CVE-91) Was Engaged in Two Had Registered for the Draft at 18, As the the Intense Battle of Okinawa, Japan
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May they rest in peace… By Bob Bennett-Manor 2312 In early April, 1945, the jeep aircraft carrier with a man who would become his friend. The USS Makassar Strait (CVE-91) was engaged in two had registered for the draft at 18, as the the intense battle of Okinawa, Japan. Also law required. In late 1942 they went to Des included in this battle was Ishigaki Island, Moines to enroll in the Navy but they were which was the home base of the kamikaze told they had to wait until their draft boards pilots who were trained to inflict tremendous called them up. When that time arrived, Loren damage to the U.S. fleet. Ishigaki Island is enlisted in the Navy and his friend enlisted in located 265 miles southwest of Okinawa. the Marines. Loren served in the Navy from May 26, 1943 until February 17, 1946. After With Composite Squadron Ninety- the War, Loren and his friend were best men seven (VC 97), scores of sorties were flown at each other’s weddings. against enemy targets. One fighter plane was shot down the first day but the pilot was miraculously rescued. On the second day of attack on Ishigaki (April 15th), the tail was shot off a Grumman Avenger, a three-man torpedo bomber. Other VC-97 fliers saw parachutes open but no rescue was attempted due to heavy enemy fire. Everyone knew the pilot; he had sung solo at church services on the hanger deck. All on board hoped they survived. Many planes were damaged that day, but that was the only plane lost. But the loss still lives in infamy today. The night before, Loren Elliott of Manor 991 had been assigned to change the frequency of the navigation equipment of all His first stop was boot camp in thirty planes overnight. Warren Loyd, who Farrugut, Idaho. From there he spent the next was the Aviation Radio Man (ARM 1st Class) of twelve months studying radio electronics in the lost plane, recognized the amount of work Michigan City, Indiana, Stillwater, Oklahoma, this was and he volunteered to assist in this all and Ward Island in Corpus Christi, Texas. night project. A friendship was born and Following that, Loren was assigned to North nurtured before the sun came up. Other Island in San Diego, California. In September, members of the crew were Robert Tuggle, who 1944, he was assigned to duty on board the was Aviation Ordnance Man 1st Class (AOM USS Makassar Strait CVE-91, where he served 1/c), and the pilot Lt. Vernon Tebo. until September, 1945. When the war ended Several years earlier, Loren graduated on August 15, the “MAK” was anchored in from high school at 18 and began studies at Pearl Harbor, looking down at the USS Arizona. Iowa State College. In the spring of 1941, he It was on the MAK that Loren formed a was awarded the “Iowa Farmer Degree” along friendship with Warren Loyd who would later The youngest is a Marine and just arrived in be lost under enemy fire. Iraq. On November 23, 1947, Loren learned the fate of his good friend Warren Loyd from newspaper headlines announcing the sentencing of 41 former Japanese navy men to hang. Seven of these men would ultimately be hanged for their direct involvement in the brutal killing of the Tebo air crew of VC-97 after parachuting near Ishigaki and then swimming to a coral reef. Not knowing who the ranking officer of the trio was (insignias were not worn by flight crews during combat), Warren Loyd was After this tour, Loren continued his apparently singled out as the pilot of the crew. education with a refresher course in radio The men were immediately interrogated by electronics in Corpus Christi. He then went to the Japanese, but the interrogation quickly Norfolk, Virginia to study LORAN (Long Range turned into torture without regard for the Navigation Equipment). His final assignment rules of war as stated in the Geneva was Navy Pier in Chicago before being sent to Convention. Two of the men were blindfolded St. Paul, Minnesota, for discharge on February with their hands tied behind their backs and 17, 1946. Loren enjoyed serving as Aviation forced to kneel with their heads bowed as two Electronics Technician 1st Class at Iwo Jima and of the Japanese took out swords and Okinawa, where he serviced the radar, beheaded them. One neck was severed altimeters, and navigation equipment on 12 quickly, but it took several blows with the TBM’s and 18 Wildcat fighters. sword to finish the job on the second one. The third airman, Warren Loyd, whom the Following his military service, Loren Japanese assumed was the leader, was tied to finished college, earning his B.S. degree in a tree about 30 