Adolph Markowski

Adolph served aboard the USS WASP CV-18 during WW2.

What was the common attitude of the people of America concerning the possibility of going to war before the attack on Pearl Harbor?

Before Pearl Harbor, the common attitude of the people in America was, 'we'll sell you planes and war materials, but we're not going to put our boys in danger fighting in Europe'. Of course that all changed after Pearl Harbor when you couldn't find many guys who weren't willing to serve, especially guys as young as fifteen who were dropping out of school to do so. Many of them regretted doing so in later years.

What are your memories of December 7th, 1941?

I was working in an aircraft factory on December 7, 1941. I hadn't heard of the attack and was surprised by the number of military personnel at the gate when I arrived for work that morning. I know we worked a lot of overtime from then on, even Saturdays and Sundays.

In what branch of the service did you enlist and what were your reasons for doing so?

I joined the Navy ten months later so I wouldn't be drafted into the Army even though aircraft workers were getting deferments and I could have kept on working for another six months or more. I wanted to go right after the attack on Pearl but my mother talked me out of it. The biggest reason for my having joined the Navy was my extreme dislike of insects, mosquitoes, bees and snakes. Also, since I was born in Oyster Bay, I was at home around boats, boating and fishing in the bay and Long Island, although I longed for an ocean voyage. I knew that I would have a clean life in the Navy, have a roof over my head and three square meals every day.

What was boot camp like and are there any memories that stand out for you?

Boot camp training was rudimentary because the Navy needed crews for their submarines and aircraft carriers. Boot camp was shortened to one month and Naval Training School to six months, instead of one year. I wanted 'silent service' but since I had aircraft experience it had to be Aircraft Metalsmith school for me.

My tour of duty in the United States Navy began on October 10, 1942 in Newport, Rhode Island. I was twenty years old, away from home for the first time. I know I wasn't the only one in that category to experience homesickness, because I heard the sobbing of many others that night on their cots as they tried to smother their sobs in their pillows. After all, many of these new recruits were only sixteen years old. Boot camp was drastically shortened to one month because there was an urgent need for crews to man the ships, aircraft carriers and submarines that were rapidly being built. I volunteered for submarine duty, but was rejected because of ear and dental deficiencies. We ended up in Jacksonville, Florida, after a lengthy, horrible train ride, in dirty, soot filled coach cars. We had to relinquish right of way to other trains many times. I think it took us three days to get there. Since aviation metalsmiths were destined to become fire fighters in Damage Control on carriers, I got my first taste of fire fighting there. We were taught how to extinguish different types of fires and how to use various types of equipment. One part of the course was really scary. That was the entering of a section (boiler room) of a burning ship. We went in dragging a two and a half inch fire hose equipped with a fog nozzle and put out the fire in jig time. We learned how to use RBAs (rescue breathing apparatus) at that time also. After finishing our schooling, we were sent to various carrier aircraft service units all over the country to await assignment to an aircraft carrier. I ended up in Pleasantville, New Jersey, which was near Atlantic City where I was assigned to the USS Wasp cv18 after a few months.

Upon being assigned to the Wasp, what was a normal day like for you?

Upon being assigned to the Wasp, a normal day for me was to learn my way around the ship and fire fighting drills. Let me tell you we drilled and we drilled and we drilled and it paid off when we were hit on March 19th, 1945.

What was it like while in a combat situation and what were your feelings at that time? Did you ever feel as if you wouldn't make it back?

When we were in combat, we were told to hit the deck when under aerial attack and stay on our feet when under torpedo attack. I was never sure what kind of attack we were under so I just remained on my feet. There were a couple of times where I was scared but I didn't think about getting killed mostly. I never felt that I wouldn't make it back because of my faith in God. I have always been religious and still am.

Do you feel as if all the men you served with on the Wasp, including the fighter pilot's, were like a brotherhood?

Brotherhood? Pilots and their crewmembers were the greatest brotherhoods, I believe.

What did you think when you heard about the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

I was glad we dropped the Atom Bombs on Japan. I wondered why they hadn't dropped them in the ocean near land so that there wouldn't have been such devastation and mutilation by just washing everything away.

Where were you and what was your reaction when you heard about the surrender of Japan?

