My name is Eric Lester Schultz. My father, Edgar Leroy Schultz was the youngest brother of Lester Herbert Schultz. Lester was the only gunner to fire shots on the incoming kamikaze pilot on May 1st, 1945, that attacked the USS Terror. I have recently been given a scrapbook that my Aunt put together about my Uncle Lester (my middle name sake) which is what has led me to want to gather more information about the May 1, 1945 attack, and ultimately, to your website.

One more thing Colin… I want to give credit to Uncle Lester’s sister, my Aunt Lorraine (Dolly) Winkler for creating and keeping up with the scrapbook that this information was retrieved from.

Hi Colin,
Below, and attached are some of the articles I have, related to my uncle, Lester Herbert Schultz.

Wikipedia describes the events of May 1, 1945 (copied below) with a brief mention of 1 gunman getting shots off on the incoming plane.
from Wikipedia:
Kamikaze attack, 1 May 1945
Minutes before 04:00 on 1 May 1945, as Terror lay at anchor in Kerama Retto, a kamikaze dove toward the ship. Darting through a hole in the smoke screen and coming in on Terror’s port beam, the attacker banked sharply around the stern, then came in from the starboard quarter so rapidly that only one of the minelayer’s stern guns opened fire. As the plane crashed into the ship’s communication platform, one of its bombs exploded. The other penetrated the main deck before it, too, exploded. The aircraft’s engine tore through the ship’s bulkheads to land in the wardroom. Fire flared immediately in the superstructure but was soon controlled and, within two hours, was extinguished. Flooding of the magazines prevented possible explosions, and no engineering damage occurred, but the kamikaze had exacted its toll. The attack cost Terror 171 casualties: 41 dead, 7 missing, and 123 wounded.
Wikipedia’s description was further clarified as my uncle being the lone gunman, in a letter to my grandmother. Attached are pictures of the 2 page letter from Verne Daniels, Uncle Lester’s good friend and shipmate.

I have more naval correspondence and artifacts, like Lester’s Purple Heart, but I’m not sure what you want, or how much of it.

Please get back to me with any additional requests, or questions. I would be honored to assist you in any way I can.

Sincerely,
Ric Eric Lester Schultz ricschultz3663@gmail.com

The letters are attached.

The post Only Gun Firing on the Kamikazi appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

USS Terror – Okinawa Theatre

The USS Terror arrived in the Okinawa area in early April, about 9 days before the battle began. She was sent to the area to patrol with a group of Mine Sweepers as a prelude to the upcoming battle.

One early morning, my father Frank Steele was at his duty station, on the 40-millimeter gun, port side by the bridge. In the southwest direction, the sky began to appear black as if a storm were approaching. This darkness began to catch everyone’s eyes. As it got closer, it became apparent that it was not a storm. My Father Frank, turned to a fellow shipmate by the name of Gallagher and said “we’re going to get it now”, because it was now apparent that the darkness was an approaching fleet with air cover. Since Okinawa was so close to Japan, many thought this was the attacking Japanese fleet.

All was quiet for about 30 minutes or so, and then my Father and his shipmates at the 40-millimeter gun overheard an officer in the bridge say, “they’re ours”. Word then passed from gun to gun, through headphones, that this was the approaching American invasion fleet. “They’re ours” are words that my Father still remembers quite clearly.

On the day of the Kamikaze attack on the USS Terror (May 1^st, 1945), my Father was standing the 12:00 midnight to 4:00 AM watch in the starboard side fantail area. At 3:55 AM, his 4:00 AM watch had not yet come to relieve him (5 minutes prior to the hour which was customary). My Father had placed his basket of hand grenades on the OD shack in anticipation of being relieved when he saw a Japanese plane come through portside, circle the fantail and come towards broadside of the starboard side. Everything happened very quickly at that point.

