Coming Home from Okinawa

I got my orders to come back from Okinawa in January 1953. I had been transferred from the Military Police to the 8116th Army Unit. I was in a barracks, near my MP barracks, which housed guys who worked in the Judge Advocate General’s Office, an Explosive Ordinance Detachment, and a sprinkling of other guys who worked in other areas. I was to be in the Supply Department. My new supply sergeant was an old army man, but I would be working under his assistant. The old sergeant just showed up once in a while and left all the work to the assistant. The assistant told me that I was to go to another barracks and be his assistant there. I was disappointed until I found it was the women’s BOQ! There, I would take charge of their supply needs and would have a room to myself. I would have access to the bathroom and showers at certain times of the day. Wow!, I could hardly wait for the transfer. But then fate dealt me an unexpected blow. The assistant get a message from the Red Cross that his old mother was ill and he got an emergency leave home.

Rats! I had to go back to the other unit and work under the grumpy old sergeant who was never there and I had to do all his work. I didn’t get mad, I got even. I had a lot of friends and would give them items from supply stock that he never would have given them such as, extra clothing, shoes, shoe polish, etc. One of my favorite friends who did this was one of the cooks who used to bring me ice cream, turkey sandwiches and other goodies. His name was Jim Baxes and had been a Pacific Coast League home run king. In the season and a half before being drafted, he had hit 55 homeruns. He later played for the LA Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians.

In my new unit, there were all kind of “jocks”, two from the Pacific Coast League, an All American volleyball player (on our company basketball team) and a Member of the 1951 UCLA basketball team, Phillip Beam. On our football team, we had the end from Illinois who had beaten Stanford 49-0 in the first postwar Rose Bowl, a good friend from the MPs, Leo Shanosky, from Pennsylvania University and a black All American fullback From the connection at the women’s BOQ, we were allowed to use their tennis court and I beat Beam several times which made little old unathletic me feel pretty good.

On the way over to Okinawa, deep in the ship, I could feel the throb of the big engines all the time. Near my supply room down in the basement, the heating and air conditioning units, sounded more and more like the same noise on the ship and made me want for that magical day to arrive. One of my friends in Personnel got me a good assignment on the ship as an MP guard for general prisoners returning to the US. The MP brassard got me to the head of the chow line and the line for the every night movie.
The draw back was that I had to take my turn guarding the prisoners in the brig which was as far forward and as far down as a guy could get. I was lying in the bunk across from the cell and every time the ship dove down, I would be floating about 4” off the bunk. I finally had to use a belt to hold me down.

I was all packed with everything in my duffel bag when a 6x6 truck came to pick me and other guys returning home and took us to the ship, the USS Breckinridge a sister ship of the one I came over on, both converted American President liners. We were first going to stop by Formosa and then to Yokohama.

When we got to Formosa we were carrying families of the US Military Advisory Group who had come over earlier to help train General Chang Kai Shek’s army. At Keelung, port city for Taipei, there was a big celebration prepared for the families. They had been firing firecrackers for hours and the pier was covered with a few feet of red paper. Near the ship, the was a Chinese Army guard post and the soldier, standing at rigid attention with a fixed bayonet, was shorter that the attached bayonet. I had a new pair of binoculars and, upon looking at the jungle type background, saw the mountain move! It was actually camouflaged Chinese soldiers on maneuvers.

We left in the early afternoon and went through the sea wall into the open ocean. Here is a link to Google Maps Satellite photo taken in the last few years:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Keelung+City&sll=23.69781,120.960515&sspn=5.651963,8.64624&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=0,25.123961,121.717621&ll=25.159017,121.755434&spn=0.02183,0.033774&t=h&z=15&om=1

On the way to Yokohoma, we hit the tail end of a typhoon and the sea was very rough. Most of the guys were seasick but I knew I had to eat. I had heard that it was good to drink tomato juice and suck on a match (don’t ask me why, but it worked). The ship was listing 30 degrees left and 30 degrees right of vertical. In the mess hall where we normally sat down, the long metal tables were raised. I had to hold on with one hand and eat with the other. I could look out the porthole and see the sky and the next time, it would be under water. Pretty scary.

