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After being discharged from the U.S.Navy in 1950, I enlisted in the inactive reserves, and headed for the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Into my first year I received notice I was being recalled to active service. The Korean War was underway and my rating in the Medical Dept. was DTG2.
I had my choice of going with the Fleet Marine Force or sea duty. Since my brother Dick was a medic in the Fleet Marine Force in Korea, I opted for sea duty - hoping I'd get aboard ship again. Orders came thru at Great Lakes for assignment with the Medical Dept. at Pearl Harbor. We had been in and out of there previously and I really looked forward to duty there. Lo and behold !!! when I showed up on a Sunday morning at the Med. Dept. at Pearl, I was told that Pearl was not for me and I was going to relieve a rating down on Kwajalein - KWAJALEIN !! - what was that? I'd never heard of it before. They told me it was an island, 2000 miles southwest, 2-1/2 miles long and 1/2 a mile wide and shaped like a boomerang - and I was going to be there for 2 years.
Soon after, we flew out of Hickam Field and headed southwest. Just after sunset I noticed we were dropping down and heading for what looked like an aircraft carrier. Runway lights were on and when we dropped lower I saw an island below - about the size of a postage stamp - Johnson Island. I was real impressed with the whole affair - a huge DC-6 landing on a small island with a runway 1 mile long, or there-abouts. Our final approach was over the water and I swear, we weren't more than 10 ft. off the water.
DTG2 John Sesto met me at the terminal on Kwaj and we loaded my stuff into the jeep and headed for my new home, in the new hospital, on the north end of the island. I was a Dental Technician and the Dental Clinic was located on the lower level at the south end of the hospital. There I met with Chief Jones, Bob Mohr, Prosthetic Tech 1st Class, Lee Durham DTG2 and Dr. Hughes. I was really impressed with my new quarters. We had a room for four, nice, THICK 8-inch mattresses (not the little 2" roll-up jobs), fresh water shower, hand sink and all the comforts of home. Our room faced east and was all windows. Had the surf lulling us off to sleep at night and the sun rising up over the Pacific waking us in the morning.
Kwajalein was designated a permanent installation about the time I arrived and a lot of construction projects were underway. One of the first projects was a chow hall (naturally) and next was the enlisted mens quarters. Needless to say - the Officers Club, Chiefs Club and the Enlisted Mens Club were already established.
Next came new dependant quarters, fuel storage facilities, and if I remember correctly, a concrete catch basin, for collecting rain water, was constructed between the taxiway and runway. A potable water plant was erected to treat the rain water and the desalination plant got a little reprieve. It rained quite often, day and night and the new supply of fresh water was more than welcome. The pump house for the desalination plant was located on the beach just east of the hospital.
Enlisted quarters.
Dependant quarters.
Along with the new construction a lot of destruction was going on. For months, cranes with wrecking balls, hammered away at Japanese reinforced concrete "pill boxes" or gun emplacements, mainly on the eastern shoreline. Hard to believe it would take days and weeks to knock down one structure. It was also hard to believe the lack of palm trees and greenery on the island. There were a few trees, here and there, but not many.
And speaking of greenery - remember the rows of green, wooden benches at the Richardson Outdoor Theater. It's hard to believe it has lasted as long as it has. They've probably used 10,000 gallons of paint on those benches over the past 50 years. It was a good be it would probably rain if you went to the movies, so we always took our ponchos and pith helmets. Sure enough - it would start pouring - so we'd pull our feet up on the benches, drape the poncho over our body and put our helmets on and sit there and try to see and hear the movie - impossible.
In those days too, we supposedly had bugs, mosquitoes or some other pesky insects because periodically a TBM would fly the length of the windward or east shore of the island, spraying insecticides, and usually 10 to 15 feet off the surface of the water. Must have worked because the only pesky things I ever saw were ants. You could also put your name on the waiting list, and when your name came up, it was your turn to fly along with the next debugging flight. My name came up and I had the thrill of a lifetime -buzzing along at 150 -180 mph, 10 to 15 feet off the water. Better than a roller coaster. There were times we would stand on the beach and watch them make their passes. At times they'd fly so low they'd suck water right up off the ocean surface.
TBM - center of the picture.
TBM northbound on the ocean side.
Lt.Cdr Hughes, a Navy dentist, spoke the Marshallese language and we sometimes went over to Ebeye, and other islands to the north, to do emergency dental work. He was told by some of the folks there of a 15 ft. boat sunk just off shore at Ebeye. We helped salvage it and as I remember - it wasn't in too bad condition. Motor Macs did a lot of work on the engine, and we made up and erected a mast and sail and a lean-to cabin of sorts - strange looking sight. Then we spent a few off-duty weekends sailing up the lagoon and hopping from one island to the next. Bread, ham, pie, Pepsi and a few Tuborg beers were always part of the cargo. We got our Tuborg beer from freighters that would drop in occasionally at Kwaj. Best I ever tasted........