There was some firing from the USS Terror at the incoming plane. My Father noticed that he was just below the Terror’s 5-inch guns and immediately moved out of the way so as to not be under them when they fired. The next memory that Frank Steele had was of him lying down on the fantail with a lot of pain in his lower back area. A Gunners’ Mate took my Father’s rifle and gun belt off and showed him the broken rifle stock and bent bullets where an object had struck.

My Father’s watch relief arrived at that point and apologized over and over again about being late to relieve him. The irony of it is that had the relief arrived on time, my Father would have gone up the starboard side of the ship, and might possibly not be with us today.

Frank Steele remembers wounded and badly burned shipmates all around him on the fantail of the ship after the attack. He was taken off the USS Terror shortly thereafter and put onto a Hospital Ship that took him to Saipan for 6 weeks to 2 months of recovery. After that recovery period, he took an LST to Pearl Harbor, then an APO to San Francisco (the Oakland Navy Yard) for 28 days of well-deserved leave.

Provided by John Steele (son of Frank Steele) 

The post Remembrance appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

Joseph Colello currently lives with his wife, Lillian (‘Doie’), at:

409 Sand Creek Road

Colonie, NY 12205

518/459-4672

(He does not have an e-mail address at this time, but you can send him messages through one of his daughters at Vmast@aol.com; or Amurp@aol.com.

He has 4 children (one son, three daughters), all living in the Albany area, and six grandsons. Although legally blind, he gets around remarkably well and can read to some degree with the use of a special magnifying machine.

Here is his story as he recalls the kamikaze attack on the USS Terror (told to and as written by Rosemary Armao, a newspaper editor and also a cousin of our family).

May 1, 1945 by Rosemary Armao

He remembers none of the details, what he was doing or with whom, how many men were lost, or even whether it was night or day.

What Joseph S.C. Colello does remember about an hour in battle over a half-century ago that changed his life is a miraculous woman’s clear voice steering him from death.

Colello was an eighteen-year-old seaman, first class, on May 1, 1945 – a rural Albany boy no longer after about a year in the Navy and duty aboard the minelayer USS Terror. He was only seventeen when he and seventeen other high school seniors went to enlist in the Navy. They were sent back to school for the few weeks left till graduation, then it was off to boot camp at Sampson Naval Base in Geneva, New York. At home, his parents worried about him; and his pretty, fifteen-year old girlfriend, ‘Doie’, said novenas for him.

After graduating from radio school, Colello was shipped out in January of 1945 by troop train to Treasure Island, California, where he boarded a ship for Hawaii. He began to doubt the wisdom of joining the Navy, for by the time he got to the Golden Gate Bridge, he was seasick.

From Hawaii he was flown to Johnson Island, then Guam, where he boarded a Coast Guard cutter to rendezvous with the USS Terror at Kerama Retto in the South Pacific.

Throughout the opening months of 1945, the Terror steamed through the thick of the South Pacific slug-fest between the United States and Japan, aiding the pre-assault bombardment of Iwo Jima, rushing battle casualties to Saipan. Finally, in late March, operating off Kerama Retto as flag ship and tender for minecraft, as Americans prepared for the invasion of Okinawa.

As the crew worked grueling hours supplying a flotilla of ships with water, oil, gear, and ammunition, the shelling, Colello said, was continuous. Near constant warnings went out about possible attacks by Japanese planes, swimmers, and suicide boats.

On April 2, 1945, two attacking Japanese planes were shot down in the harbor, one just 600 yards from the Terror. On April 6, 1945, Japanese fighters pounded the U.S. ships in the harbor for four hours. It went on for a horror-filled month. To a teenager who had never been away from home before, the spectacle of war resembled the final night of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. “I used to watch other ships get it,” he remembered, “we’d try to shoot them down – it was like fireworks, the tracer bullets all through the sky.”

Ninety-three times that month, the men were directed to general quarters for periods that ranged from seven minutes to 6½ hours. On April 28, 1945, a kamikaze plane slammed into the Pinckney anchored nearby. Three days later, May 1, 1945, the alarm for general quarters sounded yet again just a few minutes before 0400 (4 a.m.), an hour in between darkness and light.