We finally got to Yokohama and some of us were allowed off to wander around this large port city taking pictures, buying souvenirs and spending the last of our yen which wouldn’t do me much good back home. Before I went back to the ship, I went to Hotel Green which advertised “Japan’s Finest Italian Food” and got some very good spaghetti. I didn’t acquire a taste for Japanese food until the late 60’s and now I like it a lot better than Chinese food.

The trip home was uneventful. We were on the water for 11 days coming within 500 miles from the Aleutians. When we got to warmer waters we saw lots of flying fish. Another bird was the albatross who followed us across the ocean just gliding behind the ship eating garbage thrown overboard. I had the funny feeling that they got a free ride on the stern every night.

One day, we heard the horn give off three short blasts to indicate a “Man Overboard Drill” and the ship slowly made a large circle and the sailors practiced throwing a life preserver overboard. I guess it was necessary training but I wanted to get home. At dawn of the last day we paralled California near Marin County and sailed under the Golden Gate. It was great to get home!

Me and General of the Army Omar Bradley

In the summer of 1952, I was a supply clerk for the 40th Military Police Battalion on Okinawa. One Saturday, we had a 10,000 man parade for General Mathew Ridgeway and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. My company, the 524th MP Service Company was there along with units of the 29th Infantry Regiment, the Artillery and many other units. They even had 6 members of the Guard Dog Unit filling in the far corner.

We listened to General Ridgeway tell us about the war and why we were there. I was there because I was drafted! I was also lucky that I didn’t have to go to Korea.

The next day, Sunday, I was sitting by myself in my supply room in the basement, when I heard “Attention” being called all over the building. My first sergeant stepped into the room and called “Attention”. General Ridgeway stood there by the door at attention, barrel chested with all his ribbons and looking like he had a steel spine. Admiral William Fechtler was next . Next to him was AF General Hoyt Vandenberg taking off his cap, slouching and lighting a cigarette. Next to him was General J. Lawton Collins, who was later killed in Korea, Vice Admiral Merlin O'Neill of the Coast Guard and General Lemuel Shepherd, Jr. Commandant of the Marine Corps. Coming right at me was General of the Army Omar Bradley. He didn’t look a bit like the Omar Bradley played by Karl Malden in the D Day movie! I came to the best attention I had ever done. When he said “At Ease’. it was also the best. Then he said, “Let’s go sit down”. I had a couple of chairs I had used to sit and talk with my buddies in.

He asked me if I was getting my mail O.K. and then how the food was. And then he dropped the bomb shell “How do you think the war in Korea was coming along?” I told him that I thought it was coming along fine and I told him one reason why. At one of our recent Saturday morning infantry training classes, our company commander was giving a critique of our mission, when a staff car came up and a message was given to him. He picked 6 of our best MPs and they marched off. We found out later that they had been sent along with other MPs in the Far East Command to help quell the rioting on Koje Do (an island off the southern tip of Korea), where 10,000 communist prisoners were threatening to break out and be at the backs of our men holding on in South Korea.

He thanked me, spun on his heels and left the room followed by the Joint Chiefs. I had read the book later, “A Soldier’s Soldier” and it caught his spirit exactly. In my case, he put me at ease like a friendly grandfather would have done. I knew a retired admiral in Paradise and we agreed that Bradley was the finest officer to come out of World War II of any service.

The Truth is Out There!

UFO’S
The Truth is Out There!

In the late 50’s, two Cal Trans friends of mine were moonlighting as football referees in Biggs, CA. It was a cold, windy moon less November night and they were eager to get home. It was about 11:00 PM when they crossed over the Southern Pacific railroad tracks at Encinal Road and turned toward Yuba City. The driver, Bob Bradford, looked to his left and saw a passenger train with lighted windows going by. He remembered hearing that SP no longer had passenger service and he slowed down and pull off the road to get out and see what was going on.

