[Bio information: Served in WWII. U.S. Navy medic. Enlisted. Served from Jan. 5, 1940 until December 31, 1959. born in Pittsburgh, PA on Jan. 1, 1922. Highest rank: HMC chief petty officer (hospital corpsman). Ships DD-351 USS MacDonough, USS Calvert. Locations of military service were San Diego, California, Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, all over the Pacific. Battles/campaigns were Guadalcanal, Tulagi, all Solomon, Marshall, China, occupation. Medal: Chinese award (SACO). Special achievements/duties were Naval Group China (SACO). ]
Interviewer: Kathryn Lerch.
[0:0:0.0]
KL: This is Kathryn Lerch and I am with George Allan Barrett at Robin Run Village in Indianapolis. Today is the 29th of September. I am doing an interview with a gentleman who is a veteran of the U.S. Navy as a medic during WWII. Mr. Barrett was born January 1, 1922. He is—that would make you 87.
GB: Right.
KL: He served as the chief petty officer—a hospital corpsman. He was on the DD-.351 The USS MacDonough. Mr. Barrett, why don’t we start off having you tell us a little bit about your background before the war broke out; where you grew up, for example; little bit about your family.
GB: I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born Jan. 1, 1922. Had a brother and a sister, born later. And then we moved to San Diego out of Pittsburgh. I was ten and finished school in San Diego. Dropped out of high school. And uh, minor petty jobs and then at eighteen I joined the navy. I went through boot camp there in San Diego then went from boot camp up to the U.S. Naval Hospital San Diego for training and hospital work. Completed that training, I was transferred to the U.S. Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor, T.H. (Territory of Hawaii). I worked in the urinary ward, I worked in the medical ward , the surgical ward, I worked in diets and messing. So I got some rather good training there at U.S. N.H. P.H. From there I was transferred to the USS MacDonough and that’s DD-351. Stayed on board her for a couple years learning medical practice for the navy which in many respects, I guess [is] similar to outside the navy, but they do give you good training.
KL: When you were in Hawaii, you said you were at the General Naval Hospital that was there—
GB: Yes.
KL: Was this Tripler or—?
GB: No. Tripler was Army.
KL: Oh. Tripler was Army, okay.
GB: This was U.S. Naval Hospital.
KL: Oh, I have to remember that. That would be sacrilegious [laughter]
GB: This was Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor—
KL: When did you arrive in Pearl Harbor—as in what year?
GB: July the fourth I think of 1940.
KL: When you were there, did you have any sense or feeling there was going to be trouble in the Pacific sometime in the future?
GB: Not really. I was only eighteen. You don’t get these feelings I think until you live la little longer.
KL: What was life like in Hawaii? How was it to adjust—?
GB: Very pleasant. Weather was very good, occasionally wet, but most often good. And swimming, and other recreational facilities always made available so that was good.
KL: So you got to do that in your free time?
GB: Oh yes.
KL: How much free time did you have with all this training?
GB: Well, basically I worked an eight-hour day or an eight-hour night.
KL: You were obviously in different wards—
GB: Oh yes.
KL: And all different types of –?
GB: Oh yes, yes. Urinary, medicine, surgical, up in the surgical dressing room. I really didn’t get into surgery that much at that time.
KL: Finally, a few months later, obviously July we get to December 7, 1941. That’s about a year later. What happened that day? Did you realize something was off that day or something was –?
GB: Well, we were in port and alongside another ship. Suddenly, just about the time colors go up at eight, this kid on the ship next to me started firing his weapon. I–“What’s going on?” So then I see Japanese planes, and figured out something went haywire.
[0:06:25.1]
KL: Where were you at the time on the deck? Were you on a particular deck and what was the ship next to you?
