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My friend celebrated his birthday this
year by buying an all-terrain 4 wheeler. I’m thinking about getting
one
for me. Life
is fleeting by...
Enjoy it while you can.
A
PERSONAL STORY…… Charles W. Reddon The
following account was written by Charles Reddon shortly after he was
released from Ofuna POW Camp located in Kamakura, outside
Yokohama, Japan during World War II.
This
was
an Imperial Japanese Navy installation with an interrogation center.
Torture and severe beating were a standard fare for prisoners.
It held about 400 prisoners.
Louis Zamperini, from the book and movie ‘Unbroken’, was
among the prisoners held here as well as Richard O'Kane and Gregory
Boyington.
I, Charles W. Reddon, a member of Crew 15, VPB (Patrol Bombing
Squadron) 106 was shot down off the coast of Honshu, Japan on March 9,
1945. There were 15 men
aboard and all were killed in the crash except Raymond Gray and myself.
Our plane was shot down by three Jap ships that our plane made a
run on and the bomb bays would not open.
We hit the water at about 250 miles an hour.
My legs were paralyzed and I had just enough energy to pull the
straps on my Mae West. I was
picked up by one of the ships. I
was cut all over and covered with blood.
I was completely surrounded by Japs with the bayonetts on their
guns nearly touching my body (at this time I passed out).
I came to about a day later and was still not able to move or
have any feeling in my legs. I
had a ring which was buried nearly to the bone on my finger and got the
Japs to get me a pair of pliers and I pulled it out.
I was on this ship for about 8 days and had no medical care.
I was then taken to a place which I believe was Tokyo but cannot
be sure of this for I was blindfolded.
I was able to walk at that time but I limped very badly from a
shrapnel wound in my right leg. I
was taken to an Interrogation Center and questioned very thoroughly and
taken to Ofuna Torture Farm.
The instant I got there I was placed in solitary confinement and
kept there for over three months. The
first day I was there a guard (who I found later was a dope fiend) came
into my cell and stared at me for quite some time then started to beat
me over the head with a stick that he had in his hand.
Another guard came in a while later and started beating me with a
club which was larger than a baseball bat which was called a ‘mimbo’.
This guard muttered something in Japanese and from the motions he
went through, I understood I was supposed to bow and say “Good morning
sir” in Japanese. Then
just for good measure he hit me a couple more times before he left.
There was no medical care at all while I was in solitary but my
wounds healed pretty well by themselves.
The food was awful, that is what there was of it.
They gave us a half a bowl of poor rice which they would not eat
themselves. It was fed to
the cattle. Soup was usually
either seaweed or potato peels or sometimes fish heads and water. Ray
Gray was in the next cell from me and I whispered to him through a
little crack in the wall. A
guard opened the door and really knocked hell out of me.
I didn’t talk to anyone after that and some of those yearlong
days in solitary I thought sure my mind would crack.
When you wanted to go to the toilet you had to knock at the door
and ask in Japanese. If there was an air raid you could not go, but even
if there wasn’t, some of the guards would either not let you go or
beat you a few times with their ‘mimbo’ clubs.
Often if you asked to go at night you often had to stand in a
position which we named the ‘Ofuna Crouch’ which is having nearly
all the joints in your body bent and standing on your tip-toes with your
arms stretched over your head. After
doing this for a while your knees would start wobbling and every muscle
in your body would start to ache. I
was not given any clothes and mine were badly torn and it seemed
dreadfully cold. I was
trying to keep warm by laying a blanket over my shoulders and was very
badly ‘mimboed’ for it. It
hurt so much that I could hardly stand it. I
had to learn Japanese the hard way, that is:
if I didn’t understand what the guard said, I would get beaten
some more. This was
“hell”. There
were constant beatings, all the time it was something.
Every day in solitary seemed to get longer.
For that three months I think I aged at least five years and at
that time I was only 19 years old. I
was hungry all the time. I
just lived from one serving of that cattle rice to the next.
