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» Forum Category: PT Boats of WWII
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» Forum Name: PT Boats - General
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» Topic:
Long Hitchhike Back
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In Nov. 1944 after 13 months and about 85 patrols of Jap held Islands in the Solomons our PT 242 crew was relieved of duty at Green Island. After a couple of days in a tent at the base, Bob Pratt, our quartermaster, and I received our orders. They read "Upon arrival Port of Embarkation U.S.A., 30 days leave plus travel time to PT Base Melville RI. Find your own transportation back to the U.S." Now that was a long way to hitchhike. We caught a B25 from Green up to the Admiralties. There we caught a baby flat top Aircraft Carrier loaded on the flight and hanger decks with damaged airplanes bound for San Francisco. They gave us 2 cots which we set up under the wing of an SBD on the hanger deck. We were the only passengers, ate with the crew and had no duties. We stopped at Pearl Harbor for a day. We had no white uniforms- ours had mildewed in the tropics. The officers on the Aircraft Carrier gave us uniforms so we could go ashore in Honolulu. Saw the first white women we had seen in over a year. After about 16 days on the carrier we arrived in SF. Sure felt good to set foot in the U.S.A..
C. J. Willis
Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Aug 24, 2014 - 9:32am
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm
Thanks for sharing the story, C.J.!
Will
Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Aug 24, 2014 - 11:18am
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm
hi cj.good story. th ey g ave me 30 days leave at boston rec.station/also ghad my papers on me to re ship out again after that time.they also sent me home on an aircraft carrier that stoppeed at pearl./took us in past the arizona and docked.o of all places,oposit the base officers swimming pool;. would not alow us to go ashore buut we sure used the binoculars a lot.alo
only spent a couple of adays at pearl and then on to sf also.i reshipped out again to the philipines and went to bobon and then on to ormoc til the war was over.i h ad the point to go home but they h eld mme th ere for a little longer ass i was a cook and they needed me there. take care gc/loved the view of the nuurses swimming but left pearl frrustrated.made up for it when i got home. eaarl
earl richmond
Posted By: earl | Posted on: Aug 24, 2014 - 7:12pm
Total Posts: 197 | Joined: Oct 18, 2006 - 12:13pm
Good story, Earl. Thanks
Will
Posted By: Will Day | Posted on: Aug 24, 2014 - 8:26pm
Total Posts: 1955 | Joined: Oct 8, 2006 - 4:19pm
Hi Earl: Good to hear from you.. After my 30 day leave I reported in at the Fargo Bldg. in Boston. Was there from the middle of January 1945 until the middle of March 1945. Then shipped out to PT Base 17 at Bobon Pt. Samar P.I. I was never assigned to another boat at Base 17. I was at Bobon when the war ended. In October I was sent up to Subic Bay for about a month awaiting transportation back to the States. I was discharged from the Navy December 9, 1945 at Norman, OK after nearly 3 years service..
C. J. Willis
Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Aug 26, 2014 - 7:55am
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm
HI EARL and CJ. Love your stories, love you guys as well. I am always to happy to hear from the PT VETERANS, something that is really missing on the board. We can all learn so much.............
Posted By: Frank Andruss | Posted on: Aug 26, 2014 - 9:06am
Total Posts: 3964 | Joined: Feb 9, 2007 - 11:41am
I love these personal stories. Brings the reality of WW II home on a more human level, rather than the usual discussion of battles and operations. Thanks for sharing.
Shep Cooper LtCol USMCR(ret)
son of PT 324 skipper Clay C. Cooper Jr.
Posted By: 54scooper | Posted on: Aug 29, 2014 - 5:17pm
Total Posts: | Joined: Unregistered
WH EN WE WEERE AT BOBON WE WENT TO A SMALL AREA FOR A BEER PERTY.WE WER ONLY ALLOWED 3 CANS OF BEER.WE ASAVED ALL OUR LISTERINE IP AND MIXED THE BEER AND LISTERINE RTOGHETHER TO MAKE MORE TO DRINK.NEEDLESSS TO SAY BUT MOST OF US GOT SICK.
