First-hand account: Okinawa
It wasn’t always the enemy they had to contend with…
Louis Meehl
After the war started, I decided I had to get into the service, this didn’t make my folks very happy, especially my dad, but I just had to go. So, I enlisted in the Army Air Corps. They made me a gunner and sent me to the Pacific. I flew on A-20’s in the 417th Bomb Group, B-24’s in the 90th and B-25’s in the 38th. I was on the islands all through the western Pacific, New Guinea, the Philippines, the Ryukyus, and even up to Japan later on.
It was after the war had ended and we’d moved up to an airstrip on a little island called Ie Shima, right next to Okinawa. It was the island where Ernie Pyle was killed. We were living there in the usual primitive conditions that we’d put up with on all the islands – tents, C and K rations, nothing to do but fly missions. The airstrip there was right near the beach, well, the island was so small that everything was right near the beach, and of course our tents were close to the coast.
We got word that a storm was coming and the pilots flew our squadron’s planes off somewhere. The rest of us on the flight crews and the ground crews were left behind to fend for ourselves. The wind started blowing, the rain was coming down, and we were trying to hold on to our tents to keep them from blowing over,
Well, it turned out this storm was a typhoon and the wind blew stronger and stronger, and the rain was being driven horizontally. What a storm! I’d never experienced anything like it. After a while, we couldn’t hold the tents up anymore. First one of the tents blew down, then another, and pretty soon all the tents were down, and we were outside in the weather.
There was no other shelter – our bombing and the Navy’s shelling when we’d taken the island had flattened all the trees and it was just bare sand and rock. And the wind just kept blowing harder!
Next thing we knew the tents and everything inside them started to blow away, right off the island and out into the ocean. We just couldn’t hold on to them under those conditions – the wind just ripped anything out of our hands if you tried to hold on to it. So after the tents and everything was gone, all we could do was huddle together and try to protect ourselves. It was like we were just a bunch of wet, cold sheep huddled together – and the wind kept blowing even harder.
We’d rotate the guys on the outside of the huddle toward the middle because the rain was being blown so hard it hurt when it hit you. We all took our turns on the outside of the group. Some of us had bruises from that rain afterwards.
[ I was unable to locate le Shima photos of the storm, hence the Okinawa pictures. I suppose everyone’s camera went to sea. ]
This seemed to go on for hours, and the whole time we just stayed there huddled together, When the wind and rain finally started to let up, it dawned on us that everything we had was gone. I had a lot of photos from all the islands we’d been on, some souvenirs, and of course the rest of my clothes and personal effects, and they were just gone.
Our planes came back and they flew in more tents for us, but later when I shipped back to the States I didn’t have much more to take home with me that the clothes I had on the day the storm started!
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Bernice Cooke – Toronto, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, nurse
George C. Evans – Bay Village, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 457 Artillery/11th Airborne Division
Reynaldo ‘Chita’ Gonzolaz – Newton, KS; US Army, Korea, Sgt., 2nd Division
Peter Hanson – Laconia, NH; US Army, Vietnam, Captain, 101st Airborne Division
Christopher Knoop – Buffalo, NY; US Army, Desert Storm, 810th MP Co., communications
Donald Ottomeyer – St. Louis, MO; US Army, Lt., 101st Airborne Division
John D. Roper – Nashville, TN; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Westmoreland & Pontiac
Juan Serna Sr. – Pharr, TX; US Army, WWII / National Guard (Ret. 25 y.)
Michael Stickley – Broad Channel, NY; US Army, Vietnam
Pansy Yankey (100) – Brashear, TX; Civilian, North American Aviation, WWII, drill press operator
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Posted on August 24, 2020, in Broad Channel, First-hand Accounts, Post WWII, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, Army, Cyclone, History, Japan, le Shima, Military, Military History, USA, veterans, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 107 Comments.
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News and commented:
What an experience! Well done just to survive…
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Thank you, Ned!
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Excellent first hand writing, only someone who witnessed the moment could describe it so well, pity his camera and all his pics were blown away.
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Those pictures must have been so dear to him too. Thanks for reading it, Ian.
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Wat hebben die jongens meegemaakt en alles verloren maar gelukkig heeft hun teamgeest ze gered.Niet te geloven
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Het was zeker moeilijk voor hen om alles te verliezen, maar ze gingen tenminste levend naar huis. Misschien probeerde Moeder Natuur op te ruimen wat de oorlog van haar prachtige eilanden verwoestte?
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I love reading this, “We’d rotate the guys on the outside of the huddle toward the middle because the rain was being blown so hard it hurt when it hit you. We all took our turns on the outside of the group. Some of us had bruises from that rain afterwards.” What wonderful teamwork.
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If there was a way to survive – they were going to find it!! Thanks for visiting, RoseMary.
