To Japan: Up and Down and Up and Down (75)

     Gene (and Capt. Yount and Capt. Vinicor) were going to be stuck in Japan for a while.  In addition to that bad news, Barnes, and enlisted man, forgot to turn the ice cream machine off when he went on a date, and the entire machine was ruined.  No trip home, and no ice cream!  Then a little good news: the whole outfit was going to Japan before anyone could go home.  The rumor was that 19,000, or 42% of the medical corps would be going home by January 1.

September 19, 1945  Rain every evening for past 3.  High winds this afternoon.  Typhoon somewhere? [This typhoon was to become a major player in the ensuing drama!]

September 21, 1945  We started loading today, including footlockers and bed rolls.  We'll live in the officers' club!

September 25, 1945  Left camp at 0900.  On board APA 90 [an 8600 ton, 2200 troop capacity, army transport ship named the USS James O'Hara] by 11 AM at San Fabian off white beach 1 [the northernmost landing beach in Lingayen Gulf] .  Quartered nicely.  Hot.

September 26, 1945  I'm police officer for the whole boat!  9 officers and 118 EM [enlisted men] under me.  What a headache!  1200 men on board.  Getting organized.

In convoy heading to Japan on board the USS James O'Hara in rough weather

September 27, 1945  Delayed sailing 2 days because of typhoon north of here.

September 28, 1945  Slept on deck last night.  Much more comfortable.  Lots of trouble with the police job.

September 29, 1945  Didn't sail today.  More typhoon or something.  Pulled across gulf to safer anchorage this evening.

October 1, 1945  Same weather.  Gen. [Walter Leo] Weible [commander of the logistical and administrative group for occupied Japan] inspected the ship.  He said it was O.K.!  Sailed at 4:45 P.M. Mabuhay [in the Tagalog language which is spoken in much of the Philippines, it means "live long"]!

1 Oct. '45
Dearest,
     Now I start my log.  We hauled anchor about 4:45 P.M.  They have 2 [anchors] (used only 1) which weigh 6 and 6 1/2 tons respectively.  Some weight!  They wash the mud and salt off the chain as it comes in.  We turned around and headed north about 4:45 P.M.  Right now we are about opposite Caba, I believe, though it is quite cloudy.  Max [Vinicor] and I lined up at the rail and said "Mabuhay ang Filipinos!"  [sic "Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!" or "Long live the Philippines!"] There are 3 columns of 6 ships each.  We will pick up an escort later.  There are long windrows of ground swells that must be a hundred yards apart.  They seem low but the bow of the ship opposite us is going up 10 or 12 feel almost each time it pitches.  We're up to full speed, I think - maybe 15 knots [17.3 miles per hour].
     This is the 6th time I've put out to sea but I still get a big kick out of it.  But what a joy I'll get out of the next time I put to sea - to come home!
     This morning Maj. Gen. Weible and the ship's Exec. made the rounds on our usual inspection.  The general said it was better than he thought it would be!  The ship's Exec. seems to be a cultured sort of gentleman and wears a partial beard and looks distinguished.  I've heard nothing about the typhoon, except that it was passing N and NW of Luzon.  Probably these rollers are from it, for we've read that they may extend several hundred miles from the center.  Apparently they expect some rough seas.
2 Oct. '45
     8 P.M.  Hi Sugar!  Last evening, all night and this morning we had lots of ups and downs.  I wasn't certain when I went to bed about 9:30 whether I was going to be sick or not!  Some of the men and officers were, but none within my sight, thank goodness!  By this morning it was rougher but fortunately we were running almost straight before the wind, with the waves gradually catching up with us.  We were making about 14 knots [16.1 mph] and still the wind was pushing us ahead.  Some of the other ships were really rolling and twisting, much worse than ours.  The clouds began to thin and the wind to go down around noon, so it has been smoother.

Signal flags and radar on the USS James O'Hara

     We've passed Luzon and are going almost due east.  We see occasional islands and some fantastically shaped peaks of rock.  We are to land about 40 or 50 miles west of Osaka, I hear, because the Nagoya harbor is bad.  It will be the same place the 33rd landed.  Then we will have about a 200 mile ride to reach Nagoya.  Yep, see the country!
3 Oct. '34
     It was quite calm all of today till this evening about mess time when we began doing a slow rise and fall on heavy ground swells that parallel the course of the ship.  The whole ship rises and falls without much pitch - something like a roller coaster effect.  The breeze is nicely cool.  We've been heading NE steadily, with no sigh of land.  We should be somewhere SE of Okinawa by now.
     This morning we began to drop back in the convoy.  The main fuel pump went on the fritz.  With the auxiliaries we could make only 14 knots - one less than the convoy, but now at dusk we are catching up again.  You know in a combat force, if a boat has to drop out, it is on its own with no one allowed to delay for it!
     Already we can note the difference in the daylight.  It was light at 6:30 this morning and dark at 7 this evening.  I did some laundry today and read.  The Police job is doing better and doesn't take much time.  I read several lives out of Plutarch's Lives [a series of biographies by Plutarch of famous men; he paired a Greek with a Roman and explored the influence of character for each man].  I can't say I'm very crazy about his style.  Now I'm reading "Followers of the Sun" by Harvey Ferguson.  It is a series of 3 stories about the west, particularly New Mexico.
4 Oct. '45
     More typhoon dodging!  This morning it was quite rough for several hours.  The General went along on inspection and we were all staggering around in great style.  Thank goodness I wasn't sick.  A fair number were.  The General was quite pleased with the policing of the ship.
     Then around noon we slowed down and almost stopped.  Finally we turned around and headed for Okinawa and are still pointing that way.  It hasn't been rough but a high wind is blowing so it may kick up.  The latest dope has us landing at Wakayama, about 40 miles south of Osaka.  Time will tell!  Today I started reading [Hendrik Willem] Van Loon's "The Arts".  So far he hasn't said much about Art.  Apparently the Japs don't use perspective in their pictures! 
     It is a bit cooler but still hot enough in the stateroom.
5 Oct. '45
     We're really bouncing this evening.  In fact this is about the roughest I've ever experienced.  It's been rough all day, though there has been almost no wind or whitecaps.  It must be the aftermath of the typhoon we dodged.  Several times this evening the waves have come over our anchors and into the hawser pipes at the bow, a total rise and fall of about 20 feet.
     We've been watching some poor KA (cargo assaults) that are heavily loaded.  They have taken solid water several times.  They look as though they were trying, alternately, to stand first on their front legs and then on their hind legs.
     Today has been quite dull.  After inspection this morning I read and gazed at the sea.  We must be about opposite the south end of Kyushu.  I've wished many a time that this boat was headed for the USA!

Next, a special souvenir edition of the Nagoya Base News for the troops and crew of the USS O'Hara! "This may be just another 'boat-ride' to the weary GI's aboard the USS James O'Hara but to the children who will read about this trip in their history books it will be a momentous event."