On VJ Day, I got drunk and ended up in a local brig in Salem, Washington. After that, I got a thirty-six day survivors leave and didn't have to return to the Wasp because I had enough points for a discharge.

To this day, do you hold any resentment against the Japanese for anything they did during the war?

I don't hold any resentment against the Japanese people for doing what they had to do. I'm sorry so many lives were lost on both sides.

Do you feel having served your country changed your life at all?

I was proud of having served my country and proud of the uniform that I wore. I know the Navy toughened me up physically and mentally and taught me how to get along with others. I enjoyed the travel and meeting people from other states.

The things that I remember most from my Naval Training School experience in Jacksonville, Florida were the calisthenics, marching drills, obstacle course and fire fighting training that we had to put up with besides our classes. These were not the only things that we had to put up with. There were the Marines. They also had their technical classes and they also had a side job, which was part of their training. That was Sentry duty at the gate. Not only did they check Ids and passes, but the Dress Code of anyone leaving the Post, whether he were Marine or Navy. They would confiscate your Liberty Pass if your shoes weren't shiny enough, if you weren't clean-shaven, or if you were wearing white socks instead of the GI issue black ones. We used to say a Marine would put his own mother on report. Taking a guy's liberty pass away was something he wasn't likely to forget. We hated those guys and called them Gyrenes or Bell Hops amongst other things. I think this is the way the Navy wanted it. Compassion was one trait they didn't want to see in a Marine. They trained them to be heartless and mean. Actually, the kind of training that a Marine must undergo is a necessary evil. We mistakenly took this kind of treatment personally, and no sailor, or 'swab jockey', as the Marines called us, would even consider having a Marine for a friend. On liberty, Sailors and Marines frequented different bars because a fight was bound to break out wherever they were co-mingled. This is something that bothered me in later years because those poor Marines went through hell. I read the book 'Flags of Our Fathers' about the marines on Iwo Jima and cried all the way through it. Our Navy let them down and it wasn't the first time either.

As a footnote, I'll always remember Jacksonville for its hospitable and loving treatment of servicemen. Church groups went all out entertaining and feeding us, competing with the USO.

My battle station was on the starboard side of the Hangar Deck, mid ship and just aft of number three main aircraft elevator. There were four of us. We were in Repair 8, a Damage Control Party whose main job was fighting fires, which might occur on the Hangar Deck. Repair 8 was divided into eight teams of four men of which we were team 4. At 0602 on March 18, 1945, we heard the bosons pipe and the 'Prepare to secure from General Quarters'. Whenever we heard that, we would rush over and raise the nearest roller curtain to let the fresh air and daylight in. On this particular day, we were in for the shock of our lives when we did that because we saw a Japanese torpedo bomber coming right at us at a height of twenty feet. We were paralyzed. We just stood there and watched it coming. If there were anything that could give one an involuntary bowel movement, this was it, although no one had one that I know of. I knew the 44 mm guns on the flight deck couldn't be aimed that low and I wasn't sure if the 20mm guns could either, but our 50 caliber machine guns which were manned by our Marines could and did. We could see the bullet holes as they appeared on the plane's canopy. It then made a nosedive into the water with the two crewmen trying desperately to get out. The Marines would have none of that and just kept on firing. I don't think those two airmen died of drowning. Our ships log states that the plane went down seventy yards from the ship. It seemed a lot closer than that.

Speaking of rushing to raise a roller curtain, that ritual cost a good friend of mine his life. Chief Aviation Instrument Man Al Duffer had his shop in a compartment just forward of number three elevator. Every morning, he couldn't wait to get the roller curtain, on the opposite or port side, open so he could admire the beautiful sun risings. At 0709, on March 19, 1945, he didn't make it. He got halfway there when that 550-pound armor-piercing bomb came through the flight deck just above his head.