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Ie Shima was on the list of places my father had been. Ernie Pyle wrote a story about one of my uncles who was stationed in Italy at the time. I didn’t know Ie Shima was where Ernie lost his life.
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So close to the end of the war. His death broke the heart of many who served around him.
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I didn’t know it could rain that hard. I’ll never complain about the weather again!
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haha, I have been through hurricanes, but the Pacific tropics have it far worse than I’ll ever see too!!
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My dad went through one when he was in the navy but spent the time below decks putting electrical fires out.
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That sure must have been a rough job to do during a hurricane! Yikes!
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I knew he’d been through a typhoon but assumed it wasn’t too bad as it was a large ship, but when he eventually told me the story, when he was in his early 80s, it seems it had not been as simple as I had assumed.
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I had a feeling it had to be difficult to work below deck, especially with fire!
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I’ve been through too many storms not to have sympathy for those guys — and more than sympathy! What they experienced is nearly unbelievable. As bad as it was to lose so many important possessions, especially things like photos, losing life would have been worse. It was so interesting to hear how they huddled together but rotated the outside people — that’s like the rotations that migrating birds carry out to relieve the ones in front from the strain of leading the flock: letting them move to the back to rest up a bit!
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It must be instinct because this sort of storm would not have been covered in basic training! The US did not know about fighting in terrain as such they would find in the Pacific side of the war. Once I read this story, I had to have it.
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Great first person account of an offbeat war story. Thanks GP!
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Thank you for that. Your own site is remarkable.
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If the planes were evacuated in time, why weren’t the men?
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I have no answer for that, sorry. This story was located in “Pacific War Stories: in the words of those who survived” collected by: Rex Alan Smith & Gerald A. Meehl
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What a story! They even took turns being on the outside. Mother Nature can be as fierce as war.
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It most certainly can, Jennie. Thank you.
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You’re welcome, GP.
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Wow! I can’t begin to imagine that.
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I’ve been through hurricanes, but nothing like that myself!
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I can not imagine what it was like riding out the typhoon with no shelter
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I honestly can not either!
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Reblogged this on depolreablesunite.
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Thank you, Rick.
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As if the enemy were not enough to contend with
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I so agree. Thanks, Derrick.
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I expect stories like this are more common than one would think. It never occurred to me that people had to survive typhoons without shelter. Thanks for sharing this story.
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And that is the exact reason why I posted it, John. Thank you for visiting!!
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If you’re interested in reading another, we have a typhoon story on our blog: https://airwarworldwar2.wordpress.com/2014/07/25/riding-out-the-storm/
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HA! on the humor!!! 🙂
Makes me think of an old saying, “Those who have knowledge don’t predict, and those who predict don’t have knowledge.” 😉 😀
I’m like the old hippie-dippie weatherman…I get my weather update by just looking out the window to see what’s going on out there! HA!!! 😉 😛
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And I’ll bet you are far more accurate than all that expensive Doppler equipment.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_rock
The Weather Rock is also helpful. 😀
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Oh that is hysterical! I never knew Wiki could be funny.
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Wowza! 😮 Something we don’t often think about happening. Thank you for sharing Mr. Louis Meehl’s story with us, GP!
HUGS!!! 🙂
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My pleasure. Everyone has a different perspective on an event.
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That is a terrific story, but such a sad one. It must have been awful to come through a conflict like that and then have very little to show for it. I’ve often wondered just how much (or little) of their stuff washed back up on shore in later years.
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True, and a surprise no one was killed! Back then, not everyone had a camera, so pictures were precious.
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It sounds as though Louis and his buddies were lucky to have survived that storm!
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It does at that, Liz! I’ve been through hurricanes, but nothing that could compare with that story!
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I love the first hand accounts. That sounds awful.
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Yessiree, that had to be quite a storm and the wrong island to be on when it hit.
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“Bruises from the rain” really puts it into perspective how scary that must have been! What an account. And poor Ernie Pyle 😦
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That had to be some force of power in that storm! Thank you for reading his story, MB.
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The first-hand accounts always grip me the most.
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Thank you for remembering the stories.
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There are so many. I wish I could post them all, but that’s just not possible.
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But it is enough, my dear friend.
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Thank you.
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An amazing account of that storm, GP. Thanks.
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I appreciate your visit, John!
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😊
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Having been through a couple hurricanes with the Red Cross, I cannot imagine being outside in such a storm. Our hurricane advice has always been “get out of Dodge,” but those poor guys had no choice.
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Especially on a very small island.
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The typhoon would have been a serious battle to struggle through with no hope of a great victory. Thank goodness the men found a way to survive but it would have been sad to realize that all your personal possessions were lost forever.
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Reblogged this on Dave Loves History.
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Thank you, Dave.
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Ouch! Man, that’s really rough. Those guys had some sand. Literally and figuratively.