Young Seaman Colello, off duty at the time, and 186 other men crammed the cafeteria. “The lights were all out,” he remembered. “The noise was horrendous. Then there was a huge explosion, a tremendous flash.”

Penned in the dark cafeteria, Colello never saw the twin engine Betty Bomber that darted through a hole in the smoke screen over the water and dove toward the Terror’s port beam. The fighter banked around the stern of the ship, then dove into the starboard quarters so fast only one of the minelaye’rs stern guns even opened fire. As the aircraft tore into the ship’s communications platform, one of the two 500-pound bombs it carried went off, igniting a roaring fire that would burn through the ship for two hours. The explosion and flash rocked the cafeteria where all was chaos.

“All the tables fell over on us,” Colello said. “We were blind. I didn’t know the way out.” At that hopeless moment, he heard the woman. “This way.” She told him. “This way.”

No women served on the Terror, or anywhere else in the Navy in those days. Maybe the voice had something to do with the fact that half a world away, Doie was kneeling in a novena at Our Lady of Angels Church. “Maybe,” Colello said, “I just heard it in my head.” But he obeyed the woman’s voice. He and five other men who followed him groped their way through a hole blown through the ship, out to rescue. Only 56 men made it out. “I never found out the toll on the whole ship,” he said.

It was 171: 41 dead, 7 missing, 123 (including Colello) wounded.

The Japanese pilot’s helmet was found on board – with pictures of the Terror in it. He knew what he was looking for.

Horribly burned, Colello was strapped onto a gurney and transferred by a pulley and rope rig into another ship, the Natrona. It took hours, but all he remembers now is that halfway over, suspended over the water, the stretcher flipped over and he was staring into a sea coated with flaming orange-red gasoline.

From the Natrona, the wounded would be taken to the USS Samaritan, a hospital ship, and then to Saipan, and finally to Hawaii. The full extent of his injuries was evident from the start, though. His temperature soared to 106. His face, hands, and the backs of his legs were raw. His dark hair was burned off, his eyelashes so scorched they’d never grow back. Under his arms blisters swelled as big as grapefruits. Doctors hooked the teenager to an IV and socked him with a massive 100,000 units of penicillin to fight off infection. He would continue to need treatment into the 1950’s.

Badly as he was hurt, Colello remembers others who suffered more. An African-American man in the hospital at Saipan, for example, who agonized as pale new skin grew over his wounds. “All night you could hear him,” Colello said, “Oh, Lord, please make me all one color.”

Frank Pivarunas, a young sailor aboard the Natrona, tried to soothe, and he talked to the wounded Colello that first night after the attack. He agreed to write a letter home for him, wording it carefully to get it by Navy censors.

“Hello folks,” it began, “I met Joe under unfortunate circumstances. He got burnt, but is otherwise whole … what happened can’t be told. He believes that God got him out of the fix he was in. Your prayers at home for him reached him…”

Doie remembers taking that letter from the mailbox and carrying it to the Colellos. She remembers crying with them over it. The stains of those mingled tears remain on the paper 56 years later.

The Terror spent months in repair, then went to war again. After his release from the hospital in Saipan, Colello was put on board an LST bound for Hawaii. The trip took two or three agonizing weeks. Although far from well, Colello was expected to do duty as a radio man on the LST. He remembers receiving a May Day call but was too sick from his injuries, the diesel fumes, and the motion of the small ship, to respond to the SOS. He could only ask the sailor to please call another ship. To this day, he is curious about what the problem was and how it was resolved.

From Hawaii he was transferred to the San Leandro Hospital in Oakland, California. About six months after the kamikaze attack, he was discharged and sent home, a four-day trip by train.

He went to work first on the railroad, but then enrolled at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, on the GI Bill. He married Doie in 1948.

To this day, he cannot touch anything remotely hot. He cannot bear fireworks. And while he has a Purple Heart and a Conspicuous Service Cross, what he wears is the same Miraculous Medal that was around his neck on May 1, 1945.