GB: Okay, I was up by the galley; it was breakfast time on a Sunday morning. So I was near the beginning of the line for breakfast. So that’s why I was there. But right alongside, was this weapons—well, not just a gun, but this guy was firing them off like crazy. So I knew something was happening. Then the chief gunners mate came by, said Japanese were attacking. I suggested he might want to go get another drink. Japanese attacking! That’s crazy! But that’s what happened.
KL: What was your reaction after you told him he was—this was crazy? What did you do next?
GB: Just stood there and watched. Watched the guy on the next ship firing and then they got under way –left. We were dead in the water. Had no electric— they were firing 50 caliber machine guns, and then when we had no water—so when the barrels got swelling, they had to take a barrel off and put on another one, kept firing that way. And then we had five-inch 38s anti-aircraft and they were of course firing. And we were well under attack—
KL: Scary. Well you were to busy to be scared probably?
GB: Oh sure.
KL: Watching everything that was going on?
GB: Yeah.
KL: Did anybody tell you suddenly you need to go do this, or do that?
GB: No.
KL: Just sort of reacted?
GB: Eventually, I knew where my station was and that’s the after-dressing station and so I went back there. Really didn’t have that any casualties except one burned hand. That was about it.
KL: You were lucky on your ship. Can you remember the name of the ship next to yours? I can probably look it up, but—because, there was battleship row and there was various other areas around Ford Island—?
GB: Well, we were in the destroyer area, which was around the corner of Ford Island; away from battleship row.
KL: Bet there was a lot of smoke—
GB: A lot of smoke,
KL: A lot of noise, chaos—
GB: Yep. And fire on, on the water. A lot of guys swimming under the fire then come up pushing away, grab a breathe, then duck back down. So it was a mess.
[0:10:24.2]
KL: What did you do later that day?
GB: We went out to sea.
KL: What was the purpose of doing that?
GB: Self-preservation number one. And number two to see if there were—and we thought there were probably going to be landing craft of some sort. There were none.
KL: And with the destroyer duties, then that would be your purpose—?
GB: Yeah.
KL: To do that. How long did you have to go back to—did you have to serve in a hospital at all?
GB: No.
KL: To do any—were you stationed at all?
GB: No, we only went out to sea stayed for three days, came back in, got food and water. And then back out.
KL: Where was your next destination? From Hawaii where did you go?
GB: Out to Southwest Pacific.
KL: So this had you down towards Guadalcanal?
GB: Yeah. Tulagi. That was the first two that I can think of.
KL: How long did it take you to get there from Hawaii?
GB: About three days.
KL: Did you zig and zag your way across?
GB: Yeah.
KL: When you get down to Guadalcanal, what was your impression of the area?
GB: It was all calm at that time. We were assigned a role of going back and forth to keep other ships from going in that area.
KL: There’s an area called the Slot that goes up there between Tulagi and Guadalcanal.
GB: Right.
KL: And there was a very big battle there.
GB: Yep.
KL: And a number of ships and destroyers were sunk. Did you witness any of that?
GB: No. I got there too late. Lucked out again.
KL: How long were you in the area of Guadalcanal and then Tulagi?
GB: Oh probably for a couple of months.
KL: Okay. Would that have been about, let’s say the latter part of ’42?
GB: Yeah.
[0:12:57.1]
KL: Did you get to spend any time on land or did you stay most of the time on ship? Did they ever let you off the ship?
GB: No. Not there.
KL: What could you see from your ship of the landscape?
GB: Oh, you can get in within a quarter, half mile you could see many things. Nothing to prevent your view.
KL: So what did you see? What did it look like?
GB: Kind of jungley.
KL: And at night, of course the stars were different.
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: Yeah but at nighttime and—
GB: Everything was quiet but��� by that time pretty much.
KL: Did they bring cases then on the ship? Or did you just treat the people who were on the ship in the Navy?
GB: We just treated people on the ship. I was on the destroyer, they’re small ships. Yeah your APAs and other larger ships. They had much more in the way of facility.
KL: And while you were down there serving, did you have enough supplies with you at all times? Were you every run short of anything ever?
