H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE

Ed Spilman on Kwajalein My journey to Kwajalein started as follows. I was transferred from San Diego to receiving station San Francisco for further orders in the early fall of 1947. My orders came through to go aboard USS General W.A. Mann APA-112. We then sailed from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor. After a few days at Pearl we went on to Guam. I was assigned to receiving station in Guam awaiting further orders. After a few days the orders came through that I was to be transferred to Kwajalein Ship Security Detail. I flew from Guam to Kwajalein, arriving early evening, and saw a whole fleet of ships anchored in the lagoon. At that time I thought, "Here I go ... I'm going to finally get my sea duty!"

North side of airfield.

Native and Navy Boat Pool

I was put up in a receiving barracks for the evening. The next morning I reported to the KSSD Headquarters. I was told that I would be would be working for KSSD at the navy boat pool, due to my year's experience in San Diego as a boat coxswain on a LCM landing craft. I spent several weeks getting familiar with the lagoon and all the coral reefs in the lagoon, as well as the different islands in the area. I was told that my duties would include towing a wooden barge with scientists from the USA aboard. They would be conducting experiments aboard the radioactive ships, which I had seen anchored in the lagoon when I originally arrived. All of these ships were at the bomb test at Bikini Atoll. This barge was very special in the way that it had showers and washing machines aboard along with a generator. This enabled the men who were aboard to change clothes and don special protective clothing before boarding the ships. Once through with their testing aboard a ship, I would then tow the barge on to the next ship. After the day's work had ended, the scientists would then come aboard the barge, which we considered the "hot" side of the barge, remove their clothing, put it in the washing machine, shower, and put on their clean clothes on the "clean" side of the barge. I would then tow the barge back to the pier at Kwajalein.

Landing Craft Wreckage	On board LCVP landing craft.	LCVP in the lagoon.
Warehouse and Shop	Avaition Fuel Storage	Water Storage Tanks

In my duties as a boat coxswain I was called on to do many different things. Once I was awaked at 3:00 a.m. to go out and try and pull friend of mine who was stuck on a coral reef with his LCM after making the king ferry run the previous evening. After a real struggle, I got him out of there by putting the stern of my boat towards the bow of his boat. The wash of my propellers at full speed enabled us to pull him off. On another evening I was awakened in the middle of the night. My engineer and I were told we had to go out to an island whose name I cannot now recall, to pick up a native who had appendicitis, and had to be transported to the hospital on Kwajalein. As luck would have it, there was no moon out that night. It was as dark as pitch. The battle lantern was not functioning properly due to dead batteries. The only pier at that island was a half-sunken pontoon barge. What I mainly was afraid of was getting the man aboard as swiftly as possible due to the fact that this was the windward side of the lagoon, and the water was fairly choppy. I was afraid that if I dallied too long, a wave would come under the stern of my boat and lift it up on this sunken pontoon barge. As it was, we got in and out very quickly, and arrived safely back at Kwajalein.

Ebeye Island	Burnette Island	Ebeye Island
Navy Barracks	Ebeye Island	Richardson Theater

On another occasion I was notified that a Navy sea going tug was arriving at Kwajalein with steel barge full of fresh water - approximately 75,000 gallons. I was told that the native population on Ugelang Island was running out of fresh water. We were to tow this water barge to that island which was approximately 300 to 400 miles from Kwajalein. My LCM was tied astern of the water barge. We left that evening and about 20 miles off Kwajalein we ran into a storm. Since being a boat coxswain they had me on the bridge steering this sea going tug on the first watch. All I had to do was follow the reading on the gyro compass. Myself being of weak stomach, immediately started getting violently sick because the tug, being of round bottom, was tossing and rolling very violently. During the 4-day journey to Ugelang Island I spent most of my time in my bunk. When we finally arrived at our destination, I was never so glad to see land in all of my life! My purpose of being there with my LCM was to tow this water barge through the inlet into Ugelang Lagoon as the sea going tug drew too much water to go into the lagoon. After a struggle with the wind, and my boat being about 1/10th the size of this water barge, I finally managed to get the barge inside through the inlet and into the lagoon.

Main road to Army area.

Inside the lagoon there was a LCI anchored and a small boat came out and told me to bring the barge up near the LCI. The LCI served as temporary living quarters for a group of navy Seabees who were building a rain catching cistern on the island. Since we did not have hoses long enough to reach between the place where they wanted to store the water and the barge, we had to off load the water 250 gallon at a time with a mobile water tank and a 4-wheel drive Dodge vehicle which was in the well deck of my LCM landing craft. After about 2 weeks of off loading, we left Ugelang Island. Since the Seabees had finished the cistern, we were all aboard the LCI on our way back to Kwajalein. During that trip back we encountered some rough water, and my LCM started taking water aboard. I suggested that they pull it in with the winch, so that I could go aboard and start up the bilge pumps. As they were starting to pull it in, a large wave went over the side of the LCM and I instinctively knew at that it was going to sink. I told one of the officers on the stern of the LCI that they had better cut the towline, which they did. In about 5 minutes the LCM sunk, bow first taking the dodge vehicle in the well decks with it. Instinctively I worried that I would be in trouble because I felt that I would be held responsible for the sinking. I must have worried out loud, because a Chief Petty Officer, who was one of the crew of the LCI said, "Don't worry, son, because the captain of the LCI is responsible." He explained further that the vessel towing another vessel or boat is responsible for what happens to the tow. They did have a Navy Board of Inquiry that I did not have to attend. I don't think that it amounted to too much.

Civilian Barracks

Boat Pool Shops

The last item I have is about the Battleship Pennsylvania. One evening we received orders that the Pennsylvania was due to be taken out and scuttled. The next day a navy tug arrived, and I was told to report to the tug with my boat. That afternoon I transported a few men and a cable towing line, which these men would secure to the bow of the Pennsylvania. I then took the men back to the tug and tied up. That is where I spent the night - on board the tug. The next morning Commander Greer, who was the Navy port director, told me to take the same men and an acetylene cutting torch outfit, and put them aboard the Pennsylvania. While I was tied up, they cut the anchor chain on the bow of the Pennsy with the cutting torch. I then took the men back to the tug and was told to follow them out to sea. After they progressed about 15 miles out to sea, they called for me to come back to the tug where I took the same men aboard my boat and put them aboard the Pennsylvania. Their job was to cast off the tow cable and go below decks and open up the seacocks to allow seawater to come in. About 20 minutes later they came running down the deck and jumped aboard my boat, thinking that the ship was going to sink very fast, I presume. I put them back aboard the tug and was told just to stand by until the ship sank, and then go back to Kwajalein. It took about two hours and 30 minutes for the ship to heel over and sink by the stern.

Scuttling of the Battleship Pennsylvania

Visit the USS Pennsylvania website operated by Ken Munro!

Ed Spilman

H I S T O R Y
BEFORE WWII	DURING WWII	1944 BILL ILES	1944 CURTIS PARTCH	1947 ED SPILMAN	1950 - 1951 GENE WOOLIEVER	1951 - 1969	1970 - 1989	1990 - 1994	HISTORY COMES ALIVE