National Museum of the Pacific War
Center for Pacific War Studies Oral History Program
Fredericksburg, Texas
An Interview with
Mr. Howard L. Snell
United States Navy
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trees and sand, it seemed to me and a lot of lakes, of course. I went to school there
in Belle Plaine. In 1940 I was a senior in high school and of course we had
aspirations. I was going to graduate. I was looking forward to graduation and I
was sort of a small man, so even though I had played football, I was a wrestler. I
had had a little feeling about wrestling from the University of Iowa, which is a
great wrestling school, and I imagine I could have maybe got a scholarship from
there. I don’t know, but there was a feeling. They had sent a person for an
interview. Well, it was later in the last part of November 1940. We had a young
history professor. When I look back on it now, he was just a young kid. It was his
first year out of school. He started telling me and the class I was in how great
Hitler was and what a great job he was doing in Germany. So I just said, “Well,
why don’t you go back to Germany then if you like him so doggone much?” Well,
you know what he did with me. He said “You’re gone. You’re out!” The only
way I was going to get back in his class was to go to the principal. I made the
statement as I left “I’m going to join the Navy.” He said “They wouldn’t have you
anyway.” That was enough. I asked my mother. My stepfather and I got along
great. We got along all right but there was always friction when you... so she
signed for me to go into the Navy. I was seventeen. So I got the call to go into the
Navy, had to report to Des Moines, Iowa and they in turn sent me to be sworn in in
Great Lakes, Illinois. So I went to boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois and I joined 1th the Navy on the 1 of February 1941. Boot camp to me was great. I had been
fanned out all my life, It didn’t bother me at all. I thought that was great.
Mr. Metzler: You didn’t have to plow or anything!
2 ______. ______
Mr. Snell: No! Three meals a day. I always kid a little bit. I said “I lived on a farm in Iowa
and I know when you say ‘rough as a cob’ I know what you’re talking about.”
Well anyway, here I am in boot camp and I was standing in the right place.
third class, square knot, petty officer. I was just standing in
the right place one night. He said I was greater than any of the other boys. So I
was a platoon leader. I’ll give you a few little I went on to
boot camp and I graduated from boot camp. The day I got back from boot camp
leave in Belle Plaine, my stepfather died and it was a lowlight for my mother. I
went back at the end of my boot leave and I was assigned to the ENTERPRISE. I
said “Enterprise, what’s the Enterprise?” “Oh, that’s a carrier.” I really didn’t even
know what a carrier does. So I had been in Minnesota, I had been in Iowa, been in
South Dakota, North Dakota. I had worked summers up there in the wheat fields
and so forth, as a kid. Here all of a sudden, I am going... and I had always dreamt...
I said “Boy, when I get out to California, I’m going to pick those oranges and eat
oranges.” (laughter) So I got on a train en route out to San Pedro. San Pedro. I
was going to catch a ship in San Pedro to take me out to Pearl. “Where’s Pearl
Harbor? What’s Pearl Harbor?” I really didn’t know. Then I find out that it’s a
base for our ships in Hawaii. Dreaming of Hawaii was way beyond my dreams.
So I got into San Pedro and we spent two or three weeks there and I caught the
KASKASKA, it was an oiler, to go to Hawaii.
Mr. Metzler: How do you spell that?
Mr. Snell: K-A-S-K-A-S-K-A. It’s an oiler, a very big one. We had guys getting seasick on
there. I didn’t get seasick. It wasn’t rolling or anything. A lot of it is up in your
mind. Looking back over my Navy career, I never did get seasick, including the
3 ______.“
typhoon I was in in 1944. Anyway, we pulled into Pearl and the ENTERPRISE was not in at the time. I had about a three-day wait for it to come in. Matter of fact, I stayed right on the oiler. The ENTERPRISE came in. Time for me to go aboard. I know that when I looked at that ship, when that motor launch came up alongside that ship, that was the biggest thing I had ever seen. That was big! I went up and reported aboard. I’ll backtrack a little bit. The first thing they ask in the Navy, when you come into the Navy, they want to know where you’re going to fit in. They said “What did you do when you were going to school?” “I used to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning and go down to the pooi hail and clean all the pooi tables because I got “No, what else did you do?”
“Well, I worked in a movie theater, taking tickets and what have you.” “No.” “I worked in a butcher shop.” “A butcher shop! Oh my gosh. You’re going to be a butcher!” Well all I did in the butcher shop was sell meat. I worked back of the meat counter. I didn’t have to worry about cutting or anything. I knew the owner of the butcher shop. We’d always take on one article a day and see who could see the most, he or I. I’d sell to the ladies that came in there. Of course, pork was only
70 cents, 80 cents, 90 cents a pound. I’d make sure they had some of that just to beat my boss. Here I walk aboard the ENTERPRISE and they assign me to the butcher shop. We had a first-class by the name of Hinkle that was the butcher. Of course, when you first come in, you don’t really do anything, but I’d only been there two days and the head of materiel inspected. Now that was on a Saturday morning. “Materiel.” I didn’t know what it was to start with. “Materiel” didn’t mean anything to me. Well, “materiel” means that they’re going to check all the spaces and this was going to be by ComAir of Air Corps XVI, Admiral Halsey. So
4
Mr.
Mr.
Snell:
Metzler:
phase
and that’s
school,
pans.
was
I
pans
of
you
Oh,
Anyway,
I
walked
the
So him
now
Supply there.
I’m
in
here
first-class
couldn’t
must
the
he
with
butcher?”
I
know
an
yeah!
a
too
in
they
I
was
how
of
touched
So
big
deep
am
have
opening
I
to
the
up
Officer
baking,
his
long understand
I
I
call
doing
cook,
go
where
in
sailor
had
I
and
ended
galley. couldn’t
ended
looked
sink,
Later
Chief
the
to
them
to
you,
I
been
laid
and
came
thought
but
baker’s
more
real
butcher
now.
