War Memoirs of Marcal [Marshall] Sujkowski



The World War II Memoirs of

Marcel Sujkowski

126th U. S. Naval Construction Battalion

July 27, 1943 - March 14, 1945

The Marcel [Marshall] Sujkowski Memoirs

Joined the U.S. NAVY SEABEES, July 27, 1943 17 years old.

Took my boot training in Camp Peary, Virginia with Marine Corps drill instructors. Very rough training and hot weather. After my boot training I was sworn into the 126th U.S.NAVAL CONSTRUCTION BATTALION. They took the letter C of the word Construction and the letter B of Battalion, and called us [SEABEES].

Left Camp Peary in September 1943. Arrived Davisville, Rhode Island for advanced combat training and judo instructions. I was picked to be an instructor of judo for my platoon.

We had rough combat and survival training at Camp Endicott, in Rhode Island, with Marine instructors.

One time I was instructing my group how to disarm a person with a knife. I flipped my buddy that had the knife and he hit the deck with his head and got knocked out. We poured water on his face to bring him to. I thought he was dead.

The obstacle course was very rough training. One day we had Judo instructions and the next day the obstacle course. This training went on for a month straight. We did a lot of training with hand-to-hand, knife, machete, rifle and crawling on our hands and knees under barbed wire with live ammunition fired over our heads. Other training included climbing walls, swinging on ropes over water from one side to the other side. I was very tired every night from this training. The Judo instructor always picked on me every time when he demonstrated different points of fighting in judo. There were times I did not go out on liberty into town with my buddies because I was too tired from the judo and the obstacle course training.

Went home on a 30-day leave in October 1943. After my leave, I reported back to Camp Endicott.

A week later, we boarded a troop train to Camp Parks, California for more advanced training with marine instructors. Traveled on the train for six days. Seen a lot of the country. Arrived at Camp Parks, near San Francisco, in San Jose, California.

We had an abandon ship drill here. We stood on a high ramp about thirty feet above the water and jumped in with our clothes on. When we were in the water, we took our shoes off, tied the laces together and put the shoes around our neck. We took our pants off, tied a knot in each pant leg and then lifted the pants over our head to catch air in the pants.

They acted as a life preserver. It was quite a drill. Stayed in this area for more training till January of 1944.

Left Camp Parks for Port Hueneme, California. Stayed in this area for more training. This is where we got all of our equipment. Picture of me on the front cover was taken at camp Rousseau, Port Hueneme, California port of embarkation.

We left the United States from Port Hueneme, California and boarded a ship called the USS Dashing Wave APA 103 in February 1944.

We got caught in a terrible storm while at sea, bound for Pearl Harbor. A lot of my friends and myself got seasick. The decks had to be washed from all the vomit because of all the people being seasick. We saw a lot of flying fish flying by. We had a terrible night. Arrived at Pearl Harbor the next day and stayed at Pearl for two days and took on more fuel and necessary supplies. I saw all the ships that were sunk that the Japanese destroyed on December 7th 1941. The U.S.S. Arizona was a mess. The Japanese left the place they bombed and strafed in one hell of a mess. I also saw the destruction that occurred at Hickam airfield.

Left Pearl Harbor in a storm, while at sea just as rough as we got caught leaving the states.

Arrived at the Marshall Islands February 1944. We were in our first combat with the Japs. We first landed at Kwajalein Island atoll group. Left Kwajalein Island for Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands and stayed for two weeks. Jap snipers lurking around. We are getting bombed by japs about every night from the island of Truk. There are dead japs all over the island, our bulldozers were making pits to bury the japs. The island is only four feet above sea level in the Pacific Ocean. And because of this, we had a problem digging foxholes. There is no grass or trees left after invasion, just coral sand.

All this time we lived in pup tents. The only way we could clean up was to wash up in the ocean. One time when I was swimming alone I heard someone yelling at me. I looked at the beach and I did not see anyone yelling at me. Then I looked up at the lookout pole and that’s where the guy with a horn, yelling “SHARK!” I looked behind me and I saw a shark fin. I swam really fast into shore. The guy said the shark swam around me two times! I said to the guy, “The shark probably was not hungry for any Polish meat”.

Left Eniwetok Island and reunited with the 126 group on Engebi Island on Enewetak atoll. There we built an airstrip and aviation fuel storage tanks. While I was with a group assembling the huge storage tanks, we ran out of nuts for the bolts. We went back to our tent area where that was my home while on the island. We heard a lot of bomb blasts going off. A landing ship (LST) loaded with bombs and ammunition caught fire and got blasted to hell and sunk in the harbor, killing off seabees, army and marines in the area. That was the same area I was assembling the fuel tanks. Good thing that we couldn’t find the nuts! I was lucky I didn’t get killed like my buddies that remained in the area. We buried a lot of people from that ship blowing up.

