Page 70 - 1945 VES Meteor

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LETTERS
To Japan in a Tub Dear Mr. Gannaway:
. . . I was assigned to an
That tub, the "U. S. S. Benson,' pulled out of Frisco Sept. 28th headed for Okinawa. We steamed under the Golden Gate and headed north. I think the skipper must have been a litt e off his nut because we headed dve north. For two or three days while we were up around Alaska I just about froze, but the third day the skipper changed course and we started steaming southwest.
It wasn't too bod, but the ship did roll and pitch a lot. All of us passengers including me got sick as dogs, but it didn't lost too long, and about the fifth day out the weather and the sea calmed down. On Sept. 9 we passed lwo Jimo and on the II th we pulled into Okinawa. A big storm had hit the place two days before our arrival, and the island was certainly torn up. They claim that more men were lost in that storm than were lost in tho invasion. We let off 800 Soabees, and after sitting in harbor for ten days, we hauled up the anchor and headed for Japan. The '"Eenson" made sev- eral slops 10long tho southern coast with the main one Sesabo. Tho•e were plenty of ships there, and the ' Benson" dropped off plenty of men, but they didn't get me. Last week we made port in a big Jap harbor. There are several cities around here, but the main onos ore Keere, Hiro, and Hiroshima. I'm planning to make liberty in one of these this afternoon. Well, anyway the ' Benson" put me in a draft list and I was transferred to the "U. S. S. Biloxi." She's a light cruiser and really is a swell ship. I was lucky and was given the forward turret to work in.... I like it a lot. but the rate I'm looking for is civilian f.rst class....
Charlie.
S I Charles R. Penick, '43, U. S. S. Biloxi."
The Meteor thanks Mr. Gannaway for an interesting letter from an al- umnus whom many boys in school re- member well. Ed.
A Rescue at Sea Dear Mom,
This morning I was the happiest fellow alive because I thought I would be coming home in a few weeks. Now all my dreams are shattered. My commanding officer told us this morning that we would have to go to Germany os Army of Occupation. All men with 45 points and under will have to stay over here. There is nothing I can do about it except feel bad and thot does not do much good. If they stop the draft, I'll never get home. My only hope is that they con- tinue the draft so that we can be relieved to come home. From what I've been reading in the papers the draft will stop. It seems as if the people have forgotten that we want a chance to live as civilians. We, the combat men, won the war and it seems to me that it is only fair to let the ones who didn't fight, come over for occupation and make sure there isn't another war. It is quite evident that the people don't see things that way. So it looks like I won't be home for a couple of years.
Now that censorship has been lifted I can tell you the whole story about tho "Leopold- ville." We got orders about noon, Decem· ber 23rd, to be ready to sail for France by 6 o'clock. We were ready and on the train headed for Southhampton by 6 o'clock. We boarded the ship and were ready to sail in a very short time. My company was put in t~e wrong compartment by mistake and another company took the compartment that we were supposed to take. (The tor- pedo hit that compartment and the whole company was killed.) We didn't sail until the next morning (Dec. 24th). It was a beautiful day and everybody was happy even though we wero headed for the "Bulge" and would be fighting for our lives in a couple of days. Toward evening the water was getting rough. I was up on deck getting a little fresh air and remarked to one of the boys. "I would hate to be in that water," never dreaming that in two hours I would be in it swimming for my life. I went below and tried to sleep until we docked be- cause once we hit land I knew there would be no more safe sleeping. The boys were all singing Christmas Carols and were as happy as anybody could be under the cir· cumstances. At about 9 o'clock the torpedo hit us. I was thrown out of my hammock by the concussion of the torpedo. We went up on deck and everybody was as calm as could be. The boat was sinking but we didn't know how fast so we weren't worried much. We were just three miles off Cherbourg and we could see the lights. A destroyer pulled up along side of us and we started jumping from our boat to the destroyer. About BOO men got on including the Captain of the ship and all the crew. About IS minutes after the destroyer left, the boilers blew up and the ship started sinking fast. There was nobody to tell us to abandon ship except the Army officers and they didn't know any· thing about the ship. After the boilers blew we knew the ship would sink in a very few minutes but we didn't jump overboard be- cause we had orders to stay on until we had orders to abandon ship. The orders never came so we stayed on until the last minute. Everybody started jumping at the same time. Guys were jumping on eoch other and necks were broken by the dozen in the mad scramble to get off the boat. The boat sank two minutes after we started jumping. A lot went down with the boat. After the boat sank, we were all grouped together and everybody was yelling and screaming. I swam away from the crowd because it was sure death to stay all together. The scream· ing and yelling soon turned to prayers. There wasn't a man in that water that night that didn't turn to God for help. . . The water was cold and I was losing my strength fast. My life preserver wasn't doing much good because it was so small. I had on an over- coat, field jacket and two pair of underwear. That weighed a lot. I was lucky to even get a life preserver. Some of the men didn't even have any because there weren't enough in the boat. I was so tired and cold and full of salt water that I didn't care what anymore.
It would hove been easy to die then. Every time I would try to open my mouth to breathe a big wove would come over me. It would have been easy to sink out of sight into peace and quiet away from all the com· ing horrors of war. I'll never forget how I felt then. Then I started thinking about the telegram you would get for Christmas. I gave a look around to see if I could find a
(Continued on Page Eleven.!
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