There is a personal interview with Kenneth about his servicde at that bottom of this page. Kenneth Wilson Boley was born Nov. 17, 1921 in Little Rock Arkansas to James Edward and Iva Eula Rhynes Boley. Aug 8, 1942 Kenneth W. Boley of Lamar, Johnson Co. Ar. married Virginia Doris Overstreet of Alma Crawford Co., Ar. On July 2, 1941 Kenneth enlisted with the US Navy and served his full time of enlistment. He was aboard at least four different ships, USS Essex, USS Long Island,the USS Swan and the USS Chenango. September 25, 1945 Kenneth again registered for the military at Fort Smith, Ar. He is listed as "Unemployed - Discharged Veteran". After his re-enlistment there is a muster list that shows him back on board the USS Essex. His rank on the last muster found was AMM1c or Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st Class Petty Officer. Sept 12, 1950 Kenneth again re-enlisted in the US Navy and was discharged Dec 14, 1951. In 1959 Kenneth is found on the Fort Smith, Ar. city directory living in Ft Smith with his wife and family. Aug. 16, 2009 Kenneth Wilson Boley passed away in Fort Smith, Ar. He was buried in the Fort Smith National Cemetery in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ar. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Find A Grave Kenneth Wilson Boley of Fort Smith, Arkansas passed away on August 16, 2009 at the age of 87 years. Pre-deceased by his parents, James Edward Boley and Iva Eula Rhynes, Kenneth was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on November 17, 1921 and spent much of his youth in Lamar, Arkansas, where he completed high school. His first major employment was with the Civilian Conservation Corps at Devil's Den State Park in Winslow, where he met his sweetheart and future wife, Virginia Doris Overstreet. In the summer of 1941, Kenneth joined the Navy and attended basic and advanced training at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego, California. Graduating as an Aviation Machinist Mate, he was assigned to a combat fighter squadron in Hawaii just after Pearl Harbor. In May of 1942, this twenty-year-old from Arkansas found himself on board the U.S.S. Lexington in the first major carrier battle of World War II, and went overboard when the ship was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Plucked from the sea by the U.S.S. New Orleans, Kenneth went home for shore leave and promptly married Virginia, who remained his loving wife for 67 years. They had twin children, Kenny and Jenny, on December 25th, 1944. Virginia continues to reside in Fort Smith, as does daughter Jenny and her husband, Tom Waller. Kenny, also a Navy veteran, resides in San Diego, California. Kenneth is also survived by four grandchildren, Eric Prichard, of Harrogate, England, Brandon Prichard, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Ryan Waller, of Lakewood, Colorado, and Ashlea Gowen, of Fayetteville, Arkansas, and six great grandchildren: Jessica and Paige Prichard, Caladan Waller, and Abby, Libby, and Bryn Gowen. He is also survived by two nephews, James and John Boley of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and by a sister and brother in law who loved him dearly, Janice Hambrick of Arlington, Texas, and Darrell Overstreet of Bartlett, Tennessee. Also grieving is his beloved dog, Sampson. Kenneth Boley was truly a member of the greatest generation, serving throughout World War II in the Pacific Theater in numerous major battles and campaigns, and in the Korean War patrolling the Taiwan Straits. He ended his service with fourteen major awards and decorations, including two campaign battle stars and a distinguished unit citation for service on the U.S.S. Essex. After his naval service, he and Virginia worked and resided in Gravette, Arkansas and Stigler, Oklahoma before they settled in Fort Smith, where Kenneth began a forty-five year career with Hawkins Company as a sales engineer. Kenneth designed and installed air conditioning systems in major buildings all over Arkansas and several states before his retirement. Kenneth loved people, and served as a deacon at First Baptist Church Fort Smith for over forty years, and at various times President of the Fort Smith Bass Club and Kiwanis Club. Known as a great fisherman and charter member of the Lunkers and Liars Club, Kenneth also was a master chef, famous for the best cheesecake in the region. He and Virginia were recently saluted for fifty-five years of service in the First Baptist Church Choir, where he anchored the tenor section. Kenneth Boley had a servant's heart, and lived a life of service to his family, his country, and his Lord, loving them all with all his heart. Funeral services were at First Baptist Church Fort Smith on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 10:30 AM, Pastor Dale Thompson presiding. Graveside service with military honors were at the U.S. National Cemetery under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home. Honorary pall bearers are the deacons of First Baptist Church, Fort Smith. 