Some of our prior stores have described life at the beginning of the war or at the end. This one will cover more time than any of those previously related.
Some of our prior stores have described life at the beginning of the war or at the end. This one will cover more time than any of those previously related.
It began with the days before America joined the war. It had become clear that the world was becoming a dangerous place again, barely 20 years after the war to end all wars had ended. War in Europe had raged since 1939 and in Asia for even longer. The United States was not very well prepared for this. "The standing military of America was only around three hundred thousand men," said Marshall Johnson, describing the scene that was about to disrupt his life. He had been born in 1911 and struggled through the Depression, like everyone else. In January of 1941, he was nearly 30 years old and had seven years on his job with International Harvester. It would have been logical to expect that he had missed military service at such an age. Marshall was not that lucky.
The government realized that, in a military sense, our country was almost naked. National Guardsmen were activated to assist the small regular army force in training the first of millions of draftee servicemen and Marshall was one of them. He was welcomed into the Army at the Chicago Induction Armory on January 17th, 1941 and given his first meal as a soldier . . . at the Thompson Restaurant, a local diner. They were shipped to Fort Sheridan where they were issued clothing. This was all such an urgent and short notice affair that the only clothing available for issue had been in storage since the original need for it evaporated at the end of World War I. These things had been out of style for over a decade and compared poorly with the current uniforms. It was almost like being issued Civil War uniforms to Marshall and the others. "We looked like hell," he observed.
The uniform included pants that were very baggy at the thigh and had leggings wrapped around the calf. The helmets were much wider and flatter than the new ones. The clothing issued was what they had available and not necessarily the correct size. Some of the guys had winter coats with sleeves that hung over their knuckles.
They traveled by train to Fort Winfield Scott in San Francisco, California. Here they were subjected to nine weeks of basic training. This was far more than some of the men drafted or enlisted just a year later. It seems there was still some time. The other reason was that the proportion of these new men was extremely high in the units they would man once this training was done.
Marshall reminded me that the whole purpose of close order drilling and marching is to learn discipline. In battle, it is essential that each man must act when ordered without any hesitation. There is no time to sit down and decide if you like what you are being told and agree with it. Action must be instant.
The other major lesson in basic training is basic skill with a rifle. Each man must be taught to shoot accurately and to maintain his rifle. In difficult situations, even cooks have been put on the line with rifles, so it is essential that every man knows how to use one correctly.
Only a small cadre had been assembled to mold them into a useful unit. February 1st, 1940 was the day that the 18th Coast Artillery was formed with the idea of protecting the West Coast of the United States from the powerful navy of the Empire of Japan. The First Battalion was formed on that day. The Second Battalion formed on January 15th, 1941. It began with 19 officers and 65 enlisted men. These were experienced soldiers transferred in from other units to train 437 new trainees from Fort Sheridan who arrived on January 25th, 1941. They were formed into Headquarters, D, E and F companies. The men were issued 1909 model Springfield Bolt -Action Rifles. These were covered in a thick coating of cosmoline to prevent rusting during storage and required some serious cleaning before they were ready to use.
The men were taught how to be soldiers and then assigned to coast artillery batteries sited about the harbor of San Francisco. The largest natural harbor in the world," said Marshall. He was assigned to a six-inch gun that was covered with the now familiar cosmoline and required removal of this before they could be trained in its operation. "It dated back to the Civil War," said Marshall with conviction. This is doubtful, though the defenses were probably a lot older than his uniforms and rifle.
His gun was a six -inch rapid fire barbette mount, with loading through an interrupted thread screw breech. To load the gun, the breech was opened and the projectile was loaded into the bore from the rear. This was followed by the bagged powder. The breech block was then closed by a lever that pushed it in and rotated the interrupted threads into engagement to lock the breech closed. An igniter was then put in the breech and a lanyard was pulled to fire it, exploding the powder. This caused pressure to build behind the shell. The shell had a ring on it that engaged spiral grooves in the bore. The pressure expelled the shell, which picked up a spinning motion from the grooves in the bore on the way out. The spin stabilized the shell in flight. It was capable of reaching any point in the harbor. The shells weighted about 105 pounds. The gun could be aimed in vertical and horizontal planes by turning wheels geared to the mounting. One man trained the gun side to side and another set the elevation required to achieve the range of the target. The gun was a permanent installation built in to the fortification.
The defenses also included 16-inch guns mounted on what was called a "disappearing mount" developed for use with very large fortress guns. These bigger guns were actually built for the battle cruiser Lexington in the 1920s. The ship was actually completed as an aircraft carrier and lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942. The disappearing mount was counterweighted and positioned behind a thick wall of earth and stone during loading. It was then released to swing up over the wall for firing. The recoil of the latter returned it to the lower position where it was locked for loading. Marshall has vivid memories of being on hand for the firing of one of these. The working uniforms worn while firing the guns were of blue denim, but not exactly designer jeans.
