A Journey to sea and a missing Jeep
The war against Japan was over. Okinawa had suddenly become a very boring place to be. Nothing much to do but sit around and drink expensive whiskey if any was to be found, and of course sleep a lot. So one day in a borrowed jeep was riding along when a familiar face behind a hitch hiking thumb caught my eye. Picked him up and found out he was an old HS student from my class in Dallas.
Took him on down to Yellow Beach and thanking me for the ride he invited me to come out to the ship and have Sunday Dinner with them and said bring a friend. Well, the only one I knew with a jeep that could go was Roger Rhodarmer, and Rog being from NC I knew loved fried chicken which I had been told they were going to serve. Something we had not had in months.
Roger was not only happy to go he was impatient to get there so we left the jeep on the beach after preparing it for our absence and got into the small boat they had sent to pick us up.
The ship we went aboard was a T-2 tanker that had just unloaded a lot of aircraft fuel but was still partially loaded. Like all T-2's the crew lived in different places, the officers amid ship where the small sick bay was, with the crew and mess and other cabins aft.
After being shown about the ship we went aft to eat, where during the meal the engines suddenly began to go thunka thunka and the ship began to roll a bit. We could tell it was getting under way. We were quite worried about what was happening and on questioning the Captain were told that a typhoon was reported heading for Okinawa and we were putting to sea for safety. We asked to be put ashore and were shown a very excited and rough sea and told, not now friends, you are now part of the crew. So began one of the most thrilling boat trips either of us would ever take, and even more bothersome, since we had expected to be back onshore that night, no one in the squadron knew where we were. Thus began a real adventure that made a combat mission seem tame by comparison.
We were domiciled in the sick bay which was supplied with several double deck bunks secured to each other on stainless poles bolted to the deck. It was clean and very comfortable, yeah sure.. and if you believe that I have a good bargain for a bridge spanning San Francisco harbor.
The Captain flooded the empty tanks with sea water which put us very low in the water and less likely to roll over 90 degrees, but I swear there were times it rolled at least 60 to 65. To sleep we had to brace our feet on the tubes at the foot of the bed and hold on to the ones at the head and eventually fall asleep from exhaustion.
To go aft to eat, there was a safety belt on the cat walk leading aft. You put the harness on and then holding on to the hand rails went aft and the next in line pulled it back so he could use the walk which was almost continually awash in blowing spray and wave action. The food was great and neither of us being afflicted with sea sickness we did enjoy food that we had not had for a long while.
Now there wasn't a lot to do aboard a tanker in a typhoon, and entertainment being at a premium, we spent our days in the Gunnery Officers cabin playing hearts. If you braced yourself against a good stable leg of the table, you could see the water at one point in the roll and the sky on the next. Needless to say we really learned to play hearts under conditions not really experienced by many others.
Having the run of the ship we spent some time on the bridge which was quite an experience also watching the bow rise and crash down spraying water in all directions while rolling to unreal angles. The wind was so strong there was 18" of water on the weather bridge which was an enclosed bridge to port and starboard.
It was Sunday when we went aboard. The following Saturday we sailed back to Okinawa and were amazed at the damage that had been done to the island, but we were also very apprehensive about what was going to happen to the two AWOL pilots. Roger never did tell me what was said by Col Randy, but he hinted and none of it was a love message I am sure. Luckily he understood why we were unable to return, but for all of that we had the most comfortable place to be during that storm. Unfortunately the jeep was gone and Roger was responsible.
That was in September 1945. In mid 1957 I was transferred to Hickham AFB but before leaving had to fly some personnel to DC and with a day to spare looked Roger up in the Pentagon finally finding him about five basements deep. I walked into his office and before even saying hello he said.. I was just thinking about you. You know that jeep we lost in 1945? I said yeah. He said well, every year since then the AF has sent me a bill for $777 and every year I have turned in a report of survey telling the story of how it was lost, and they just a week ago accepted it. It had taken only almost 12 years for him to get out from under that.
During the reunions I had occasion to ask Roger if he wanted to go out to get a bite to eat being told each time.. No Way.. every time I go out to eat with you I don't get back for a week.
Charlie Wolf Pilot, 439th Bombardment Squadron