1941 1942 1943 USS Swan departed Palmyra Island on 8 December and returned to Pearl Harbor on the 13th. Swan put to sea again on the 30th to carry supplies to Canton Island. She unloaded her cargo there on 7 January 1943 and reentered Pearl Harbor on the 16th. The tender remained at Pearl Harbor until 12 March when she sailed to Johnston Island to tow YC-811 back to Pearl Harbor. Swan returned to Pearl Harbor on 23 March and, from then until the beginning of May, she assisted the fleet air wing by towing targets for bombing practice. From 8 to 22 May, she made a voyage to Tern Island of French Frigate Shoals, located about halfway between the main Hawaiian Islands and Midway Island. Upon her return to Pearl Harbor, she resumed target-towing duties, this time for torpedo bombers. Between 1 and 7 June, she made another round-trip voyage to French Frigate Shoals and back. USS Chenango Jul 31, 1943. Chenango's planes formed an air umbrella to escort to safety St. Louis (CL-49) and Honolulu (CL-48) after the light cruisers were damaged in the Battle of Kolombangara on 13 July 1943. Reclassified to an escort aircraft carrier (CVE-28) on 15 July 1943, Chenango returned to the United States at Mare Island Navy Yard, Calif., on 18 August 1943, for an 1945 USS Essex (CV/CVA/CVS-9) was an aircraft carrier and the lead ship of the 24-ship Essex class built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in December 1942, Essex participated in seveb28eral campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning the Presidential Unit Citation and 13 battle stars. For the rest of the story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(CV-9) World War II Veterans History Project The Fort Smith Historical Society Interview with Kenneth Wilson Boley http://fortsmithhistory.org/index.html JW: The first thing I'd like to know, sir, is your full name. KB: Kenneth Wilson Boley. JW: B-o-l-e-y? KB: B-o-l-e-y. . JW: Where were you born? KB: Little Rock, Arkansas. JW: And who are your parents? KB: James E. Boley and maiden name, Iva Ryans. JW: And did she die a long, long time ago? KB: Yes, she passed away a long time ago. JW: And did you grow up in Little Rock? KB: No. They came back to this area here, actually out in the country, north of Lamar. JW: Lamar? KB: Yeah. JW: Did you have any brothers and sisters? KB: Had two brothers and two sisters. JW: Where did you wind up going to school? KB: I went to school in a little country school called Denny out in the country, up through the 8th grade. And then Clarksville, I went back to Clarksville and went to school there up until about the 11th grade. And about that time, we had a separation in the family and I went to live with an aunt. So then I went in the CCC camp up here in Devil's Den. JW: Did you graduate from high school? KB: Not until I got out of the service. JW: Not until the year you graduated. Well, I was just hunting for the year you graduated. KB: Golly, 1930-- JW: We can come back to that. How old were you when you went to the CCC? KB: They lied on it. I was sixteen. JW: And where did you go? Where did they send you? KB: Devil's Den. I worked up to be the project superintendent's clerk. And they had a limit, you could stay in two years; after two years, you had to get out. But Brian Sterns, who was the project 2 superintendent, wanted to keep me for another six months, so I got two years and six months up there. JW: You must have been pretty good at what you did. KB: Well, I don't know about that. JW: Well, they kept you for some reason. KB: Take sixteen, seventeen year old boy, but I did teach myself to type and I kept some records. JW: Is that when they were building the cabins up there? KB: No, they were building the dam at that time. JW: The dam? KB: And then they were building some of the cabins. JW: Well, awful pretty place. KB: Two of the cabins, one was for the project superintendent and the other one was for the Army. The Army had an office up there, also. JW: And so this was in the late '30s? KB: Yeah. I don't know exactly. I don't remember exactly when. JW: A long time ago to remember. KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: When they finally kicked you out after two years and six months, what did you do then? KB: Went in the Navy, I went and joined the Navy. JW: Do you know what year that would have been? KB: Let's see, I joined the Navy in 1939, I guess it was. JW: '39? KB: Yeah. JW: So we were at peace? KB: Then, yes. JW: Yeah. Where did you join the Navy? Did you go to an office? KB: Went to Little Rock. JW: You went to Little Rock and signed up? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: And then what did they do with you? KB: They sent me to boot camp in San Diego. And then when I got out of boot camp, why, they sent me to aviation machinist school in Alameda. JW: Alameda, California? KB: Yeah. On December the 7th, on December the 1st, I had graduated 3 from aviation machinist school and was waiting on orders where they were going to send me. JW: Is this December the 1st, 1940? KB: Yes. JW: 1940? KB: Yes. JW: Okay. KB: But it didn't take them long to cut me some orders after that, after that happened. JW: What did they train you to do at this machinist school? KB: Airplanes, I wound up being a crew chief on a fighter plane. JW: On a fighter plane? KB: Yeah. JW: Well, after you graduated on December the 1st, where did they send you? KB: Then after I graduated, about a week after, about a week after Pearl Harbor. JW: Oh, so this is '41? KB: Yeah. JW: Oh, okay. Where were you the day they bombed Pearl Harbor? KB: I had just graduated from that aviation machinist school. JW: So you were still in Alameda? KB: Yeah, uh-huh. JW: And what do you remember of that day? KB: Well, there was a bunch of boys, across the street from the base, there was an empty field. And we were over there playing football, until there was a couple Marines come charging across the street, ordering