There was no sound of this train. As he and my other friend, Ed Haraughty, got out, the “train” turned across Highway 99 and was hovering on it’s side about 75 yards in from of their car. The “train” windows were now in a half circle and there were figures looking at them. The circular object slowly moved to the west and then disappeared at a very high speed toward the Buttes.

Last year, at a Cal Trans Reunion luncheon in Yuba City, I talked to each of them, separately, and they both confirmed the story as I have written above.

A Very Short Air Force Career

I got out of the Army in January 1953 after serving during the Korean War on Okinawa. In June of 1953, I decided to visit my brother George and family in Portland. At that time, he was the Liaison Officer between the Air Force and the Civil Air Patrol for Oregon and Washington.

One day, he decided to take me along for a flight around Oregon to pick up CAP cadets who were coming to Portland to compete to find five who would accompany him in an exchange program with Norway. His unit there consisted of an old master sergeant and a civilian secretary. He gave me a blue Air Force zipper coverall to go over my Hawaiian shirt and Levis. We flew to Bend, Medford and Eugene picking up the cadets That night, I attended the meeting in a large Portland Hotel. George was the only real Air Force officer and all the others were retired Colonels and Lt. Colonels. He showed the cadets how to salute when they were called up to be questioned. After he went back to the head table, I destroyed his whole lesson by showing them how sloppy he saluted!

The next day, we flew around Oregon taking the cadets back to their homes. On the way back to Portland, we flew over Mt. Jefferson. He decided to teach me how to fly the Air Force C-45 eight passenger twin engine plane. He explained the movements of the wheel (like a steering wheel) and back and forth movements. Also, the use of the foot pedals. Then he let me take over giving me the bearing of 270 degrees northwest and an elevation of 10,000 feet.

I had white knuckles gripping the wheel and had it on course pretty good. On checking the dial, I had dropped 1,000 feet, so I pulled up and down and up until it was at 10,000. Then I looked at the compass, which was way off the 270 degrees and tried to get it back on course.

Finally, every thing was AOK but I had a “death grip” on the wheel. I was intent on looking straight ahead, but I turned to him and saw him laughing. When I had gotten on the right bearing and elevation, he had switched on the automatic pilot. He grabbed the wheel and yanked it around and nothing happened!

During the 50th anniversary of the Air Force in 1997, I went to Beale Air Force Base in California. There was C-45G there exactly like the one I had been “co pilot” on.
I told the pilot about my experience with the plane and he let me get in and sit in the co pilots seat. He got a good laugh when I told him that I think I could fly it but wouldn’t have the slightest idea of how to take off or land the plane.

59 Word "Alive!"

Alive!

Yesterday I was alive but last night, I wasn't anymore. I didn't have a car accident, a heart attack or any other life threatening health condition.

According to my insurance company's actuarial statisticians, I was supposed to live another 5 years, 7 months, 18 days, 13 hours and 42 minutes.

You just can't trust those damn actuaries anymore, can you?

Recruit Robert Ramsdell - US 56141529

The Korean War began in July 1950 the summer before I got out of Yuba College. In January 1951, I received my draft notice to report on Monday, February 12, 195l, to Yuba City for transportation to Fort Ord. My friend, Tom Galbreath, took me to the bus. On Sunday, I went to Gridley to see a movie as my last civilian action before being drafted. It was a double feature at the Butte Theater of James Stewart in “Harvey” and John Wayne in “The Sands of Iwo Jima”.

I got to Fort Ord late in the afternoon and was issued my bedding. It was a fitful sleep not knowing what the next day would bring. We were awakened at 5:30, the earliest I had awakened in a long time. We were given a haircut down to the skin it seemed. Our uniforms were issued. They didn’t have my shoe size so I got to wear my civilian shoes for awhile.

Swearing in consisted stepping across a line and everyone did. We were given a physical examination for classification. I had weak eyes and, since I heard that the Army didn’t take guys with flat feet, I had been trying to make mine flatter by jumping off a chair with no shoes on for a while! It didn’t work. The guy ahead of me in line only had one hand and he got taken. I knew him from Yuba College and he was sent to clerk typist school!