GB: Supply ships came by. They would drop off different materials—always liked the ice cream ship.
KL: Yeah I’ve heard others tell that too. How often did that come by?
GB: Pardon?
KL: How often did you get ice cream?
GB: Oh. About every other time or two that the supply ships came by.
KL: That wasn’t too frequent, I’d imagine.
GB: No.
KL: Maybe once a month or—
GB: Nmm mmm. No. Hardly or less.
KL: Any storms or weather that you could remember that were—
GB: Not at that time.
KL: Not at that time, okay. After you were in Guadalcanal and Tulagi, then you started working your way back North as a destroyer. Whose fleet were you a part of?
GB: Um, the Enterprise.
KL: Who was in charge? There’s Halsey, or which—I’d say you were in a different task force.
GB: Yeah, different, different task force leaders, they’d shift around.
KL: Can you remember the names of some of them? Because there’s Nimitz—
GB: Yeah, Nimitz was there. He was overall charge.
[0:16:00.3]
KL: So you were with the Enterprise and you said you went to lots of different ports. Did you ever go to Ulithi?
GB: No.
KL: Okay, or Mog Mog Island? That was a recreational spot, to go play volleyball and drink cokes and beer.
GB: Yeah, we didn’t have that.
KL: Yeah no fun. What other islands can you remember that you went to?
GB: Oh golly. There were gobs of them. Went to one— trying to think of the name of it—[Thinking the one is [Aroga?], and rode a real bony horse. And got some blisters on my rear end. But that was one time.
KL: Yeah, let’s see here, I’m trying to think of some of the other islands. There is Namura, there is Roi-something, I can’t remember all of them. Saipan, Guam.
GB: Oh Guam.
KL: On Guam?
GB: Yeah.
KL: When were you on Guam?
GB: Think [it was] after the war, and my wife and son and dog, an automobile on Guam. We stayed there couple years.
KL: Okay, we’ll come back to that then when we get to that time wise. Thinking—other islands, you were not on Okinawa, you didn’t have to go to the Philippines.
GB: No.
KL: Did you then go up to Japan when the war ends for the occupation period?
GB: No.
[0:18:02.0]
KL: Okay. After—when—where were you when the war ended?
GB: When the war ended.
KL: In August [1945]—
GB: I was in China.
KL: You were in China. Okay, when did you arrive in China?
GB: Well, it had to be ’44.
KL: Was there a particular port you were in? Was it in Shanghai—[obviously not held by the Japanese.
GB: I do not remember where I went in. Yes I do! I flew in over the Hump from India.
KL: Oh! India gets in here! Now I have to figure out now how you got into India.
GB: I got to India by ship.
KL: So you go by ship; was that still on the DD-351?
GB: No.
KL: Okay, different ship. When did you change ships?
GB: Well, I was a passenger around the part of ship’s company. And was part of a group that was dumped in India—Calcutta.
KL: When was that? Can you remember, roughly?
GB: Had to be ’44.
KL: Okay. How long were you in Calcutta?
GB: About three months.
KL: That was quite a change from ship life.
GB: Yes.
KL: What were some of your impressions of life in Calcutta?
GB: I was on shore patrol duty—policeman.
KL: Did you have any interesting adventures—?
GB: Not really.
KL: --taking care of people?
GB: No.
KL: What was it like in Calcutta? Can you remember what the city was like?
GB: Oh! Crowded. People die on the street, on the sidewalks and nobody—they walk around. Kinda unusual.
KL: And—so then you would—you stayed��since you were shore patrol, you must have been [barracks?] or based somewhere there in the city?
GB: Yeah.
KL: And would that be a Navy base?
GB: Yes.
KL: So you were there for about three months, then they send you over the Hump. So they must have put you in a C-47?
GB: Right.
[0:20:54.3]
KL: Roughly, when was that? The end of ’44 into ’45?
GB: Yeah. Had to have been.
