John 'Bo' Keally

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

age 79

I don't think I can answer that question with any validity as I was only fifteen years old and not too concerned with what was going on in the world.

What are your memories of December 7th, 1941?

My memories of December 7th are etched in my mind. I had an early morning Post Gazette paper route that I covered before going to school. Then I sold some on a corner. The paper had great big black headlines about two inches high that said "War Declared". I had a lot of extra papers that day and walked around the neighborhood yelling at the top of my lungs, "Extra, Extra, War Declared, Read all about it." People were coming out of their houses in their nightgowns, bathrobes, pajamas, etc. wanting to buy a paper; I sold all my papers and then got some more and sold all of them. I am not sure what a paper cost at the time, but I think it was four cents. I earned a penny or a half a penny for each paper sold.

When did you enlist in the Navy and why did you choose the Navy instead of the other branches of service?

I enlisted in the Navy on January 10th, 1944, at the age of seventeen. I had previously tried to enlist in the Marines on November 12th, 1943, when I turned seventeen, but during the physical they found I had a heart murmur and they turned me down. The next week I went over to the navy recruiter and took their physical. They found the same heart murmur but took me anyway. They told me to stay home 'til after Christmas and then called me in January 10th, 1944, and swore me in and put me on a train to Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

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

Boot camp was tough but I liked it. It was a whole new experience for me. The worst part was the cold winter and the shots they gave me. They had a happy hour every Friday at the gym where they had boxing matches. The guys in my company elected me to box and represent our company. I was a lightweight at one hundred thirty-five pounds and never boxed before in my life. There were three, two-minute rounds. The reward was the winner and his handler got a steak dinner in the officer's mess. The loser got the dinner, but not his handler.

I won one, lost one and tied one, so I figured that was enough and never boxed again.

The shots were something else. Some of them made your arm so sore you had to sleep in your jumper because you couldn't raise your arms high enough to get it off. One of the shots made me very ill. I was standing the midnight to four a.m. watch that night and I got terrible chills and fever. I laid my rifle down on the radiator and walked several blocks to the dispensary. You really should not leave your post but what did I know except I was sick. The corpsman of duty took one look at me and told me to lie down on a bench. He called an ambulance. They took me to a hospital where I spent the next ten days. When I was released, I tried to get back to my original company because I knew all the guys, many of whom were from Pittsburgh, but the officer in charge said he was sick and tired of guys missing training and wanting to get with their old company and he would not authorize my return. I had to join a company that was starting the week I had missed. I sure hated to do that but I had no choice. In a way it may have been a blessing as I later learned some of the guys in my original company were killed when their ship was hit with a Kamikaze.

After boot camp, where were you next assigned and what schooling was involved?

After boot camp and a seven-day leave, I was assigned to go to a Class 'A' Service School in Gunnery at Great Lakes Naval Training Station. I think it was about three months long. I graduated July 3rd, 1944. I learned all about servicing, firing, and repairing guns of all sizes and caliber. It was an interesting school and I enjoyed working with my hands. The only problem was a lot of us wanted to get into the war and this was delaying our wish. If I only knew then what I know now, I would not have been so anxious.

After all your schooling, where were you next assigned?

After graduating from school, I was sent to Norfolk, VA, to join up with the crew that was being formed to man the USS Johnnie Hutchins DE 360. We spent most of July assembling the crew and we really did not have a whole lot to do. We lived in barracks that were built for WW1 and they were not very comfortable. We had to wash our clothes in buckets and wash your face, shave, etc., outdoors at a long row of sinks. We had liberty most every night but the people in Norfolk were not too happy with all the sailors in their town. I never saw any, but other guys said that in some parts of town were signs that said, 'Dogs and sailors keep off the grass.' We mostly took a ferry over to Newport News where the people were friendlier.

Once you received your order to the Johnnie Hutchins, what was a normal day like?

