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 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 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 , 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 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 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 . 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 , 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 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,

. 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 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

, 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

sweatsuit I hard

them

did

initiate

did

the don’t

we

got

locker

got came

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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

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