We are still getting bombed by the japs from the island of Truk while at Engebi.

While on board ship before we invaded the islands of Engebi Enewetak, we were getting fired and bombed by Japanese aircraft.

A Japanese submarine lurked in the lagoon at Engebi. Our torpedo bombers from the aircraft carriers sank the submarine.

The natives were taken to the islands where there wasn’t any bombing or fighting to live. We called them the green islands. These islands were out bounds for any military people.

All this happened in February and March of 1944. We captured two jap snipers while working on the island of Zinnia. One was an

officer. They were taken to Pearl Harbor on a cargo ship. The dead japs where put on trucks, taken to the beach, put on LCVP’s [Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel] ships, and dumped in the Ocean. When the tide changed and came back in, the dead Japs also were washed back to shore. The Army had to put them on trucks. Our bulldozers made pits and the dead Japs where dumped into them. After the dead were buried, an army officer [Major] decided to build an airstrip right where all the Japanese were buried. Boy did that stink up the island after our bulldozers and road graders got through scraping the area for an airstrip. After the airstrip was finished, they fueled up the airplanes called corsairs to start bombing and strafing Truk. That's the Japanese main island from where they were bombing us.

Ten Navy corsairs left to bomb the island of Truk.

Three airplanes did not come back from the mission over Truk because they ran of out fuel. They think they crashed over the Pacific Ocean. They checked the fuel from the fuel storage tanks and found out that there was water in the tanks caused from condensation, so the gauges on those three planes showed half-full of what was water in their tanks.

One of the longest and largest air raids by the Japanese lasted for about four hours. We finished the airstrip and our planes called corsairs started to bomb and strafe the Japanese Island of Truk and Ponape. To keep the airstrip which is coral sand and hard like concrete, the coral sand had to be kept wet. Trucks with water tanks on them kept spraying the airstrip with ocean water all the time.

We had urinals made out of Jap helmets. Seabees always knew how to figure out things! A hole was cut out of the helmets and a pipe about half inch in diameter was welded to the helmet. The pipes were about 5ft. long. The pipes were pushed into the coral sand about two feet deep. They were all over the island in designated places.

One time the air raid siren went off and we got into our foxholes. One of my buddies decided to go back to our tent and he said, “This is just a false alarm”. Then all of a sudden, the Japanese started to drop the bombs. He jumped back into the foxhole. He fell right on top of me! After the air raid was over, I beat the hell out of him for jumping on me. He was my Polish friend from New Jersey. He apologized for jumping on me.

Our Navy fleet came in and stayed for about two weeks. That's when I meet my cousin from one of the ships, Leo Bachkiewicz. Marines and seabees came to shore from the ships for swimming and relaxing on the beach. The invasion forces on the ships were to invade islands of Saipan and Tinian in the Mariannas.

Another navy fleet and troop ship came in with marines, seabees and army. They stayed in port for about two weeks.

Then the whole convoy of ships left to invade the island of Guam, held by the Japanese in July of 1944.

I tried several times to make a connection with my brother Joe’s ship he was on to see him. I never did succeed because the

ships shifted positions every hour so the Japs could not pin point in what position the ships where in.

Tokyo Rose would tap into our American radio and try all different subjects concerning wives and girl friends back home not being good to lower the moral of our GI’s. Telling us to surrender, because we are going to be defeated by the Japs.

We had the natives that were on the islands when there was no fighting, bring coconut logs and palm branches on one lcvp ship to our island of Engebi. The natives built a huge chapel about 70 feet long, 40 ft. wide out of the coconut logs and branches. It was the coolest place on the island. All the church services were held in this Chapel. Everybody was going to church services, because it was so cool in the chapel.

For recreation when the tide of the ocean went out, which changed every four hours, we walked all over the shore and picked up sea shells and looked in pot holes in the ocean and observed all different kinds of fish swimming. A lot of the holes were really deep. We also tried catching some of the fish but never did succeed. We made necklaces with the seashells that we picked up on the reefs. We sold some of the necklaces to the people on board the ships. I sent some home to my sisters and they sent me the chains so I could make the necklaces. We made our own fishing poles and hocks with which we caught all different kinds of fish. My first fish that I caught was a blowfish. I had to step on it to get the hook out of its mouth since it was full of sharp gills. My buddy Joe put a hook on a rope, which was about a half-inch in diameter and threw the rope in deep water. He tied the rope around a huge rock for an anchor and checked the rope about six hours later. It was broke in two pieces and the bait was gone. It must have been a very big fish to break the rope.