Our shake down cruise - the ship was new in 1944

We finally received our orders to go to Orange, Texas, to pick up our ship. We went by train from Norfolk to Orange, TX. They put us in boxcars and had some wooden seats in them and we slept in bunks built along the walls. It was a miserable trip and I think it took three or four days. When we got to Orange, we went aboard our ship and I was really impressed it was a neat looking ship. We got assigned to our bunks and put our gear away. Most days were spent loading stores and I spent my time working on the 20mm anti aircraft guns. They came packed with heavy black grease and had to be torn down and cleaned up. We had ten of these 20 mm guns, so it was quite a job. We then moved on to the two 40mm guns and did the same thing. We also had to work on the two 5" 38 guns and the hedgehogs and depth charges, load ammunition, etc. When not working, we still had to stand four-hour watches, sometimes on the ship, sometimes on the dock. It was a very busy time and very exciting to learn about shipboard life. I couldn't wait to go to sea. The ship was commissioned August 28, 1944, and we were off to the war.

Of all your time on the Johnnie Hutchins, is there any particular time that stands out for you and why?

There are several times onboard ship that stands out in my mind. One was when we ran into a nest of three Japanese midget subs and had a two-hour battle with them; we sank one on the surface with our aft 5' 38 gun and the other two with depth charges. We were in a hunter killer group at the time and were on picket duty over the horizon from the carrier and other ships. Our ship earned the Naval Unit Commendation for this action. This was on August 9th, 1945, the war ended six days later. What bothered me was they turned on our running lights that night and my concern was the Japs in subs may or may not know the war was over and some fanatics could care less. There we were still, in the hunter killer group at sea running around with our lights on. I did not sleep easy for the next week or so; in fact, I slept topside so if anything happened, I could get off in a hurry.

But what stands in my mind more then the above was a typhoon we were in just after the war ended. We were in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, on September 16th, 1945, when we were ordered to go to sea immediately to ride out a typhoon headed our way. We got underway and left the harbor between two carriers. When we got to open water I could see their flight deck taking on water. I was on watch and was sitting on top of the aft 5" gun mount and it was like riding a roller coaster. One minute you were on top of a wave and the next minute down in a trough. As time went on, the waves got bigger and bigger and the skies darker and darker and the ship was being tossed about like a cork. I would guess we were in seventy and eighty foot waves. The captain told us to secure our watch and stand in inside the deckhouse. I guess he was afraid the gun mount might get washed overboard as the waves were hitting us from all sides. At one point he made a turn and we got broadside to the waves and the ship rolled some seventy or seventy-five degrees. I did not think the ship would right it's self and that we would capsize. You had to stand with one foot on the deck and one on the bulkhead. It was too hard to stand, so we just sat on the deck. I remember saying "Lord, get me out of this and I will go to church every Sunday." Well, we did survive and I kept my promise and do go to church every Sunday. We rode this storm out for three days. We had been in other typhoons and hurricanes but none compared to this one.

Did you feel at any time that you would not make it back?

I never had any thought about not making it back. At seventeen, you're young and think nothing can hurt you and you will live forever. You always feel that if anything is going to happen, it will happen to the other guy.

Do you feel as if the men you served with aboard the Johnnie Hutchins is like a brotherhood?

The men I served with definitely became a brotherhood. To this very day I am still in touch with some fifty of my shipmates. I am a coordinator for our ship and put out a newsletter every other month or so. I have been putting out this newsletter for fourteen years now and the guys really appreciate it. We have a reunion every year at different locations around the country and usually get fourteen or fifteen couples to attend. We have come to think of each other as family. They are a great bunch of guys and I am proud to have served with them. Unfortunately we are dying off. I am one of the youngest in our group and I am seventy-five. We lost four shipmates last year in 2001.

Do you feel as if all men who served aboard Destroyer Escorts are like a brotherhood?

All DE sailors are a brotherhood, as we have a bond knowing what the other guy went through when you served on a DE. They were a rough-riding ship and had no comforts. There is a national association of DE sailors called the 'Destroyer Escort Sailors Association' (DESA). We have about eight thousand members, all DE sailors. We have a national convention every year in different locations around the country.

