This Is Winnie Woodruff.]

World War II Memories Dick Schumacher

Woodruff [This is Winnie Woodruff.]

Today is December 18th, 2006, and I am interviewing Dick Schumacher for the second time in his home at 107 Silver Spur in Horseshoe Bay, Texas.

We will start with information about your beginning—when and where were you born, what were your parents’ names and where did you spend your childhood?

Schumacher I was born in Canton, Ohio, on September 4, 1916. My mother and father, Robert and Sarah Schumacher, were both from Hartville, Ohio. We lived Ohio State in Canton where I spent all my early years. 1938 Then I went to Ohio State and graduated from there in 1938 and went to Commis- work for the Manufactures Light and Heat Company which was a sioned as subsidiary of the Columbia Gas System in Pittsburgh. I was there for Ensign three years and then got a commission as a probationary ensign until I completed a course at the Harvard Business School in supply corps procedures and then was assigned to my first billet at the Naval Supply Depot in Philadelphia.

Woodruff Where and when did you enlist?

Schumacher I applied for a commission in the Supply Corps and was accepted and sent to the Navy Supply Corps School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Woodruff What were the factors that influenced you to join the Navy?

Schumacher I had a very low draft number for one thing. And I didn’t want to serve in the trenches. In the Navy you normally had a clean place to sleep and you knew where your next meal was coming from.

Woodruff Where were you on December 7, 1941?

Schumacher I was in Philadelphia.

Woodruff Who were you with and what was their reaction?

Schumacher I don’t think I was with anyone in particular. I was in the service in Philadelphia at the Naval Supply Corps at the Naval Supply Depot.

Woodruff Do you have any other special recollections of that time—that day?

that it was going to make a change in my life.

Woodruff And what about your training? Where and how long and what type?

Schumacher I had three months training at the Harvard Business School learning the Supply Corps manual and learning how things worked in the supply Training at department in the Navy. That’s the main part of the training—and then Harvard they sent you to a duty station.

Woodruff And how were you transported from training to your first duty assignment?

Schumacher I believe I had leave at the end of Supply Corps School and went back to Canton, Ohio, and then from there went to Philadelphia, probably on a train. I remember I flew from Cleveland to Boston when I went to the Supply Corps School, but I don’t remember exactly how I got from Canton to Philadelphia.

Woodruff What was your first duty assignment?

Schumacher I was in the Receiving Department for the supply department for the Navy Yard and they were engaged at that time in building two battleships—the Navy Yard Wisconsin and the New Jersey. This was in Philadelphia. at Philadelphia And as a junior ensign—this is a little aside here—that my signature got completely awry. Because as a junior ensign in the Receiving Department at that time, every public voucher had to be manually signed. Later on they stamped them, but when I was there, you had a stack of about 250 public vouchers at the end of the day. And I had to sign every one of those.

Woodruff Did you have to check them at all or did you just sign them?

Schumacher You just signed it and got it out of the way.

Woodruff And you had such a nice, long name to be signing—did you change your name?

Schumacher It got to be “D. L. Schum”—and a big long tail. It was a kind of shorthand.

Woodruff What were your living conditions like then?

Schumacher When I first went to Philadelphia, I think I stayed in a hotel for a while until I found an apartment. Then I had a roommate. We shared an Page 2 of 12 Burnet County Library System All Rights Reserved World War II Memories Dick Schumacher

apartment there in Philadelphia for about 16 months.

Woodruff And your clothing, equipment, weapons, mealtime--

Schumacher We had a uniform allowance which incidentally at that time required a sword and I still have the sword with my name engraved on it. That was part of the uniform allowance.

I think maybe they had $50 for the sword because you had enough money to get a couple of uniforms--dress uniforms and regular uniforms. But that was all—you were given cash and then you went to a tailor in Philadelphia and had it made.

Woodruff So it was really like a full-time job. You lived in your own apartment and were responsible for your own meals.

Schumacher Yes, I just commuted. The Navy Yard was at the end of South Broad Street so I could commute there every day.

Woodruff Who were you closest to during that time? Did you stay together throughout the war?

Schumacher No, there was one person that I shared an apartment with, a man named Stan Graff. Friend Stan Graff He had been a football player at Stanford and was in the apartment with me for about a year and then was sent to Morocco for the North African invasion. He was in the Supply Corps, too. There were a lot of supply officers at the Navy Yard who were Philadelphia Mainliners, brokers, lawyers—people like that who had received direct commissions.

Woodruff When did you go on a ship?

Schumacher I went from Philadelphia to the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. shipyards in Seneca, Illinois, and from there—it was about a three-month tour of USS duty—and then from there I was assigned to the commissioning detail for Ashland the U.S.S. Ashland. That was in March of 1943 and the ship was put into commission in June. So that’s when I went to it--in June of 1943.