I
figure
taking
up
on,
went
up
terrible.
huh? of
So
his
“seaman
the
I
cut
on
he
as
good.
being
was
in
or
I
I
Staft
hand
Oh
the
a
was
out
up.
the Chief.
went
he
get
to
school.
care
shop,
less.
cook.
going
send man,
would
beach
a
leg
I
I
Anyway,
up
I
a
on
recruit.”
the
Pearl
of
into
wasn’t
really
had
commendation
I
unbeknown
in
Admiral
off
my
thought
They
a
all
to
I
Commanding
That’s
the
become
think
the
cook
one
tell
Harbor
learn
a
shoulder.
those
enjoyed
the
chicken!
night
that
galley.
figured
Anyway
you
of
striker
I
maybe
how
Halsey
how
butcher.
was
the
vessels.
was
an
to
Survivor.
what,
before
it,
boat
admiral
I
me,
the
I
to
Well
from He
the
over
ended here
needed
I
but
I
Officer
looks
cook.
was
could
all
butcher!
said
although
first
pockets.
and
I
Here
that
I
to
that,
I
of
said
was
right
So
no
stand.
up
the at
“I’m
time
he
a
get
apprentice
I
was
of
I
I
butcher.
little
could
me
at
but
“I
getting
was
went
was
away.
into
Of
I
the
I not
Here
submarine
all
don’t
had
Admiral
and
met
that
seasoning.
course,
in
go
scrubbing
ENTERPRISE,
right,
bake
over
going
heard
he
into
no
Admiral
I
I
was
ahead
Aw seaman.
know,
am.
was
says
to
shape
shop.
base
I
Halsey
the to
it
could
shucks.
the school
about
years
an
didn’t
hurt Of
and
“Where’s
pots
culinary
sir.”
So
to
Halsey.
school, admiral
to
Well
course,
I
go
walks
do
wash
there
you.”
it,
later.
think
stand
and
take
and
He
the
So
the
to
it.
5 I never did but at least I learned a lot about baking. On that morning, December 7,
1941 we didn’t go to school on weekends, just during the week. So I got up that
morning. I usually got up around 7:00. I went down to the mess hall and ate and I
heard a lot of commotion. I thought it was just some of our planes coming in. I
was interested in everything we do, so I rushed out and about that time, we started
hearing explosions. I went down to the pier and I got a panoramic view. First off
you just couldn’t comprehend, especially me. I couldn’t comprehend what was
happening. Then when the ARIZONA blew about 10 minutes after 8, it was just
earth-shattering and I found out later it was something like a million pounds of
explosives, and she just blew up. I saw that one... I couldn’t figure out what that
one ship... well it wasn’t a ship, and then my buddy, I asked him “What is that?”
He said “That’s the OKLAHOMA.” She was already turned over on her side. I
was looking into the belly of the OKLAHOMA. At the first lull which was about
twenty-five minutes into the battle, they opened up the armory and they called them
all up. They said “Come on up and we’re going to give you some guns.” So I went
to the armory and they gave me an old Springfield rifle. I think it had never been
shot since World War I. I mean that was a relic if you ever saw one. They gave me
the bandoliers, ammunition, gave me a .45. You can just envision a young kid with
a gun and bandolier. I looked worse than a bandito, I tell you. So when the second
attack came, it came right over the submarine base, so I started shooting at them.
I’ve got to admit, though, I don’t think I hit anything, but at least I got a chance to
shoot. I can see why they gave us the guns, because they didn’t know, they could
have invaded.
Mr. Metzler: Right.
6 Mr. Snell: Now the next question a lot of people ask: “Were you scared?” I’d say “No, I was
not scared.” I’ll admit I was not scared. I was dumbfounded, first off. During the
summer when we were on the ENTERPRISE, there was training, training, training.
We were always going to general quarters. We were going to torpedo defense. We
were going to do this and do that. Then you hear the word throughout the ship
“Who’s your enemy? Well, they’re talking about them Japs, them little teeny guys
with glasses. They couldn’t see anything anyway! Ain’t worried about them!”
Well let me tell you, that was the most precise, precision attack. It was just...
everybody knew exactly what to do and they did it. That’s why they spent some
worthless torpedoes on the UTAH because that was where the ENTEPRISE was
supposed to be tied up at. They had one man, that was his job with that two or
three planes to go after that area and torpedo and bomb. I’ll go back to where they
said “were you scared?” I didn’t get scared ‘til that night. That night we had
another big battle, right down below the barracks we were at. They were shooting,
boy I’ll tell you, they were shooting at each other, and about that time, here comes
those planes in and of course they happened to be ENTERPRISE planes. We shot
six of those down. They were shooting at shadows and I can’t blame them. I was
scared because they had already taken our guns. They had taken my gun away
from me which was all right. It was worthless anyway, I thought. Right after that,
then they called us into the bake shop and we were baking field bread. Matter of
fact, we did that for three days. Well first off, instead of baking field bread, I
hunched up over our window so we could bake at night. But that night I did get
scared because everything was so dark. We didn’t have a moon or anything and I
was a little scared. Our ship the ENTERPRISE came back in. The reason why,
7 everybody knows from history now, the reason she was not in was because she had
taken in a squadron of fighter planes into Wake. She could have come back in
Saturday night. There was no reason, but she had a state three sea and it was just
enough not to see the destroyers were following it and Halsey says “Ah, we’ll go in
Sunday afternoon instead.” So that’s the reason the ENTERPRISE was not in.
Mr. Metzler: Fortunately.
Mr. Snell: Fortunately is right, because they would have gotten her. Shortly after... I missed
that first battle. Then when the ENTERPRISE came in, I went aboard. Of course
all the cooks there were saying “What happened?” Well, I didn’t know anything.
Mr. Metzler: So you went aboard on the 7th?
Mr. Snell: No, no.
Mr. Metzler: When did she come in?
Mr. Sneli: She came in on the 8th•
Mr. Metzier: On the 8th and then you went aboard, right after she came in?