everybody back on the base, everybody back on the base. And we did, we went back on the Base. And it was as I went through the gate to go back on the base, there was a truck pulled up and they brought two 50 caliber machine guns and set them up on each side of that little house they had there from when you check in. JW: And at that point, you didn't know the news yet? KB: No. JW: I bet you knew something real important had just happened. KB: I knew that there was something going on. JW: So you went on through the gate, and what happened? KB: Well, I just went back to my barracks and then we heard on the radio what happened and they cut me some orders the next day. JW: I bet. KB: And I wound up in Pearl Harbor about a week after Pearl Harbor. JW: I bet it was a wreck. KB: It was a wreck, and oil was still burning on the bay whenever I got there. Then they assigned me to Fighter Squadron 2, which is across the islands over something Bay over /KAEPBT I over Bay and we stayed there until the USS Lexington, which had been out on patrol, came back in, and they refueled and rearmed her and we went aboard her. And they sent us in a group to the South Pacific, where we picked up the other carrier in the South Pacific, before we got to the South Pacific. And we had orders to go around New Guinea, to cut off a Japanese Task Force which was headed either towards New Guinea or Australia. And so we went, we made a raid on New Guinea because the Japanese already had some people there in the bay, Samoa and Lathe, the two cities there on the north side of the island. JW: This must have been early 1942? KB: Yes. JW: Yeah. And it must have taken a long time to get from California to New Guinea? KB: Well, I don't remember how long it did take, but it was probably a week or so. JW: Yeah, because it takes a long time to fly to New Guinea from here, even now. KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: So when you got to New Guinea-- KB: We didn't stop at New Guinea. We just went around, we made a raid on that little Samoa town where the Japanese had couple of transports, three or four transports in there. JW: Uh-huh. Was your ship firing on them or was this an airplane attack? KB: Airplane attack. USS Lexington was with an aircraft carrier. JW: I'm not sure I understand. Was it your job to take care of the planes? KB: They assigned me a plane. JW: A plane? KB: And it was my responsibility to keep that plane in the air. JW: Okay. But not to be in the plane? KB: No. JW: You were maintenance, keeping it going? KB: Right. 5 JW: Okay. Because I was wondering how you got a crew in a fighter plane. And what kind of planes were these? KB: These were bi-planes, believe it or not. That's how far behind we were. But then after we got started, we picked up some F4F's, picked up the whole squadron. We had eighteen fighter planes, we had eighteen torpedo planes and eighteen dive bombers. JW: Were these the kinds of planes where the wings folded up? KB: Yes. JW: Or would that come later? KB: Yeah. JW: They did that? KB: Yeah. JW: Okay. So after you had the little battle there at New Guinea, you kept on going towards Australia? KB: Yeah. Well, we were north of Australia and, well, face keeps escaping me. And we had patrols out all the time, and they finally found this Japanese Task Force. Well, the reason why they found the Task Force, the Japanese, we were closer to that Task Force than we thought. And I was in the cockpit of my plane, setting up on the flight deck. And I looked up and I saw four planes come in, making a circle to land. And the landing signaling officer, after they went round and come back around, they gave the wrong signal to land. See, anytime a plane, you're gonna land a plane, you give them dot, dash, dot light or something like that. And landing signaling officer -- JW: This was at night? KB: Yeah, well, it was dark. It had just gotten dark. JW: Uh-huh. KB: And so the landing signaling officer says bridge, bridge, that they're giving the wrong signal, that's not our planes, they're giving the wrong signals. And so boy, course we were at general quarters because we knew we were somewhere around close to that Task Force. We had some forty millimeter gun on that side. Got a tub with forty millimeters in it, quad 40s and then there was a fifty caliber machine gun nest up from that. And, boy, it looked like the 4th of July around there for a little while. JW: They let loose? KB: Yeah. And those planes just dropped down right on close to the water and we couldn't fire at them then because we'd have hit some of our other ships that were in our Task Force. JW: Were they escaping you or were they trying to let loose a torpedo? KB: No, no. They thought they were landing on their plane. JW: Oh, it was just a big mistake? 