Santo be sent forward with a few extra men trained for special details such as water purification and machinery repair. Early in the week of August 24th, directions were received from Commander, South Pacific Amphibious Force (Task Force 62, Rear Admiral R. K. Turner, USN) to transfer four hundred personnel to Cactus, two hundred each on the transport USS Fuller (AP-14) and the cargo ship USS Betelgeuse (AK-28). Companies A and D were designated and boarded the USS Betelgeuse on Saturday.

This first contingent landed on 1 September 1942 and consisted on 357 men and five officers under Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Thomas L. Stamp, CEC, USNR. Lieutenant Commander Blundon had departed by aircraft to Esprito Santo on 27 August and returned on 29 August with Commander James P. Compton, USN, who was Commanding Officer of CUB-1. Lack of transportation shipping, enemy action and the need for other priority unit and supply shipments caused the 6th NCB to arrive in elements. The second element of 156 men from the 6th NCB departed Esprito Santo on 29 August and arrived on Guadalcanal on 26 September. The third, fourth and fifth elements arrived on 2, 9 and 12 October resulting in 1,002 men, including 17 officers, on Guadalcanal-Tulagi by mid-October.

The next unit to land on Guadalcanal was the 14th NCB which had been formed in July 1942 at Camp Allen and had moved to Port Hueneme, California. It departed on 9 September for Noumea, New Caledonia, and arrived on 29 September. Rear Admiral Turner, Commander, Amphibious Forces South Pacific, had proposed a plan of action on 3 July 1942 to Admiral Nimitz (in response to a plan request from Admiral Ernest King) to include the "occupation of Ndeni Island." This island is located about 300 miles west of Tulagi and had been used by the Japanese for a temporary air base during war games in 1940. After Turner's proposal the Ndeni operation gained approval from Nimitz and those above up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Read Admiral Turner issued his plan for the operation, code name HUDDLE, on 20 August. However, after the Guadalcanal operation needed additional resources and, after General Vandegrift and others at the operational level in the theater spoke against the use of valuable resources at Ndeni, the operation was canceled by Admiral Halsey on 20 October 1942. After that decision Turner urged that the troops last earmarked for that operation (and staged at Noumea) be switched to Aola on Guadalcanal where he envisioned the construction of an airfield. The 14th NCB was organized as part of ACORN-1, a land plane advanced base. The landing occurred on 4 November under the direction and control of Turner's Task Force 65. Transport Divisions Eight and Twelve disembarked the following units from USS Neville (AP-16), USS Fomalhaut (AK-22) and USS Heywood (AP-12) in an amphibious landing at Aola (about 50 miles to the east of Lunga and the developing Naval Operating Base there):

• Lieutenant Colonel E. F. Carlson's Second Marine Raider Battalion, C and E companies as the advance landing party and the main body force

• 1st Battalion, 147th Infantry, US Army, Colonel W. B. Tuttle, Commanding Officer

• ACORN-1 personnel - about 100 Navy personnel

• 14th NCB personnel - about 500 Seabees and 2000 tons of supplies and equipment

• Artillery batteries for the Army's Americal Division

• 5th Marine Defense Battalion detachments

• Marine Corps AA batteries and coastal defense guns (155-millimeter howitzers)

The main body force consisted of approximately 1700 personnel. The second section of the 14th NCB arrived in two elements on 29 November and 23 December. In addition, other NCBs arrived on Guadalcanal and Tulagi during the battle period of 7 August 1942 to 9 February 1943. The 18th NCB was formed at Camp Allen on 11 August and transferred to Davisville, R. I. On 6 September, C Company was transferred to the C. B. Replacement Group, Fleet Marine Force, San Diego, California. The remainder of the battalion was transferred to the FMF Base Depot, Norfolk, and embarked on 11 September 1942 as part of the Second Marine Division arriving at Noumea, New Caledonia, on 11 November. B Company landed on Guadalcanal on 6 December with A, D and Headquarters companies arriving on 12 December. More 18th NCB elements arrived on December 19 and 25.

Construction Work on Guadalcanal

The construction work was centered around Henderson Field and the Naval Operating Base at Lunga and at Koli Point on Guadalcanal. On Tulagi the construction effort was focused on Tulagi Harbor and the motor torpedo boat base supporting Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons 2 and 3 as well as the seaplane base on Halavo peninsula on Florida Island.

At Lunga the extension and improvement of Henderson Field absorbed the majority of the effort, especially for the first elements of the 6th NCB. Two additional airfields, Fighter 1 and Fighter 2, were also constructed there. At times the 6th NCB had 25-30 construction projects underway. At Koli Point the 14th NCB began construction of two bomber airfields called Bomber 1 and Bomber 2 at Carney Field. This work began after the unit arrived there on 3 December because construction conditions were determined to be unacceptable at Aola.