Mr. Snell: No, I missed that first battle she was in... didn’t go down when she went into...
when she hit the Marcus Island. I missed that. So you can see the Battle of Pearl
Harbor wasn’t much but when I go into schools, and I go into a lot of schools and
talk to children and young adults, ROTC and so forth, I’ve had the privilege to
speak to, first off I ask them “Now I wasn’t a battleship sailor. They’re the ones
that took the terrible beating. I wasn’t there.” But I ask “How many of you have
seen “Saving Private Ryan?” Usually 90% of the hands will go up. Well I say
“The first 22 minutes of that battle was what it was like on those battleships. I
could see from a distance because I could see the whaleboats that were picking up
parts and pieces in the fire and oil and devastation. It was chaos. Now that is war.
8 Later on I found out what war is all about in the Battle of Santa Cruz.” I went back
aboard the ENTERPRISE and the first notable thing is early in April we were at sea
and one morning, I’d usually go up topside. I went up there and I saw another
carrier in the area and I couldn’t figure out what it was because it didn’t look like a
carrier. I couldn’t figure out what it was on the ship. What was on there was the
B-25s and there was the Tokyo raid.
Mr. Metzler: Was that the HORNET?
Mr. Snell: That was the HORNET. That morning, the morning of the th19 believe it was,
when we sent the B-25s off, we ran into some sampans, fishing boats of some sort,
and the admiral said “Sink that.” I remember the NORTHHAMPTON was
shooting at it. Here was the heavy cruiser shooting at a sampan bobbing in about a
four sea, bubbling up and down, and couldn’t hit it. And oh the admiral, I found
out later, the admiral said “I don’t care. The destroyer, just send it in there and ram
it! Get it out! Sink it!” Well we thought that they had already communicated
while we were out there. So we had to launch early and they launched. Therefore
we lost some men that we might not have lost, but that’s here or there. Well that
was my first run-in with... well it was sort of a payback time. We came back into
port and we operated. We knew where we were going to go. We were going to go
down into the Coral Sea area because we knew that the Japanese were moving in
that direction. Heck, they had already taken the Philippines and everything they
went in just melted on them. So we headed for the Coral Sea. We were about
halfway down there and we got word... now I’m saying here, because I know as a
cook, you don’t know anything...
Mr. Metzler: All you know is bread.
9 Mr. Snell: Yeah, you know to cook and that’s it. But all of a sudden, now we’re turning
around and we’re going back to Pearl. We’re going back to Pearl! When we got
back to Pearl, we didn’t stay very long. We got back there in late May and we
hadn’t heard yet that we’d lost the LEXINGTON and that the YORKTOWN had
been damaged in the Battle of Coral Sea. We hadn’t heard that and we hadn’t
heard about the NEOSHO being sunk. The only reason I bring up the NEOSHO is
there was a young ensign on there that they were alongside the ARIZONA and they
got underway. That young ensign was an admiral in my chapter, Chapter 3 in
Houston, Admiral Paul Hall. He was an ensign and he saved six men. That’s all
that got off the NEOSHO. The only reason he saved them is that he knew oil was
lighter.., he’s an oilman in Texas, you know... and he knew oil was lighter and
would float. He stayed down in the unit that had oil in it and he saved six men and
the rest of the men died. Anyway we were at Pearl. Didn’t last very long, only in
there four days. The carrier YORKTOWN limped in. She was in pretty bad shape.
She came in and we left. We didn’t know where we were going. We were at sea.
Mr. Metzler: Were you out alone?
Mr. Snell: We had a detachment. We were in Task Force 16. We had cruisers and no
battleships.
Mr. Metzler: But you were the only flattop in that task force?
Mr. Snell: No, we had the HORNET with us. She was part of Task Force 16. So we didn’t
know where we were at. Finally the admiral comes on, no I think it was the captain
came on 1 MC and said “We feel that the Japanese are going to take Midway and
we’re up off Midway and we’re going to try to meet them and we’re trying to
10 surprise them.” Boy, we’re all excited here. It means that now we’re going to
really get in the thick of things.
Mr. Metzler: Get in the real fight.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, right. So we were in the Battle of Midway and it’s history now. The
YORKTOWN only stayed in time to just patch her up enough to get her underway,
clear the flight deck. So here we have the YORKTOWN which is not in good
shape. We had two good carriers, the ENTERPRISE and the HORNET. A lot of
people say “Where’s the old SARATOGA? By golly, where’s she at?” We had
lost the LEXINGTON. Well the SARATOGA was really in that picture because
we had her planes; we had her bombardment; we had her dive bombers. The old
CV-3 planes were on our... were separated, given to our ships. Thank goodness
because they wiped all our planes out. We only had... after the battle was over, we
had hardly nothing. We were down to bare. We had lost a lot of planes. Some of
the pilots were saved. Later on we picked some pilots up. That was the Battle of
Midway. We didn’t realize what we did. They knew that we got four carriers. We
didn’t know that. The news came out that we only sunk one of their cruisers and
they showed some battle pictures showing the cruiser that we sunk. You look back
at it now, it changed the war.
Mr. Metzler: The turning point.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, the turning point. It wasn’t the turning point so much, it was the turning
point in Washington, D. C. because now Roosevelt had no excuse. Now we got
their four carriers. Now Churchill said “now you can put more effort into our
European theater.” Of course, you know, that politics. Anyway after the Battle of
Midway, we’d operated and we didn’t know where we were going to land troops
11 but we knew we were going to get some troops and we were going to start taking some islands back. Guadalcanal didn’t mean anything, but history says if we didn’t stop them there, they’d have Australia, so we had to stop them there. You learn this. But here we are in the battle. We’re down there in early August in the
Solomon campaign. By that time we had picked up a new battleship. The SOUTH
DAKOTA came in with us and we had what we called “thin-skin” cruisers that came in that were nothing but 5-inch batteries anti-aircraft, but we know that it didn’t take much to sink them. Anyway we were in the bombardment group, but you know, we’re so big and so good, nothing can touch us. ENTERPRISE, great ship. Nothing can ever touch us. Landed troops down there and give them coverage. Then we retired. There is some flak about Jack Fletcher on this and I’m never going to say anything about an admiral. Admiral Fletcher did what he thought was right. He was for protection of the carriers. Sometimes you have to have an offense before you worry about defense. That’s sometimes a gamble.