One Sunday about 1800 we observed six of the natives on the beach with poles about 6ft. long. They walked out to the reefs when the tide was out toward the breakwaters of the ocean. Then almost three hours later, we heard the natives yelling while in a semi-circle hitting the water with the poles and coming to shore as the tide was coming back in. The natives drove in fish to shore. Two of the natives were throwing the fish on shore. It was something to witness. They drove in 300 or 500 fish to shore. We ate fish for two days in a row. They were [ocean] perch and very good to eat. I saw the natives eat the fish. They bit the heads of the fish off and ate the fish raw with the intestines and scales on them. We almost vomited seeing the natives eating fish raw like that.

The Bob Hope show arrived on Engebi Island July 26th 1944 with Jerry Colona, Frances Langford and Patty Thomas. It was the first time we saw white women in about six months. Bob Hope made a statement about the women in his entertainment group, saying that is what we are fighting for here men! Bob Hope made a joke about the urinals all over the island. The entertainers put on a great show for us. Jerry Colona made a joke about the native women just wearing loin clothes around their butts. The show lasted about two hours. They told us they would tell the people back in the U. S. A. about the good job we are doing here fighting the Japanese.

Left the Marshall Islands on the U.S.S. Fairisle October the 2nd 1944. Arrived at Makin Island in the Gilbert Island group October the 5th 1944. Dropped anchor in the harbor. Left Makin Island October 8th 1944 with the 7th Air force on the ship with us. Pulled into Honolulu in Pearl Harbor on October 16th 1944 and got stationed at the naval base at Iroquis Point near Pearl Harbor on October 17th 1944. We had a very good baseball team in our outfit the [126th battalion]. We won a lot of games from the army, marines and other seabee outfits who also had good teams. I participated in the baseball team and softball team. Most of the time I played left field. I usually batted 3rd or 4th in the batting order.

October 18th, left for the Monoloa Ridge seabee naval base the same day for rest and replacements for our battalion. We rested for about six weeks. One of my friends was a cook in our battalion. His name was Bill Staley from Oregon. He is a big guy. He was about six foot two inches tall and weighed about two hundred and forty pounds. He loved to box. He taught me how to box and hit the punching and speed bags. Our battalion was invited to participate in a smoker contest for a boxing team. The Navy had smokers. It was a different type of entertainment to watch your buddies participate in. Two of my friends joined the team, but I did not.

I remembered my brother Joe telling me to never join any boxing teams, because of boxing against a professional opponent. Two of my friends were knocked out in the first round, but Staley got knocked out in the second round. So I was the smart one not joining.

The USO put on some good entertainment for us. They had ladies in grass skirts dancing and they were very good. The girls and ladies were in what they called [Muumuu’s] that looked like nightgowns. They were better then the people in grass skirts. Every part of their bodies were moving in all directions. All of us stood up and clapped our hands in unison.

One day while on liberty in downtown Honolulu my two buddies and I met Boris Karloff while walking on the sidewalk.

He talked to us for a bout a half-hour. He was the actor that played the monster in all the Frankenstein movies. He looked normal to us just like in the movies. I also met Jackie Copper at the Christmas church services [midnight mass] I was in line to receive communion and he passed me by after receiving communion. He was also in the seabees. He was also a movie actor that played in different kind of movies. The choir sang beautiful Christmas carols. They were from one of the Catholic

Churches in Honolulu. We had escorts on buses show us different places all over the island of [OAHU].

My brother Joe called me up while his ship the U.S.S. Wichita was in Pearl Harbor on December 9th, 1944 about 2am in the morning. I got a liberty pass from my base to visit Joe all day on his ship. That was the first time we had seen each other in two years. The ship had a big hole on the forward starboard side from a Jap torpedo while they where shelling and bombing the Japanese island of Okinawa. Joe and his shipmates said that I was going to Okinawa because of the type of equipment my seabee group was getting. Joe and I had a good visit all day on his ship. The next day his ship left for the United States for repairs.

While on board the U.S.S. Dashing Wave on our way to the Marshall Islands, we crossed the International Date Line. I got initiated to the realm of the Golden Dragon March 4th 1944. The ships crew did the initiation. They didn't miss a trick.