The post Colello Story appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

This log was provided by Kenneth Davis RM2 and it documents his time on the USS Terror from 10/2/1943 to 12/14/1943

SATURDAY OCTOBER 2, 1943

0800 – CONTINUED LOADING.

1300 – GOT UNDERWAY FOR FRISCO.

SPEED: 15 KNOTS

1800 – 2000 WATCH

0800 – 1200 WATCH

1405 – SECURED SEA DETAIL. SET CONDITION 2 WATCH 1

1515 – PASSED THE FRENCH BATTLESHIP “RICHLIEU” AND

ESCORTS.

1845 – DARKEN SHIP

1912 – G.Q.

1932 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

THERE ARE ONLY 3 SHIPS IN CONVOY. US & 2 DE’S

CABANA (DE-261) & DIONNE (DE-260)

WEATHER CLEAR & COOL. SEA SMOOTH. BUT, DID

THE GUYS GET SICK!! “KANEVSKY” WAS THE FIRST TO

TO GET SICK UP HERE. WE START “SUNRISE SUNSET

SERINADE” TOMORROW

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3, 1943

0510 – G Q

0645 – SECURED FROM G Q

1400 – MOVIES “BITTER SWEET”

1845 – DARKEN SHIP

1910 – G Q

1937 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS

WEATHER GETTING ROUGHER AND FELLOWS SICKER!!

NOTHING OUT OF THE REGULAR SEA ROUTINE HAPPENED

TODAY.

1600 – 1800 WATCH

0000 – 0400 WATCH

MONDAY OCTOBER 4, 1943

0610 – G Q

0647 – SECURED FROM G Q

1106 – G Q MADE A CONTACT

1115 – COURSE 177

1120 – CHANGED STD SPD TO 15 KNOTS

1124 – SET ZIG ZAG COURSE

1125 – COURSE 195

1126 – SECURED FROM G Q

1845 – WAS CHALLANGED BY ?? 280’

1855 – G Q – COURSE 177

1900 – SET ZIG ZAG COURSE 350. BASE 177

1915 – COURSE 142

1920 – 177

1925 – 142

1930 – 177

1933 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

1200 – 1600 WATCH

2000 – 2400 WATCH

SPEED: 12 TO 15 KNOTS

WATER MUCH SMOOTHER TODAY. BUT, IT WAS CLOUDY ALL

DAY & WAS RAINING ON & OFF ALL AFTERNOON.

AT 1106 THE CABANA DE-262 HAD A CONTACT & WE WENT

GQ. DURING WHICH, WE CHANGED OUR STANDARD SPD TO

15 KTS & SET A 35 DEGREE ZIG ZAG COURSE. AT 1845 WE

WERE CHALLANGED BY CONVOY BEARING 280 AND ANSWERED.

EVERYTHING WENT OFF OK TODAY. THE FURTHER SOUTH WE GO,

THE HOTTER IT GETS.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 5, 1943

0500 – SPOTTED 13 SHIP CONVOY 210’

0600 – SIGHTED SAN SALVADOR LIGHT

0612 – G Q BASE COURSE 198’

0630 – PATROL PLANE FROM ??

0633 – SET ZIG ZAG COURSE OF 35’

0635 – COURSE 163’

0637 – SECURED FROM G Q

0640 – BASE COURSE 198’

1000 – FIRED #3 STBD 40 MM GUN

1020 – FIRED #4 PORT 40 MM GUN

1050 – SIGHTED SCHOOL OF LARGE SHARKS

1900 – G Q BASE COURSE 154’

