HomeMy WebLinkAboutWWII Prog McCaskillGERALD McCASKILL
U. S. Navy - U.S.S. Tennessee
Pacific Theatre
"In nine months aboard ship I had been in five major battles and had just turned 19. The war and the Navy changed my life. The GI Bill enabled me to go to A&M."
Even though Gerald McCaskill did not join the war effort until 1944, he was in three major battles within less than three months from the time he left home and Mother. "It all started
when I was inducted into the Navy March 15, 1944, left for training and ultimately joined our ship, the USS Tennessee, in Hawaii.
My job during a battle was damage control. In other words, if a water or electric line should be hit, our duty was to stop the flow of water as best we could until a repairman could
get through. When we were engaged in the invasion of Saipan and Tinian in the Pacific, we were hit by three shells from a Japanese shore battery on Tinian. We had quite a bit of damage
in our station, mainly broken water lines and structural damage. "We had a strange kind of funny thing. It happened that the deck above us was a vegetable locker and a lot of potatoes
came down on us."
Usually we would shell for 3-5 days before the invasion, then our ship would 'lay off' and stand by for 'calls for fire' from our troops after our forces landed.
The USS Tennessee fought in Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Philippines twice. We were hit by seven Kamikaze suicide planes on April 12 -- the same day President Roosevelt died. "It
came over the P.A. system right way. We were real sad that day with 110 injured and the 26 burials at sea." Yet when he had to go back to the Philippines, Gerald said, "Didn't think
too much about it. That was where my ship went. That was where I was going to be."
When the USS Tennessee entered the Surigao Straits, it played an important part in the last battle between huge fighting ships. Admiral Ohlendorf had his six old battleships position
themselves across the Straits so that all 14" turrets could fire simultaneously where the Japanese could only fire their forward turrets. The battle, begun at a distance of 10-12 miles,
was over in some 20 minutes.
We assumed that next we would be going to Japan and had started reloading for invasion when word came they dropped the bomb at Hiroshima. I was glad. The dropping of the atomic bombs
and the final surrender of Japan was good news to our crew and I know for the guys in the Army and Marines.
"I told my kids that I hoped they never had to go serve but if they did I hope they would go and serve with honor. I cannot abide that anybody would not go serve with honor."
Gerald McCaskill Barbara Donalson Althaus
College Station, Texas Bryan, Texas
WWII Prog McCaskill