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

I don't remember hearing about the bombs right away as we were still out at sea. I think our captain made an announcement several days later. I was glad the bombs were dropped, they started this war and they deserved what they got.

Did you agree with this?

I definitely agreed with dropping the bombs when I realized what they did and that they brought the war to a conclusion. I have since read about the plans of invading Japan which we would have been involved in and the bombs saved many lives on both sides. It was estimated that both sides would have lost over a million men each.

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

As I mentioned before, we were at sea in a hunter killer group. When the captain announced on the PA system the Japs surrendered and the war was over, we all yelled with joy and backslapping and hugs were passed all around. The captain had the beer locker opened and every man was given a can of beer to celebrate. This was illegal as you were not allowed to drink aboard ship, but it was a great thing for the captain to do. He could have gotten in a lot of trouble. I guess he was pretty happy himself. It was a great feeling and we all wondered when we could go home.

After the surrender of Japan, how was life changed aboard the Johnnie Hutchins for you?

Long Beach, CA 1946 - we had just come back from the war.

Life aboard ship after the war ended did not change all that much, we still stood our watches and did our assigned duties. I think maybe the food got a bit better and the fresh water rations were not enforced as much. We did not have as many general quarters drills that we had before. The fact that some day soon we would all be going home made life much easier.

How much longer were you in the Navy and what was it like when you returned back to the United States?

Around November 22nd, 1945, we left our anchorage on the Yangtze River at Shanghai, China, and headed for Okinawa to meet up with other ships in our division, then on to Pearl Harbor and back to the states. It was a very happy day. We arrived San Pedro, CA, around December 15th, 1945. I left the ship around January 13th, 1946, and headed for Sampson, NY, for discharge on January 22nd, 1946.

Total time in the Navy, two years and twelve days. Total months outside the U.S.A., sixteen.

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

Sure, I believe I served my country and it made a better man out of me. I went in as a boy but feel I came out as a man. I learned to be independent and take care of myself. I have done exactly that ever since. I think every one should have to serve some time in the military. At least a year but more like two years. It's good for the self-discipline and character-building and would help some of our troubled youths learn what life is all about.

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

I did feel a lot of animosity toward the Japanese for many years. So many people were killed, maimed, and tortured by the Japanese and most of them were never punished. Other than a few hangings, the rest got off scott free. They cost me two years out of my life and some of my friends never made it home. As time goes by, I sort of came to grips with my feelings. It makes you wonder though, Japan is still Japan and now they own a lot of property in America.

In closing, is there anything you would like to say?

Someone once said, "War Is Hell", and I think that is a pretty good description. There have been wars since the beginning of time. It seems our leaders and other countries' leaders never learned from past history, WWI 1917 was supposed to be the war to end all wars, but look what happened since. We had WWII 1941, The Cold War, The Korean War 1950, The Vietnam War 1959, The Invasion of Grenada 1983, Panama 1989, The Gulf War 1991, Somalia 1992, Kosovo 1999, Afghanistan 2001, I only hope future generations learn that war is not the way to solve a problem. There has to be a better way. When I was discharged from the Navy, I later on joined the Naval reserve for a four-year hitch and guess what happened, the Korean War broke out and I was recalled back into the Navy and spent the next year and a half on a ship over in Korea. I liked the Navy and the experiences I had, but I would never want to do it again.

Like I said, 'War Is Hell!'

We were on our way to Bermuda for a shake-down cruise. We received orders to assist in search and rescue operations for the survivors of the USS Warrington, a destroyer that went down in a hurricane off the coast of North Carolina. I remember as we entered the fringes of the storm that the waves were pretty high. I was on watch on the depth charge racks when a wave came over the aft quarter and knocked me off my feet. I crawled up on top of the depth charges and under the rack pipes so I wouldn't get washed overboard. We spotted several life rafts but no survivors. We tried to sink one large 25-man life raft with gunfire, but could not do so.