1915 – DE HAD SUB CONTACT

1920 – SIGHTED NE TIP OF CUBA. 54 MILES

1932 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

0800 – 1200 WATCH

1800 – 2000 WATCH

NOTHING HAPPENED TODAY, EXCEPT WE FIRED THE 40 MM

GUNS AT BALLOONS, BUT, MISSED AS USUAL. WE SIGHTED

THE SAN SALVADOR LIGHT THIS MORNING AND ALSO

A 13 SHIP CONVOY, ABOUT THE SAME TIME. FROM THE

POSITION AND COURSE WE WERE THIS MORNING, WE ARE

HEADING FOR GUANTANOMO BAY. CROSSED TO TROPIC Of

CANCER DURING THE NIGHT.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 6, 1943:

0610 – G Q BASE COURSE 215’

OFF ISLE OF HAITI (PORT SIDE)

0635 – SECURED FROM G Q

1130 – SLOWED DOWN , TO TAKE A MAN ABOARD FOR AN OPERATION

1155 – TOOK MAN ABOARD

1500 – SIGHTED ISLE OF “JAMAICA”

1910 – G Q COURSE 210’

1937 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

0400 – 0800 WATCH

1600 – 1800 WATCH

25’N 78’W

WEATHER TODAY WAS, CLEAR & SMOOTH. WE ARE BEGINNING TO SEE

MORE FLYING FISH EVERYDAY. I GOT ONE OF THOSE “SEMI TROPICAL” BURNS TODAY AND IS IT EVER SORE!!

WE GET INTO PANAMA SOMETIME FRIDAY MORNING AND THEN UP THE

COAST TO “FRISCO”!! I’LL THEN BE ABLE TO GET HOM,E ON AN OVER-

NIGHT LIBERTY!!!. THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF THE BOAT FROM THE

DE-260 “CABANA” GOT A BAD CUTOVER HIS RIGHT EYE AS THEY

LOWERED THE SLING TO PICK UP THE MAN FROM THE “DIONNE”

THURSDAY OCTOBER 7, 1943:

0200 – SIGHTED HOSPITAL SHIP OFF THE STBD SIDE. 21 MILES.

BELONGING TO ??

0611 – G Q COURSE 210’

0633 – SECURED FROM G Q

0945 – “CALIFORNIA WEATHER” RAIN & SUNSHINE

1030 – FIRED NUMBERS 7 – 8 –9- & 10 20 MM & NUMBERS 1 & 2 40 MM

GUNS

1915 – G Q COURSE 110’

1933 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

NOTHING HAPPENED TODAY EXCEPT WE FIRED OUR 20MM & 40 MM GUNS

FRIDAY OCTOBER 8, 1943:

0630 – G Q COLON IN SIGHT

0935 – DROPPED HOOK & TOOK ON PILOT OFF COLON

1013 – UNDERWAY FOR FIRST SET OF LOCKS, 3 ATLANTIC LOCKS

1113 – ENTERED FIRST LOCK

1138 – ENTERED SECOND LOCK

1440 – PASSED EVER RUNNING SHOWER AT SIDE OF MALARIA STATION

1445 – GAYONCUT. PLAQUE ON STBD IN MEMORY OF LOST LIVES BUILDING CANAL

1515 – ENTERED PACIFIC LOCK “RADICIOD”

1629 – SECOND LOCK “MIRAFLURA”

1648 – LEFT PACIFIC LOCKS

1651 – SET CLOCKS BACK TO 1551

1625 – (CWT) TIED UP TO PIER 18 BALBOA STBD SIDE TO

1630 – GANGWAY LAYED. 735 BAGS OF MAIL UNLOADED

1830 – LIBERTY!! (PORT) EXPIRE 2300

REMARKS:

WE WENT THROUGH THE PANAMA CANAL TODAY FOR MY FIRST TIME!!!

SATURDAY OCTOBER 9, 1943:

0900 – LIBERTY: STBD

1300 – LIBERTY UP: STBD

1330 – LIBERTY : PORT

1730 – LIBERTY UP: PORT

1800 – LIBERTY: STBD

2300 – LIBERTY UP: STBD

REMARKS::

NOTHING HAPPENED EXCEPT FOR LIBERTY. AND WHAT LIBERTY!!!!