I would get so hungry that I would peel the scabs off my wounds
and eat them. Nobody knows
what it is to be really hungry until they really are. When
we were let out of solitary we were still unable to talk to one another.
There was a beating the first day because someone wrote on the
wall in one of the cells and they called it ‘Sabotage’. We
had to mop the halls with a rag in our hands running up and down with a
guard with a club behind you. We
were often made to do this until we passed out and lay flat on our face.
The guards would fix this by throwing the mopping water on you. When
anyone ever got caught talking, they were beaten badly and had to stand
in a few of their tortuous positions.
If the guard on duty was in a bad mood, he would make everyone do
this, till about half of them passed out. We
had to get up each morning at sunrise and bow to the ‘Emperor’. By
this time a great percent of the men had beriberi and Pellagra from
malnutrition. (Beriberi
is caused by a thiamine deficiency and Pellagra from lack of niacin.)
We
were given one cigarette for killing one-hundred flies and giving them
to one of the guards. The
guards would often count them and once I got a beating for only having
99. Of course one got away
somehow, but that could not be explained to the guards. The
guards had some meat one day and for a rare treat we got the bones in
water for our soup. Most of
the fellows kept the bones to chew on.
The guard saw us and gave us a beating. Some
guards would make us run around the compound.
We had to keep running and running and running.
Every man that stopped running or went on his face from being so
weak, would get beaten. When
the guard would say the word to stop, there were only two or three left
running. The others would be
distributed around the ground with the guard throwing water on them. One
day a guard threw some rice on the ground and I picked a few pieces up
and ate it. I was beaten for
this because the Japs don’t believe in eating between meals. There
was a “crackpot” doctor there whose only cure for sickness was to
take food away from the men for a few days.
He was directly the cause for the starving to death of William
Zemmer, Kenneth Flynn and later William Walker.
The murderer’s name was ‘Kanjo Cho’. The
guards always ate well and the heads of the camp had as good a meal as
we would expect in America. I
also often saw the guards smoking American cigarettes from Red Cross
packages. Early
in July we were moved to the last part of the camp and were allowed to
speak to each other. The
guards seldom bothered too much with this part and things were a lot
better. Most
of the men were too sick and weak to move much.
They just lay in their cell all day long dying a slow death. We
found that the food that came into the camp for the prisoners was traded
with the Black Market so that the guards and officers could have better
food. When
the war was over, most of us were only half alive, but because of our
will to keep alive, we kept going. The
camp was registered at about the time the war was over and on the 27th
of August, 1945 we were visited by a member of the Red Cross and gave
the Japs hell for the treatment and sent 30 of us to Shinagawa, a
prisoner of war hospital, and there we were liberated on the 29th
of August, 1945. r Scuttlebutt I
did not hear from anyone!
Your
donation towards the 2019
Reunion is always helpful. Received
by May insures our budget.
Please
mail to: Lisa Kirk | 4426 Maple Avenue | La Mesa, CA
91941 Tidbits u Wilfred DeFour, an aircraft technician who served
with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and worked for the US
Postal Service for 33 years, died 12/8/18 in Harlem, New York. He was
100. The Tuskegee Airmen
were the first African-American military aviators in the US service
corps and November 2018 for the renaming of a Harlem post office in
honor of the Tuskegee Airmen. "I
regret so many of my comrades are no longer here with us," DeFour
said. "It will mean
there's recognition for Tuskegee Airmen and that's very important." v
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is in the midst of a $400 million
expansion plan that will quadruple the size of the original Museum
facility, add state-of-the-art programs and exhibit space, enhance the
library and archives, and expand collections and conservation space.
The museum honors the sacrifice of a generation that forged the
American spirit, secured global freedom, and speaks through their voices
to educate future generations—to nurture an appreciation of freedom
and democracy and inspire civic responsibility. w
San
Diego’s Balboa Park was built to host the 1915-16 Panama-California
Exposition. Additional
structures were built to host another expo in 1935-36.
During World War II the buildings were used as hospitals to treat
servicemen seriously injured and with infectious diseases who were
brought in from all over the world to recover.
