Gregory Dean James's Page

Dad never talked about his war time experiences to my knowledge but when we recently moved him to San Diego we found some hand written notes that I tried to put in order. There's some pretty interesting stuff if you care to read…... Greg James

William George James
Brief Military History 1941-1953

Jan. 1941 Age 17
Joined U.S. Navy
Recruit training San Diego, CA
Hospital Corps training San Diego, CA

June 1941
Duty and training at U.S. Naval Hospital, Mare Island, CA

October 1941 Age 18
Transferred to duty with 2nd Marine Division, Camp Elliot, San Diego, CA

December 7, 1941 World War Two began

January 1942
Departed U.S. with 2nd Marine Brigade, arrived in Pago Pago America Samoa to set up defenses.

July 1942
Departed Samoa with 1st Marine Raider Battalion. By now I was a 3rd class pharmacist mate and a combat corpsman. Arrived at Wellington, New Zealand where a U.S. invasion fleet was forming. First and only liberty for the year 1942.

August 7, 1942
After practice landings in New Hebrides, landed on Tulagi in the Solomons with the 1st Raider Battalion under bombing attack by Japanese planes. Tended and evacuated casualties. Myself and 12 other corpsmen transferred to Guadalcanal on a P.T. boat to help set up a division hospital near Henderson Field (was JFK the P.T. boat captain?). Japanese bombing attack was under way on our arrival.

September 1942-Febuary 1943 Age 19
Back and forth between the “Canal” and Tulagi. Noon bombings most every day and naval shelling at night. Ringside seats to naval battles fought at night.
Up graded in rank- now 2nd class pharmacist mate.


February 1943
Marines relieved by U.S. Army after suffering many casualties due to wounds, malaria, dengue fever etc. Lost many corpsmen buddies. Arrive Wellington, New Zealand for R&R.
2nd Marine division re-manned and trained.
Up graded in rank to 1st class pharmacist mate.


November 1943 Age 20
2nd Marine Division departed New Zealand in large convoy. Practice landings in Fiji islands. Landed on Tarawa with medical officer and 10 corpsmen to set up causality collection section on beachhead. Our boat was hit on landing approach; only 5 corpsmen (including myself) made it to the beach, working our way under a pier.
Fierce machine gun, mortar and artillery fire coming from “Jap” stockade, many boats and amphibious tractors hit on way in. Dead and wounded were everywhere in the water. Efforts to save the wounded were extremely dangerous and often fatal to the brave people making the effort due to the heavy machine gun and small arms fire. There was a 6 foot sea wall that offered protection to the ones that made it to the beach. Finally after navy dive bombers and a beached navy destroyer blasted the stockade and machine gun and mortar blast in our section, hostile fire slowed and the marines started going over the sea wall with machine guns, mortars and flame-throwers. We were able to treat and evacuate causalities to the hospital ship with only occasional sniper fire.
During a lull in the fighting a marine captain approached me and asked my name and how many units of plasma I had started. My hands and uniform were covered in blood. On leaving he said “ Doc, for what it’s worth I’m putting you up for a silver star”. He went over the sea wall and was killed minutes later by a mortar burst.
This was undoubtedly the longest day of my life. There was sporadic firing of small arms during the night and early morning but the marines now had the upper hand. About noon the second day we began to get replacements to relieve us. By evening most men in the initial landing that were still alive were back aboard the transports.

What a relief to get a shower, even if it was salt water! Our transport’s sickbay was full of casualties as well as all ships that had sickbays. The hospital ship’s beds were full with more seriously wounded. The ships moved out of the lagoon to open water for burials at sea. We started for Pearl Harbor the next morning in convoy. We held burials at sea everyday on the way in. After unloading the wounded at Pearl Harbor the ships left for the big island of Hawaii, where the 2nd marine division was off-loaded, what was left of the division. We were taken to a former army base on a large ranch atop the island at a 5000 foot elevation. They issued us a canvas cot and two blankets and we almost froze to death. There we would spend Christmas and New Years for the second year out of the U.S.
February 1944
Shortly after the first of the year the old timers of our medical company received orders to the states to form a training unit to teach the medical aspects of amphibious warfare to army divisions getting ready to go overseas.
June 1944
Finally a 30 day leave where I met my wife and married in July at Camp San Luis Obispo, California by an army chaplain.
March 1945 Age 21
Checked into receiving Station at Camp Elliot (the same place I had left in January 1942) to await navy sea bag and reassignment orders but the marines evidently lost my navy sea bag. They had moved from camp Elliot to their new home at Camp Pendleton. A long boring 2 months here until they finally issued me new navy clothing.