I am writing this letter with the hope that whoever reads it will better APPRECIATE and RESPECT COMBAT VETERANS. The following is an account of what happened on my ship, the USS WASP (CV 18), in the aftermath of a hit from the air by a Japanese plane. (Off the Island of Kyushu on March 19, 1945)

My battle station was approximately mid ship on the starboard side of the hangar deck by the main elevator. We (Wm. Meyer, Wade Marshall, Don Marley and I) were at our firefighting station there when we were hit. That AP bomb (or shell) penetrated three-inch steel deck about thirty feet from where we were, leaving a hole that looked to be about sixteen inches in diameter. All we heard was a thud and a muffled explosion. Planes on the hangar deck immediately erupted in flames. Whoever was manning the overhead sprinkler controls in Hangar Deck Control panicked and turned on all of the sprinklers instead of just the ones for the bay where the burning planes were. Tons of water came down in seconds. Captain Weller was zig zagging the ship to avoid further hits. The ship listed so badly when he did that maneuver that I thought the ship would capsize. The smoke was intense and the water from the sprinklers almost knocked us off our feet as it rushed back and forth across the hangar deck. Casualties on the hangar deck were very light, but one man (Al Duffer CAIM) unfortunately was right where the bomb hit. There wasn't enough of him left to bury since water had spread his remains all over the hangar deck. A Boson's Mate (George Solomon) risked Court Martial by opening a hatch on the hangar deck to allow wounded shipmates access to sickbay. We had not yet secured from General Quarters although the fires had been extinguished. The damage and casualties on the third and forth decks were horrendous. (103 dead and 285 wounded in all). The CPO's on Burial Detail had to list the names of those who were killed, place bodies in body bags and remove them to the hangar deck. That was no easy task because many of the bodies had been torn apart by the force of the explosion. Arms, legs and even some heads were scattered about amongst the blood and guts in the wreckage. One Chief held up a severed head and asked if anyone knew that person (The dog tags were missing). The bodies had to be removed quickly to make room for the wounded. Whimpering, moaning, sobbing and screaming was hard to take, so many of those with minor injuries left to return later.

WASP continued to bomb Kyushu for two more days in spite of her damage and buried her dead on the third.

The USS Franklin vc-13 was a United States aircraft carrier of the Essex class, commissioned in January 1944. Beginning with the capture of the Mariana Islands, her career exemplified the resilience of her class. She was slightly damaged by a Kamikaze attack off Leyte on October 15, 1944 and two days later a bomb destroyed one of her elevators. She remained in action for the Battle of Leyte Gulf but was hit by another Kamikaze on October 30, killing 120 of her crew. At last returned to the U.S. for repairs. She was back in the Pacific by March 1945 and took part in the strikes on Japan prior to the Okinawa landings. On March 19, 1945, Task Force 58 launched an air attack upon Kyushu, an island about sixty miles off the southern coast of Japan. At 0707 that morning, two 540-pound bombs hit USS Franklin and all hell broke loose. All the ship's cargo, thousands of gallons of aviation gasoline, 40mm and 20mm ammunition, armor piercing and incendiary bombs, Tiny Tim rockets and .50 caliber ammo were set off by the heat of the resulting fires. Gasoline gushing from open lines flowed across the decks all the way down to the fourth deck. Watertight doors on the Galley deck were consumed by the flames anyway. Many pilots were killed in the Ready Rooms just below the Flight Deck, the majority of them being Marines. Only twenty-nine of the 118 man damage control crew were still alive and flames and smoke shot thousands of feet into the sky and human bodies pin-wheeled heavenward and into the ocean when an after five-inch magazine on the Flight Deck exploded. The Hangar Deck, where the worst fires raged, was a nightmare of crushed planes, melted debris and shattered bodies. Two of the ship's doctors were trapped below in the Warrant Officers wardroom and it took twelve or thirteen hours to get them out. A third was killed in sickbay by the fires and suffocating smoke. Dead in the water and on fire, she was saved by the efforts of her crew.

The Flight Surgeon, LCDR Sam Sherman, had to work on the two hundred seventy wounded and bury the eight hundred thirty-two dead. There were so few corpsmen left that he had to enlist the help of band members and pilots. Jesuit Chaplain Jos. T. O'Callahan (Father Joe) received a Medal of Honor for his administering of last rites, ignoring the danger and fighting fires and tossing searing hot ammunition into the sea. Lt. Donald Gary also got a Medal of Honor for rescuing the two trapped doctors plus about three hundred other men. 'Big Ben' reached the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 26, 1945, where it was repaired and recommissioned but saw no further action in World War Two when the war ended.

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