6 KB: Yes. JW: Oh, it wasn't a sneaky move? KB: No. JW: I imagine they were every bit as surprised as you were? KB: I'm sure they were. JW: So did they get away? KB: Yeah. JW: Well, at least they didn't cause any damage. KB: Last time I saw them, they was still flying. JW: They may still be running. Well, that sure enough clued you in that the Japanese Fleet was closer than you thought? KB: So we spent part of the night arming torpedo planes and the dive bombers being sure that the fighter planes had plenty of ammunition, gas and all that kind of stuff. Three o'clock in the morning, we got woke up and we had breakfast and we went to our planes. We turned our planes up to be sure that they were ready to fly. Only thing is, they took my plane and three other planes and they kept them aboard the ship for emergency, in case Japanese found us. JW: Right. KB: And our planes was going towards the Japanese, Japanese was coming towards us, they just passed each other. JW: The planes did? KB: The planes did, yeah. JW: Well, let me stop and ask you something. I'll go look all this up and know a whole lot more later on, but aircraft carriers are not heavily armed, right? KB: No. We had two batteries of five inch anti-aircraft guns and we had some what they called a 1.1, kind of like the old Gatling guns. And then they had some fifty caliber machine guns and those quad 40s on both sides of the ship. JW: Well, is all that enough when Japanese planes are attacking you, is that enough armament to keep them -- KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: To sting them back? KB: Quite a bit of stuff. JW: Okay. All right. KB: They had several tubs up and down both sides of the ship. JW: Well, whose airplanes got to who first? KB: Well, their planes came on and attacked us, sunk our ship. And our planes went on, went on and sunk two of their carriers and a 7 couple of destroyers. JW: Are you saying they sunk the LEXINGTON? KB: Yes. JW: Oh, I didn't know. KB: They called it the Battle of the Coral Sea. JW: Coral Sea? KB: Yeah. JW: Well, and you're on that thing and it's going down? KB: Yeah. JW: Well, tell us about that. KB: I went in the water about, I believe it was around noon sometime. And Skipper had tried to keep it up but peace time, in order to find things for some of the people to do, they painted all the bulk heads in the ship, and that paint was that thick on those bulk heads, and that paint got caught on fire. And they couldn't put it out because one of the bombs that hit our ship knocked out the starboard firefighting equipment. So we just had half enough firefighting equipment to combat that, the fire. And then some of that fire got in one of the magazines and it kind of rattled things around. But we got hit by three torpedoes and two good sized bombs. JW: And where were you in the middle of all that? KB: I was on the flight deck. JW: Did your plane, did it go? KB: Didn't get off. JW: Never did get off? KB: I was setting in the cockpit of my plane. And I looked up and I saw these planes coming in, and I thought to myself, well, I wonder why our planes are coming back. And those torpedo planes are coming down right on the water. And they started dropping those torpedoes and, boy, they looked like they was the side of a barn. So I took, I bailed out of that cockpit, went around on the other side. And it wasn't but just a few minutes, there was a group of planes coming in from the other side, did the same thing. So when I saw stuff getting too close to me, I'd go to the other side of that super structure and try to stay out of the way. JW: I don't guess you had a gun to shoot at them with? KB: No. JW: Couldn't do much about that. Well, so you weathered it out, was going back and forth? KB: Yeah. And then later on, later on, why, the Skipper gave us orders to abandon ship because he said there wasn't no way we could save it. And they threw the lines over the side and it was every two 8 feet they put a knot in those lines to keep from burning your hands when you was going down that line, and went down that line. JW: You had time to put on a lifevest? KB: Well, one of those old tape up lifejackets. Those things, after not too long a time in the water, they just get water soaked and they're more of a detriment than they were an asset. JW: Let me ask you this. How many other ships were around the LEXINGTON? KB: We had a Task Force of another carrier and two cruisers and four destroyers. JW: And only the LEXINGTON was sunk out of that group? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: So when you went into the sea, you didn't have to think about will I be floating out here for the next month? KB: Yeah. JW: I mean pretty much? KB: It crossed my mind. But we had some twenty foot waves that day. And the Skipper told us, says when you get down to the bottom of that, end of that line, you wait until that wave comes in to the ship and drop in the top of that wave and it'll take you away from the ship. JW: So what happened after you jumped in the water? KB: Well, I paddled around out there about four hours and I finally saw the USS NEW ORLEANS, which was a heavy cruiser, was the closest ship to me. So I started working my way towards that as hard as I could. In fact, I got close enough where I thought I could make it, I just kicked off that water soaked lifejacket. And when I got up to the side of the ship, there was boats on that thing, threw me a rope. And I thought I would just take that rope and walk up the side of that cruiser, because cruiser deck was not that far off of the water. And I took about two steps and back in the water I went. JW: Well, I imagine four hours of floating around out there and all the excitement you'd had, you probably -- KB: He pulled his rope back up and it made a loop and they threw it back at me, and says put that loop under your arm. And I did, and they literally drug me onboard that ship. JW: I assume you had a lot of company in the water? KB: Yeah. JW: There for awhile anyway. KB: Yeah, right. And I was so weak, I couldn't even stand up when I got on the deck. I just crawled over in a corner. JW: I bet. I've never spent four hours in the water on a nice day at 9 the beach, so -- KB: Let alone out in