KL: What did you think about flying in a C-47? Had you heard stories about this plane?
GB: Ah, not really. And didn’t seem to me to be any big deal. They issued you a parachute and away you go.
KL: And a map, hopefully. So you can find your way home. Did you look down, did you have any—out of the C-47 it’s not exactly like a passenger liner.
GB: No.
KL: So you can’t really get a good view, can you?
GB: Not a real good view, but some view. They got round windows.
KL: Did you look out as you were going over the Himalayas?
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: What did you think of it?
GB: Actually, we were flying at about 10,000 feet and you got mountains on either side of you. Yeah, you’re in a valley. So I thought that was different.
KL: I know that the Himalayas were littered with wrecks of the C-47’s—
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: Yeah, so not everybody made it over. When you went over, did you go over with a crew of people that were being transported there—
GB: Yeah.
KL: Or were there other goods on board for the Chinese? What else?
GB: I don’t know if they had goods for the Chinese or not, but they had goods for the Americans who were in China at that time.
KL: And when you flew over, what was your destination? What was the city where you were gonna—what was your base gonna be?
GB: I don’t know.
KL: I know they set up about three or so Air Force bases—
GB: Yeah.
KL: But then since you’re Navy, I got to figure out where they’re gonna leave you.
GB: They would only leave us with the Air Force.
KL: They did? Okay.
GB: Yeah. The Air Force took good care of us.
KL: There were some bases down towards Yinnan in China, Southwest China. I think they had about two or three that were South of there. How long did—can you remember the name of the base?
GB: No.
KL: Okay. How long were you there?
GB: I ended World War II up in China.
KL: Okay. So basically, most of 1945 you would’ve been in China.
GB: Yeah.
KL: Since you’re now at this base, what were your responsibilities?
GB: Medical.
KL: Okay. And who were your typical patients?
GB: Mostly sailors.
KL: Now, the sailors that were there with the Navy, were you near water? I’m just not sure the Navy would bring a lot of people into where the typical base was.
GB: Well that’s true. But we did have people on land there—Navy.
KL: Can you remember which of the authorities, which of the Chinese authorities did you work with when you were there? Was it the Nationalist?
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: So you had the Chang Kai-shek and the Nationalist troops?
GB: Yes, right.
KL: Did you ever see him at all?
GB: No.
KL: Or any of the—any perhaps of the higher ranking Chinese officers?
GB: Oh yeah. Well, and American officers. But you know, you don’t pay attention to them.
KL: Any famous person come through like Stillwell or—?
GB: Oh I’m sure they did but I don’t recall.
[0:25:00.6]
KL: While you were there, what types of food did you have, for example? What was your k- rations, other types of things; could you describe what you did typically during—
GB: Ate off the land.
KL: Ate off the land, okay. What was there, available?
GB: Well, chicken, pork, not much in the way of beef. Eggs, you know.
GB: And was there a regular supplier that went out and got these things from the Chinese and then paid them—
GB: Right.
KL: --for all those goods—?
GB: And a lot of it was flown in.
KL: So if they flew things in, you probably would’ve—did you have those dried eggs at all?
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: Any other food that you can remember that you maybe even disliked?
GB: Powdered eggs. Terrible. Most things I ate, you know, if they don’t bite back, they’re gone.
KL: I know Spam was something that wasn’t exactly a favorite of a lot of people—
GB: It was not all that bad. But there was an awful lot of it.
KL: Then you get tired of it.
GB: Yeah.
KL: While you were there, did you do anything in your free time? Like sightseeing, or go to the movies, or just hang out, or play cards?
GB: Oh, we’d hang out but—I don’t know. Things tend to get routine ,you know, and you just don’t—
KL: Don’t think about it.
GB: Don’t think about it that much.
KL: ‘Cause sometimes they would bring entertainers in, for example.
GB: Yeah.
KL: Did anybody come to visit you?
GB: Um, couple times. Don’t ask me who; pretty girls!