Some would gamble, and some wouldn’t. Gormley, that’s the reason they relieved
Gormley down there. Halsey had to take over. Anyway, our first taste of real battle was in the Battle of Santa Cruz, on the th26 of October. We had been operating in back, covering and support. In Santa Cruz, they had brought the carriers in and we took a pasting. We lost 104 men. We took a hit, right aft of the sickbay and the chiefs quarters. It went down five decks and blew. As a cook,
I’m on the repair unit and I had my first taste of mangled bodies and so forth because on repair, you go in there and I remember pulling out some of the corpsmen in the fire and smoke. We used just the old gas masks to go in there. I found out what war is all about. We lost 104 men there in that battle. So we had
12 the Battle of Santa Cruz. Then we had the Battle of Stewart Islands. All-in-all I
stayed on the ENTERPRISE. I got eight battle stars. We were in another battle in
early ‘43 when they wiped out our Officers’ Country. They were eating “general
mess.” They just wiped it slick. The ENTERPRISE was all beat up.
Mr. Metzler: So this was from a bomb then?
Mr. Snell: Yeah, from air attacks. No karnikazes yet, thank goodness. So we caine back to
Pearl and he says “They got us. They’ve got to send us back to the States.” No.
Then the Essex class carriers started coming in, using the things that we learned
about fighting a war. Some of the officers and some of the senior enlisted men
were on the carriers, and they started taking our place. They said we’ve got to get
the ENTERPRISE back to the Navy yard, so here we are, going back to the States,
going back to Bremerton, Washington. And I tell you what, going up the sound at
Bremerton, Washington, it was so foggy, you couldn’t see.
Mr. Metzler: This was when, early ‘43?
Mr. Snell: That was in the summer ‘43. We went back there and we were the first ships to get
the Presidential Unit Citation. When I say “ships,” it was the battle group that got
the Presidential Unit Citation, the first one that ever was given. Of course, we
thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well it was. It was an
honor. We got back in and I was on the first leave section. Here I am up on the
flight deck ready to go on leave, and just to show you what kind of officers we had
on there, we were running so far behind. You have to unload your ammunition,
bombs and everything, before they would let us go in where we could release our
crew. Every head of department, that means all your commanders stood right there
13 and got their men off on leave. Now that’s how great a crew that was. That was
one great ship.
Mr. Metzler: So you felt really good about the leadership on that ship? All the officers.
Mr. Snell: Oh, yes! Of course, Halsey had left. Yes, we all did.
Mr. Metzler: Who was the captain?
Mr. Snell: We had about five or six. That was practice to make admiral, coming aboard the
ENTERPRISE, like any carrier, deep-draft, then you make admiral. Right offhand,
I don’t remember the names. Well, here I am going on leave, finally going back on
leave. I’m a big wheel now. I’m really, oh man, a sailor with a Presidential Unit
Citation and I’ve been in those battles. I never thought too much of being a Pearl
Harbor Survivor. So I went back home and Mother and my sister were open arms.
My sister had a car, and I’m sure it was a racing car because it had four slicks on it!
Of course you only needed slicks because you only drove 30 miles an hour
anyway! No gas. They’d give you four gallons of gas. FOUR gallons!
Mr. Metzler: No tires and four gallons of gas.
Mr. Snell: So here I am at Belle Plaine which is about 30 miles out of Cedar Rapids. So I said
“I’m going to hitchhike to Cedar Rapids. This little town of Belle Plaine isn’t wide
enough for me.”
Mr. Metzler: You wanted to go to the big city.
Mr. SnelJ: Yeah, go to the big city where they got more action. So I’m hitchhiking and of
course, sailor uniform, man oh man. A truck picked me up and he gave me forty
gallons of tea stamps. Whew! He said “I’ll get along some way or another. You
need these.”
Mr. Metzler: That was big.
14 Mr. Snell: Big is right. Well, I went back after thirty days’ leave. I went back to the
ENTERPRISE. Maybe I was foolish. Anybody that wanted to get off, could get
off.
Mr. Metzler: Really! And that was because of all the action they had been in?
Mr. Snell: Yes, more so. Well of course they were smart. I thought I was going to get shore
duty and they used my expertise in battle to put on another ship. So what do I do?
I catch a destroyer, the USS MORRISON, DD560 out of SeaTac, brand new. We
put her in commission on the th18 of December, 1943. The first day we were at sea,
we went out the sound, the head of the sound. You always have about a state 3 out
there. Rough as a cob and dadgone it, all these kids would get seasick cause, I tell
you, we only had 11 USN men. Nothing wrong with USNR but 11 USN men on
that ship. Everybody was seasick. I wasn’t seasick, but I remember how bad these
young kids were, how sick they would get. We went down to San Diego after that
and stayed down there about twenty days. Then they put us with the old oiler.
They’re not going to put us with a big task force yet. We had to prove ourselves.
So we were with oilers. We could shoot. We had some guns. We had Captain
Price on there. He was an old commander that had made admiral. He was a tough
man, but he was he was a good man, and man-oh-man, he had them every day at
dawn... at four o’clock in the morning everyone was always working on gun
solutions and so forth, and they could shoot. It got so bad that when a plane went
over trailing a target, they’d tell us not to shoot because we were shooting the target
down all the time. Let the other guys have a shot at it.
Mr. Metzler: So this was with the 5-inchers?
15 ______.______.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, 5-inch 38s. We finally graduated from there and we were in the battle of
Tinian. One of my highlights, I guess it wasn’t highlights, was going into Espirito
Santos, three hot beers and a bailgame. That was kind of liberty. At least every
once in a while, you get off the ship.
Mr. Metzler: So in these actions, the destroyer is doing what? Picket duty?
Mr. Snell: No, the destroyers were strictly screening.