Woodruff And what were your immediate superiors like?

Schumacher The first commanding officer we had was a Britisher. He had been in the Merchant Marines and had a commission as a lieutenant commander and put the ship in commission.

He was the commanding officer for about six months or so and then we had a Naval Academy four-striper assigned as commanding officer. The first commanding officer was a different sort of individual because the British Navy runs their ships for the officers rather than for the crew and were pretty tough on the men. I think that’s why he was transferred. But the second commander was a very good officer.

Woodruff Any interesting stories related to any of them or others? This was before—when was the Jeep incident? [See Memo to Paul Adams, June 15, 1999.]

Schumacher That was when we left—he came to Pearl Harbor—he came after we had already gone off to Pearl. I can’t remember the name of the first Captain commanding officer right now. But the second commanding officer, Atkison Captain Atkison, was the one who wanted the Jeep.

That was when we had gone to Pearl Harbor and then to Baker Island. We came back to Pearl and Kwajalein and Eniwetok and then they sent us back to the states to get new furniture and re-provision the ship and so forth and that’s when we got the Jeep.

Woodruff Were you in battle?

Schumacher I was in eight major assault operations. That would be Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Saipan, Tinian, Leyte, Lingayen and Iwo Jima. I 8 major left the ship after Iwo Jima. [See History of USS Ashland] assault operations

Woodruff Were you ever in frightening circumstances? Were you ever torpedoed?

Schumacher We were under submarine attacks several times, under air attacks several times. The ship was never hit, but we spent a lot of time at General Quarters.

Woodruff And this was in 1943?

Schumacher This was in ’43, ’44 and early ’45.

Woodruff Were you corresponding with anybody at that time? Did you have time for that?

Schumacher Letters to my family because I was single at that time.

Schumacher Not anything in particular.

Woodruff What were the concerns of your family and friends during that time?

Schumacher They were sending letters to the fleet post office—they didn’t know where we were. And we weren’t allowed to tell them where we were.

Woodruff Was anybody ever killed or wounded?

Schumacher Some fatalities. There was one I know of--on a garbage run of all things—the boat capsized and the crew was lost. And we had injuries to Mission – troops because the mission of the Ashland was to carry Sherman tanks— carry medium tanks-- to an assault area. The ship ballasted down to disembark Sherman the tank-loaded LCM landing crafts and they went in on the assault tanks operation.

After that the boats were used to transfer personnel and materiel back and forth and those people were under fire whenever they were going in on a beach and there were some people wounded. As I said, we never took a direct hit on the ship so we didn’t have that kind of experience.

Woodruff What did you miss the most during this time?

Schumacher A normal life, I guess. You know, when you’re in your early twenties and single and it’s just kind of day-by-day. You don’t worry too much about what else is going on.

Woodruff And what about the weather? Always hot?

Schumacher It depended on which direction we were steaming The prevailing winds come from the west. We steamed normally at about 13 knots, which was our usual speed in a convoy. The wind was usually about 13 knots. So when we were going west, we had about a 26-knot breeze and it felt great. But when we were going east, it was like being in a dead calm. And it got pretty hot.

It got pretty hot on the ship because the officers’ quarters were just underneath the weather deck and during those first few operations there wasn’t any insulation. When you shut the ship down at night for General Quarters, all the heat just closed in on the ship and you didn’t get fresh air until the next morning after dawn General Quarters.

Woodruff No air-conditioning in those days, huh?

Schumacher No, the only air you had was through portholes.

Woodruff You didn’t have any contact with POWs or any other nationalities, did you?

Schumacher On one operation, I can’t remember which one it was, we had a couple of Japanese marines that we had in the brig. And I remember that I was Japanese interested in the fact that these men were big. Those men were burly, big Marines marines from the northern part of Japan. But that was my only contact with POWs.

Woodruff Any memorable moments? Humorous incidents? Did you see any USO shows?

Schumacher No, we sometimes got a movie when we were in port. But there was one thing that might be interesting. We had these new boat pool officers who Entertain- were usually young and inexperienced. The exec and I would sponsor ment memberships in the Officers’ Club at Pearl in exchange for their liquor rations. In Hawaii at that time there was a brand called Five Islands, and gin, rum and scotch were all made from cane sugar. As I recall, you could get one bottle of liquor and a couple of bottles of sparkling burgundy, so we always had plenty of stuff on board. We kept that in the exec’s cabin and had a little cocktail hour each day.

Woodruff What a way to run a war! What was your rank by this time?