THE FELLOWS CAME BACK SO .FOULED UP THAT COULD NOT STAND THEIR WATCHES!!!

OUR LIBERTY WAS SPLIT UP TODAY. I WAS IN THE STBD SECTION & I HAD LIBERTY IN THE MORNING & AT NIGHT. THIS MORNING 4 OF US WENT TOGETHER FROM MY DIVISION. “FERGUSON” SM3C, “PARKER” QM3C, “ZANDE” RADAR STRIKER & ME.

THEY WERE DRINKING “TOM COLLINS” & I WAS DRINKING “RUM & COKES”. DID WE HAVE FUN!!!!!

WE WENT TO “SL0PPY JOES” , “THE CHICAGO BAR” & MANY OTHERS.

AT NIGHT, WE WENT TO THE RIALTO CLUB”. A VERY MODERN NIGHT

CLUB & SAW A VERY GOOD FLOOR SHOW. WE ALL GOT BACK ON TIME!!

“ERROR” THE SHIP’S MASCOT, WAS RESTRICTED TODAY BY THE CUSTOMS OFFICER.

MANY OF OUR GUYS WERE HOISTED ABOARD IN CARGO NETS.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 10, 1943:

1245 – LEFT PIER 18 BALBOA

1353 – G Q 190’

1413 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

AS WE WERE LEAVING, A DIVISION OF PT BOATS WERE MAKING

PRACTICE ATTACKS ON US. THEY CAME RUSHING ON US & THEY LATER

LAYED A SMOKE SCREEN ACROSS OUR BOW.

OUTSIDE OF THAT, NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED ALL DAY. WE DIDN’T HAVE

G Q AT NIGHT AS THE SKIPPER SAID THE ONE AT NOON WAS ENOUGH.

BUT, TOMORROW WE START OUR REGULAR ROUTINE.

WE HAVE THE SAME 2 DE’S AS WE HAD THE FIRST TIME.

MONDAY OCTOBER 11, 1943:

0553 – G Q COURSE 285’

0606 – SECURED FROM G Q

1748 – G Q COURSE 297’

1815 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED 16

8’ N 84.5’’ W

TUESDAY OCTOBER 12, 1943

0610 – G Q COURSE 297’

0629 – SECURED FROM G Q

1900 – SET CLOCKS BACK ONE HOIUR TO 1800

1808 – G Q COURSE 297’

1821 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED: 16 KNOTS

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 13, 1943

0540 – G Q COURSE 297’

0608 – SECURED FROM G Q

1215 – SIGHTED SCHOOL OF PORPOSE

1912 – G Q COURSE 297’

1930 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED: 16 KNOTS

THURSDAY OCTOBER 14, 1943:

0612 – G Q COURSE 297’

0620 – SECURED FROM G Q

1853 – G Q COURSE 297

1905 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED: 16 KNOTS

FRIDAY OCTOBER 15, 1943:

0620 – G Q COURSE 297’

0636 – SECURED FROM G Q

1905 – SET CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR TO 1805 (PWT)

1814 – G Q COURSE 315

1828 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED: 17

TODAY, WE FINALLY ENTERED CALIFORNIA TIME! WE ARE 3

HOURS BEHIND NORFOLK’S TIME AND IN GCT WE ARE IN +7 ZONE.

WHICH MEANS WE ADD 7 HOURS TO THE SHIP’S TIME TO MAKE IT

RADIO TIME (GCT)

AT NOON, WE CHANGED OUR BASE COURSE TO 315’

SATURDAY OCTOBER 16, 1943:

0553 – G Q COURSE 315’

0608 – SECURED FROM G Q

1858 – G Q COURSE 320’

1914 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

DURING THE NIGHT, ONE OF THE DE’S HAD RUDDER TROUBLE AND

THEY WERE GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH US.