the middle of a rough ocean. JW: Well, did they then take you to sick bay and check you out? KB: No. JW: Let you lay down. KB: There was too many people, too many people there to do that. They got our name, be sure that they had a record of who they had aboard. JW: Do you know about the casualties on the LEXINGTON that day? KB: They told us about ten percent, and we had about thirty-five hundred people aboard ship, ships company in a squadron. JW: That's a lot of people. KB: And so I figured from that, there was about three hundred and fifty people got killed. JW: That's terrible. What happened to you next? KB: They took us into the Tonga Islands, where there was a ship that had just taken some soldiers to Australia. And so they got that ship to come by and pick us up and bring us back to San Diego. They give us one destroyer to go with us for guard, as a guard. That destroyer couldn't have done too much. JW: That doesn't sound very safe to me. Do you remember the name of that ship that took you back? KB: No. It was one of those ships that what's his name, they called him -- JW: Kaiser? KB: The Kaiser had made. JW: As I understand, that didn't make you feel very safe, either. KB: The only thing between me and the ocean was about a three quarter inch steel plate. JW: I've heard people grumble about those things, Kaiser coffins, that's what they called them. Well, you make it back to San Diego, they haven't killed you yet. KB: Yeah. And it took us about a month to get back on that slow ship. JW: Did you have any scares along the way getting back? KB: Yeah. There was destroyers sunk a submarine on the way back, but they never did get a shot off at us. JW: That's good. Okay. Now, you're back to San Diego? KB: Then they sent us up to Santa Rosa in a maintenance company until they decided what they was gonna do with us. So we stayed up there for about six months. 10 JW: Do you have any idea what month or year this is? KB: I lost completely -- Well, no, I don't remember. JW: Don't remember. Okay. KB: But then they was supposed to go and ship us, then they decided that they was gonna form another air crew, so they shipped us back to San Diego and we formed Air Group 11. And we was gonna go aboard the USS SARATOGA, which is a sister ship to the LEXINGTON. And so they shipped us out to the South Pacific. And there was an air strip on one of those islands in the Pescadores, which is quite a ways down in the South Pacific. So the SARATOGA was gonna come there and pick us up. But she got about a day's sail out of dry dock, and some Japanese put a torpedo in her, so she had to turn around and go back to dry dock, and that left us setting high and dry on this island. JW: Way out there? KB: In the Pescadores. JW: Nowhere. KB: So we just went ahead and give our pilots some advanced carrier landing exercises. And then we'd been there about, I don't know, two or three weeks. And we finally found out that the SARATOGA wasn't going to pick us up, so we got orders one afternoon about four o'clock that from Colorado (?) pack that that we had to be on Guadalcanal the next morning at daybreak. So the torpedo planes and the dive bombers had enough fuel capacity where they didn't have to have any extra tanks. But our fighters had to have a billy tank, what they called a billy tank. I don't know how many gallons it'd hold but it was a pretty good sized thing, so we spent all night swinging billy tanks on those fighters. JW: Okay. Let me ask you this. Where did these airplanes come from? You went from San Diego to this island? KB: Well, there had been a what they call a baby carrier had brought those planes into us in the Pescadores. JW: Oh, okay. All right. KB: So the planes that we were gonna go from there on in. So, let's see, where was I? JW: You spent all night fitting them with billy tanks. KB: Yeah. And the next morning, real early, why, they put the ground crew in one of those old DC-3s sitting there and we went to Guadalcanal. JW: Was the fighting raging at Guadalcanal? KB: No. They had, quote, secured. JW: I see. KB: But there was a lot of Japanese back up in the hills. 11 JW: Uh-huh. KB: And we was flying off of a steel map (?) air strip out in the jungle, and they'd already had some tents there. But the reason why they sent us down there because there was a Marine squadron flying off of that strip and flying those gullwing F4Us and they got all shot up, so we went in and to replace them. But we stayed there about almost three months, I guess, at Guadalcanal. And those Japanese kamikazes would come in -- if the moon was shining, you got raided every night, you dodged bombs every night where they could see. And they would -- I don't know whether it was the bombs that hit our little tent city or not, I don't know whether they thought that was the air strip or what, but they dropped a few bombs around. We had a foxhole right in the mouth of our tent, just the mouth of it right in our tent. When I first got there, the sequence was fighter -- fighter command was across the air strip on the other side of the air strip. And we had -- we had island -- we had guards, Aussies, on some of the islands up there, that they'd see the airplanes, why, they'd radio us and tell us what about, so we'd be ready for 'em whenever they got there. And so when I first got there, the sequence was that the fighter command would call the gun position and the gun positions would blow a police whistle to wake up the crew. They always had one on the guard. And then they'd