I was assigned to Company L, First Regiment, Sixth Infantry Division with several other guys from my area. Some of the draftees were to get a seven week training schedule for light weapons, but I was assigned to heavy weapons for a 16 week period.

Training was pretty rough for me as I was overweight. I lost 35 pounds in 35 days, It was cold at Fort Bragg and we would have to wear our field jackets in the morning. In the afternoon on a training day it would get pretty warm but the sergeants wouldn’t let us take them off. One day on a double time march, I passed out and had to be supported by one of the sergeants just to get back to the barracks. That earned me the name of “Grandma”!

There was going to be a night problem that night and the barracks sergeant came by to see how I was. I groaned and he said I had better stay in bed. After they marched off, I put on my uniform and went to the movie! Sergeant Bilko would have approved that maneuver.


One of my favorite entertainers, Danny Kaye, was going to be at the Soldier’s across Highway 1 from the fort. Unfortunately, I was on KP that day. We had a mean mess sergeant and one of the guys couldn’t take it any longer and came after the sergeant with a butcher knife. He was subdued and was taken away. We heard later that he was given a Section 8 discharge. One of my work details there was to plant ice plant in the large sandy area south of the Soldier’s Club and I still see it when I drive by that area.

When we were well into the heavy weapons training, we were taken out into the field to try out the various weapons. The 75 mm recoilless was fitted with a .30 cal rifle barrel and we fired at a 27 yard target that simulated 1’000 yards, It would have been too expensive to fire the real ammunition. In hand grenade training, each of us went to a “bunker” surrounded by a low concrete wall with a 4 foot sump to roll the grenade into in case of a mistake. We were told to hold the pin against our palm, pull the pin and wait for the command to throw it. Then we were told to release the grenade, count to five and then throw it. Ten of us at a time were lined when we heard a “pop” indicating someone had his grenade facing the wrong way. It was the guy next to me. One of the training veterans, ran forward, knocked the guy down and brushed it into the sump. I could feel and hear the loud “whump” when it went off.

A bit of comedy relief was next. The sergeant conducting the demonstration told us we would be the first soldiers to see the brand new atomic .30 caliber bullet. An older soldier came out carrying a lead encased box, with a guard in front and back. Using tweezers, he placed .30 caliber bullet in the chamber and got in a prone firing position. About 300 yards out was an old tank hulk. He fired and there was an “atomic” cloud going up in the air. I felt debris hitting my steel helmet. I later thought that the veteran trainers in back had sprinkled us with sand.

We were warned not to tell anyone about this as it was top secret. Of course, I wrote home as did everyone else. After all, this was the weapon that would win the war1 About 3 weeks later, this “top secret” showed up in a Beetle Bailey comic strip!

In a more serious note, when I had to go through the infiltration course, I started out in the first wave and didn’t get through until the seventh wave. Machine gun bullets were going 30” over my head. I guess they were tired of me going so slow so just as I was going by a barbed wire enclosure, they set off a quarter pound block of TNT and my ears rang for days. About a week later, some guy was going through the course and a snake slithered by in front of him. He raised up and was cut in half by bullets

One day, I was assigned to clean out the field kitchens back in the company area. In the same type of weapons display, a short round of artillery hit about six feet behind out company commander, Captain Zilke who lived for six hours. Apparently the cause was the use of WWII ammo for training purposes. Our first sergeant, Melvin Daggs, was ten feet away and was peppered with shrapnel. He survived and was back training us in a week. A very tough soldier, he was the second highest decorated soldier in World War II behind Audie Murphy.

