II "Battle of Okinawa" - 1 April 1945
"Largest Major Battle in Pacific
Area, World War II."
We had our biggest Easter meal on Friday and Saturday eve. There was the
largest church crowd I have seen aboard ship. We were near our target area
then and everyone was more than a little eager to get at the Japs' and get it
over with.
It was a beautiful Easter morning and when I came on deck the sun was just
beginning to rise. It looked like a morning off the California coast and if it
hadn't been for the rumble of gunfire, you might think it was California. It
was just before "H" hour and I was watching a Jap zero skirt across the sky.
Someone else must have seen that plane too, for all at once two streams of
colored balls seemed to meet in mid-air as a couple of 'cans' got that Jap in
their cross fire. In a matter of a few seconds Togo's "pirate" broke into
flames and fell into the sea. A few more unfortunate Son's of heaven went to
meet their ancestors but in a short time everything was pretty quiet. It was
just as the radio said "Our troops got ashore without encountering ant
resistance and advanced over three hundred yards the first hour.
Things were going fine and it looked very much as though the Lord had planned
it and answered our prayers to the letter. Came the darkness that night and we
all felt fairly good inside to know that things were going well. We got
little if any sleep that night spending most of it at our battle stations
while the Japs carried out their little nuisance raids.
Didn't see a thing until early in the morning when a Jap passed on our
portside just out of range. A "can" knocked it down a few moments later. That
was also the morning a little peppered our deck and I got my first souvenir.
Luckily it did no damage. Things went along smoothly for the next few days and
it sure was a good feeling to have those larger ships out screening for you,
protecting us like a mother hen would protect her chicks.
We listened to the Japanese version over radio Tokyo and had to sort of smile
to ourselves when they told their preposterous lies. After all, we were there
and could see exactly what was going on.
"Not for Publication" -- W.O. Hancock PHM3/c
III "Battle of Okinawa" (cont)
Though, I can sometimes question the exactness of fact in news items, I can
truthfully say that what was broadcast to America about the first week of the
Okinawa invasion is quite true. Probably the most successful combined
operation of this war, so they said.
We had a little excitement when a swarm of Jap suicide bombers tried to put a
monkey-wrench in the works. All the ships were throwing up a heavy screen of
flak and the larger ships belched fire and flame continually. It was a very
fascinating experience to see a Jap trying desperately to get thru the curtain
of fire which dotted the sky only to be shot down into the sea. It was like a
top hat in a snowball fight, they didn't have a chance. I remember one medium
bomber headed straight for our starboard side. It came in so fast that we
could hardly distinguish it thru the bursting ack-ack. It was almost upon us
it seems when our 5 inch gun made a hit them the under-carriage which blasted
their landing gear off and another hit near the tail assembly and thru the
plane out of control. All of a sudden it turned, as if by fate hand and
plunged harmlessly into the sea. The plane carried no guns, so we weren't
worried about being strafed, but she was loaded with T.N.T. that would have
caused us some grief.
Another plane flew past our port side and our forward 40mm guns did a nice job
of tearing off the left wing which caused her to spin right down to Davy Jones
Locker. A couple more planes got thru to the transport area but were
immediately destroyed. The whole thing was like a big 4th of July celebration
on a large scale. Not a thought of fear entered my mind though I saw on of our
ships hit badly and a fuel dump on the beach go up in smoke.
I had a hunch we would have it easy and that "MAGGIE" would come out untouched
and sure enough she did.
"Not for Publication" -- W. O. Hancok PHM 3/c
IV
It was I told the dentist as we came up to Ulithi from Guadacanal, "I just
have a hunch we won't run into much trouble because "MAGGIE" is a lucky ship
and the Lord is on our side. He thought I was all wrong and I fear he was a
little worried. I'm glad everything turned out all right and as it was we got
out it "jig time".
We pulled out on D day plus 6 for the Island of Guam. I thought to myself that
those boys would be catching hell in a few days because the Japs don't give up
easily and won't have a thing like an island 325 miles, taken for nothing. I
wished that I could have stayed there and helped them out but we had done our
part and done it well. So there was no need to stay any longer. Since then you
know as well as I what has happened and it will be a tough struggle before
it's over but we will eventually triumph.
This was my first invasion and I fear not my last. I can only that those Japs
finally wake up to the fact that they can't win against as great a force as
will be hurtled against them. I learned well what is meant by the "Fighting
Spirit of Our Nation". My prayers are with the boys at Okinawa tonight.
The End
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"Not for Publication" --- W.O. Hancock PHM3/c
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NOTE: I received this handwritten document while at the 1998
reunion in Kansas City, MO.
I have attempted to type in the document just as written.
I did break into paragraphs to help the readability for on-
line reading.
Thanks for sharing your history, thoughts and feelings of
those days Bill.
Jerry Lopez - Association webmaster.