Schumacher I was a lieutenant then—Lieutenant Senior Grade. I was an ensign for about 15 months, a lieutenant junior grade for maybe six to eight months and then I was a lieutenant senior grade for about three years. And then of course Lieutenant Commander before I retired. [See Final Commission.}

Woodruff What was the most difficult time for you or the most emotional experience you had?

Schumacher Well, I suppose if I had to pick one thing out, it would be the day that we loaded 9,000 rounds of five-inch powder cans in the open boats to take up to Iwo Jima. Ammunition Ship blew We went to Guam and they put 500 rounds of powder cans in each one of up in 18 boats. We had 9,000 rounds and I remember standing back there Noumea looking down at this big pile of ammunition and thinking, you know, if we ever get a hit in this—we’re gone.

I had experienced an ammunition ship blowup in Noumea. We were moored out in the harbor and I had gone ashore to get some supplies or

something and the ammunition ship that was tied up at the docks blew up. I remember it knocked me down and that was quite an experience. Then one month later, on a trip down to Guadalcanal, an ammunition ship had blown up just a couple of days before we got in there.

So I was kinda thinking, you know, I looked at those rounds of ammunition down there and that’s probably the worst moment.

Woodruff I would agree. Were you ever hospitalized?

Schumacher Oh, just when I was in Philadelphia, I had some illness, not anything war- related. In the Navy at that time, a common ailment was catarrhal fever or “cat fever.”

If you had a chest cold or a head cold, it didn’t make any difference, it was cat fever. So I was put in the hospital for the cat fever and I guess the prognosis was that maybe I’d had scarlet fever—they never knew.

Woodruff How long were you gone from the states?

Schumacher We left Oakland, California, in June of ’43 and I didn’t get back until June of ’45. I was gone two years. Gone for two years

Woodruff And where were you when you heard the war was over in Europe?

Schumacher I don’t really remember exactly where we were. But I know I was stationed in Baltimore at when the Japanese war was over. I left the ship in June of ’45 and the Japanese surrender was in August.

Woodruff The Germans surrendered in June of ’45. So then you went on back to the states and you were there when the Japanese surrendered. Were you aware of the atomic bomb at all? Were you aware that it was a possibility to be used for that purpose?

Schumacher I don’t remember any of that prior to the event, but I certainly remember when it happened.

Woodruff Any special memories from that time? When the war was over.

Schumacher Yeah, sure. Relieved.

Woodruff How old were you then?

Schumacher I was 29. And I got back in Baltimore and I had a lot of discharge points and I knew I was going to get out. Baltimore duty When I left the ship, I was assigned to the Naval Storehouse at Baltimore where they had some other guys just like me who were just marking time. And the most notable part of that was that, due to gas rationing, there were races at Bowie and Pimlico and Havre de Grace and 50 straight days of racing. And we always assigned a duty officer to go out and make the daily double bets and the rest of us could go out around 4 o’clock and see the rest of the races.

Woodruff And then you were discharged when?

Schumacher That would be—well my terminal leave, I think, was up in February of ’46. [See Notice of Separation]

Woodruff And where did you meet Susie?

Schumacher I met her in Baltimore. There were a couple of ladies who hosted an officers club on Sundays and you could go down there and meet nice girls Met wife in and dance a little but it wasn’t like a USO. It was a privately owned Baltimore operation.

I was dancing with my to-be wife and she whispered her telephone number in my ear. Later on I called and went out and saw her and eventually married her.

Woodruff Not too long after that either because you were married in 1946.

Schumacher We were married in December. I met her in September, maybe even August.

Woodruff That was a quick courtship. It was just meant to be.

Schumacher She was the first in nine generations of Boyces to leave the state of Maryland. So I was taking her out of civilized country to Indian country.

Woodruff But they finally decided that it was okay. Did your parents say anything about rationing? Was that a problem for them during the war?

Schumacher I remember that my mother-in-law used to entertain servicemen. They would give her the ration stamps they weren’t going to use.

Woodruff What was your overall feeling about this whole time in the service?

Schumacher Oh, I guess it was a great experience, but I wouldn’t want to do it again. It was what people did and I think I probably learned a lot about responsibility and so forth that maybe I hadn’t had before.

Woodruff All that training in the supply corps, did that enter into what you eventually did as a career?

Schumacher I don’t think so because I had a degree in finance and had one full year of accounting and that was what I was doing when I was in Pittsburgh. Of course that was just bookkeeping, payroll and keeping track of expenses and probably the one thing that might have been a little different was running a commissary and the food operation.

Woodruff What about your sword? How did you ever keep up with it all those years on the ship?

Schumacher It was required for the uniforms worn in September of 41. I think that when war was declared, it was no longer a requirement.

Woodruff But what did you do with your sword all this time?

Schumacher I just stored it.