KL: Yeah that’s always good. Bob Hope, for example?
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: You got to see him?
GB: Oh yeah.
KL: Good. Yeah, he had a long run, didn’t he?
GB: He did.
KL: Of all of that—I’m trying to think—that would happen occasionally, maybe a couple times?
GB: Couple.
KL: You saw him— Did you see him in China or did you see him someplace else in the Pacific?
GB: I saw him in China.
KL: Anything in particular that you can remember about your adventures in this part of China? Any remarkable or even humorous stories with your friends?
GB: Funniest one would be a prostitute who was making her living off of the guys. Her mother got on her one evening; I don’t know what that was all about, but anyway, it was a bunch of yacking. Can’t think of much other—
KL: Okay, while you were in China, can you remember what the living conditions were like for you? What type of facility did you live in?
GB: Well, we had an outhouse and they put us up in different homes. And I was an x-ray technician.
KL: So you were in these Chinese homes?
GB: No, not really. We lived apart; tried not to inconvenience the people too much. I think we did a pretty good job. People seemed to like us. Nobody shot at us.
KL: So what did you—since you were there with the Chinese for a long time, how did you help them out, as a community?
GB: Well, medically, we did not do too much for them. We were kind of afraid they would them become too big a burden; so sometimes a guy had a bad toothache the doctor wouldn’t look at him. ‘Go, go, go to your own dentist.” Otherwise we would’ve had a rush of toothaches so you have to be kind of careful.
[0:30:29.9]
KL: Now did you set up any clinics? In a note there that Doris made, that you set up some hospitals. They would then run themselves—tell me more about that.
GB: Now some of the girls had had nursing training – Chinese girls and so they really enjoyed the additional help that they were getting setting up their facility.
KL: How big was the –was there just a local clinic. In the community itself – was it very large? Can you remember how big—?
GB: Not real large. A medium village—had maybe a couple of people trying to work medicine.
KL: Can you remember the name of the village?
GB: No.
KL: I am trying to figure out if there is a way to identify closer to the region in China where you were located. Be kind of nice to find out.
GB: Most of it was fairly coastal.
KL: That makes sense since you have some of the navies over by the coast. Were you sort of closer towards Taiwan (I know that’s an island) off the coast. Were you south of Shanghai, or down toward Canton.
GB: I was in Shanghai.
KL: Did you get to go to Shanghai as a tourist or serving there in your--?
GB: We had a medical set-up there.
KL: How long were you there?
GB: In China?
KL: In Shanghai.
GB: Maybe three months total.
KL: What was your impression of that city?
GB: Big. Big city. The Glen Line [?] building is there—huge building and then they had schools. I was barracks out at the Shanghai American School. [Gives Chinese name for it].
KL: What was the school like—the facility for the school?
GB: It was good.
KL: Can you describe it—what it looked like, what the grounds looked like?
GB: The grounds were well kept; buildings well kept.
KL: Sounds like a nice facility. Was it isolated or was it easy to get into town? How did you do that?
[00:33:41:7]
GB: Peddy cabs. They had an area where the peddy cabs would congregate, take people in town and bring them back.
KL: When you went into town, what did you do in town? What did you particularly enjoy?
GB: Most often we would go to a bar and have a beer. We didn’t do a whole lot.
KL: Now did they designate certain bars okay for service men or did they have signs you couldn’t go into this one or was restricted?
GB: I never saw a restricted. Usually, people who ran them made darn sure they were clean, well kept and no fighting.
KL: So you were in Shanghai about three months which was closer to the coast. Did you have an opportunity to try out some more unusual Chinese food—did you have any favorites?
GB: No, go to the nearest restaurant when you get hungry—they didn’t have—sometimes you have group and you would have a big bowl of soup-like in the middle of the table and everybody would dunk their bread in it, and so forth.
KL: Do you have any stories that you can remember in particular from Shanghai that might be memorable—any interaction between Chinese people, officers or friends of yours.