The next day we started searching again and saw many more life rafts and life jackets, but no survivors. We then went alongside the USS Huse DE-145, to take aboard several survivors they had picked up. We were ordered alongside the carrier USS Croatan, CVE-25, to take aboard more survivors. Transfer was made by boatswain chair, which was very difficult due to the rough seas. We were told to take the survivors into Norfolk. I think we had about thirty-three of them. I think there were only sixty-six total survivors out of a crew of approximately 230.

On the way to Norfolk, I talked to several guys and was told they were in the water almost seventy-two hours. They froze at night and roasted in the day. Some guys drank salt water and later died. One guy left the raft and said he was going home. They never saw him again. One guy came swimming up to the raft on the second day; he had no life jacket on. They don't know where he came from or how he stayed afloat for so long. The guys had some really bad sores on their bodies. They were all nervous, we were sitting on deck talking to them and someone slammed a hatch. They all jumped. They had gone through the war from the beginning and had never been hit. They felt bad that they lost the ship and so many crewmembers in a storm. We got them to Norfolk where dozens of ambulances were waiting to take them to local hospitals. I never saw any of them again.

It was very exciting for a seventeen-year-old on my first cruise, a hurricane, huge waves, a ship sinking, survivors, etc. I was really impressed and wondered what lie ahead.

We were leaving Humbolt Bay, Hollandia, New Guinea, to go out to sea for AA firing. My work area and battle station was in the forward 5' 38 (Gun 51) mount. I was the hot shell man. My job was to catch the expended shell case after the gun fired and throw in out a small hatch at the near of the gun mount. On this particular day, the entry hatches of the mount were closed. We had fired several rounds when there was a terrific explosion inside the mount. (Similar to the Iowa, but much smaller scale) Due to the hatches being closed, the concussion inside the mount hurt everyone's ears. We never closed the hatches after this again. As the hot shell man, my face was only about two feet away from the blast. It knocked me back against the mount bulkhead. There is a hard rubber spade that rams the cartridge and the projectile into the chamber. This rubber had disintegrated and many small pieces flew back into my face with one piece embedded in one of my eyes. I could not see or hear for several minutes. Our gun captain John Kline who has his head sticking out a small hatch in the top of the mount, thought we were all killed in the explosion and that the magazines were blowing up. As such, he stood up on top of the mount and dove overboard. There was another guy I think named Hearne who was not connected with or even near the gun that also jumped overboard. Why he did so I never found out.

In the meantime, I was not aware of this and the thought that was in my mind was that another shop that was out with us had fired and hit us. Someone finally got a hatch open, the mount was full of smoke, and pushed me out. Then someone led me around to the starboard side of the ship. I was still pretty dazed and shook up. I cold see twenty or twenty-five guys all lined up at the rail near the life raft. Our boatswain Arsnault was cutting the straps that held the raft. The regular release would not work. At the same time I could hear our Captain Godsey on the PA system saying, "Man the life rafts." I could only assume the ship was sinking and he was telling us to take to the rafts. I was still in a dazed condition from the explosion a minute earlier. As the last strap was cut and the raft started to slide overboard, I said, "Lets go men," and jumped overboard.

Imagine my surprise when I came up and saw the ship moving away and I was the only one in the water. I swam to the raft and climbed aboard and when I did, I could see the other two men in the water. I cut a paddle loose and paddled over and picked them both up. As I pulled Herne aboard, he said "Kelly, your face is covered with blood." It was, but I did not feel anything at the time.

I think it was an hour or two before the ship came back and picked us up. All I know, it was a long time and at one point, we could see no land or ships in sight. It is my understanding they had to get relieved from their position in a screen before they could stop. We were confident they would come get us.

After they picked us up, I was taken to sickbay for the corpsman to remove the pieces of rubber from my face and eye. I think he said he removed approximately seventy pieces. He could not get the piece from my eye and planned on sending me to a hospital ship when we got to Leyte. He gave me a patch to wear. About three days later it came out all by itself.

While I was in sickbay and the corpsman was working on me, the Captain came in and asked me if I had gone overboard to take the raft out and rescue the other two men. Had I thought fast enough and said yes, I think he would of made me a hero and gotten me a medal. As it was, I told him the truth. I said, "No sir, captain, I thought we were sinking and I was just getting off." Nothing further was ever said.