May 1945
Received orders to a new commissioning, the USS ATR-40, being built and outfitted by a local San Diego shipyard. This was a wood-hulled, 165 foot seagoing rescue tug with a single screw and a top speed of 12 knots without a tow. The crew consisted of 5 officers and 58 enlisted.
I was to be the “doctor”, 21 years old, 1st class pharmacist mate responsible for the health of the crew, ships sanitation, inoculations and record keeping. For the next two months we went thru “shakedown” underway training, gunnery practice (for armament we had a 3 inch gun on the bow and two 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.
August 1945
Set sail for the war zone towing 2 large barges over twice our length and much wider. About 2 weeks later, off Pearl Harbor we dropped our tow to another tug and went in for replenishments and liberty (2 days). While there I was there I was sent to the naval hospital to take the exam for chief. While there I sent our 1st class cook for consultation because of a persistent cough and they admitted him after test showed possible T.B. That left the ship with a 3rd class cook with little experience. The captain told me “well doc, I guess you know who our new chief cook is”.
By now the Japanese had surrendered and we were all hoping we would head back to the USA. We found out we were to carry out our original sailing orders and headed for the Philippines with our tows. So 46 days after leaving San Diego we arrived in the Leyte Gulf.
September 1945
I had more than enough “points” for overseas service to return to the states, but I couldn’t be transferred without a relief. But the good news was that I had passed the exam at Pearl Harbor and was advanced to Chief Pharmacist Mate September 1, 1945 at the age of 21 years. No place to get a chiefs uniform but a fellow chief gave me an overseas hat with a chief’s insignia and I was initiated as a chief at the Centipede Club in Tacloban, P.I.
October 1945
Received a letter from my wife telling me I was the father of a baby boy.
December 1945 Age 22
Finally a relief arrived and I received my orders stateside. Hitched a ride on a slow-moving army transport and about 18 days later went under the Golden Gate and was home.
1946
After a 30 day leave I received orders to the USS Mt. Baker, an ammunition ship. After unloading ammo at Port Chicago, CA we set sail for San Diego for decommission. I spent almost a year putting ships in mothballs. One was the Walter C. Wann, a destroyer escort that was named after a buddy of mine that was killed on Guadalcanal in 1942. His picture was hanging in the wardroom with his citation for heroism.
1947
Received orders for shore duty. After a very brief time at Naval Hospital San Diego I received orders back to the marines at Camp Pendleton where I spent 2 very enjoyable years peacetime shore duty.



1949-1950
Received orders to advanced hospital corps school at Portsmouth, VA. This school was referred to as independent duty school; most of the students were 1st class and chiefs being trained for duty on ships and stations not having a medical officer. I had already had this type of duty on the sea going tug and with the marines but I did learn a lot and felt much more capable. In the meantime the Korean War broke out. My orders from the school were to the USS Taussig, DD-746, a destroyer, the workhorse of the fleet.
1950-1953
Almost 3 years with 3 trips to the Far East, 4 months home 8 months overseas. We spent most of time overseas around Korea, shore bombardment for the marines, night illumination with star-shells, escort for air-craft carriers and patrolling the Formosa Straits between Taiwan and Mainland China. We had one destroyer in our division hit a mine and lost 90 feet of her bow and several men. We pulled into Sasebo and Yokosuka Japan for upkeep and R&R a couple of times. Also spent a week in Hong Kong. In March 1953 my relief reported aboard when we pulled into Sasebo and I left the Taussig and hitched a ride back to San Diego, where our 3rd son was born a week after my arrival. After a brief leave I received orders to the naval station, Adak Alaska. My family would have to wait 6 months to join me in order to get naval housing. A few days after my arrival the C.O. called me in and told me he had a special assignment for me. He wanted me to go to the island of Attu where there was a security detachment of 1 officer and about 28 men. He had just made an inspection there and said the men’s moral seemed very low due to inactivity and lack of recreation. He told me he would send me anything that I thought would improve the situation. There was a weekly plane flight that brought mail and relief personnel from Adak. There was also a sea-going tug that brought fuel, frozen food every month. He also asked me to instill a little leadership in the young, 22 year old ensign who was in charge of the detachment. On reporting to Attu I could see I had a job ahead of me. Most of the men needed hair cuts, there was a barber shop in the building, but no barber (guess who became a barber). All personnel lived, worked, ate, slept and recreated in one building. A large well built concrete structure that included generator room, repair shop, galley, sick bay, kitchen, individual rooms for 1 officer and chief. I had a fully equipped sick bay with 2 beds directly across from my room. What few patients I had were treated for common ailments, colds, sore throats etc. I had a field ambulance that I used to meet the weekly plane from Adak. This old ambulance proved to be one of the best morale builders that I had. I started taking 3 or 4 men on 2 or 3 day safaris around the island. We fished for salmon and dolly varden trout, hunted ptarmigan and explored the island. This is how we found the Japanese grave-sites. Most of these were found on the far side of the island where the last major battle was fought. These were mass graves probably made by U.S. army with a bulldozer. There were markers and a number of Japanese in each grave. Some of the post had fallen and the graves were discovered by accident. As a result of these discoveries, two months later I was assigned as a collateral duty to represent the navy in assisting the Japanese officials that would be removing the bodies.
About a week later a Japanese ship arrived and tied up at our old dock I was one of the welcoming committee. We had been advised by superior naval officers that this was strictly an official visit, not a social one and that we were to extend any courtesies that were within reason in the recovery of the Japanese dead buried on the island.
Included in the ships complement were about 5 officers a Shinto priest, a Buddha priest, Christian priest and about 50 men. One of the officers was a young man who was the son of the commanding officer of the Japanese troops on Attu. His father’s body was never found and it was believed he committed Hari Kari in the bay on the final day of fighting. This would be Colonel Kamakazi. The next day I loaded the old ambulance up with 3 Japanese officers and one priest and showed them the graves we had found. As I recall about six or seven. They were very appreciative. They had some maps and charts and seemed to have info on where the major battle was fought.
Over the next two weeks they spent digging up the body’s trying to identify them. Many were identified by name patches on uniforms many were not. The remains were cremated at the site and the ashes gathered for return to Japan. There are no trees on Attu so fuel for cremation was a problem. They had brought some wood from Japan and they were allowed to salvage wood from the ruins of old army camp sites. On the day before they departed they had a final ceremony and invited all hands on Attu and several US naval officers flew in from Adak to attend. They had Shinto, Buddha and Christian rites. Shortly after the Japanese left Attu I was relieved and returned to Adak awaiting the arrival of my family