fire a flare, red flare, and then they would blow a siren. Well, that siren woke me up the first few times we had a raid. But it wasn't long before I was in the foxhole when that siren blew. I could hear that police whistle on the gun position. So sometimes the anti-aircraft guns would fire, sometimes they'd have night fighters. JW: Well, tell me this. I can understand the value of a foxhole if someone's across the yard shooting at you. But I don't understand the protection a foxhole would give you if somebody was dropping bombs from the air. KB: Well, they didn't always because there was -- there was one, before we got there, there was a foxhole about maybe twenty yards from ours, where ours was, that had a direct hit and it killed everybody in it. JW: Well, that's protection but not much. KB: Yeah, right. JW: Had to have some luck going on. KB: That's right, that's right. JW: So you were on Guadalcanal roughly three months, you said? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: And at the end of that three months, had the Americans made progress? Because I know this was an ongoing thing that seemed like it was never gonna end. KB: Oh, yeah. The reason why our pilots had been flying so much, they had flight fatigue, and the doctor grounded all of them. They went to Skipper and they said, "Skipper, you don't have anymore 12 planes at all, so you might as well get ready and go back home." But before that, on June, June the 16th, we got word from one of our coast watchers, that there was a large flight of airplanes headed our way from Logan Field. Logan Field was where the Japanese were stationed, that's where they were occupied. So our Skipper was in charge of the defense for the island, island defense there. So we had our fighter squadron, we had a Aussie, Aussies was flying some P-40s off of another air strip, and the Army was flying some P-38s. And the Skipper put them a way up high in a ring, a ring around the island. So when those Japanese come in, they just let them come in. But when they did, all these planes come in, they come down there with a hundred and twelve something airplanes. JW: Just dropped on them out of the -- KB: Yeah. And we shot down -- I think they flew back with about five airplanes. We shot down the rest of them. JW: Well, made me think of something, now I forgot it. Oh, I know what I was gonna ask you. You're in charge of maintenance on one plane? KB: One plane. JW: Does that mean that you developed a relationship with the pilot or did the -- KB: Oh, yeah. JW: -- pilots change? KB: Oh, yeah. That was his plane. JW: That was his plane. So y'all were like a team? KB: That's right. And it was my obligation to see that the armament people kept those -- while they were on the ground, kept them fully loaded with ammunition and that the people that had to do with refueling, be sure that they had refueled that airplane and it was ready to fly. JW: So you were associated with the same pilot for a length of time? KB: Yes. JW: Do you remember your pilot's name? KB: Charlie Simpson. JW: Charlie Simpson. And did he make it? KB: Yes, he made it. But after we come back to States, I don't know where he was reassigned, but I got word that he had been shot down and killed. I don't know where they went. JW: Didn't happen on your watch? KB: No, it didn't happen on my watch, no. JW: Well, I just wondered if it was like a team thing, and you and the pilot had that sort of thing? 13 KB: It was. And we had a reunion in San Diego about ten years ago, and our key speaker was an Admiral. The last time I saw that Admiral, he was flying one of those F4Fs on Guadalcanal, 2d Lieutenant; so he went up the ladder real quick. JW: He did well for himself. KB: Yeah. JW: Okay. Let's see, you said that at the end of three months, the commander or the doctor grounded your planes. KB: So we packed up and went back to San Diego. JW: Did you go back by boat? KB: Yes. JW: Do you remember the name of that boat? KB: No. JW: Okay. So you go back to San Diego. Do you have any idea what time this would have been during the war? KB: I don't know. All I know is that after we got to San Diego, we formed another air group. We took our air group, we still got Air Group 11. And they put us aboard the USS Essex, that Essex class. Then we went back to South Pacific and we were patrolling up and down the outside of Japan, making raids on the mainland of Japan. JW: This is before the war was over? KB: Yes. JW: War's still going on? Let me ask you this. What made these same men flightworthy? Had they just had enough time off or was it different men that made up the second go-around? KB: Both, both. They filled in with some new people. JW: Okay. All right. Wasn't it awfully dangerous to be patrolling the coast of Japan before the end of the war? KB: Oh, yeah. They had those kamikazes out there trying to sink us all the time. JW: Right. KB: I could lay in my sack at night and I could tell when we was going out to rearm and refuel. We would go in and make raids for three days, then went at the end of the third day, we would put that -- the Skipper would put that thing in top high speed and full speed ahead and he would go out and we'd rearm and refuel, refueling ships would be out there. JW: This was done with other ships, not going back to a land base? KB: Right. We'd have a tanker out there, refueling. And a cargo ship that would fill the gaps on our armament and that would take about a day and a half to get that done. But we'd head back, we'd head back to Task Force 53. 