GB: We stayed pretty well separated.
KL: After Shanghai where did you go? You mentioned Guam and you are going to be there later, and you obviously had to come back to the US after the war, get married, and star your family. So let’s work our way then towards V-J Day. So where were you in the Pacific then when Japan finally surrendered?
[0:36:14]
GB: I was in China. Chinese fellow told me they had surrendered. They have a strange story. Guy told me that they took a bomb about that big and round up in the airplane and dropped it on Japan and that ended the war!
KL: We know it was not that small—a big one. So what was your reaction by those in your unit?
GB: Good. I can go home.
KL: Were you writing a lot of letters to home while over there?
GB: Not a whole lot. Mail did not go out that often.
KL: When you were in Shanghai, it was occupied by the Japanese at one point in time. Just some impressions of the city—what did you see in the way of say war damage?
GB: Not much. In fact the Japanese who were still in Shanghai made sure they all saluted all the Americans they came by and they were ready to get back home.
KL: So now we have V-J Day. How long did you have to stay in China before you could get home? What was the ship that you might have taken home?
GB: When I left Shanghai—well, while I was in China I picked up malaria and every once in a while that would hit pretty hard, but while I was in Shanghai, I left there on a tug boat pulling a tug boat, five knots.
KL: It would take a long time to get anywhere.
GB: I got I think into one of the Marianas and had a big flare-up of malaria and got transferred to a hospital there and then from there I was flown home—flown to Frisco—Treasure Island.
KL: Then, did they hospitalize you there in San Francisco then at Liggett?
GB: Naval Hospital.
KL: Naval hospital instead--not an Army Hospital. I have all these army hospitals in my head. So you were at the naval facility there on Treasure Island. How long did you stay there until your malaria was under control?
GB: Got to remember we’re talking about fifty years ago—
KL: It’s hard to remember those things. So you spent some time there, let’s just say that. Then you went from San Francisco—did you go back down to San Diego then to your home?
GB: Yeah. On leave—yeah.
KL: So you continued to stay in the navy then after the war.
GB: I stayed for twenty.
KL: Wow, for another twenty [years]. So you made it a career. So where did they sent you then as your regular post?
GB: Various—well, they finally sent me back to Pearl Harbor—the hospital; a hospital down in San Diego. I was an x-ray technician by this time.
KL: So then after the war you spent time in the service as an x-ray technician. Tell me a bit more about your family life.
[04:54:8]
GB: I lived in South Bend; I worked at Naval and Marine Corps Training Center; then another time we lived at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. I was at the Naval Hospital South Carolina—lived there for a while.
KL: So by this time you were married and you had family. Can you—?
GB: Right. One youngster.
KL: That must have been Allan—
GB: It must have been.
KL: It must have been. So where was he born?
GB: He was born in Indianapolis.
KL: That was when you were living here.
GB: No he and his mom were—I was out at sea.
KL: We went back to sea then. You lift mom high and dry with Allen and went to sea.
GB: Her parents—okay to take care of her.
KL: So where did you go back to sea then?
GB: I went back to San Diego and on along the Pacific.
KL: Were you on a particular ship at that time?
GB: USS Calvert.
KL: Once again, you are still for example, an x-ray technician.
GB: yeah, that makes no difference.
KL: You just take that with you because that’s your a skill.
GB: Go to a naval hospital, if they need an x-ray tech, I’m it, on board ship no x-ray tech.
KL: So then, if you were travelling around the Pacific, how many years did you do that--this being the 1950s.
GB: Well, I completed about ten years Pacific, Southwest Pacific and then moved east.
KL: Where were you in the east?
GB: US Naval Hospital—somewhere on the East Coast.
KL: Let’s see, they have naval facilities in Norfolk and Little Creek, Virginia—
GB: Not in Virginia.
KL: Let’s go further north—New Jersey.
GB: No south—
KL: Maybe South Carolina?