It lasted about all day. On our way aboard the U.S.S. Fairside to the Gilbert Island, Tarawa, we crossed the equator on October 5th 1944. We got initiated to the King Neptune domain. The ships crew did the initiation while on the equator. It was quite an initiation. It was a real hot day. It lasted about all day. It was quite an initiation. One of things that we had to do was crawl on our hands and knees into a tunnel. When I was half way through the tunnel they would turn on a fire hose and wash us all the way back out of the tunnel. They would beat our butts with wet socks filled with rags to get back in the tunnel. When we got out of the tunnel, we had to go to the main deck. There sat so-called [KING NEPTUNE]. Big belly with grease smeared around his belly button. We had to get on our knees and kiss his fat belly button. They pushed my face into the grease and I had grease all over my face.

The ships crew did not miss a trick.

While at Moanalua Ridge, I went to heavy equipment school. I operated all different equipment; bulldozers, road graders, cranes and power shovels. I enjoyed operating the cranes and power shovels. My first experience in loading a truck with fill dirt, I held the crane bucket too high over the truck box and dropped the dirt. The whole truck just rocked up and down and the women Marines jumped out of the truck and cursed me real bad. I never heard women curse that bad before. The instructor just laughed his head off. From that experience I learned the proper way to load a truck. After finishing the school, I got a rating from seaman first class to machinist mate 3rd class and an increase in pay. We got our new replacements and are now a full battalion again.

We left Pearl Harbor May 20th 1945 on the U.S.S. Clermont APA 143 in a seven ship convoy bound for the invasion of Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands. Entered Enewetak harbor after seven days at sea on March 28th 1945 in the Marshall Islands. Left Enewetak Island April 5th 1945 at 1600hr in a ten ship convoy, reached Ulithi in the Caroline Islands, April the 9th at 1530 hour. We left here in a huge convoy. Left Ulithi Island April 20th. Went to a catholic mass on a huge British ship converted to a troop ship. We left our ship on a landing craft to get to the ship. We had to climb a cargo net to get on board this ship at about 0800in the morning.

We got a brief orientation about Okinawa and where we are going to land on the beach while being under fire from the Japs. At about 1100 hour the same morning, we invaded the island of Okinawa. [pic]

Invasion. Okinawa, April 1945, posing in front of my pup tent

Dropped anchor in Naha harbor in Okinawa at 1600 hour. Boarded a landing ship for the village of Cinchuna, that's where we

hit the beach for landing. Fighting was going all over the place, just plain hell. We secured to our area by nightfall. We put up our pup

tents. While laying down in the pup tent with my buddy, I felt something cold and slimy going over my legs and lm sure it must have

been a snake. Jap snipers prowled around all night. Bombing, shelling and fighting was going on all over the place. The ship I was previously on got sunk in the harbor by Japanese kamikaze planes. Our planes were bombing and strafing Japanese caves and pillboxes. At night, the sky was lit up with tracer bullets and bombs. Japanese bombers came over every night and day. Firing can be heard all night.

I operated a crane on the beach unloading all different kinds of equipment off the landing ships. Once the Japanese shot a hole in the radiator of the crane I was operating. Somebody found a pail and kept pouring water from the ocean into the radiator. I was operating the crane all night unloading equipment from landing ships on the beach while under fire and bombed from the Japanese.

When daylight came, other people relieved us. I operated the crane for fourteen hours straight, due to the fact that I was not relieved as my buddies were. My commanding officer picked me up in his jeep. After learning that I wasn’t relieved, he said to me, “Are you hungry and tired?” I answered “Hungry and tired”. He said what “would you like for breakfast?’ I said in jest, ham and eggs! He took me to the officer’s area and said to the cook, “Feed this man what he wants to eat”. I said “Ham and eggs” I had a lot of canned meat and juices on the crane. I came back with a truck to get the can goods but they where gone. Somebody stole them from the crane the following night while I was driving a truck because they need to get the material off the beach. While driving we were told not to stop till we reached our area because Japanese snipers were in the area. We were driving up a hillside and I had a hard time shifting the truck to follow the truck ahead of me. When I arrived in the area, I asked the guy where to unload the truck. He told me that I lost part of the load while climbing the hillside. The guy driving the truck behind said to me, "Where did you learn to drive?" He said he had to zigzag his truck from hitting the barrels falling off my truck. The barrels were 60-gallon drums full of gasoline. That was my first experience driving a truck and did alright driving trucks after that. We were told not to stop for anyone because the Japanese army was all over the hills moving through the area.

The Army units used flamethrowers to get the Japanese troops out of the caves and you could hear them screaming. Some of the japs gave themselves up after awhile. A lot of Japanese men, women and children came out of the caves.

Women are carrying all their belongings on their heads coming out of the caves.

We are finally getting squared away. May the 5th a large group of Japanese escaped out of the stockade where they were kept.