Homemade Talking about cooks, one thing I have to tell you. There was no alcohol brew allowed on the ship but a crew could make what they called jungle juice. They would take fruit like pears with the syrup and throw in a handful of raisins and then put it in a warm place, by a steam pipe or something and it would brew and we had some pretty drunk people.

I recall vividly one occasion when the captain made a Saturday inspection. There was a big pressure steam thing—a great big pressure cooker—with several drawers in it which wasn’t used much. But this particular time, it was being used. The captain came along, smelled something and went over and opened a drawer and they were making jungle juice in the pressure cooker.

Woodruff Oh my goodness! It’s a good thing it didn’t blow. Can you think of anything else you wanted to mention? As you say, you’re glad you did it, but don’t want to do it again.

Schumacher It was a great experience

Woodruff Everybody was in the same boat—

store and have a beer or whatever and you miss being at home but you thought you were doing something really worthwhile and important. That was pretty much it. But being young and single was a whole lot different. Some of the young officers on board had families at home, a young wife, or maybe a kid or two, and I didn’t have that. I was really very fortunate.

Woodruff Well, thanks again, Dick. I hope this one works this time. Appreciate your time!

Schumacher I’ll give you this information about the Jeep.

Woodruff Yes, we will have a written out story instead of putting it on tape.

Schumacher Oh, there is one more story I was going to tell you. When we first went to Pearl Harbor, our ship was the first of its kind that was built in the states. New ship hit There had been the same ship in Great Britain that was built on British the pier plans and even the spaces were set out for a British crew. And the ship had a high freeboard that was about at least 50 feet and when we got into Pearl Harbor, all the brass from the Navy were there to see this new ship.

And as they came in, a gust of wind caught the ship and rammed it into the pier. The captain was very embarrassed because he was trying to make a nice showing for the admirals standing on the dock and we made a very inauspicious landing.

Woodruff But it landed and lived to see another day.

Schumacher And the interesting thing was that when we went into commission, we had all wooden furniture but you know a ship that’s going to go in harm’s way Wooden shouldn’t have that, and we had no insulation. That was what they did for furniture us after we had been to Kwajalein and Eniwetok and then back to San Francisco. They gave us steel furniture and put insulation in and really remodeled the ship. I guess they figured that it was going to be all right and continued to build them. And now the ships they build today are all LSDs. The Ashland was 450 feet long and had about a 70-foot beam. The new ships are 600 feet and carry a crew of 1500 and they’re a real fine ship. . Woodruff Have you visited some of those places and seen the changes in the ships?

Schumacher Yes, I went to New Orleans for the commissioning of the new Ashland LSD 48. I had a watercolor of the Ashland that I wanted to give to the New new ship. I presented the watercolor for the wardroom and was present at Ashland the commissioning and got to tour the ship and see what they did and so LSD 48 forth.

Woodruff That must have been incredible.

Schumacher It was very interesting. The big ships today are much more comfortable and air-conditioned. The ride was very uncomfortable on the LSD-1 Uncomfort- because of the way she was built. At the bow the ship was pointed, but able rides on progressed by means of a counter on both sides to a flat bottom at the LSD-1 stern gate. The bottom was flat because we were supposed to ballast down in the water to make a dry-dock.

So at sea, if there was a quartering sea, when you roll over and hit that counter, we’d kinda roll all the way back over and hit the counter on the other side. When you were rolling back and forth, it depended on which way you were headed, but there were a lot of uncomfortable rides.

Woodruff I guess. Well then did a lot of people get sick?

Schumacher The only time that we had sick people tended to be when they’re first exposed. Like if we were in Pearl Harbor for three weeks or something Typhoon and the men are used to being on land, and then you go out to sea and then maybe for a couple of hours somebody might be a little queasy. But you adjust.

We went through a typhoon, not direct, but we were on the edge of the same typhoon when they lost a couple of destroyers. We were on the outskirts of that typhoon coming from Guadalcanal or New Britain. It was back up at Leyte, I think. We took a 41-degree roll and you know that’s a lot. For three days I couldn’t serve anything to the crew except for coffee and bologna sandwiches. I couldn’t put anything on the galley; it would just slide off. So that was probably the worst storm that we were in.

Woodruff Okay! Again, we thank you very much for your time. [End of Interview.]

Links to Photos and Documents Dick Schumacher, 1941 Log of USS Ashland Photos of Ashland 1 Salvaged Jeep Story Photos of Ashland 2 Final Commission Photos of Crew Notice of Separation from the U.S. Loss of Tank and Crew at Eniwetok Naval Service Atoll Dick Schumacher, 2006 1944 Ashland Thanksgiving Menu Medals and Sword Ashland History