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It almost sounded to me like it could be made into a “Private SNAFU” cartoon – if it hadn’t been so serious a situation for these men.
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Since this was the Army Air Corps, I’m surprised there was not an O’Club where they might have been able to take some shelter. Good post.
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I have a feeling none had yet been built since they didn’t plan on staying very long. They were scheduled to head for Japan.
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Good point. Almost every good WWII joke usually included how quickly the Army Air Corps put up an officer’s club–Guess this one was an exception. 🙂 Not my idea of an ideal camp out,
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He kept mentioning how flat and barren all the fighting had left the island, that’s what makes me believe there was none.
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I have a friend who has a Revolutionary War diary from one of her ancestors who served. It is a book. I told her she should have it scanned once, and give copies of the scans to relatives and interested museums. These war diaries may give important information for family members or descendants of those who served. It may also be of interest to historians. I was happy to find a rare book in Princeton’s library of my uncle’s unit during the Korean War. It provided some insight as to why he never talked about it. I was able to find out which battles he was a part knowing when he served and asking him to confirm.
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Exactly! Up until recently, books on the Pacific War were few and far between, so I’ve had a number of people tell me that after reading this blog for a while, they found an understanding of their father(s) and/or grandfather(s). Historical accounts are so important for so many reasons!!
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Exactly!
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Wow! What an experience!
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I have to agree. I’ve been through hurricanes, even the eye of one on Long Island, NY, but this sounds incredible!
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That island gets so many bad storms. I suppose it can be chalked off to island living. Good first-hand account.
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Thank you, Jacqui. I know I’ve mentioned in the past all the soldiers had to deal with but I felt an eye-witness account would show the weather problems better than I.
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Poor chaps!
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That says it ALL. Thank you.
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I feel sorry for this young soldier, who had so many precious photos he lost in the typhoon. All he had left were his memories. What an incredible story!
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Thank you, Peter. You are always so kind. That is much appreciated, my friend.
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I could just imagine what those men were going through that typhoon. Losing everything to Mother Nature was a given at that kind of wind speed but at least they made it through. Memories will stay forever even if they lost their photos. Great post, GP.
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Oh, I’m certain that those memories would hang in there. I wanted to show people that they had more to deal with than the Japanese.
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True enough. Typhoons, the wild jungle, poisonous snakes, mosquitoes, and malaria, unfriendly tribal groups. Pacific Theater was worse than the European Theater.
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By a mile – and then some!! haha
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Thank you, John.
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You are welcome.
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What a journey. Soldier are in war times “multi usage”, and how sad is this, the clothing is not always the best. Michael
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No, the clothing is not, especially in the tropics. It was there that the U.S. had it’s baptism with jungle fighting and “guerrilla warfare”.
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Sounds very evil.Thank you for this information, GP! Enjoy your week! Michael
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And you as well, my friend!!
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Thank you very much, GP!
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😁👍
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😁👍
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Was that the typhoon of December 1944? The USS Hancock (CV-19) was battered, even on the edge of it. Uncle Donald Wilson had me get the book “Typhoon: The Other Enemy” by Capt. C. Raymond Calhoun, US Navy (Ret.), which recounts the storm, the tragic loss of three Farragut-class destroyers and their crews, as well as the court’s investigations and findings.
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No, this was Aug-Sept. of 1945. If I’m not mistaken, the one you’re talking about was also called “Halsey’s Hurricane” because of the damage brought on the Navy.
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Mother Nature won that battle.
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That she did!!
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I am glad he survived the war but losing all personal items like photos must have been a bitter experience.
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I agree, Maria. Not everyone had a camera back then, so each picture was precious.
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All he had was the vivid memories
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And they would last him a lifetime.
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The weather could definitely be an additional ‘enemy’ in war, no doubt. That must have been a miserable time, waiting for their planes to return.
Best wishes, Pete.
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That’s what I was thinking. I’ll bet powdered eggs never tasted so good!
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You are correct about the weather sometimes being viewed as an enemy. So many aircrews disappeared in bad weather in the Pacific Theater, men got frostbite or worse in the European Theater, figuring out how to manage the extreme heat and/or humidity…it’s quite a list.
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Wow! My brother (the Navy pilot) was stationed in Korea back in ‘17-‘18 when all that stuff was going on with South Korea. My sister and I went to visit and we all ended up visiting Okinawa. The last day of our trip a Typhoon hit, shut down the entire island and delayed our return trip 24 hours.
Of course we were safe on the US Navy base, but still it was scary and nerve wracking.
I can’t imagine what those boys had to go through! Hours and hours of rain and then losing everything… it must have been terrifying.
Thanks for posting this GP. I really enjoyed reading it!
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And thank you for giving us another eye witness story about the storms out there. Much appreciated, Beck.
Stay safe!
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