We think what happened after we made our inspection was that the primer on the cartridge case was not flush with the case, and when the breech block came up it set the primer and case off before the breech was fully closed. As a result, much of the explosion made back into the mount instead of going out the barrel. Had that breechblock been blown back down instead of continuing to rise, we would have all been killed. We were very fortunate. As it was, no one was seriously hurt.

We made the necessary repairs to the gun and put it back into firing condition. They wanted three men to volunteer to go back in to test fire the gun after the repairs were made. The gunnery officer had to go, he had no choice, and he had the most dangerous position to be in. He also picked me and another guy to go with him. I had the phones on and made sure I had a lot of metal between the breech and me. So did the other guy. While waiting for the order to fire, which was very delayed after we indicated we were ready, caused our gunnery officer to really sweat. It was running off him like a spigot. We finally got the word to fire and everything went OK.

We never closed our mount hatches after that and the power man and myself both double-checked the primers on all cartridges thereafter. We would run our hand across the face to be sure the primer was not sticking out. It only took a second and did not slow down our loading time.

Don Condit and Rich Runaldue were part of my gun crew at the time and we are still friends and meet with each other at least once a year.

We were attached to Task Group 75.18 in Hunter-Killer Operations between the Ryukyus and the Philippines. There was a carrier and I would guess about six or eight DE's. The carrier was the USS Salamaua, CVE 96. DE's surrounded the carrier and we were sent out ahead some twelve miles over the horizon on picket duty.

It was a clear, bright, sunny day and the water was smooth as glass. I was on watch on the after 5" 38 (Gun 52). It was about noon. I was sitting on top of the mount with a couple other guys and had the talker phones on. One of the forward lookouts called the bridge and reported an object in the water and that it looked like a log. Someone else was on the phone and said, "That's no log, that's a submarine." When I heard that, I told the guys on top of the mount with me to get down and to their stations, that there was a submarine. Boy did we move. About this time, general quarters were sounding. (I heard later that the OD of the watch was going to ram the sub as it was dead ahead of the ship, but when the Captain got to the bridge, he ordered hard right rudder. As we turned away, a torpedo went past our starboard side. It was picked up by sonar and sighted by lookouts.) The captain was familiar with what had happened to the DE USS Underhill when it was sunk under the same circumstances. Had we rammed the sub, it would have blown up and the torpedo would have hit us at the same time.

As the ship was turning away from before ramming, I had been relieved from my watch station and started toward my battle station in the forward 5" 38 gun 51 as a hot shell man. You were supposed to go up the starboard and down the port side to your battle stations, but the shortest distance for me was to go up the port side. The adrenaline was really flowing. As I started forward I could see the sub the entire time. I would guess it was about forty or fifty yards away. It seemed like it was close enough to spit on. It had a small, low profile conning tower with a periscope and both were above the water. At times you could see the entire top surface of the body of the sub. (Midget sub.) As I was running up the deck with my eye on the sub, the forward 40mm gun was trained outboard at the sub and started firing just as I was passing underneath the barrels. It scared the hell out of me and I thought the sub was shooting at me. I hit the deck and scrambled around to the far side of the gun 51 so that I would have it between me and the sub for protection while I climbed in. The rest of the gun crew showed up and I don't remember if we got off a few rounds before we hit the stops or not, but the gun captain was yelling, "Commence firing, commence firing," and Don Condit, our trainer was yelling back that he could not fire because we were against the stops. (This is to keep us from firing into our own superstructure.) The ship was doing all kinds of maneuvers and since we could not fire at the time, I was looking out the hatch at the sub. Evidently, a K gun depth charge went off under the sub and seemed to lift the sub out of the water about a foot. At the same time the aft 5" gun scored a direct hit. There was a bright flash, a lot of smoke, and when it cleared, the sub was gone. The 40mm and the 20mm had also been scoring direct hits, but did not seem to be doing much damage.