Mr. Metzler: Screening?
Mr. Snell: Screening in plane guarding Now on oilers you weren’t
screening. We were doing all right until in October ‘44. October ‘44 we were in
the Battle of Leyte Gulf. We were protecting carriers at that time. As a matter of
fact, I was supervisor of lookouts. I was looking out over, here I am a cook, but I
was supervisor. Of course that’s another story. It’s not important. I saw one
bomb, one plane dropped a bomb and hit the PRINCETON and started a fire. So
they sent us to fight fires. So we went in and we made the mistake of getting on the
leeward side, and we got hung up underneath the PRINCETON. Here we’d lost
boys We ended up with the jeep on her deck,
stacked, everything just wiped slick. They just, you know, coming down on her,
coming down. Finally the ERWIN, matter of fact, there is a sailor here, might be
on, he was on the ERWIN and he says “I saved old Howie.” They threw a line and
finally pulled us out of there. Well, I got the commendation from Halsey because
after we left, the BIRMINGHAM went in there and fought the fire and then the
PRINCETON blew and killed 185 men on the BIRMINGHAM. I was looking
with glasses and they were just scooping them off like shovels off of the main deck,
16 ______
bodies. It was just devastation and blew a man over the side. I saw him and I dove
and swam out to him.
Mr. Metzlcr: Some of the bombs on board blew?
Mr. Snell: Yeah, after it happened. On the PRINCETON. That’s how I got the
commendation from Halsey, because I jumped over the side and saved the fellow.
We always come back to the States. We had to. I’ll say some of the interesting
things, though, is some of the little tidbits that you have. First off, we didn’t have
enough time off to go back to the Midwest. They just gave us 10 days leave, so I
went with a buddy of mine that had a “Dear John” and he lived in LA. He says
“Come up to LA.” I said “OK.” Well we went to LA and from Hunter’s Point to
here which is Frisco, San Francisco. First liberty I made. We pulled in on a
Sunday night to the Rosalind (spelling?) Hotel, got in and took a shower. We went
right down within a couple of blocks there and found a place. We wanted to find a
place where you could get something to drink and get and have
food. They had a little dance band every night. I saw a couple of gals all the way
across the way over there and I told George, “Let’s make a run in there.” He says
“OK with me. Which one do you want?” I said “I’d like the one with her back to
me. I’ve seen her dance. I’ll go over and ask her if she’d like to dance. Them I’ll
ask her if we can come and join those two gals.” So George says “Good. Go.” So
I went over there and asked this gal... I get a kick out of this gal. She looked at me
and she says “You’re sure kind of short, aren’t ya?” I said “What the heck does
that make a difference, being short or not?”
Mr. Metzler: Boy, that was a great first line.
17 Mr. Sneli: Yeah, that was a great ... to me it was! Needless to say, I danced with that girl for
almost 57 years. I married her three weeks later.
Mr. Metzter: Wonderful. What a story.
Mr. Snell: She was just a great gal. She was from La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Mr. Metzler: Isn’t that something. Not too far away from your old stomping grounds. So you
married her before you went back out?
Mr. Snell: Yeah, I married her and I told her.. she was working for North American Aircraft in
Culver City... I said “Come on up to Frisco. You’ve gotta come up to Frisco.” Of
course, we were married now. I don’t know how we did it. Instead of taking... she
thought she’d save money, so she got a free ride and I searched for her for hours. I
almost gave up, but finally found her about 9:30-10:00 at night.
Mr. Metzler: Up in San Francisco?
Mr. Snell: Yeah.
Mr. Metzler: How’d you fmd her?
Mr. Snell: I went back to the train station. She finally figured out “I’d better go back to the
train. That’s where I was supposed to be.” So I found her. We were renting a
quonset hut. Of course, it cost a dollar a day, but it didn’t cost me quite that. It
was 50 cents a day because we had a second-class corpsman and we split it. He
had one bedroom; I had the other bedroom. You always try to kid. We’d see who
would drop the second shoe the first. It cost us 50 cents a day, but remember I’m a
cook. So I had it. When you go in the Navy, you’d better have something to come
ashore with. So I had some bacon and things like that. When our ship left, that
whole galley was nothing but CRS. Man, it was shiny, but you know, just give the
yardbirds, your yardmen. Anyway, but I had a little chow also. I had... being a
18 ______. ______
cook I had We leave. Send Dottie back to LA and we go
out to sea. Of course now we’ve graduated. We’re ready task force
with the big boys now. So we went in with the big boys and they said...
Mr. Metzler: You’re still on the destroyer?
Mr. Snell: Yes, still on the MORRISON. We’d got her repaired. We went into.., the first
major battle we were in was of course Okinawa. We’d had a couple of skirmishes
before that. We went into Okinawa. I remember when we were on Saipan, I
remember the guys would be jumping over the cliffs and you’d see an oil slick
around the bodies captured
things happen. (inaudible) Anyway we went into
Okinawa.
Mr. Metzler: What about Iwo?
Mr. Snell: You see Iwo Jima was... we were en route. That was early ‘44. We weren’t out
there yet, early ‘44. We were en route out there when they hit Iwo. We were in
there ten days minus which means we were in there the St21 of
March, shooting. We were bombarding. Matter of fact, we were with the
Battleship TEXAS. After landing in March... we landed on Easter Sunday...
Mr. Metzler: So kamikaze were a jg problem.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, they had already started. They started coming in and they had got the
FRANKLIN and some of our other carriers. Well, they put us on an RP station,
radar picket. We started with RP3 which wasn’t bad and we graduated from RP3
to RP2 and the only reason we did that was attrition. Losing, so we’d move up.
