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Yosemite Saga - 5
Pearl Harbor
We hadn't been out to sea but a couple of hours when
the news came. I remember I was at evening chow when
the announcement came loud and clear "Attention All
Personnel, The ship is bound for Pearl Harbor". You
could have heard a pin drop and then, a hush of
disbelief. All thoughts of leave and liberty in
California were dashed. A lot of grumbling followed.
We joined a large armada of supply ships, even tugs
towing ships made from cement from the Kaiser Shipyard. It
was slow going. The convoy could proceed only as fast
as the slowest ship. It was going to be a long haul.
Many times we zigzagged or went in circles trying to
avoid being a target for a Japanese submarine.
At sea, we were in a steaming watch with some of the
"A" Division drawing duty in the engine room,
including Yours Truly. We were on a minimum watch for
the ice machines. The forward engine room was my
assignment and I wasn't too familiar with all of the
operations. I was assigned to a phone watch with an oversize helmet
and the dehydrating tank to keep my eye on. It really got hot,
almost 120 degrees, and we really did sweat. The uniform
of the day was shorts and tennis shoes. The Chief
warned against feeling steam pipes because of the
danger of pinhole leaks. One did have a pinhole leak
so to illustrate his point, he took a 2x4 and held it
in the air next to the leak and let the steam cut it in
half. I noted that somebody wrote on the bulkhead "This is Torpedo
Junction". The only outside signs of life on the
lengthy trip
were the flying fish and Frigate birds. The Radio
Shack let us know that Tokyo Rose had reported the sinking of
the Yosemite with all hands lost.
 The long journey from Panama was almost over. I went
up on deck and saw Diamond Head for the first time. It
was an even slower journey for the last few miles. The
net tender opened the gate and we made our way through
all kinds of floating debris to Pearl City which was
quite a distance from the hustle and bustle of the
harbor where they were still restoring the ships at
Battleship Row. We had not yet tied up to our harbor
buoy when out first destroyer pulled along side. It
was the USS Caldwell. Our spot was called berth X-20.
The word was out that we would be here for awhile
before we would be given our final tests and
inspection prior to leaving for the forward area of
hostility. Hawaii was a beautiful place. It was hard
to believe all of the destruction that took place here
on December 7th, 1941.
The first few days in Pearl City Bay of Pearl Harbor
were spent restocking the supplies used on the long
trip from Panama. I recall several 'All Hands' working
parties. The one that almost did me in was when skids
of supplies, mostly food, were being unloaded in the
forward cargo hold. The four of us were on the bottom
deck looking up when one of the chains on the skid
either slipped or broke. At any rate, as we looked up
and heard the shouting, a large barrel fell off the
skid and came whistling down on us. We dove along the
bulkheads as the barrel fell and exploded with a
crash. Pickles were all over the place. We were really
lucky not to have been killed! A relief crew came in
and we had quite a job getting the pickle juice off of
our clothes. A quick shower helped.
Liberty in Honolulu
Liberty was usually every other day unless there was
an emergency. To go to Honolulu, which was several
miles away from our anchorage we had to use a small
narrow gage railroad that we picked up just outside
the main gate. It was called the "Toonerville-Trolley"
express. When we boarded the train there were plenty
of seats, but as it approached Honolulu there was
standing room only. It traveled so slow
some of the fellows on the trip would jump off
and return with several over ripe, warm pineapples.
The Dole pineapple water tower stood above miles of
lush pineapple fields. When we got to Honolulu, it was
every man for himself. I was fascinated with my new
surroundings. On the return trip, we would have two
huge Shore Patrol keeping order as we headed back to
the base.
When we were on liberty, we used to go to the USO
which was at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The only other
hotel in those days was the Moanna Loa. I believe it
was the Officers Club. The bad part of town was Water
Street. Tattoo parlors, porno shops and houses of ill
repute were easy to find. It also the odor of
dead fish. At that time Waikiki Beach was covered with
barbed wire. The harbor itself was full of floating
boxes, bottles, oil and debris. One time we left the
second hotel and tried to climb Diamond Head. As we
expected, we didn't get to far. After getting up
several hundred feet we gave up, but what a beautiful
view of Honolulu. We heard they had big guns on
top of Diamond Head but we never got to see them. We
did go to the
Aloha Tower where the ocean liners used to come in
during peacetime. |
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