WHEN I GOT TO ORMOCE I WAS ASSIGNED TO THE GALLEY TO COOK.I HAD A TENT CLOSE TO THE GGALLEY AND ONLY I SLEPT IN IT.I MET A GIRL AT THE LAUNDRY SHACK,THERE ABOUT 6 GIRLS RTHERE, AND WE WENT "STEADY"/SHE WAS VERY IONTELLIGENT AND HAD ME MEET HER FAMILY AND WAS INVIOTED TIO :DINNER"AT THEIR HOME.TH EY BOILLED WATER AND PUT IT IN BOTTLES AND SEQLED THE OPENINGS.THEN THEY LOWERED THEM INTO THE WELL TO KEEP COLD IN THE WELL WATER.WE SAT ON THE FLOOR IN A CIRCLE AND THEY SERVED,I THINK IT WAS CALLLED CAOPTE, A HARD STARCHY KIND OF POTATO.WE H AD BOILED RICE WRAPPED IN PALM LEAVES WITH SOME KIND OF MEAT IN IT.DID NOT QUESTION QWHAR KIND OF MEAT.I THINK THAY ALSO COOKEED A PIG,I GUESS.MY FRIEND INTERPRETED FOR US SO WE KIND OF COMMUNICATED.THE FATHER WAS SOME KIND OF EKLDER ION THE BARIO AND HAD SOME IMPORRTANCE.HER BROTHER BECAME MY HOUSEBOY AND KLEPT MY TENT CLEAN AND SHE WASHED MY CLOTHES AT THE RIVER.THEY USED PADDLED AND BEAT THE CLOTHES ON THE CEMEWNT GOING INTO THE RIVER.I RECRIPOCATED BY GETTING THEM SOME FOOD.THE PHILIOP
PONO GUERILLAS DID NOT LIKE US BEING TH ERE AS THEY DID NOT LIKE US GOING WITH THEIR WOMEN.ONCE IN A WHILE THEY WOULD RIDE BY THE BASE AT NIGHT AND THROW HAND GRENADES INTO OUR AREA.
JUST A LITTLE MEMORY TRIP FOR YOU GUYS THAT WERE THERE AND FOORGOET. lt5 jg wouuld ride artound at night on shore patrol duty.his jeep had a chrome ffront bumper and we called him captain midnight.i almost got caught by him one nioght.i h elped cook the 1945 thanksgiving dinner at ormoc also.
earl richmond
Posted By: earl | Posted on: Aug 31, 2014 - 6:19pm
Total Posts: 197 | Joined: Oct 18, 2006 - 12:13pm
CJ - I'm sure that The brass knew that if anyone had enough ingenuity and resourcefulness to make it back on their own, it was a couple of PT Boaters ( is that an acceptable word??) Great story.
And earl - Must have been a nice change to have terra firma under your feet instead of a bouncing boat.
Rick Schaefer
Splinter PT 63
TM2c John E Mirus
Solomon Islands
Dec 43 - Jan 45
Posted By: rickas | Posted on: Aug 31, 2014 - 6:33pm
Total Posts: 82 | Joined: Dec 26, 2013 - 5:16pm
THANKS EARL, ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ON THE MESSAGE BOARD, LOVE YOUR STORIES.
Posted By: Frank Andruss | Posted on: Aug 31, 2014 - 7:26pm
Total Posts: 3964 | Joined: Feb 9, 2007 - 11:41am
Earl I remember some of those Gook women were pretty nice looking however I was married by then and was not interested. At Bobon Base 17 they were allowed on the base to do our laundry. They would pick it up one day have it washed, dried and folded the next day for 10 cents. Some of the Gook men sold rice whiskey in a beer bottle with a wadded newspaper for a cork. It was terrible-tasted like kerosene to me. Some guys in my tent drank it but I never drank it. While there we did get issued two cans of beer a week but it had to drunk in a fenced in compound there the day it was issued. We could not take it back to our tent.
C. J. Willis
Posted By: CJ Willis | Posted on: Sep 1, 2014 - 11:46am
Total Posts: 464 | Joined: Nov 5, 2006 - 5:02pm
C.J & EARL,
I ALSO ENJOY YOUR STORIES VERY MUCH.
HERE'S HOPING YOU ARE BOTH DOING WELL.
[:-cheers-:]
Steve
Posted By: Nuge210 | Posted on: Sep 5, 2014 - 7:16am
Total Posts: 323 | Joined: Jun 4, 2008 - 7:50am