We were in RP1 on the 4th of May, 1945 and the sea was like glass. We started
picking up bogeys about 6 o’clock in the morning, just started picking them up and
19 ______
all we saw, more bogeys, more. Well our “cap,” we had a cap and aircraft cap ran
out of ammunition. They had to go back to a landing field in Okinawa and get
more ammunition. So we were sitting there with nothing. Our first kamikaze hit us
at about 5 minutes to 8:00. We had action starboard and I worked in a repair group
on the MORRISON so I was on the port side with all my cooks and some other
men, mess crew and so forth. We were on the port side, ready as all repairmen for
battle, fighting fires and so forth. I was at and they
said “Action starboard!” I went over to the starboard side. Here this old lumbering
coming in, I don’t believe he was doing over 90 knots, had a big old grin on his
face.
Mr. Metzler: A big old bomb under his belly.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, he had a big old bomb under his belly and I took about three steps forward
and hit the deck. He hit just within 20 feet of me, and of course, it blew and we lost
everything. We lost our load. Everything went. It just was a lucky hit. Of course,
three kamikazes later... there were four in all.., we went down. It took about, in
action from the first to the last, about seventeen minutes, and we were sunk.
Mr. Metzler: So there were four kamikaze hits on this one destroyer?
Mr. Snell: Yeah. Right.
Mr. Metzler: My word!
Mr. Snell: We were in the water. A lot of people ask me “Did you ever get hurt?” and I say,
“No, I never really have got hurt. I came out without a scratch.” I say “I’ll tell you
what I did though. When my ship was sunk, when she was laying on her side, I slid
over the side and I bounced off a stabilizer and I had a sore butt for about a week.”
But we were in the water about 3 to 4 hours and they picked us up. One of the
20 Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr.
Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr.
Metzler:
Sneli: Metzler:
Snell: Metzler:
Metzler: Snell:
Snell: Metzler: Snell: Metzier: Snell:
LCRNs
Dottie. stopped about
Real That’s
Yeah,
No, said So reported
All So devastation I
Then sudden, Trying a changed Twenty-one. For for
sigh
remember
this
I
right.
the how no.
“you’re
basic. got
what
I
sit
of
right.
stayed
to is
We picked
best. in Japan
thirty to
many
up
relief.
my
getting
get
Pearl
it
Great
never got with
going
hearing
rate.
was.
back
But
in
quit.
days
I years?
us
a
Glad
the
had
to
for
four
Lakes.
cattle
the
heard
up.
to
It
I
to
late
Navy, survivor
They
changed
a was
normal.
old been it
nice
knees,
go
day.
We
was
‘45?
car
before ______,
to
terrible.
were
part
though.
in
back
went
shore over,
terrible
Then
leave.
Is
my
the
about
running this
and
to
back rate but
duty
Navy
we
Of
survivor
after
then
They thing,
it...
that’s
to
course
got
into in
in
thirteen sonar
VJ
I
the
Great
sent
call
the
but
back
all.
Buckner
day?
leave
second
I
was
streets.
hey,
it...
tech
me
did
Lakes”
to
years,
you
and to
stay it?
you the
and
one Bay.
Des
Me
know,
I
States
in
Oh lived
right
they
couldn’t
say
happened.
the
Moines
and
We
we
“cattle
sent
on
where
Navy.
everything
and
Dottie,
have
went
love
make
me
and
I
car”
I
got
then.
Then
a
back down
started.
we
Des
bomb
chief
back
and
works
just
and
Moines
all
to
that’s
with
gave
with
So
so
Key of
out
we
21
a
I
I ______. ______. ______
West school, sonar school. Here I am the first cook, the first first-class cook, going
to sonar school.
Mr. Metzler: That’s a step.
Mr. Snell: Yeah. So you can just envision all these first-class and chief sonar men when I got
into the trainer. “We’ll shuttle that old cook.” What they used to do with me,
they’d turn around and put the submarine faster than the destroyer. Well, it didn’t
take me long to find out, so I’d stop my destroyer and let the submarine catch up.
Then I’d drop the doggone... They quit that. Anyway, I changed my rate. It just
opened up a whole new life for me when I changed my rate because as a sonar tech,
I was in the phase. I went on an AGS after that, and we
surveyed the Caribbean.
Mr. Metzler: AGS?
Mr. Snell: Survey ship. AGS2OPREVAIL. I was the survey chief, chief in charge of survey.
first-class I made chief right after that. Then they sent
me on a SOSU station, sound surveillance station. That’s how I ended up in naval
intelligence. I got into the quieting program. Of course we had to be quiet because
we knew what SOSU It picks up low frequency in the
ocean. So the submarine was interested in it, how to quiet their
submarines, so they asked for a chief sonar tech to go to SubPac Staff out there in
Hawaii. So here I am back out in Hawaii in 1957. 1 was on Admiral Grenfell’s
staff out there in the quieting program. I ended up leaving my first-class there and I
went back and took over 3 and 5 in San Diego and I was in the quieting program
there setting up the systems. I got a call... I was going to go out of the Navy in
19 6 and I got a call from the chief of staff, a guy by the name of Captain
22 ______.______.______
Small. He said “Chief, go back to Washington.
They’ve got some top-secret data there about 922 which is the intelligence phase, chief of naval operations, at NavOp, and I said, “Well, I wasn’t really planning on it. I was going to retire.” “No, you’ve gotta go back there. Got some TS. We’d like to have you clean it up and get it back to the fleet. See how good it is, then we’ll send it back to the fleet.” So there I go back to Washington and went to a little place right there at the Naval Observatory. Had a big base there, shop I should say. I walked in there and introduced myself and says “Where’s all the tapes you’ve got, there’s I went in and looked at that stuff.
They had old water recordings, they had some old whiskey-class submarine, you know, had some of the most dilapidated crap you’ve ever seen in your life. Well, I sent it back but it was worthless. We knew then
During this time, I backtrack just a little bit, when I was with the staff on SubPac, I asked the Chief of Staff if I could make a run and test the systems out on a northern run and He said, “Sure.” Then I also said, “Do you think the captain would mind if I try to qualify as submarine at the same time?”