While all this was going on a second periscope was sighted and we started firing at the scope and dropping more charges and firing the K guns. I don't know how many rounds our gun got off, but it was quite a few and we were very busy for a while. By now, a plane from the carrier was overhead and spotting for us and more DE's had arrived to help. We formed a scouting line and eventually the Johnnie Hutchins picked up a third sub some miles away from the first two encounters. We made attacks on this third sub and there were tremendous under-water explosions. This sub was also presumed sunk. All this took place in about a two-hour period. It was very exciting to say the least.

I believe our captain, the aft gun captain and the sonar officer all received the bronze star award for this action. The rest of the crew was awarded the Naval Unit Commendation ribbon. This was the last surface naval engagement of WW2. The war ended five days later.

When I went down to the crew's compartment after we secured from General Quarters, every lightbulb was broken and the bunks covered with dust and dirt. This was due to the tremendous pressure and vibration the ship took from the depth charges. They even popped a few rivets. The next day the carrier called us along side and gave us a well done and a couple five-gallon cans of ice cream.

What bothered me after the war was ended was we were still at sea and that night we turned on all our running lights. It occurred to me those Jap subs may not have heard that the war was over or as fanatical as they were, may not care and would put a torpedo into us. There we were sailing around with lights on. No one slept easy for a week or so till we got back to port.

It was confirmed after the war that the Jap mother sub I-366 commanded by Lt. Takami Tokioka had lost three Kaitens, sunk by the Johnnie Hutchins, DE 360.

We were anchored in Buckner Bay, Okinawa, when all the ships in the harbor that could get underway were ordered to put out to sea immediately to avoid a typhoon in the area. (A friend of mine was on an LST that could not get underway. I will tell you about him later.) As we left the harbor, the waves were getting larger and larger. There was a carrier in front of us and a carrier behind us and their flight decks were on occasion taking water over their bow. Our poor little DE was tossed around like a cork. I was on watch on the after 5" and was sitting on top enjoying the ride. It was like a roller coaster, but that did not last for long. The sky got darker and darker and the waves got taller and taller. All the other ships were now out of sight and it was every ship for himself. One minute we would be down in a valley looking up at a fifty or sixty foot wave, the next minute, we would be on top looking down. If we had ever broached in these seas, we would have capsized for sure.

I could never understand why we were standing gun watches in these seas, as we could never have fired them, much less hit anything. It was all you could do to stand up. The waves now reached new heights and were breaking over the ship in all areas. The captain now fearing the gun mounts might get washed away ordered us to secure the gun watch and stand the watch inside the deck house. We did so and stood the watch just inside the hatch. We were all trying to think of the best way out if the shop capsized. Not that it would have done any good because no one could survive is those seas. This was the only time during the entire war and many dangerous situations that I was ever frightened and thought maybe this might be it. We had been in other hurricanes and typhoons, but nothing like this. Some time the ship would roll over so far that you had to stand with one foot on the deck and one on the bulkhead. Most of the time we sat, as it was almost impossible to stand. At times, it would roll to one side and hesitate for a moment and I would think it was never going to recover and right itself. I would guess we took at least some sixty or seventy degree rolls. It was really scary. I remember saying a little prayer like, "Lord, get me out of this one and I will go to church every Sunday and never miss mass again." Well, we did survive and I do go to church every Sunday.

We rode out this typhoon for three days and returned to Buckner Bay on the afternoon of the third day. The island was leveled. There was not a building standing. Ships and buoys were scattered everywhere. My friends' LST was up on the beach about a quarter mile as were other small ships and boats. I'm not sure, but I think there were many ships and sailors lost in this storm. It was a terrible experience and I would never want to go through a typhoon again. Now I know what the Warrington guys went through except they did not make it. We left the area a few days later for Jinsen, Korea.

We had a ship's reunion in June of 1978, some thirty years later. Our executive officer Ed Forrest told us that the skill and seamanship of our captain Godsey saved all our lives from the typhoon. God bless him, he is dead now.

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