Firing the 16-inch monsters split the seams out in his pants from the concussion. An unfortunate officer happened to be holding a clipboard at just the wrong angle. The concussion flipped it up against his face and broke his nose. The big guns could fire a shell weighing over a ton and he recalls the range as nearly 30 miles. This would have destroyed any major enemy warship that dared to come within range to attack the harbor.
Minefields were also laid in the harbor. Friendly ships would be carefully guided through safe channels in the minefields. An antisubmarine net was strung across the entrance to complete the defenses. This had to be opened by tugs to allow ships in or out. The net was supported at the surface by floats and the idea was that any submarine that blundered into it would be caught in its mesh.
There were six forts to protect the bay. The 16-inch guns were at Fort Barry. Marshall had been seven years old when the First world War ended. He had been fascinated with the whole thing. He was surprised to find himself wearing and using all the trappings of that conflict 23 years later. He was a projectile man on the six-inch gun mentioned above. That means he got to wrestle shells weighing darn near as much as he did. Marshall was a trifle thin in those days, but taller than average.
He remembers that sometimes the gun would not fire when the lanyard was pulled. The "standard operating procedure" was to wait a safe period. He recalls this was something like a half hour. Then the breech was carefully opened and a new igniter installed. The breech was closed and the gun was fired. He recalls this happened only once or twice on his gun.
Marshall was getting some serious money for all this. He got paid $21 a month. Insurance premiums were deducted from this, leaving a fat $14 to squander all month.
The Army, in all its wisdom, found ways to break up the monotony of artillery work. These things were called "details" for a reason lost to time. It probably dates back to at least the revolution. The dreaded "Kitchen Police" was one of these. Just writing the words makes me cringe.
Duty at Fort Winfield Scott had one unusual and frequent detail. A major military cemetery was located there. The remains of soldiers were brought from all over for burial. This was located near the famous Presidio. As many as seven burials a day with full military honors took quite a few men all day to perform. The process involved transport from chapel to grave. There were six pallbearers for this. There were also four men with rifles who fired three volleys in salute. "Everybody wanted to be pallbearers," said Marshall, "to avoid cleaning the guns." The cemetery was finally filled and a new one near San Mateo was opened to replace it.
This was in the fall of 1941. It was also decided that draftees of age 28 or older would be released into inactive reserve duty. That means no duties and no pay. It sounds like civilian life, but there is catch.
Marshall went to Cataline Island and the Grand Canyon on the way home to Chicago and his civilian job. This was October 2nd, 1941. He really believed his soldiering days over. Ha! The morning of December 7th, 1941 changed all that . The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii without warning or the formality of declaring war.
January 14th of 1942 found Marshall recalled to active duty and on his way west by train, though his destination was some distance north of his last assignment. He would again be with the 18th Coast Artillery, but in the First Battalion. He was sent to Fort Stevens, Oregon and became part of Battery G.
The First Battalion guarded the Columbia River and its approaches. The big guns there were supported by searchlights mounted on towers to illuminate any action at night. Marshall was assigned to one of these. When needed, they were ordered to "strike an arc" and "transverse left" or "traverse right" to bring the target into view of the artillery spotters and gunners. The towers were about 30 feet high and several fights of stairs led to the platform where the electric searchlight was mounted. The illumination was provided by an electric arc behind the lens and in front of the reflectors. This creates a much more powerful light that the glowing metal coil in a conventional incandescent lamp.
This meant that Marshall worked at night. During the daytime, they cut down thousands of birch trees along the shore and strung barbed wire. The cut down trees were used to build pillboxes for machine guns and riflemen to further strengthen the defenses.
"There were rumors that Doolittle and his men trained there (for the famous raid on Tokyo, Japan where B-25 Army bombers flew from an aircraft carrier and then ditched in China)," said Marshall. "This was unconfirmed, but the story was that someone went down in the river during training." They used the searchlights one night and this was the explanation that later developed.
There were only two occasions where Japanese naval forces attacked the coast of the then 48 states. There also were attacks on Hawaii, the Aleutians and various island territories, of course. Both the attacks on the United States were shellings by Japanese submarines. Marshall says the first was an attack on oil storage tanks at Santa Barbara, California. The story he heard was that the captain had slipped and fallen on a visit to the area before the war and was laughed at by some Marines. Whatever the reason, it was a limited success beyond arousing serious concern among the local population. The second occurred at the Oregon fortifications where Marshall was stationed. He had gotten off duty on a June evening around ten o'clock and turned in for the night. The fort was fired upon, causing an alert that got everyone up for the rest of the night. "I think they fired nine shells at us and quickly submerged," said Marshall. "This was the first time that an American military installation was attacked." He refers specifically to those within the 48 states and since the War of 1812. This was probably done as revenge for the April 18th, 1942 Doolittle raid on Tokyo, Japan mentioned above. The intent was clearly the same.
Marshall also had some first-hand experience with another Japanese attack ... from the air. The Japanese attached small bombs to balloons and intended prevailing winds to carry them to America. At least one landed near him, but did no damage. This was generally true of this weapon of desperation as there was virtually no way of controlling the balloons.
Continued in next month issue - Marshall V. Johnson - Real GI Boots!! Click below to view.