“Why sure he would.” So I went out there and 57 days I qualified in submarine and we used techniques that we had been working on. That’s the reason I was back in Washington. Anyway we sent that data back and I told the commander that was in the shop “This stuff is worthless.” I said, “I’ve got an idea. I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but I’ve got an idea. When I was on the TIRU, I saw about five guys walking back and forth and they wouldn’t say a word. They were quieter
Wouldn’t even talk. And I asked the guy, I said, “Who are they?” He said, “They’re spooks.” “What the hell is a spook?” I said, “I don’t
23 ______
know what a spook is.” They were in the radio shack and what they were doing is
copying the Russian data. I thought to myself, “If they do that, why don’t we
qualify our submarine sonar techs on our sonar units and when they deploy, so we
know what we need, know what we want, know what kind of angle on the bow, and
they want a stem shot or whatever they want to do, so we can get some decent
recordings.” We’re in a quieting program. We found out this. We’d better make
our submarines quieter than theirs. So we started that program. Then our nuclear
came out and that was terrible. I know I worked on the SHARK and I worked on
the one that we lost off the Azores.
Mr. Metzler: THRESHER.
Mr. Sneli: No, no. The THRESHER was right out of the yard. Anyway, I worked on these
submarines. We’re on a different, now we’re on nuclear and they’ve got different
noises. You can’t and react, but you have to look at
which SSTGs and so forth that you’re going to use for getting into our
modes so you can quieten her down. Of course it’s a little different on a nuclear.
They don’t have the buoyancy. They use power. They don’t worry about sitting
down and trying to go dead quiet. They just sit there and
Mr. Metzler: Could we go back to Okinawa, when the MORRISON went down. Kind of zoom
in and give me a little more detail about how that occurred and how you got off and
what you observed of the other crew men. Just really add a little more detail about
the whole experience if you would.
Mr. Snell: Well, like I said, that morning the sea was just like glass. They started coming in
and once that first one hit, I know that we lost IMC and we lost our power and we
lost our communications. Everything! So no sound-powered phones. No nothing.
24 Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Metzter:
Snell:
MetzJer:
Snell:
Metzler: Snell:
You Yeah, down. saltwater one,
that that the
side. Did laying The kind The don’t
engineering officers,
the
helmet, She So didn’t trying... didn’t
she’s
last
port
the time, fourth
were
captain because
was
other
of
know.
I
She
on
have
have
Nothing
was
gun,
captain
funny but
there
side but
on
laying hose,
her topside?
we
went
one engine
topside.
her
I
officer did
a
the to
near
they
Just
side and
didn’t... had
were
life
though.
hit
you
worry survive
side
on
happened. on survive
XO
gun fate,
she
and another tried
jacket
room,
and
her her
got some
have
and
and
So
was
she’s 4.
about
So but caine
off.
this? starboard side to
it.
I We
where
the
the
men
to
on.
Once went
I hide
one
already
156
slid
Surprisingly
Later going
first have
captain
lost
it. in
other
in
I
hit
men
behind
up
are
right
that
off
didn’t
the You
and
number
side.
a
I
down. mid-ships.
forward
laying
you
the fire
find
pump
were
happened,
got
water.
directly
we
should,
a
worry
side
at
She
room,
off
out
enough,
little
didn’t
killed
this So on
1
so
and
and
and
fire
had
all
the
her
on
had
about
point?
metal
but
Then
all
then
grabbed
my
that the
even
I
room
men
the laid
side,
that’s
bounced
not
I got
supply
cooks
didn’t. a
the
morning, bang! and
stern
over
just
say
life a
so out.
and
the
the
whole
drip.
it
we
“abandon
start
and
jacket.
there.
have
didn’t
off
officer
number
third
Another
saltwater
What
I
slid.
including
had got
that
I getting
ship
been
put
ship
So
work.
got
our
I
had
one stabilizer.
I
just
2
ship”
the
could just
one
I
hose.
killed,
he’s
engine
off
off.
magazine
went
happened,
and
most
laid
old
Just
hit.
slid
also.
but
lost.
swim.
For
I
over
handle
except
on
room.
off.
about of
had
Then
I
she’s
The was
her the
It’s
the
on
25
to
a
I
I I ______. ______
Mr. Metzler: This is an underwater stabilizer that’s up?
Mr. Snell: Right, now all of a sudden, it’s up. I tried to help the injured. There was a few life
jackets, not life jackets, well yes, life jackets also. There was a few
that had floated up and we were trying to get the really injured ones... but we had
so many burn victims. That’s the worst part about a fire, you’re burned. So we
tried to get them in And finally there was one other man
there that was dead and he had a jacket on and I took his jacket. I did, I took his
jacket. He was dead. He was all blown apart. Then I was still helping. I didn’t
worry about it. I was treading. I learned one thing though: you stay in the oil
slick. It wasn’t on fire. You stay in the oil slick and the sharks don’t like that in
that warm water. There were sharks there, circling around.
Mr. Metzler: Had the ship gone down at this point?
Mr. Snell: Oh, it went down. Once that last hit, it just went “shlthhhh.” Down she went.
Mr. Metzler: Down she went.
Mr. Snell: I had a red-headed mess cook and we yelled “JUMP! JUMP!” and he rode it down.
He was scared.
Mr. Metzler: He wouldn’t jump.
Mr. Snell: He couldn’t swim. And we yelled, everybody yelled, “Get off there. Jump!” No,
he didn’t do it. A kid, I took him under my wing to start with. He came on at
Hunter’s Point there. Just a young kid.
Mr. Metzler: You were so old.
Mr. Snell: Yeah, I was twenty-one! I’m an old salt.
Mr. Metzler: So you took him under your wing...
