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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGerald McCaskill, Brazos Valley Heroes it ht series of trill,' to t4mk56Css; of'"Th Generation" who servt'tl iulr country Cluring wfJrlcl Will II Growing up and farming. on the Trinity River sometimes felt like you were in the middle of an ocean when the Trinity River flooded. That was the most water Gerold McCaskill had ever seen until he joined the Navy and set sail for Saipan in the Pacific. "I graduated from Centerville High in 1942 at the age of 16. It took a while for me to be eligible to go into the military so I stayed and helped my Dad farm until March 15, 1944, when Ijoined the Navy. I did boot camp for six weeks in San Diego and was immediately assigned to sea duty with no leave to go home. The fast ship I saw, I got on and sailed to Hawaii. In Hawaii. I was assigned to the USS Tennessee, an old battleship that was almost sunk at Pearl Harbor when the war began. "Gn June 10, 1944, we headed to sea for the invasion of Saipan. In less than 90 days, I had gone from a farm boy from Centerville, Texas, to the mid- dle of a war. My hair still hadn't grown out from boot camp. By December 1944,1 was a veteran of five bat- tles. I grew up in a hurry." Three days before an invasion, the Ternessee would go in and fire its guns at certain targets and sec- tors of the island. After Saipan, McCaskill and the Tennessee headed for Guam for the same type of duty. "When we went into Guam, we were hit by a shore battery that hit our five -inch gun placement and killed all in the gun mount. We also received damage to the quarterdeck. I was on damage control, and my job was to put out the fire and to try to control the damage." After the Tennessee was repaired, it headed to the Philippines for the invasion of September 1944. "Admiral 'Bull' Halsey was in command. The Japanese decoyed him north and he took all the new ships with him, leaving six old battleships to protect the Philippines. After Halsey left, here came the Japanese, with Halsey too far away to help. Admiral Olendorf, who was left in command of the Tennessee and the other ships, knew the location of the Japanese fleet from our aerial intelligence." Olendorf decided that the battle for the Philippines and the sea battle for control of the Pacific would be waged at Surigao Strait with six old battle- ships, to include the Tennessee. "We knew where they would come from, wejust didn't know when. The Japanese attacked at 3 a.m. with PT boats. We were sitting broadside in a battle line and could fire all of our guns at the Japanese, while they could only fire their forward batteries. We were fuing all of our 14 -inch guns and everything else we had. So were the rest of our ships:' When it was over, the US naval forces had sunk two battleships, two cruisers, five destroyers and had sent.Admiral Nishimura, the commander of the Japanese Navy, to a watery grave. The Japanese Navy would never be a viable force in the Pacific again. "We were sent to Bremerton, Washington, to be refitted and I was able to go home on leave for the first time. We were paid in silver dollars mid I had to travel in my dress blues which only had a small front pocket and I had all those silver dollars in that small pocket. I looked like I had a hernia. It was good to be home again, especially at Christmas time" By January 1945, McCaskill was back in the Philippines. He soon headed for the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945. From there it was on to Okinawa. "We were supporting our ground troops who had landed on Okinawa when we were attacked by seven Kamikaze planes. We shot down six, but one hit our starboard side and rolled down the side of the ship. The plane's bomb went off in our compartment. We lost 26 men and over 100 other sailors were wounded. The saddest funeral I have ever attended was the bur- ial at sea of the 26 men we lost" When the war ended, McCaskill was part of the first ones from the Tennessee to go ashore on the Japanese mainland. "When we beached our boat, we were met by some Japanese ladies and kids. A little girl came up to me and gave me a small cup in a small silk bag. I still have it today." After the war, McCaskill returned to Texas and emo0ed at A&M under the GI Bill. "The first test I took was chemistry, and I made a 19. I realized I had two choices. I could study and learn or go home and pick cotton. I studied." McCaskill graduated in 1950 and spent most of his career in the banking business in Andrews, Texas, before retiring to College Station in 1990. The crew of the Tennessee has an annual reunion, but there are fewer and fewer each year. McCaskill always attends because the men in the crew were those who had changed from boys to men - together. And they were men you could depend on. Gerald McCaskill's name can be found on the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial. If you want to make a contribution or know of a World War It veter- an whose story needs to be told contact the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial at www.veterans-memori- al.org or Bill Youngkin at 260 -7030.