TODAY, AT NOON, STARTED OUR SECOND WEEK UNDERWAY. WE

SHOULD GET INTO “FRISCO” EITHER MONDAY AFTERNOON OR TUESDAY

MORNING. THEN, I’LL BE ONLY 97 MILES FROM HOME! I’VE MADE A

ROUND TRIP AROUND THE STATES NOW! I’M BACK TO WHERE I WAS

SWORN INTO THE NAVY BACK ON FEB 10, 1942.

WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE PAID YESTERDAY. BUT, LTJG WOOD, OUR

PAY MASTER, SAID NO AS HE WANTED TO MAKE SURE WE HAD SOME

MONEY TO GO ASHORE ON. BUT, THAT WONT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE TO

ME. I OWE ALL MY PAY OUT NOW!!!

SUNDAY OCTOBER 17, 1943:

0615 – G Q COURSE 320’

0633 – SECURED FROM G Q

1100 – ANNOUNCED ABOUT STOLEN GUNS & KNIVES

1837 – G Q COURSE 320

1854 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

TODAY, IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT SEVERAL BOXES OF CARGO

WERE BROKEN INTO AND A CARBINE, PISTOLS , SHEATH KNIVES,

BOLLOS AND SEVERAL OTHER THINGS WERE TAKEN SINCE WE LEFT

PANAMA AND NO LIBERTY WOULD BE GRANTED IN SAN FRANCISCO.

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 1943:

NO ENTRY RECORDED

TUESDAY OCTOBER 19, 1943:

0615 – G Q HEADING INTO FRISCO! ! !

0710 – SECURED FROM G Q

0908 – DROPPED HOOK IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY!!

REMARKS:

AT LAST!! I’M BACK IN FRISCO & COULD GET HOME ON AN OVERNIGHT

LIBERTY. BUT, THERE IS NO LIBERTY AS WE ARE PULLING OUT AGAIN

TOMORROW ABOUT 1600 FOR PEARL HARBOR!! THE “SCUTTLEBUT” IS

THAT WE ARE DUE BACK IN “FRISCO” IN 3 WEEKS. I HOPE SO! ALL

STOLEN CARGO WAS TURNED IN EXCEPT, 1 KNIFE, A .45 & THE CARBINE.

GOT MAIL TODAY. THERE WERE 25 BAGS BROUGHT ABOARD & I ONLY

GOT 1 LETTER & 7 NEWSPAPERS! BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME! MAIL CLOSES

AT 10:00 TOMORROW.

THERE WAS NO G Q TONIGHT OR EVEN DARKEN SHIP. I WAS UNLUCKY

ENOUGH TO HAVE THE WATCH WHEN WE PULLED IN & TOMORROW, I

HAVE THE 1600 – 1800 WATCH & WE ARE SUPPOSED TO PULL OUT AT 1600.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 20, 1943:

1630 – UNDERWAY FOR PEARL HARBOR WITH 80 PASSENGERS

1710 – PASSED UNDER BAY BRIDGE

1729 – PASSED THRU THE GATE

1740 – PASSED UNDER GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE

1745 – PASSED POINT DIABLE ABEAM TO STBD ½ MILE

1750 – PASSED POINT BONETA 1 MILE

SIGHTED I MILE ROCK

REMARKS:

TODAY, WE LEFT “FRISCO ” FOR PEARL HARBOR.

WE DIDN’T GET LIBERTY SOO, I DIDN’T GET HOME AS I HAD PLANNED.

WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GET BACK IN ABOUT 3 WEEKS. SO, STILL HAVE A

CHANCE TO GET HOME! SO CLOSE & YET SO FAR.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 21, 1943:

0615 – G Q COURSE 250

0645 – SECURED FROM G Q

1833 – G Q COURSE 245

1845 – SECURED FROM G Q

REMARKS:

SPEED: 18 KNOTS

NOTHING HAPPENED TODAY ALL DAY, A FLOCK OF ABOUT 25 ALBATROSS HAVE BEEN FOLLOWINGUS ABOUT 50 YARDS OFF THE STERN

OCTOBER 22 – 24

NO ENTRIES

MONDAY OCTOBER 25, 1943:

ENTERED PEARL HARBOR

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 2, 1943:

UNDERWAY FOR “FUNA FUTI” IN THE “ELLIS ISLANDS”

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 13, 1943:

JAPS RAIDED “FUNA FUTI”

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 17, 1943:

JAPS RAIDED “FUNA FUTI” AGAIN

WE RETURNED FIRE! NO HITS!!

