I was 21 years old on December 7, 1941.  Several friends and I were sitting in a car in front of my house in Bellerose, Long Island, NY, listening to a football game on the radio.  The game was interrupted by a newscaster announcing that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. . . I received my draft notice on December 20, 1941, and was allowed an extension so I could make arrangements to join the Navy.  I was inducted into the Navy on February 17, 1942. I thought my war years might be of interest to my family in years to come, so I have written an account of where I went and what I saw during that time.  I also brought back many photographs from my travels.  A few of them appear below.

After basic training, I requested and qualified for electrical training and was sent to Detroit, MI. . . I graduated in August, 1942 and was one of 28 sailors assigned to the amphibious force.  We were shipped to Norfolk, VA, and then to Little Creek, VA where we were trained on LCTs (Landing Craft Tanks) in the Chesapeake for several months.  Later we were sent to Philadelphia to pick up our own LCT.  We spent several more months training other sailors as we were trained, before our LCT was placed on the deck of an LST (Landing Ship Tank) for the Atlantic crossing.  We arrived in Arzu, Algeria in May 1943, where we experienced our first combat air-raids, and practiced beach landings with the Army in preparation for the invasion of Sicily in July of that year.

We ended up in Lake Bizerte, Tunisia, with many, many ships of all sizes.  We left on the evening of July 9, 1943, for the invasion of Sicily.  Since we were a small barge with very unsophisticated navigation equipment, our orders were to follow the stern light of the sub chaser  ahead of us.  The Mediterranean was known for its calm waters and had been extremely calm for the month or so we had been there.  However, it was anything but calm this night.  One moment we were down in the trough of the waves and could see only mountains of water in every direction.  The next, we were sitting on top of a huge wave.  Of the crew of 11, only the helmsman, myself and one or two others were not sick.  We had no idea where we were or where we were going, but once in a while we would cut our engines and we could hear other boats around us.  Soon, red balls of fire started to sail over our heads.  They were 16" shells from one of our battleships, the Texas I think, firing at shore batteries in Sicily.   Then shells from the shore started to come out and we sat in the middle with the shells going back and forth like red balls through the sky overhead.  We shot down 23 of our own planes loaded with paratroopers.

This is me, with shipmate, Mark Tanksley, who I found via the Internet in 2003 -- 60 years after we served together!

We made a lot of runs from Calcutta to Chittagong, which was in India and is now in Bangladesh.  These trips were made through the Ganges Delta, which is a huge area of jungle with hundreds of islands, large and small.  We had a Hindu guide who would stand at the bow and point the way for us.  The trip would take several days, ten LCT's following one another.  The engines would make a huge roar in the stillness of the jungle. . . we made this trip quite a few times from Calcutta to Chittagong to deliver war materials which were then flown over the hump into China.  We also made a run to Cox Bazaar with hay for Vinegar Joe Stillwell's donkeys.  Vinegar Joe was fighting on the Burma trail.

Unloading the LCT in Chittagong, 1944

This is me taking advantage of one of the  common modes of transportation.

Around April of 1944 we learned we had given our LCTs to the British and were to return to Africa. We boarded a train in Calcutta for the cross-country trip from Calcutta to Bombay.  I think it was a three or four day trip.  The train was a real relic, with a coal-burning steam engine.  The officers had a car to themselves with a dining car attached ... all the food we gobs had were a few cases of C-rations, with no knives, forks, or spoons.  We arrived in Bombay and spent about two weeks there -- time enough to hang out and see some of the movies and eat in the restaurants.  We also saw what they call the Hanging Gardens.  It was a beautiful park-like setting with walkways throughout.  I was impressed with the sculpting of hedges.  They had larger-than-life figures of people and animals, including one of a man whipping an ox

From Bombay we were sent back to North Africa, where we picked up a new LCT in Tunisia.  From Tripoli we left North Africa along with many ships and barges from all along the North African coast.  Our group went to Naples, Italy within sight of Mt. Vesuvius.  We spent several days there and got to see the sights.  We walked the streets a lot and consumed a lot of vino.  We knew we were forming up for another invasion, but where or when we had no idea.  We left Naples, where we had had the luxury of Italian women to wash our clothes, and went to the island of Corsica to the town of Ajaccio and anchored in a small harbor.  We did not get ashore there.  On August 15, 1944 we invaded Southern France.  Our LCT landed at St. Tropez on the Riviera. Italy, 1944

Not long after the invasion of Southern France, an officer came along the beach and boarded our barges.  He called out the names of those who had been overseas for 18 months or more and we were all rounded up and taken to Arzu, North Africa to await transportation back to the States. . . I pulled into New York Harbor on October 8, 1944.  I had a 30-day leave.  Afterwards, I was assigned to Houston, Texas to wait for an LSM that was under construction there.  We took the LSM through the Panama Canal, to San Diego, Los Angeles, Hawaii, Guam, and eventually to Saipan, which had just been secured a week or so before.  From Saipan, we went to Okinawa to await the invasion of Japan.  We were in Buckner Bay when we were told to get out to sea to avoid a coming typhooon.  We got out of the worst of it.  We went back to Buckner Bay after the storm and were there when the H-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, and Nagasaki on August 9.  The rumors started that the war was over, but no one was sure.  A point system was established based on length of service, time overseas, and invasions and actions seen.  I qualified for immediate release.  I was sent back to Saipan to wait for transportation to the States.  At Saipan, I met up with a buddy from Bellerose.  He told me another buddy of ours was stationed on Tinian Island, which was very close to Saipan.  I got an overnight pass and hitched a plane ride to Tinian, found Tom Anstey, our other buddy, and that's where we had our picture taken in front of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the H-bomb that ended World War II.

Here are some of my favorite World War II links:

The Naval Vessel Register, http://www.nvr.navy.mil/ The Naval Historical Center, http://www.history.navy.mil/ NavSource Landing Craft Tank Photo Index, http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/18idx.htm.  (Scroll down and click on LCT 445/LCT 2445 to see a couple of pictures I took of our ship.) US Navy Landing Craft Tanks, http://ww2lct.org/mk6/mk6main.htm

Navy Seal image courtesy of: Olive Drab, Military Clip Art Gallery.  Http://www.olive-drab.com/od_clipart_graphics_gallery.php3. Accessed 16 June 2004.
American flag image courtesy of: Animation Factory.  Http://www.gograph.com.  Accessed 16 June 2004.
Stars and stripes border courtesy of: WWWeb Factory.  Http://w3f.com/gifs/flag/usa/.  Accessed 16 June 2004.

Questions?  Comments? Please contact: Roger C. Morris Page last updated: September 15, 2004