GB: Well, actually, North Carolina.
KL: Wilmington? Somewhere in the Carolinas then on the East Coast. You mentioned earlier in the story that you were out in Guam with your and child and dog. Tell me how you got there?
[0:44:29:0]
GB: Well, of course, I got there first and I had to find housing for the family before they could get them out.
KL: What year was this? Or we could figure out how old your son was.
GB: He must have been about four.
KL: So this would be about 1950 if he was born in ’46 or ’45. How long did you stay in Guam with your family?
GB: I stayed there three years. Dorothy and Robin [Allan] were there, I think, for two.
KL: You mentioned Robin—?
GB: That’s Allan—
KL: That’s his nickname. Was he a Robert Allan--? How did he get the nickname “Robin”?
GB: He was always hungry.
KL: So there you were also then as an x-ray technician. Now this is only five, six years after the war and Guam is in American hands--a territory. What was life like on that island then for dependents?
GB: Very good. We’d have a supply ship come in about once a month and fill up the Commissary and so forth. It was nice to have the family; had the car there, so we were able to drive around the island.
KL: Did you ever have any typhoons that went through Guam?
GB: Not while I was there.
KL: Did you have any typhoons hit you when you were in China?
GB: No.
KL: You lucked out in so many ways, because there were some big storms.
GB: Yeah.
KL: For those at sea it would not have been good. So life on Guam was good., you got to trek around. How long were you there—you said three years?
GB: Yeah, I was there for three years.
KL: After you left Guam, where did you go?
[0:47:11]
GB: I had to have been at a Navy hospital on the East Coast—see the first ten years I spent mostly in the Pacific. The second ten years mostly in the Atlantic.
KL: Life aboard ship—you were on the MacDonough and you were later on the Calvert. Was the Clavert also a destroyer-class?
GB: No, an APA.
KL: Okay, an APA. Your quarters on a ship could not have been that—
GB: Chief’s quarters.
KL: Chief’s quarters--oh you moved up. Tell me what they were like.
GB: Oh, you had the usual bunks, you had the CPO Mast, you had the people coming to you for information, for studying or a number of reasons, so you kept pretty busy.
KL: In your free time did you write many letters home—did you communicate with V-Mail or regular letters?
GB: Regular letters. Did a lot of reading.
KL: Who was back home that you liked to write to?
GB: My wife, my mother and dad. That was about it.
KL: Did you have—were you an only child or did you have other siblings? What did they do during the war?
GB: My brother next to me was in the Navy and the others were all quite a bit younger.
KL: So your other brother, what was his name?
GB: Bill (William).
KL: He served in the Navy—which was his area? Was he on a particular ship—Pacific or Atlantic?
GB: He was a chief boatswain mate and he stayed for thirty [years].
KL: Where did he serve primarily?
GB: Pacific.
KL: Pacific too. Were you in the Pacific at the same time?
GB: Yeah.
KL: Did you ever cross paths?
GB: Yeah.
KL: Tell me about that.
GB: He was on board the USS Colorado. I will still on the 350. We tied up alongside them one time and actually we took fuel from them and so I was able to cut across and—
KL: Did you go across in one of those chairs?
GB: We were tied up.
KL: That must have been exciting. What did you talk about?
GB: “What’s you been doing? Where you been?” “Different places.” Just yacking.
KL: It was probably good to see him?
GB: Yeah.
KL: How long did you have a chance to stay and visit or did the ships all depart again soon?
GB: Well, we stayed long enough to take on fuel and that was it. Cause then you moved on. It was a nice visit. He was in a turret—Colorado is a battleship and they have huge turrets the guys get into. On a little destroyer, gosh, you’re out there in the bare air. So I enjoyed visiting with him.
[00:51:54]
KL: Did you know this was going to happen or was this just pure luck?
GB: Pure luck.
KL: Do you know what island this was on—we’re you linked up with an island—just at sea together. That’s why you were refueling. Okay.
