1944

Talk about the end of an era! In April the Coast Guard announced that it had given up using Morse Code sorry, Beethoven, no more dit-dit-dit-da because of "modern technology"; and in July, Smith Corona typewriter declared bankruptcy-same reason. But you still get class notes, since I'm wedded to my good old Remington Model A.

Not that very many of you wrote much about the request for VE and VJ Day where abouts. Only nine responses, in fact. Twitch Miller has already covered the longer pieces in his newsletter, but let me summarize:

John Bird, a lieutenant aboard an LSM off Okinawa, remembers vividly the Japanese "false surrender" August 12, when every ship in the harbor lit up the sky with pyrotechnics and gunfire. What goes up must come down, and six Americans were killed and 30 wounded by our own gunfire.

Dave Scotford was at the same place both VE and VJ days, flying P-51s from Iwo Jima to Japan. "On VJ day I still had a mission over Osaka," he says, "but when I landed, my crew chief jumped on my wing and yelled, 'Lieutenant, the war is over.'"

Dud Wilson: "By strange coincidence I was in the same situation on both VE and VJ days trying to get back to Grove Air Base from Gloucester, England. It seemed that everyone in all of Britain was headed for London. I can still remember the names of all the stations on that Great Western Line, but don't ask me why."

Navy pilot Bill Barrett was cruising aboard the U.S.S. Essex CV-9 in May, but "we were actively engaged in the Okinawa campaign and flights over Tokyo and environs in August when word came to abort our last mission strike on a reservoir/water supply target and return to base. The war was over."

Dick Kanter was in Caserta, Italy, when the war in Europe dwindled down, and VE day was not very raucous when it came. "We were subsequently scheduled for redeployment to the Pacific, and I sailed June 10 from Naples on an empty refrigerator ship of WW I vintage together with Al Hormel, John Rexford, and Frank Hutchins '45. We were equipped with nine cases of beer to withstand the rigors of the voyage."

Rexford remembers the refrigerator ship for its good food. "It was hardly a luxury craft," he said, "and the wall of the propeller shaft was screaming only a foot from my bunk, but we ate like kings. Eggs were a special treat; we hadn't had them in so long."

"I was jokingly passed off as a Buchenwald survivor," says Al Hormel, who was in the O.S.S. "lonlyweighed 115 pounds at the time. We were followed across the ocean by a storm. A ship's officer said he hoped it wouldn't catch us, as we'd sink for sure if it did. Great for morale."

More stories next month. For now Ernie Rice in Sarasota wants to be sure that all Floridians and visitors know of the '44 reunion planned for March 6-8, 1996, at Walt Disney World Port Orleans Resort.

Two deaths: Brad King in March and Bill Marion in April. Our sympathies.

That's it. Blessings.

P. O. Box 24, Lovejoy Hill, Cornish Flat, NH 03746