Another past-time that helped keep us from being bored on our off-duty time was kite flying. We sent to Hawaii for the line and we made our own kites up - the bigger the better. We had some kites up to 6 ft. across. We always had a breeze blowing in from the east 10 months of the year. We attached a few thousand feet of line and once she got airborne she'd stay there for days. Well, needless to say - all good things must come to an end. The powers that be issued directives that there would be no more kite flying on Kwaj because they posed a threat to air navigation. So much for that...........
And now for you seafood lovers. At low tide, probably 1 - 2 ft of water, preferably on a moonlit night, we'd go lobster hunting. We'd wear our Marine boots fo walking on the reef, take along a battle lantern and a burlap bag. There always seemed to be plenty of lobsters but the trick was to catch them. We'd shine the lamp on the lobster, which would startle them and stop them for a second or two and then we'd stomp on them. We weren't always fast enough to catch all we saw but there were nights we'd bring in 10 or 12. They were unlike Maine lobsters because of the absence of the large claws. Anyway, one of our doctors hailed from Bar Harbor, Maine. We always informed him when we went out lobstering and he would prepare the sauce and butter. He would also fill the "boil out tank" in the Dental Lab, which was used for prosthetic devices. When we returned from lobstering, water in the tank would be steaming, we'd drop the lobsters in and you know the rest. We'd feast on lobster, crackers and Tuborg. Even our dog "Lightning" got in on the feast. What beautiful memories.
One of our COs, Dr. Mossom, brought his wife and two children (Jimmy & Leslie) to the island. Their quarters were just across the street and a little south of the Dental Clinic. Mrs. Mossom was one of the first school teachers on Kwajalein and her first school was in a Quonset Hut.
Jimmy and Leslie Mossom.
Lightning
During my stay, while the Korean War was going on, B-29s, A-26s and other aircraft were a daily sight on Kwajalein. Kwaj was a refueling stop on the way to Guam and points north. On occasion, I would stand on the beach, at the end of the runway, and watch the 29s and 26s taking off overhead. After observing them on one particular day, and on my way back to the hospital, I heard sirens sounding. Back at ther hospital I learned that the B-29 had gone down about 30 miles out and some of the A-26s were having trouble also. All the 26s made it back to the island. Evidently, during the refueling process, they had taken on sea water along with their fuel. Aviation fuel was stored in concrete barges in the lagoon and was somehow contaminated with sea water - probably a rupture in one of the underwater lines.
We talked to the pilot of the B-29 (26 years old) in the hospital after he was rescued by Navy craft from Kwaj. He said his departure was normal, and then, as he was still climbing, all four engines began sputtering out, one after the other and he started a glide path for a landing. They hadn't had time or altitude, to jettison fuel but they came in on a very smooth sea. He said he had made a perfect landing but as the craft slowed his left wing dipped and the plane flipped over and sank almost immediately. He remembered having a problem with his microphone wire around his neck but he finally got out thru the windshield. When he surfaced he saw one of his crewmen inflating a one-man life raft and swam over to him. When he got to the raft the crewman had disappeared and he was the only survivor. The rescue crew said he was sitting in the raft and he had put out a purple shark repellant dye and he was completely circled by sharks 30 ft out from the raft.
Well, after spending a 2 year assignment on Kwaj, our crew always had a going away celebration for whoever was heading out. Since we worked closely with the doctors and if the officers were the only ones able to purchase the hard stuff on the island then that was a plus for us. As part of the going away celebration - we had a few cocktails (Pepsi and Old Grand Dad) and by the time midnight rolled around we were in no condition to drive a jeep around the island - so we did!!! Guess we needed the fresh air. On the way back to the hospital, someone wanted to know if we "wanted to go swimming" - so we did!!! Someone turned the jeep off the blacktop - onto the beach - and out onto the reef and we got out about 50 yards before she stalled out. Tide was out, so we climbed out, got back across the beach and into the hospital.
I remember waking up the next morning and looking out to the beach. Three Marine MPs were standing on the beach, a tow truck had a cable attached to the jeep and just the canvas top and seats above the water. Right then - I knew we were in deep trouble - with a capital "S". We got up and explained to our CO how we had had a little party the night before and the jeep somehow wound up in the drink. When the MPs identified who the jeep was assigned to, they immediately headed over to the Dental Clinic and asked for our CO. Our CO immediately demanded that the MPs get out there and find the culprits that stole our jeep and get another jeep assigned to us immediately. STAT!!! Needless to say, I was on pins and needles until I was on that plane and on my way back to Hickam Field.
My two years on Kwajalein were two of the most memorable years I've ever spent anywhere - a real blessing. Fifty years sure have changed the looks of the island and if I ever get back there again - I would probably be impressed all over again. Thanks for the memories.
Thanks to Jeff Winter, our Webmaster, for taking me back in time and helping to unlock all the memories of all the "good old times" and for presenting "Kwajalein" to us as it is today. Jeff has one of the best maintained and informative websites on the internet today.
What great memories, what a beautiful island and what a premium website.