GB: At sea-right.
KL: The destroyers needed to refuel.
GB: Oh yeah, and we’d get fuel off the battlewagon and sometimes a carrier.
KL: Did you send letters back and forth between the two of you as well?
GB: Yeah.
KL: Did you ever save those letters?
GB: No.
KL: You can’t save everything (every once in a while we can find collections of letters where they kept correspondence between fellows who were in the service at the same time.) Did he ever tell you about some of his adventures on the battleship? He was in Pearl Harbor too, wasn’t he?
GB: No.
KL: The Colorado was out at sea at that time—he was lucky. He would have been in battleship row. Was he older or younger?
GB: Younger—two and a half years.
KL: So he followed in your footsteps then—you set the standard—
GB: I reckon.
KL: Can you think of anything else we haven’t covered?
GB: Not that I can think of.
KL: Did you join for example veterans groups after the war or go to reunions?
GB: Well I gone to a couple.
Doris Barrett: SACO.
GB: Yes, SACO—Sino-American Cooperative Organization.
[00:53:53.2]
KL: Tell me more about that.
GB: That’s a group I was in China with.
KL: Was this a China-American—was this a private enterprise or was this a social group?
GB: It was a fighting group—
KL: [sees watch with SACO symbol on face] Oh, you’ve got it on your watch. [Doris passes a note to George].
GB: She wants to know if I told you we set the Chinese up and we set their hospital up and things of that nature.
KL: This is the one in Shanghai—
GB: Yeah.
KL: This is different than the clinic, right? This is much bigger.
GB: Yes, it was.
KL: [Doris whispers about Admiral Miles] Admiral Miles? He must be important for you.
GB: He was the commanding officer of SACO.
KL: Looks like I’ll have to do a little research on SACO and find out a little more about it—do they still exist? Is it primarily a friendship type of organization and service in some way? Once a year? And Admiral Miles, I assume was US Navy.
GB: Yeah.
KL: Anything else you can think of?
GB: His wife was very important to us also, cause after the Admiral died she kind of kept things going for a while. So that was different.
KL: Was she Chinese by any chance or was she--?—American.
GB: No. He and General Tai Li were in change of SACO.
KL: General Tai Lee?
GB: Yes, T-a-i-L-e-e.
KL: Okay, and I assume he was a Nationalist?
GB: Yeah.
KL: Since you were in China and you have the Nationalist Chinese, Chang Kai-shek, all his shenanigans, and family, you also have Mao Tse Tung and the Communists. What evidence did you see of that—the conflict—anything at all between the two sides?
GB: No that I ever saw.
KL: Of course the Cold War is going to be going on the rest of the time while you were in the Pacific. Korea, when that war came along, you were in Guam during that period. Did you have to have any reactivation or head back to another destination because of the Korean War or were there cases brought into Guam from Korea?
GB: Oh yeah. And also my ship wound up in Korean waters and –
KL: Was that the DD-351 or the later one the Calvert?
[0:57:45.8]
GB: The Calvert.
KL: Did you go to Korea or did you just stay in Guam?
GB: I went ashore in Korea.
KL: You did? Where and when?
GB: I ought to keep quiet. I don’t know.
KL: But you were there obviously between 1950 and 1953 when your family was in Guam. Duties on shore with a General Hospital or a clinic of some sort, or--?
GB: No, I was aboard ship.
KL: You just helped people on ship. How long were you off the coast of Korea? We you up by Seoul or by Inchon or the southern end?
GB: We were by Inchon.
KL: Were you there for the Inchon landings?
GB: No. –later.
KL: All right, later. I know you have to watch the time. I do want to go and take some pictures. That would be great. If you can think of anything else, you can always call me, too. If I think of anything I can always call and add it to this. Your wife is saying I should go check out some of the items hanging in the other room which I shall do. That would be great. I will turn it off.
[0:59:11.9] End of interview.