A lot of them got killed while trying to get away. They came through our area at night and we were shooting at them as they ran by. We were told not to take any Jap prisoners, because if we did we would have to feed them from our rations.

An ammunition dump went off this morning. The Japanese were bombing the area. Bombs and ammunition were going off just about all day. Snipers are still on the prowl. June the 11th 1945 a large group of Japanese went through our area at night. Every night the snipers give us trouble and I can't sleep half the time. One of our buddies shot a Japanese officer. I was watching the back end of our tent and I saw japs going by our area. I fired my rifle at them, but I don’t believe I hit any. I asked my buddy Joe that was supposed to be watching the front end of the tent if he had seen any Japs. He didn’t answer me. I looked at him and he was asleep. I hit him with the butt of my rifle and told him to keep awake and watch for Japs going by our area in front. I told him I am watching the back end of the tent protecting him and he is not protecting me!

June the 19th, Japanese bombers drop bombs on us again. We have air raids here just about every night. One Japanese plane crashed in our area. A lot of jap bombers are shot down. We are living near the village of Kin. Saturday June 21st 1945 while working around the crane someone shot at me. I never did know were it came from. My buddy did not know either. Maybe it was a Japanese sniper, but we sure hit the ground in a hurry!

The Okinawa mud is lousy. It is like driving on ice on the road. A person sinks in the mud out here. It never stops raining.

I had an accident with my crane. The boom of the crane went over the crane cab. That was really a mess and was my own fault. It took us all to day fix it up. I operated power shovels and trench hoes when moving dirt.

July 1st 1945, this place is known for storms and we are getting them now. We have to fix our tents after every storm. August 3rd 1945, it has been raining and winds blowing for four straight days and nights. August 4th 1945, this is my second birthday overseas- 20years old. We have been staying in the caves where the Japanese snipers were hiding for shelter from the typhoon storm. The wind is blowing about 140 miles an hour we were told and destroying every thing in its path. Ships have been blown right up to shore and beached on land. We used bulldozers to push the ships back in the water. These typhoons are the worst storms I have ever been in.

August the 10th 1945 we heard scuttlebutt that the Japanese are asking for peace. The Navy ships were firing at Japanese suicide planes for just about all night in the harbor of Buckner bay, named after General Buckner who got killed in a battle with the Japanese.

August 12th, 1945. We moved to another village, this time called Ishikawa near the Yontan airstrip. The women in the compound where the japs were kept only wore loincloths around their butts. We saw all different size breasts. The Japanese men 'Okinawans' had two wives so we were told, one for raising children and the other for pleasure. Women worked the rice fields and the men sat and smoked their pipes.

Ernie Pyle got killed in the invasion of Okinawa. He was a newspaper writer that wrote about all different battles of World War II. He was killed on the island of Ie Shima an island located in the Ryukyu Island group and located near the island of Okinawa. Okinawa is the biggest and the main island of the Ryukyu Islands. He was killed by a Jap machine gunner on April 18, 1945 at the age of 44. He wrote in the paper called the Stars and Stripes. The seabees built a monument where he got killed. I saw the monument in his memory. He created the GI Joe stories and cartoons.

After the invasion I found a chicken, another buddy found a dog and then my friend found a monkey. So we had a few pets in and around our tent. The monkey we called it Tojo and the dog, which resembled a German shepherd, we called him Rex. We feed them every day and they were in good health. I had a string around one leg of the chicken so it wouldn’t get lost. My friend that had the monkey said to me that he was going to make some raisin jack [Alcohol]. We could have a party, cook my chicken and eat it. My buddy that took care of the monkey stole some raisins from the chow hall to make his raisin jack. He put raisins and some sugar in a bucket with water let it ferment into alcohol, about 120 proof, very potent stuff. Well about a month later on a Sunday, I went to play a game of baseball with our team. I had a good game, which we won against an Army outfit. When I got back to our area and my tent, there was a bunch of guys singing and whopping it up, drunk from drinking the raisin jack. The mess cups they used for drinking were tarnished from drinking the alcohol of about 120 proof. The cups are made of a finished metal and turned black. When I got to my bunk there was a guy drunk, lying down in my bunk and I had to push him off since he was so drunk. He then tried to give me a hard time, but I told him to get lost. These people were really drunk. I looked around our tent and discovered my chicken was gone and asked the guy from Georgia, “Where is my chicken?” He was also stoned drunk from the raisin jack and he just laughed and said they ate my chicken! I got so mad I started to fight with him, but a couple of guys stopped me. They told me to relax, because he was too drunk. A couple of days later he apologized to me for killing and eating my chicken, which was real good he said.