Other Guadalcanal work, in addition to unit encampments, was road construction, bridge construction, gravel and coral pit operations, Navy and Army docks, a Marine railway, boat pool anchors, gun emplacements, railways, fuel systems, pipelines and booster stations, gasoline bulk plant operations, tunnels, buildings of all sizes and types, sawmills and logging operations, an ice plant, power generation and power distribution and radio stations. In addition, stevedoring work and salvage work on ships used Seabee labor.

A detachment of the 6th NCB under Lieutenant Ben Marcus, CEC, USNR, was sent to Tulagi on 9 October. On Tulagi the work included power generation and distribution lines, telephone and communication lines, water systems, fire systems, gun emplacements, sawmills, piers, gasoline and avgas storage tanks, a radio station and general construction for units assigned there. The harbor there was very important and at various times the heavy cruisers USS Pensacola, USS New Orleans, and USS Minneapolis, the PT tender USS Jamestown, and the destroyer-seaplane tender USS McFarland were disabled and were worked on in the harbor. Construction work took place also on Gavutu, Tanambogo and Halavo.

The 26th NCB was formed at Camp Allen on 18 September 1942 and arrived as a unit on Guadalcanal on 26 December 1942. Their mission was to relieve the 6th NCB. The 26th NCB reported to CAPT Thomas M. Shock, USN, who had been assigned as Commander, Naval Bases Solomons, on 12 December and was the senior officer for the developing bases on Guadalcanal-Tulagi. The 27th NCB was formed at Camp Allen on 23 October 1942 and arrived on 3 January 1943 as a unit on Tulagi to continue work there started by a detachment of the 6th NCB. By December resupply landings to the islands were occurring every day and this allowed full units with their supplies to land.

Development of Guadalcanal as a Major Base

Major General Alexander M. Patch, US Army, relieved Major General Vandegrift on 7 December 1942, and established the US XIV Corps on Guadalcanal. By the first week of January 1943 the American forces on Guadalcanal and Tulagi numbered about 50,000. Five Naval Construction Battalions, consisting of over 5,000 officers and men, had contributed to the effort at that time although unit strength after arrival was quickly depleted primarily due to malaria and other diseases. The 6th NCB was the first unit to depart on 5 January 1943. The 6th NCB was the first unit to suffer fatalities due to enemy action (Chief Machinist Mate Henry L. Thompson, killed in action October 14, 1942) and the first unit to have members decorated for action under enemy fire. It was one of four NCBs to earn the Presidential Unit Citation during the war. Units on Guadalcanal generally spent one year on the islands before they were sent to various bases both in the south Pacific and in the United States for rest, replacements and re-outfitting.

The XIV Corps planned and conducted an offensive that lasted from 10 to 23 January 1943. During the nights of early February the Japanese evacuated their remaining men and on 9 February 1943 General Patch declared the island secure.

A total of seventeen construction battalions, including five Construction Battalion Special (Stevedoring) battalions, were assigned to Guadalcanal. During 1943 the 34th, 46th, 53rd, 61st and 63rd NCBs arrived (after the end of the battle period on 9 February). The first Special arrived in March and the 4th and 9th Specials arrived later. Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 501 took over part of the base maintenance duties on Guadalcanal in March 1943 and CBMUs 532, 533, 518 and 520 served later. The 18th, 25th and 58th Battalions staged through Guadalcanal with Marine Divisions and numerous Seabee groups were at Guadalcanal prior to forward movements to the upper Solomons.

The Guadalcanal Campaign provided the proving ground for Naval Construction Battalions and their need for the campaigns to follow in the Pacific. At its peak over 258,000 Seabees and CEC officers were on duty in World War II. Eventually, 150 Naval Construction Battalions and 41 Construction Battalion Specials were established and served around the world on all continents. One hundred thirty-five CBMUs were formed. One hundred eighteen Construction Detachments and five Pontoon Assembly Detachments were also formed. Other services, and the rest of the Navy itself, were lost on the distinction among the unit types. They all became known as Seabees.

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My father passed away on January 30, 2006.  He left behind his wife of over 59 years, Geraldine, and seven well-raised children, Pat, Genny, Andy, Berni, John, Mark and Jo.

There are too few men and women left who have given so much to their country, their community, and their family.  If you know one, please give them a hug while you still can.  Following is the last picture of my father, taken with my son, Daniel, two weeks before he passed away.

Copyright(c) 2002 Andrew M. Phillips, Sr.. All rights reserved.