"It was delightful at first, but by the third day we were getting bored and were chafing to get back to the squadron."
Return to Kaneohe
Return to Kaneohe
Two
full weeks after the attack on Midway it was obvious that the battle was over
and we were the victors. We had combed
the waters around Midway in a 750 mile radius and, after taking the survivors
from the lifeboat, there were no more Japanese to be found and no more downed
American pilots. (Although my crew did
not rescue any Americans, the other PBYs had pulled more than 35 American
survivors from the waters between the location of the American carriers and the
location of Nagumo’s carrier task force on the day of the historic
battle.)
Yamamoto’s
mighty fleet had retired westward in defeat.
The Imperial Japanese Navy no longer posed a major threat to the
American forces that were starting the island-to-island campaign toward
Japan. The opening of that campaign was
the invasion by Marines of the Japanese –held island of Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands in the far South Pacific north of New Caledonia.
On
June 21st our ordeal as VP-11 orphans at Midway came to an end. Both we and the airplane were tired, but we
flew back to Kaneohe in high spirits. During
that two weeks, in spite of the Navy doctors’ decree that 80 hours a month was
the maximum, rules go out the window when a battle is joined. We had been in the air a total of more than
160 hours and had serviced an maintained
the airplane ourselves.
Once
again there was no emotional reunion with brother Dick because once more he was
ashore on a 72 hour liberty pass when we were pulled up the ramp and turned the
weary PBY over to the maintenance crew.
The entire flight crew was given a welcome one-week R&R (rest and
recreation) leave.
We
found some changes had occurred. Now
that we were “blooded veterans: we were entitled, and required to wear the
ribbons issued in lieu of medals that would some later. They were not the decorations of heroes but
were area campaign medals—an American Defense ribbon with a bronze star that
showed we had been present in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941 and an /Asiatic
Theater ribbon with a star indicating that we had participated in a major
battle (more stars would come later as we moved south and west and more battles
took place).
We
also found that the Navy had taken over the Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Waikiki and
were using it for R&R for combat-weary crews, mostly the submarine crews
that returned from war patrols in Japanese waters. All crews from Midway, including us, were
ordered there for a week of relaxation.
I packed spare liberty uniforms and on the morning of June 22nd
caught the Windward Transit to Honolulu for my time at the Royal Hawaiian.
When
I got off “the Red Peril” on Beretania, I went to the garage that was the base
for Dian’es taxi. She was there getting
ready for her shift and joined me for a cup of coffee at the Honolulu Café. Over coffee I found again that casual-acting
brother Richard was concerned about his “little brother”. Diane told me in confidence that on June 4th
when we took off for that torpedo attack that never occurred, Dick had gotten
special liberty and had come ashore to get drunk because he was afraid that I
was flying to my death. She did not go
into detail but commented that Dick had gotten more drunk then than she had
ever seen him and ranted about “that dumb sonabitch was going to go out and get
himself killed”. (He did not know that
we had been called back to Kaneohe until later.) She commented dryly, “He almost wreck my
apartment!”
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| Sailors enjoying the Royal Hawaiian |
The
week at the Royal Hawaiian was a delightful change from the rigors of
Midway. I was in what had been a $40 a
day room (in that era when the average hotel room was less than ten dollars)
with one other man. The cost to us was
twenty-five cents a day to defray maid service.
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| Tea dance at Royal Hawaiian WWII |
Other
than being expected to observe the rules about no booze or women in the rooms,
we were free to come and go as we wished.
The hotel bars and dining facilities were fully operational and were no
longer restricted to officers. There
were no moneyed tourists during wartime.
Each afternoon there was a tea dance on the terrace that was
well-attended by respectable young ladies of the community under the auspices
of the USO.
It
was delightful at first, but by the third day we were getting bored and were
chafing to get back to the squadron.