26 Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Snell:
Metzler:
Snell: Metzler:
Snell:
Metzler:
Snell:
Metzier:
Of bothered I’d the using just those Didn’t An It’s OK, burned.
you knew Mr. the coaster For the real Cruz
Close-knit.
course,
been
LCRN.
day
a lowest senior
in the think
close. Snell,
an
35 small
and the
enough
even
case
ride LCRN
before
battleship
gallons I
saving
me
fresh
then remember
was
officers,
he when part
craft.
we
that get
though,
to
ended
the
is...?
the we
raspberries.
of were
to
them.
pull
you of
you
Some eat high it
sailor,
were
second
raspberry
they
was
that went
that
up
going when
look
much
point
I
mess
were men sunk.
to
they
lever said,
it
through?
time,
back
I
to
lose
was of
So
left ice and
died
had
a
get cooking,
it. “I’m
down
Boy
battleship
I
now
losing
your
Pearl cream.
the
what
made
What
attacked
a
that
20
going
if
and
States,
on
shipmates
Harbor,
I
morning was
millimeter,
somebody
35 which
a
had
that
start
shame.
navy.
to
again, gallons
the
I
known...
period
make
shooting,
got
is
because
low
on
the
To
all
but
So
on
some
so
of the
point
me
first
of
me, right.
you
the
I
thank
fresh
jumped
LCRN.
time
I
they some if
fresh
time
worried
it destroyer
emotionally were
we
was
raspberry
One
goodness,
in
lost
did,
raspberry
in raspberries
picked
the on
They
not.
the
thing
their
about
and
the
Pacific,
where
Battle
I
were
20
for ice
use up
we guess
pride.
that
that.
ice
millimeter
by...?
that
cream and,
tracers.
you
didn’t.
so
of
what
kind
cream”
to
badly
Santa I roller
Even
were
boy,
lost
me,
on
do
27 of
I Mr. Snell: Oh yeah, close-knit, fighting group. We’d go into a port, which we didn’t go into
many, but when we did, we’d take over that area. That’s ours. That’s our
destroyers.
Mr. Metzler: Real team.
Mr. Snell: That’s right. Real team, bunch of guys. I go back to Hawaii and I look up there on
the hill. They have the men that were killed at sea. They have their names and I
can see Bob Cram from Oregon, a cook and he comes up to me and says, “I’ll tell
you what, Howie, I’m not going to make it” on that day. “I’m wounded.” He just
had a premonition. Of course some of the high part was crossing the equator. Now
that was fun.
Mr. Metzler: I’ve heard about that. Tell us what that was all about.
Mr. Snell: Oh, yeah! I remember crossing the equator. Of course I had been on the
ENTERPRISE. I was already a sheilback. Like I said, I’m an old salt. But on a
carrier, you can’t do like you do on a destroyer. I mean, it’s too big. But on this
can... we only had... well, Captain Kreiss (spelling?) called me up to the bridge the
night before we were having the initiation. He said, “We’re in trouble. We haven’t
got enough shellbacks here. We’ve got to do something about that. Boy we’re
outnumbered.” There are only about 10 shellbacks on there. I’ll tell you what
we’ll do. An old salt. He says “Get the biggest guys you can get”... of course I had
already started preparing. I had the chute full of garbage that had been out on the
fantail for fifteen days. That was ripe. We did. The next morning, boy, we got the
biggest guys we could get and we got them initiated right fast and then they helped
us. We had the barber’s chair where you cut all the hair off, then flip them over.
Mr. Metzler: You flip them over into what?
28 Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr.
Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Mr. Mr.
Snell:
Metzler:
Snell:
Metzler:
Snell:
Metzler: Snell:
Metzler:
Snell:
Metzler:
Metzler: Snell: Snell:
couldn’t Flip can’t
So Oh, But that sweat
Oh, Boy,
sheilback. “Shelibacks”
So They’ve OK. engine And shrunken (laughter)
You It’s We they We’ve
they
“sheliback”
boy,
my
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29
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men that go to these schools so they’ll know how to talk to these kids. I shouldn’t
say “kids.” They’re young boys and girls.
Mr. Metzler: But still.., that’s great. Anything more, Howard, that you want to...?
Mr. Snell: Like I said, the homefront is the best thing that ever happened. Everybody was
working. Everybody just to. The older folks would have victory
gardens and the women would work in the factories, working
and never griped about “no meat, no butter, no sugar.” Just make do. They’re the
reason why our country can survive something like what happened at Pearl,
because it was devastating. We didn’t even have an army really. You know, we’d
been practicing with wooden guns and stuff like that and trucks that were supposed
to be tanks. But I did do one thing. I finally said I couldn’t make an excuse any
more. The war’s over. I’m out of the Navy because I’d made excuses there in the
Navy. “I can’t get involved. I’m a I made up
my mind when I retired in ‘62, I was going to do something. So, of course, I’d
been to church. I’ve been a Christian all my life, but I said I’m going to get
involved. I joined a church and of course over the years, I’ve been everything, took
all the offices in the church, and lay leader and lay speaker. But I wanted to get in
to do something with our youth. I bought a home in Sterling, Virginia, a little out
of Washington, D.C. and we had no place for our kids, nothing for them, and I
wanted to get involved with them. So I got involved with what they call
National.” It’s big in the east. When I got involved
there, I got involved in the youth phase. I wanted to get our kids something to do.
I remember the first meeting we ever had. I got in there and I said “Now, this is
your group. I’m not going to say... you tell me what you want to do.” They talked
31 ______
about it and all of a sudden, one kid gets up. He says “We want to have a drag
strip” and they all laughed at him. I said “No. That’s a great idea. Now this is
something to work on.” Better than going out on a back road and getting killed.
Mr. Metzler: And doing it out on the open highway.
Mr. Snell: Well, the second year I was there, we won national honors for that, for our youth
group. I’ve always been involved. I
(inaudible). That’s the reason I’m a chaplain. I started off as a chaplain in chapter
2 in Tidewater area in Norfolk and then I took over
there. Then when I went to Houston, I found out they didn’t have a chaplain so I
took over as chaplain there. Over the years, I imagine I’ve buried twenty or
twenty-five out of the services survivors.
Mr. Metzler: That’s wonderful. You know I don’t want to lose track of the time here because we
need to let you get out and I want to be a part of the ceremonies too. So, Howard, I
want to thank you for the time that you have spent sharing your experiences.
PROOF Transcribed by: Carole Gillespie, Volunteer Fredericksburg, Texas October 11,2008 Tape 1057
32