The 8,000 square foot Lily Pond was used for rehabilitation as
well as recreation. Advancing
orthopedics, neurosurgery, and plastic surgery increased the number of
patients. Naval Hospital San
Diego’s 241 buildings and over 10,000 beds made it the largest
military hospital in the world. x Roughly 16 million Americans served in World War II. Of those service members, about 400,000 made the supreme sacrifice and more than 72,000 are still unaccounted for. Today, efforts are still being made to identify remains of our fallen. Sunday, October 6– Thursday, October
10, 2019 San Diego, California The
ink is dry on the contract for the Embassy Suites in San Diego.
This is a great location in downtown a block away from San
Diego Bay and a trolley stop, a 5-minute walk to the USS Midway and
across the street from Seaport Village (shopping & restaurants)
and The Headquarters (the old police station converted to shopping and
restaurants). There are
unlimited restaurants in the surrounding area.
The airport is about 2 miles.
New York West is the restaurant on-site as well as a Dunkin
Donuts and Baskin Robbins.
Hotel
Amenities
Complimentary hot breakfast, evening reception, Wi-Fi in public
areas
Self or valet laundry, Concierge Desk,
Fitness room, pool, spa, business center, ATM
Valet parking only $15/24 hour and $10 for event parking Room
Amenities
All 2-room suite;
bedroom and living area with queen sofa bed
Dining/work table, 2
TV’s, Microwave, coffee maker, wet bar, mini frig
Complimentary Wi-Fi
for HHonors members (sign up for free prior to making your reservation) Group
Blocked Rooms
Check-in Sunday, 10/6/19, 4:00pm | Check-out, Thursday, 10/10/19, 12:00pm
$169 plus 12.708% tax
for 1 king or 2 doubles–to upgrade to Bay View suite add $20/day.**
3rd
and 4th guests in room add $20 each/day.
No 2 bedroom suites available.
Reservations:
Group Code NSQ
| Call 1-800-EMBASSY (1-800-362-2779) OR
by web link
** Upgrade
to Bay View suite:
1st, book std.
room. 2nd, contact Embassy
Suites Downtown SD at
Reservation
DEADLINE is September 6, 2019
| 72
hour cancellation policy Pre/Post
Reunion extended stay
$169 plus 12.708% tax
for 1 king or 2 doubles – to upgrade to bay view suite add $20/day
3rd and 4th
guests in room add $20 each person per day.
No 2 bedroom suites available.
Group rate is available 3 days pre/post reunion dates, 10/3,
10/4, 10/5, 10/10, 10/11, 10/12.
These dates are not in our room block and subject to availability so reserve
very early.
Request an ADA room when making your reservation, if
needed. Book
room before flight.
Reservations: 1st
you need to reserve 10/6 - 10/10 through E.S. by phone or web link
above.
2nd
to reserve your extended days (and upgrade) contact Jennifer Jackson/Embassy Suites SD
Phone: 619-819-0186, M-F 8-5 PST or
email: jennifer.jackson3@hilton.com
| Group
Code NSQ
Reservation
DEADLINE is September 6, 2019
| 72
hour cancellation policy -
Make your room reservations as early as possible. This helps us know in
advance who is planning to come. -
The Reunion Registration Form
with the tours will follow in the June Newsletter. OPERATION
MAGIC CARPET Returning the troops home after WWII was a daunting task.
The U.S. military experienced an unimaginable increase during
World War II. In 1939, there were 334,000 servicemen, not counting the
Coast Guard. In 1945, there were over 12 million, including the Coast
Guard. At the end of the war, over 8 million of these men and women were
scattered overseas in Europe, the Pacific and Asia. Shipping them out
wasn’t a particular problem but getting them home was a massive
logistical headache. The problem didn’t come as a surprise, as Army
Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall had already established
committees to address the issue in 1943.
When Germany fell in May 1945, the U.S. Navy was still busy
fighting in the Pacific and couldn’t assist. The job of transporting 3
million men home fell to the Army and the Merchant Marine. 300 Victory
and Liberty cargo ships were converted to troop transports for the task.
