August, 1944
I have tried to remember just when I went to the Pacific
and I think it was mid 1944 as we had just commissioned an LSM 140.
. We had to go on a shake down cruise and after that
we went through the Panama Canal.
Our first port was San Diego, California. Things moved
rather fast, it is hard to put things in order, and of
course we were continuously training and our time was well
consumed. We were in and out of pert for most of the
training. The Captain of the ship I did not like at all and
I am really not sure why. The other Officers were a nice bunch
of guys and everyone worked well together. That fact is very
important in order to do the jobs we were assigned. After
screwing around in and out with all the drills we were
dispatched in to San Francisco. What a place I will never
forget the liberties there. The civilians really looked out
for the service men in those days. Today it is much
different. (They would not even spit on them) And that is a
sad commentary. All good things must end, as we received
orders to proceed to Pearl Harbor. We took on a load of
power line poles the long ones to be delivered in Pearl. The
trip to Pearl Harbor was uneventful, about 6-8 days. When we
pulled in to the harbor we could not imagine what had taken
place only about ten months ago. The harbor had been cleaned
up a lot, however what remained was very well sealed in my
mind and I will never forget it.
Well now it back to the war. They unloaded the poles
and again drill, drills, drills and drills. We had lots of
experience entering and leaving. Some of the better things
were liberty and as all ways it seemed to short
Well as before all good things end and we headed for Hilo, Hawaii. This is where we picked up the 28th marines and off
we went. We got to know and like most of them and that made it more
difficult when they left for the beaches knowing that many would not return.
I think this is really when the mystery started as
we had no idea what or where the mission that we had been
assigned to. Strangely enough there were no rumors
lake there was just before the North African Campaign, the
fact of the matter I am not sure if we knew before hand
where we were going until just a few days before. I
know shortly before the invasion I was in a poker game and I
was doing better than I have ever done before or since, I
think the Captain made the announcement that Iwo Jima was
the target. I look back now, everyone was completely
ignorant as to where it was.
On the morning of Feb.
19th all hell broke lose as we could see just what was going
on as the entire battle group had the little island
surrounded. They Battleships, Cruisers and Destroyers were
bombarding the island from one end to the other. The
invasion forces were between the Battle Group and the
island, we could hear the projectiles when they passed
over. After sometime our ship was called in to the
line of departure and given course and speed to the
beach.
I don't dwell on the war at all, however I do
think about it. I think I am very fortunate in that
respect as I am not bothered by many of the horrible things
I saw on the Beaches of Iwo Jima. At one time we were
on the beach and you could see dead or wounded service men laying all over the
place many of them almost blown apart, in fact you could not recognize many of
them, and they were from most all branches of the military.
Lynn Crowley our Engineering Officer says we lost 10 to 12
men and you see we only had about 60. All in all that
was not to bad. We sustained severe damage during
this operation, and because of this we were not able to go for the invasion of
Okinawa. We were sent back to the states and had repairs done. It
was during this time I was transferred off the ship back to the East
Coast.
I have not talked about the war much, I am one of the
fortunate ones. I am not bothered by flash backs. Since I have been
trying to put this together I have talked more than I have in all this
time. I feel very strong that the younger kids should be exposed to this
information, and this might make them see what they have to be very thankful
for.
Aerial view of the Iwo Jima beachhead, circa February 1945. Ships that can be identified include
LST-790,
LST-715,
, LST-724,
LST-224,
LST-784 and
LST-779.
LSM's include
LSM-242,
LSM-140,
LSM-47 and
LSM-43.
LCTs include LCT-892 and LCT-1029.
The one lone LCI that is identifiable is LCI(L)-1077.
USMC photo # 110582
The 140 sustained quiet a bit of damage. We were sent
too Guam first and then on back to Pearl Harbor for repairs. We were lucky
I guess because they had to send the 140 back to the states, and lo and behold
it was Newport Beach, California. During this period of time I broke my
right arm, also the war was starting to wind and some of the men in the services
werre being discharged on the point system. I was transfered to the Long
Beach Naval Hospital and finally on to the east coast close to my home in North
Carolina. I healed up rather fast and you know the Government does stupid
things. I was very close to having enough points for discharge and the
Navy sent me to Panama early November and I was immediately sent back for
discharge. I think that is what I regret was getting off the 140. I
did remember a couple of the guys and saw them. I don't know many of the
men from the SandScrapers, however I do know a few and I will try to remember
their names.
Plumlee, Ray INTERNET:RayPlumlee@aol.com
Old Sailors' Memories 