While playing a game of baseball I sprained my ankle. The coach [our medical doctor] told me not to put any pressure on it and let it heal. At night, my buddies from my tent went to watch the movies at the chow hall. I stayed in my tent to write some letters. Night set in and I turned on the light so I could see better .All of a sudden the dog Rex started to growl and bark and the monkey Tojo started to chatter. Rex and Tojo were looking up the hill behind our tent. Rex was really barking now. So I turned off the light, looked up the hill, and saw something moving and running from one place to another amongst the pine trees toward me. I grabbed my rifle and fired on the objects coming down toward my tent. I hopped over to the chow hall and sat by my buddies. I told them about what happened and why I came to watch the movie. After the movie, my buddies and I checked the hill and found nothing but several broken pine branches up the hill. They were Jap snipers, we all agreed to that. So the dog Rex and the monkey Tojo probably saved my life. A lot of the snipers were throwing hand grenades while they were on the prowl.

Doing guard duty from about two am to six am while snipers are around, the area is very rough and scary. You have to be ready and alert all the time. We were told not to take any Jap prisoners because if we did, we had to feed them from our own rations. You also shot at anything moving in the area. This is happening after Okinawa is in American possession. Even sometimes at work details in the daytime, while operating the crane or power shovels we were shot at from the hills in the area. I took the rotors out of the distributor every time I got through operating the crane or power shovels because the Japs were booby-trapping our equipment. Some of our people got killed starting up the equipment.

We have been hearing scuttlebutt that some huge bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. We are getting all new equipment, guns and ammunition. We have been picked for the invasion of Japan. Now we heard that another huge bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.

At about 15:30 hour we see a white double wing airplane landing on Yontan airstrip. I jumped on a truck going to Yontan airstrip to see what is going on at the airstrip. There were military police all around the airstrip, the airplane and around where our four star Generals- Douglas MacArthur, Joe Stilwell, Admirals William ‘Bull’ Halsey and Chester Nimitz were sitting around a table that was put up in a hurry. Out of the airplane, two japs in khaki uniforms came out and then three high ranking Japs in white uniforms with samurai swords. The Japanese officers walked abreast to the table and saluted our officers. The Japanese officers walked up to the table one at a time and signed papers that were on the table. Then the Japanese officers took their samurai swords off and gave them to our four star officers. Our people gave them their swords back. Asiatic tradition is when you are defeated, you give your samurai swords to the victor. The Japanese officer in the middle made an about face and walked up to the Jap in the khaki uniform and received something from him. The Jap officer walked up to the other officers and stayed in the middle. The two Jap officers alongside got a corner of this and pulled on it. This was a flag of the rising sun, the Japanese flag. They draped the flag on the table. The Japanese officers saluted our four star officers and made an about face and got back on the airplane, as did the Japs in khaki uniforms. They flew back to Japan. We heard scuttlebutt that the Japanese signed peace papers. That was the military surrender of the Japanese empire, August the 15th 1945 Japanese time. In the United States, it was August 14th 1945 because Japan is on the east side of the International Date Line. The war is over. The Japanese empire surrenders on yontan airstrip on the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu island area.

We are still getting bombed just about every day and sometimes at night. Everybody is happy that President Truman gave the okay to drop the Atomic bombs on Japan. It saved a lot of American lives especially my own. I went through two invasions and the odds of coming out alive in another one, God only knew.

The first Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima from the Enola Gay, a B-29 flown by Colonel Paul Tibbets Aug 9, 1945. The second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from a B-29 flown by Major Charles Sweeney.

Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki seek an immediate peace with the Allies. August 14, 1945. The Japanese accept unconditional surrender.

General Douglas MacArthur is appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan August 29, 1945. U. S. troops land near Tokyo to begin the occupation of Japan. August 30, 1945. President Truman declares V.J. day September 3, 1945

All we have to do is wait for a ship to take us back home to the good Ole United States of America.

Sunday, August 26th, 1945. After attending Catholic mass today, my buddies and I took a truck from the compound and went on a

little sight seeing. We located the area where General Buckner got killed fighting the Japanese in the invasion of Okinawa.

The Seabees built a beautiful shrine on the southern side of Naha City in his honor.

Naha Yontan airstrip and Mancinto airfield are just jammed with planes of all types. The two harbors in Buckner Bay are just congested, jammed with all different kinds of Navy fighting ships and freighters of all types. This island of Okinawa is loaded with all types of equipment as well as the area I used a headache ball with my crane to break up big boulders that bulldozers could not move

last week is full of medical supplies and blood plasma intended for the invasion of Japan. We were well prepared for the invasion of the Japanese homeland. Thank God, we used the atomic bombs and we did not need all that equipment.