14 JW: Was that day and a half an easy day and a half or was it a day and a half of being afraid that somebody's going to show up while you're a little vulnerable or both? KB: Well, I don't think, I don't remember that we ever had any problem, you know, when we was rearming and refueling. Because I guess they did it in different places, you know, where they couldn't keep track of us. But I do know on one occasion, when we headed back towards the combat zone, we were going. And then the fog was so thick, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I mean it was thick. And all at once, we come out of that fog, it was just like coming out of a dark room into a light room. It was just like that. Lo and behold, there was a Japanese gun boat up there, wooden gun boat, that his purpose, he was guarding, he was guarding. And the Skipper sent one of those destroyers out there, and that idiot fired about a three inch gun round at him. He just turned sideways and let a couple of those five inch batteries fire all at the same time. That wooden boat just disappeared, I mean just disappeared. JW: Well, they kept their deal with the Emperor, though. KB: That's right. JW: Well, how long did that go on? KB: We stayed there until the end of the war. JW: Until the end of the war. KB: That's where we was when the war ended, running up and down that Japanese coast. JW: And how did you find out the war was over? KB: They told us over the loud speaker. JW: And did everybody just go nuts? KB: Yeah. JW: I imagine so. KB: Whooping and hollering. JW: Well then, did they then order you to, what's the wording, go ashore or go -- KB: No. JW: What did you do next? KB: We came back to the United States, we came into Seattle. And when we came in there, why, they shipped me home. My tour of duty had expired and -- JW: You had enough points? KB: Yeah, I had enough points to get out. JW: So you didn't get in on the big celebration, the signing? KB: No. 15 JW: And all that. Y'all just came on back? KB: Yeah. JW: Okay. Do you know when you got back to the United States? The Japanese surrendered about the 15th of August. KB: Well, we was about three weeks or so -- no, about a week, about a week. Because I think they'd already ceased firing and everything. JW: I know the signing ceremony came a week or two later, and so you're already back? KB: So we was on our way back when the signing took place. JW: And tell me again, where did you hit land? KB: Seattle. JW: Seattle, Washington. KB: Uh-huh. JW: Did they just sign you out there? KB: No. They put us on a train to Memphis for discharge. JW: Seems like nothing can be done there, you got to go across the country for them to wave good-bye to you. KB: Right. JW: So, after they let you out in Memphis, how did you get home? KB: On a bus. JW: On a bus. And let's see, home then -- KB: Was Fort Smith. JW: Was Fort Smith. Your parents had moved to Fort Smith? KB: Yeah. Well, I was married then. That was my twins -- See my twins over there (indicating), that's their high school picture. But I was out in the South Pacific when they were born. I didn't see them until they was eleven months old. JW: We missed the part where you got married. How did you manage that? KB: Well, when the Lexington was sunk and when we came back, there was one of the crew men in our squadron that they was -- staying in the water and all that kind of stuff, was just more than his body could stand. So soon as we got back, they put him in the hospital in Seattle -- in San Diego. And when he was in the hospital, he caught measles from somebody in there and he couldn't stand it, so he died. They sent me back to Boise, Idaho, with the body, as a bodyguard. And then they gave me ten days leave after that. So I got on a bus and come home, and we had been corresponding and everything. JW: You already knew her before you went off? KB: Yes. 16 JW: I see. And you just took that little ten day vacation to get married? KB: Yeah. JW: Sounds fun to me. And then you said twins first time out of the box? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: I guess you're a lucky man. KB: I figured, you know, if I could come up with twins, not even trying, you know, no telling what might happen if I did try. JW: I guess so. Well, just for the record, did you have anymore children? KB: No. JW: Okay. Well, that was enough. And they were eleven months old before you got to see them? KB: Yes. JW: So you came rushing home to Fort Smith. Did your wife know you were coming? KB: Yeah, yeah. I had called her. JW: Did anybody meet you at the bus station? KB: Yes. JW: I bet that was a happy moment. KB: Oh, yeah. JW: I bet it was. KB: Oh, yeah. JW: So what did you do? Did you take a little time off and relax and get to know your babies? KB: No. I got a job and started night school, and finished my high school, and then I started on college work. I passed an entry exam. And I got a hundred and fifteen hours credit hours of college. JW: Where at? KB: Part of it, part of it was -- I had some of it from Michigan State in engineering, mechanical engineering. And I had some from -- well, most of the rest of it was split between what was then Oklahoma State and that college down at -- oh, what's the name of that college down there south in Oklahoma? Poteau, at Poteau, Poteau school. JW: I see, I see. And what job did you get, if it's of any importance? KB: I started working for (?) lumber company. And see, I had, I had been working for them for a while. And then I got called back on that Korean campaign, and I spent fifteen months over there. 