feet away from the executions. Agricultural Engineering at Iowa State (now A Japanese officer took out a bayonet and Iowa University). For five and a half years he stabbed him. Then he ordered his men, 40 to taught farm training to WW II and Korean War 50 of them, to follow suit, using the American vets. For 26 years he served with the Soil for bayonet practice. Conservation Service of the USDA as Watershed and River Basin Planning Engineer What the Japanese navy men did not of Iowa. On April 12, 1948, Loren married realize was that not far away, Osamu Oshima Alma Anne Barna. They have three sons: had witnessed everything while waiting for his Mark, who is a teacher on the Navajo Indian brother to scavenge food for him and some Reservation in NE Arizona, Robert, who works classmates. Hunger had driven them to the for Quest in Des Moines, Iowa, and James, field where the executions took place. Osamu, who lives in Houston and has done everything a 16-year-old junior high school student was from investing to selling hot dogs. The Elliotts forced to be part of the Blood and Iron Student have two grandsons and one granddaughter. Corps. His older brother was in the Imperial Navy and was stationed close by. Since the Navy had slightly more food than Osamu’s unit, his brother had arranged to sneak food to of Shinohara's campaign, the Japanese Osamu and his classmates when they government acknowledged its responsibility witnessed the executions. Years later Osamu for the deaths and gave the islanders 300 Oshima recalled: "Although we were million-yen (about $3 million dollars). Much of brainwashed with militarism and imperialism this money was dedicated to a monument and to hate the Americans and British, we had museum. "It was when I was researching that never seen the sight of men killing other men. tragedy I came upon the incident involving the They killed these human beings so brutally and airmen," he said. "I firmly believe we need to mercilessly. I don’t remember how we got erect a monument to them to console their back to our post. I became sick and it took a spirits and put an end to this tragedy. long time for me to get out of the state of Otherwise their spirits will continue to roam shock and horror." the world". The memorial was to be a reminder of the past that it may never be Following Japan’s surrender in 1945, repeated. members of the Japanese Naval command on Ishigaki decided to hide the executions which A committee was appointed to put the had taken place five months earlier. They dug memorial together. Founding members were up the bodies of the three airmen, cremated Professor Takeo Shinohara (Professor of them, and then packed the remains into a fuel Forestry, University of the Ryukyus), Nagateru can which they took out to sea and sank at an Ohama M.D. (Mayor of Ishigaki), and Tim undisclosed location. Later, as a result of Wilson (Technical Sergeant, USAF). Tim eyewitness accounts from islanders and worked hard raising money to pay cost for soldiers alike, 41 Japanese men who had three nieces and one nephew to attend the participated in this violation of the Geneva dedication. In an email to Tim in May of 2001, Convention were tried and sentenced. Seven Loren mentioned a meeting in Mesa of some Japanese officers were hanged for their direct of their group. Tim wrote back stating he was participation. flying over and he wanted to shake hands with our heroes! Tim was Loren's house guest for Years later a decision was made by the three days when he made visit. native Japanese of Ishigaki to pay their respects to the three airmen who had made Loren wrote the dedication of the the ultimate sacrifice by building them a Memorial on August 15, 2001, the Mayor memorial. These natives were also very upset asked Loren to sit with him and watch the by the loss of 3,647 people who died of professional entertainment provided to the malaria the final days of World War II. Professor Shinohara lost his mother and two group. The Mayor told him about six times sisters to the disease. The Yacyanna Islands that the flag he had presented Loren was the were a breeding ground for malaria-infected first one he had every presented to an mosquitoes and islanders had learned to avoid individual visitor. the worst areas. However, the Japanese Army forced them to move into the jungle and Loren began attending reunions of the refused to give any of its anti-malarial drugs to crew of the Makassar Strait in 1995. He and those that became ill. “It was not until the Alma co-chaired the one held in Mesa in 1997 America troops landed shortly after the with John and Grace Cokely and Ray and Japanese surrender that the islanders received Minnie Martinez.