While still sight seeing we saw the Army Airborne division getting ready to land in Tokyo. The transports they are going on to use are already on Yontan airfield. We sort of looked at the battlefields around and near Naha, which is the capital city of Okinawa. They really are a mess.

A lot of our fighting equipment is blown up and everything in the area is destroyed. Some of our people are getting ready to go

back to the States. At the present time General Mac Arthur is getting everything tied up here for the trip to Tokyo .We have some

beautiful cemeteries built for the people that got killed here. There are shrines near the cemeteries and crosses with names on

them. The city of Naha is a mess. The harbors are blocked up with Japanese ships that got sunk during the invasion of the island of

Okinawa. Every building is blown up and destroyed. We really gave the Japanese hell here. They deserved every bit of it.

We are still waiting for a ship to take us back to the United States. This is September 2nd 1945 Sunday.

Now, the signing of the defeat of the Japanese empire, the political one on the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay at ten thirty in the morning.

I am listening to the ceremony on the radio in our tent with four of my buddies on the island of Okinawa.

All of us in the tent have serious looks on our faces while the program is being broadcasted on the radio. Now President Truman is speaking from Washington D.C. General Wainwright was the first American to sign the peace papers.

September 14th 1945 Don Rubis a friend of mine from Bay City came over to see and visited with me. He was also in the Seabees and was a baker in his battalion. I showed him how to operate cranes, power shovels and backhoe cranes. He visited with me all day.

His outfit came on Okinawa September the 5th, 1945

Saturday September 15th, 1945 another typhoon storm has started on the island of Okinawa. It is raining with wind blowing and knocking everything down in its path. This typhoon is worse then the first one we had on the island. Our tent got knocked down, so we put on our rain clothes and went to the caves.

We stayed in the caves for three days and nights. When we went out to get rations and food, two people had to be arm locked together bucking the rain and the wind. September 17th 1945 the storm is still going on with winds blowing up to and over a hundred miles an hour. Monday September 19th 1945 the typhoon has finally come to an end. My tent stayed up during the whole storm because we had reinforced our supports with different tie downs. That is why it stayed up. There was a lot of damage to our buildings in our area. A lot of airplanes on the airfield [Yontan] were destroyed and ships in the harbor [Buckner Bay] got washed up on the shore of the island. Our bulldozers pushed the ships back in the water.

Then they backed up on their own power.

Monday evening October the 8th 1945, another typhoon storm has hit us. The wind and rain is really leaving havoc in its path.

We all went back to the caves to get shelter, where we spent three nights and days.

October 11th 1945. The typhoon has finally stopped. My tent was blown down this time from the typhoon. The tents are 16 feet by

16 feet with five men to a tent that live in them called our home. The storm has left a mess as usual again. We got a report that winds

were blowing about a hundred and ten miles an hour. This is the third typhoon we got in a month’s time. The winds caused some

considerable damage again. Everything in its path went down, some of ships were sunk in the harbor of Buckner Bay. This is one of

the worst typhoons I have ever been in and I hope never to be in and witness anymore. I was drenched with water from head to foot

and cold with my fowl weather gear on. Between the wind and rain, I thought I was going to catch pneumonia. A lot of the people in

my outfit lost their clothes and seabags with their stuff. I pray and hope that I get back home to the good ole U.S.A. soon, as this is

one hell of a place to be in with the terrible typhoons that hit this area [Ryukyu Islands] of Okinawa.

Oct 30th 1945 I have checked out of the 126th Battalion. I am no longer a member of the 126th Battalion. Now all I am waiting for is a ship to take us back to the U.S.A.

November 6th 1945 Left Okinawa. Boarded a ship at 1400 hour. The name of the ship is called the U.S.S. Braxton troopship A.P.A. Number 138. Eight days at sea. Most of the trip is rough, stormy and cold. Traveling in the north pacific weather is very cold.

We crossed the International Date Line tonight Tuesday November 14th 1945. We are only ten degrees away from the Aleution Islands we were told from the quartermaster. The deck is dark all day, no daylight. It is normal to be dark in this part of the world this time of the year. It is sure nice to see all the lights lit on the ship above deck. During wartime, the lights above deck were never on. On November 19th 1945 still at sea, it is very rough. Raining very hard, the waves are washing over the decks and the ship is dipping the forward bow and stern in the water. Also rocking sideways port to starboard side. We got soaked standing in the chow [food] line to get to the cafeteria. We held on to the rope along the deck so we would not get washed into the ocean from the waves. We had to hold on to our plates while eating. We are only three days away from the U.S.A. The quartermaster station told us.