17 JW: Doing the same thing? KB: Yeah. JW: How rough was that? KB: It wasn't, it wasn't bad because we were we were taking care of seaplanes and we were on a seaplane tenderer, and taking care of those PBYs. There was a squadron that was up and down, up and down the China coast. JW: Were you based in one particular place in Korea? KB: No, I wasn't in Korea. We were not actually in Korea. Fact, we were on Okinawa. We were operating at Okinawa. JW: So there's another fifteen months out of your life? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: And then when you came back, you went back to work for Long Bell? KB: Yeah. I was running a lumberyard over at Stigler. And my brother-in-law was working for -- he was a mechanic for Hawkins Company. And he told Frank Hawkins one day that I wasn't happy over at that lumberyard over there. And he said, well, he says have him come talk to me, said we might find a spot for him. So I came over there and talked to him and he hired me on the spot, just like that. JW: It was Hawkins Company? KB: Yeah. JW: You went from lumber to heat and air conditioning? KB: Yeah, yeah. JW: That's not bad. So how long did you work for them? KB: Forty-five years. JW: I had a feeling that's what you were going to say, something like that. So you retired from Hawkins Company? KB: Yeah, about three, four years ago. JW: Three, four years ago. That's working long enough. JW: Well, you spent -- When the Government left you alone, you spent all the rest of your life in Fort Smith? KB: Yeah, night school, yeah. JW: What did you do for Hawkins Company? Were you an engineer? KB: Yeah. I went on up -- I started out as a salesman for room air conditioners, and then it wasn't long until they put me in the office there. They sent me over to Oklahoma State and this college down here. And then I got one course from Michigan State, they were very good about that. And then of course there were some other courses, real short courses, you know, out there. But I accumulated a hundred and fifteen credit hours, I think, and I needed another ten credit hours. No way that I could work here, take care of a family, and they said all your work has to be on campus. JW: Couldn't get to Michigan? KB: Yeah. JW: Long way. Well, were you too busy to worry about it, or when you got home from World War II, was there an adjustment period or did you just get busy? KB: No, no. I just hit the ground running. JW: I guess a wife and twin babies and going to night school and trying to earn a living. I assume the GI Bill helped you in there someplace. KB: Yeah, some, yeah. See all together, I spent about eighteen months in the combat zone. JW: That's plenty. You pulled your share. KB: Too much. JW: Well, what, you've had sixty years to think all this over. Have you come up with any big ideas that you need to share with people twenty years from now who might pick this up? KB: No, I don't think so. JW: Don't think so? KB: I don't know. I wound up as 1st Class Petty Officer. And I made Chief Petty Officer just before they discharged me. And they asked me, said boy, I passed that examination with a 3.34 or something like that. And there was four of us that passed the exam, and I was the third. And my best buddy was the fourth -- no, he was the first alternate, boy by the name of Wes. And our division officer called him there me one day. He said, "Boy, if you're gonna get out on points, I'm gonna take that hat and give it to Wes." And I said, "Well, I got to think about that." So I got to thinking about it, and I decided, well, no, I needed to be here, take care of that family. So I went to him one day and told him that. And he said, well, he says, "You're gonna get discharged as 1st Class Petty Officer." I said, "Well, that's all right, that's fine. I don't mind." And when I was telling you about I went back to Okinawa, you know, on that seaplane tenderer over there, one day we pulled a couple of PBYs aboard ship to get some maintenance work done on them, and here come Wes out of that that thing with his Chief's hat on. Hadn't seen nor heard from him since after I got discharged. JW: It's amazing who you run into if they'll just send you halfway across the world. KB: That's right. JW: Well, we sure thank you for the interview. And more than that, we thank you for giving up eighteen months of your life to live in combat so we can set here and do what we please today. KB: Well, I had a few narrow escapes. While we was in the Pescadores waiting on the Saratoga, they had a movie that they showed twice a week, I think it was. And the movie house was coconut logs lying on the grounds, and a sheet stretched up between two other coconut trees down there. And one night, there was some green kid came over there. There was a bomb hut right across the road from there. And there was some wise kid got his buddy and they went over there and got a hundred pound bomb and brought it over there to sit on. And he got to playing grab-ass and one of them kicked that thing and it went off. They wasn't supposed to have anything in there that was armed, but that one was armed. And when he kicked it, it went off. JW: That'd be a lousy way to go. KB: Me and my buddy, boy by the name of Ed Haynes, was setting kind of towards the back on that thing. I was sitting right by a coconut tree here and that bomb just peeled the bark off of that coconut tree and didn't even touch me