Each weekend, their was a “white glove” inspection and our barracks had to be squeaky clean. We had to pass inspection or we wouldn’t get a pass off base. George, in his Air Force uniform, came by to see me greatly impressing my barracks sergeant until George waved him off. He treated me very after that. I guess he thought I had higher connections. We went to Monterey to meet with Bill and Shirley, Dr. Bertha and Don, Helen, Richie and Donnie. We went to a golf driving range and went to the beautiful park in Monterey and later, had a nice seafood dinner on Fisherman’s Wharf. This was my last pass before getting ready to go overseas.

Almost all of my unit went overseas, but I was held back for two weeks to wait until my GI glasses got into the post optometrist. I guess they didn’t want me to miss when I had to shoot at a Commie! When my orders finally came through, it said I was going to destination “Bive”, which I found out later meant Okinawa. I had all my equipment together in a heavy backpack, with bedroll, overcoat, GI folding shovel and had on my steel helmet. I carried other items in my “butt” pack. We were awakened at 4:00 AM, put in a truck and taken to Camp Stoneman near Pittsburgh, CA. I sat down against a truck and dozed off until a sergeant came along and kicked my feet. I jumped up so fast I pulled my back muscles. I got seasick from the swells in the Bay on our way to Oakland Port of Embarkation. I stayed in my bunk for two days until my back started to feel better

I went overseas on the General E. D. Patrick a converted American President line cruise ship. I found out later that my mom’s cousin was the owner of the American President Line. I wish I would have known that before. Maybe I would have a stateroom and have dinner every night with the Captain!

Oh, well, I guess that is enough of my pre-Korean War ramblings. We were on the Pacific for 11 days. The only land we saw was a tiny island of Fuku-san which was the top of a very tall mountain, apparently. I heard later that Japanese fishing boats used it to get out of the wind after fighting the waves between there and Japan.

Me and Groucho Marx

A few years ago, I took my cousin and her husband to the Paradise Performing Arts Center in Paradise, CA to see Frank Ferrante in his Tony Award winning act “An Evening with Groucho”. I had seen it on PBS and wanted to see it in person. I got tickets about 8 rows back. He had a lot of interplay with the first rows, for instance, taking two couples in the front and telling them to switch partners as they looked much better that way. He put on his make up as Groucho and then picked a little boy out of the audience and, with the boy’s back to the audience, made him up the same way. He whispered something his ear, gave him a cigar like his, and had him bent over loping across like Groucho always does. He sang a lot of funny songs accompanied by his pianist who had been with him for 27 years. A lot of interplay between those two. Just before the intermission, he said that he would be in the lobby at the end to sign autographs, sell CD’s of Marx brother’s humor and “a $44 mink coat. I know it’s real because I stole it my self” which brought down the house.

After the show, when I saw him standing by himself, I tapped him on the shoulder and said to him, “Groucho, I don’t have the $44 but could you find me a good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. He laughed and asked if he could use that in his act and I said “Sure!”.

On February 23, 2008, I went to see him again with my friend Cathy in Florence, OR. I had gotten my tickets early and we had front row center seats. He remembered me and zeroed in on us several times. He liked the fact that we lived in a converted turkey factory and returned to us several times. He had conversations with some women near us who had come there together. One of them didn’t come back from the intermission and he asked one of them to use her cell phone because he wanted to call her up and find out why she didn’t come back. Her phone wouldn’t work so Cathy handed Groucho her phone. He asked the lady for the number and she got a big laugh when she told him she didn’t know the lady’s number.

One of his characters was “Dr. Hackenbush”. At one time, he asked if their was a doctor in the house and there was one, right behind me. After getting a lot of laughs at the doctor’s expense, he came over to me, put his stethoscope on the top of my head, said “Humph” and then gave me a pill (ping pong ball) and told me to call back in the morning.

After the show, I wanted to have Cathy take a picture of me and him (above). Then I had a chance to tell him that I had found a good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. I bought the deed for $40 from a guy but when I presented it to the bridge director, he said it wasn’t worth the paper it was printed on. I should have realized something was wrong when the guy I bought it from was a Joey (Bridge Man) Garafoliano. I asked the director how I could get hold of him and he said I couldn’t because the guy was in the witness protection program. He laughed and said he liked that one too.