Thanksgiving Day November 22nd 1945 sighted the California coastline at 1400 hour. What a beautiful sight to see the U.S.A.

again. All of a sudden, a fog rolls in and cannot see anything. There are other ships in the harbor also.

We had a pilot come board the ship [in any harbor in the U.S.A. a pilot navigates the ship for docking] the other ships were signaling each other by radio, whistles and horns. The pilot announced that there is not to be any noise on deck of the ship while navigating in the fog. There were all different type of naval ships in the harbor.

We were in the fog for a long time, almost all day. All of a sudden, we were out of the fog. The sun was shining and it was a clear day.

We pulled into San Pedro, California at 2230 hour and dropped anchor in the breakwater. Will dock in the morning.

Everyone has a smile on their faces to be back in the U.S.A. And I hope it is for good.

November 23rd 1945. Docked at 1330 hour. Vivean Leigh and other movie stars welcomed us back home to the U.S.A.

My buddy Minnie Vassalla was picked to be the millionth man to come back from the Asiatic Pacific war area. They escorted him off the ship by two beautiful ladies about 18 or 20 yrs. old. A lot of women were cheering and singing to us on the deck of the ship all different military songs, the National Anthem and God Bless America. Boy I wish I was picked to be the Millionth man.

My buddy’s picture was on the front page of every California paper the next day with his escorts.

I got stationed at the Navy base at Terminal Island, San Pedro, California. We all got new clothing, a quick medical check up

and also a physical. We stayed here at San Pedro for a week. I got a thirty day leave to go home.

My leave starts on the 27th of November 1945.

Reported to the U.S.N. base in Great Lakes Illinois after my leave for further assignment. January 5th 1946, got assigned to

report to Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Located on Lake Michigan and also downtown Chicago. Stayed there for about six weeks.

I tried to get tickets for some of the great stage shows while in Chicago, but never was successful. The theaters gave free tickets to the military people. I visited some of my cousins while in Chicago. My cousin Joe Kwiatkowski took me to the Pulaski Hall, Trianon, and

Arrigon ballrooms, which had spring loaded dance floors. They had big band orchestras play at the Trianon and Atrianon ballrooms.

I went to the Pulaski Hall several times to listen to polkas and waltz music that was played and sung in Polish. I got a lot of free food and drinks for nothing because I spoke Polish to the people that were in charge of all the refreshments. Pulaski Hall was a nice and clean place. I learned to dance when I would go to Pulaski Hall. My buddies that were not Polish always wanted to go the Pulaski Hall with me for the free refreshments. I visited a lot of historical places and museums in Chicago. All military people rode streetcars, buses, subways and elevated trains for nothing. I stayed at Navy Pier till I got transferred to Great Lakes, Illinois, naval base.

I reported to the Great Lakes Naval Base March the 12th 1946 to get all my records in order and filed.

I got an Honorable Naval Discharge from the Navy Seabees on March the 14th 1946 from the Great Lakes Naval Personnel Center.

These are just some of the highlights and memories of my military life in the Navy Seabees during World War Two.

I thank God I survived the conflicts of World War Two.

• About the ship pictures, they are the actual ship pictures of the ships that he was on. The LST wasn’t, it was just to show what one looks like.

I got married to Leona [Lee] Kelpinski October 2nd 1948 at Saint James church, Bay City, Michigan.

She is a good wife and mother to our children. God gave me a good spouse. We have four wonderful children.

Peggy Ann born March 24th 1951.

Richard Allen born September 5th 1952

Timothy Joseph born June 18th 1957

Ronald James born September 11th 1962.

We purchased our lot at 1806 34th street in June of 1955. Started building our home in July of 1955. Moved in to our home on

October 5th, 1955. We finished the upstairs while living in the home and then built a two car garage.

We are still living at the same house and address.

I made a living operating cranes and power shovels at Bay City Shovels for nineteen years. I was the head tester

and demonstrated cranes. I quit Bay City Shovels July 9th 1965. Started at General Motors, Grey Iron Foundry on July 13th 1965.

I repaired all different kinds of electric cranes while working there. I also ended up being an electrician, maintaining and repairing all

electrical equipment in the foundry. I did tearing out of old electrical wiring in the plant and then wiring all types of new equipment in

the plant to modernize the facilities. I retired from General Motors in September the 7th 1987.

Marcel [Marshall] J Sujkowski

December 2nd 2002

-----------------------

[pic]

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download