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27, 1943:

LEFT “FUNA FUTI” FOR PEARL HARBOR

SATURDAY DECEMBER 4, 1943:

0830 – ENTERED PEARL HARBOR TO AWAIT TRANSFER BACK TO “FRISCO”

1300 – LEFT SHIP FOR RECEIVING STATION

1900 – MOVED FROM RECEIVING STATION TO “CAMP AEIA”

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 8, 1943:

0930 – WENT ABOARD USS POCOMOKE

1100 – LEFT PIER FOR THE STATES

1600 – LEFT THE BAY

TUESDAY DECEMBER 14, 1943:

1200 – ENTERED SAN FRANCISCO BAY!!!

1700 – LEFT USS POCOMOKE ON A NAVY TUG BOAT

2000 – LEFT TREASURE ISLAND ON A SHORT “48” & TOOK GENE TAYLOR WITH ME.

END OF LOG:

log kept by Kenneth E Davis RM2

original plank owner.

The post Kenneth Davis Log appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

Told by Andrew J. Makara, Son of Andrew Makara

My father like many of his generation did not speak too much of the war. It was only after I attended (drove my father) to the reunion in Norfolk in “83, did I get a glimpse into his life aboard the Terror. My father said his experience as a coal miner helped him survive the Kamikaze attack. He had been in one or two mine explosions and knew if you got down real low the explosion might blow over you. That’s exactly what happened when the plane hit…the steel bulkheads were twisted and blown apart, but, he came away with singed hair because he flattened low. He told me Nelms and Dragovich came looking for him and couldn’t believe he had survived.

The post Difficult to Talk appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

Told by William Ringleib Jr.

During a typhoon in late 1945, the USS Terror sustained damage to her hull from banging against another ship in the high winds and rough sea generated by the storm. The repairs required  a short stay in Dry-dock #2 at Pearl Harbor. During the repairs, oil and water stored in the tanks on the side of the ship which was damaged needed to be moved to the other side to allow welding to be done safely on the hull. Following the repairs, the process of refloating the ships in the dry-dock was begun. Apparently the Terror’s tanks were never properly balanced and the ship began to severely list to one side as it lifted from the blocking used in the dry-dock to support the ship. It listed so far that the engines needed to be stopped and power shut down since the Terror could no longer properly use seawater for cooling. The refloating process was stopped and the tanks needed to be rebalanced once power was restored from the shore lines. For some time there was a big concern that the ship would capsize or become wedged due to its severe list. After several hours of hard work the Terror was finally balanced and the refloating continued. One major consequence of the whole event was that many walls needed to be repainted following the incident since the best way to move around some of the rooms or passageways was to use the walls rather than the floors.

The post Terror in Drydock appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

I know a number of family members have asked me to update their relative’s crew info. I hope to get back to it over the next few months. Please have patience as it will take some time but hopefully I will be able to dig out all the old requests. If you have info, pictures, stories, please let me know. Sorry it has taken so long but hopefully I can make some progress.

Colin Ringleib

The post Website Update appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).

Told by William Ringleib Jr.

Christmas 1945 found the USS Terror in Pearl Harbor and the Captain made arrangements for a family style Christmas although most of the crew was a long way from their families. He arranged for a Christmas tree to be sent from the states and set it up on the deck with decorations. A local orphanage supplied children and each member of the crew was assigned one child to spend the day with and give them a small gift. The day was lots of fun and it was really funny to see these sailors helping the kids through the day and having dinner together.

The post Christmas 1945 appeared first on USS Terror (CM-5).