During the war, 148,000 troops crossed the Atlantic west to east each
month; the rush home ramped this up to 435,000 a month over 14 months.
In October 1945, with the war in Asia also over, the Navy started
chipping in, converting all available vessels to transport duty. On
smaller ships like destroyers, capable of carrying perhaps 300 men,
soldiers were told to hang their hammocks in whatever nook and cranny
they could find. Carriers were particularly useful, as their large open
hangar decks could house 3,000 or more troops in relative comfort, with
bunks, sometimes in stacks of five welded or bolted in place.
The Navy wasn’t picky, though: cruisers, battleships, hospital
ships, even LST's (Landing Ship, Tank) were packed full of men yearning
for home. Two British ocean liners under American control, the RMS
Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, had already served as troop
transports before and continued to do so during the operation, each
capable of carrying up to 15,000 people at a time, though their normal,
peacetime capacity was less than 2,200. Twenty-nine ships were dedicated
to transporting war brides: women married to American soldiers during
the war.
The Japanese surrender in August 1945 came none too soon, but it
put an extra burden on Operation Magic Carpet. The war in Asia
had been expected to go well into 1946 and the Navy and the War Shipping
Administration were hard-pressed to bring home all the soldiers who now
had to get home earlier than anticipated. The transports carrying them
also had to collect numerous POWs from recently liberated Japanese
camps, many of whom suffered from malnutrition and illness.
The time to get home depended a lot on the circumstances. USS
Lake Champlain, a brand new Essex-class carrier that arrived
too late for the war, could cross the Atlantic and take 3,300 troops
home a little under 4 days and 8 hours. Meanwhile, troops going home
from Australia or India would sometimes spend months on slower vessels.
There was enormous pressure on the operation to bring home as
many men as possible by Christmas 1945. Therefore, a sub-operation, Operation
Santa Claus, was dedicated to the purpose. Due to storms at sea and
an overabundance of soldiers eligible for return home, Santa
Claus could only return a fraction of the men in time; still not
quite home but at least to American soil. The nation’s transportation
network was overloaded: trains heading west from the East Coast were on
average 6 hours behind schedule and trains heading east from the West
Coast were twice that late.
Many freshly discharged men found themselves stuck in separation
centers but faced an outpouring of love and friendliness from the
locals. Many townsfolk took in freshly arrived troops and invited them
to Christmas dinner in their homes. Others gave their train tickets to
soldiers and still others organized quick parties at local train
stations for men on layover. A Los Angeles taxi driver took six soldiers
all the way to Chicago; another took another carload of men to
Manhattan, the Bronx, Pittsburgh, Long Island, Buffalo and New
Hampshire. Neither of the drivers accepted a fare beyond the cost of
gas.
SQUADRON WEBSITES
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/
VPB-106 & VPB-102/14
https://members.tripod.com/~vpb_102
VPB-102/14
Facebook
VB-106 Wolverators
Facebook Navy Squadrons 106/102/14 Assn
VP/VPB-102
Video, From Crew #9, July 44- May 45, HW ... Also, check out these websites for
information on our squadrons and members: www.VPNavy.org
www.NavyLog.org
* The memorabilia from squadrons 102/14 and 106 are archived in San Diego at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Pictures from the collection are posted on the flickr website above.
YOUR VOLUNTEERS
The
volunteers intend to represent the squadron members in the best way
possible.
Memoriam With sincere regrets we wish to report that since our last
newsletter we have received information that the following shipmates have
passed away. The great bond these
men had that tied them together with their squadron members can never be
broken. They served their country,
their squadron and their families in the highest tradition of the Navy.
May they rest in peace. VB/VPB/VP 106 Bernhard Meyer III 2/15/18 VPB 102/14
None There
may be more of our members who have passed on *******AS ALWAYS YOUR NEWS, COMMENTS, UPDATES, ETC. ARE WELCOME*******
If you do not want any
future newsletters
Mailed to you Send your name and
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