Center for Pacific War Studies Fredericksburg, Texas an Interview

THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PACIFIC WAR (ADMIRAL NIMITZ MUSEUM) Center for Pacific War Studies Fredericksburg, Texas An Interview with James B. Brown Orange Grove, Texas May 7, 2004 USS Zeilan, APA-3 My name is Richard Misenhimer and today is May 7, 2004. 1 am interviewing Mi. James B. Brown at his home at 346 County Road 315, Orange Grove, Texas 78372. His phone number is area code 361-384-3166. This interview is in support of the National Museum of Pacific War, Center for Pacific War Studies, for the preservation of historical infonnation related to World War II. Mr. Misenhimer Mr. Brown, I want to thank you for taking time to do this interview today. Mr. Brown Thank you. Mr. Misenhimer Let me ask you first, what is your birth date? Mr. Brown July 16, 1923. Mr. Misenhimer Where were you born? Mr. Brown Yoakum, Texas. Mr. Misenhimer Did you have brothers and sisters? Mr. Brown Yes. I have two half-brothers and two sisters and one brother. Mr. Misenhimer Were either of your brothers in the service? Mr. Brown Yes. Joe was; my real brother. One of the others was in the service in Germany. My brother was in Germany. He got captured in France and then they hauled him to Germany. But he got liberated and came back. Mr. Misenhimer Did both of them come home? Mr. Brown Yes they came home. They were lucky. Mr. Misenhimer Where did you go to high school? Mr. Brown I didn’t go to high school. I went through the fifth grade. Mr. Misenhimer At Yoakum? Mr. Brown No. I started there but then I moved to Nordheim. I had to make a living the best way I could so I had to quit school after fifth grade. Mr. Misenhimer What did you do after that? Mr. Brown Picked cotton. Then after that I drove a truck and hauled cattle from Victoria to Houston and San Antonio for ranches in an 18-wheeler. 2 Mr. Misenhimer How old were you then? Mr. Brown I was about 15. Mr. Misenhimer Driving an 18-wheeler? Mr. Brown (laugh) Yes. I learned how and then I went into the Navy. Mr. Misenhimer When did you go into the service? Mr. Brown In 1943. I can’t remember the date but it was in cool weather. It was probably in February or somewhere along in there, I don’t remember exactly. Mr. Misenhimer Did you volunteer or were you drafted? Mr. Brown I volunteered. They were going to draft me into the Army and my brother had told me to not get into the Army; that I should get into the Navy because it would be a little better. I liked to ride instead of walk. (laugh) Mr. Miseithimer Where did you join at? Mr. Brown In San Antonio. I rode a bus up there one evening and it left about 10:00 from Cuero. 3 They had two flats and I thought we never would get there in that old bus. The next day they told us. “If you are going to volunteer for anything here’s the Navy, here’s the Marines and here’s Army, pick which one?” I picked the Navy of course. I didn’t want in the Marines. Mr. Misenhimer Let me back up a minute. December 7, 1941 as you recall Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Do you remember where you were when you heard about that? Mr. Brown I was in Cuero driving a cattle truck. Mr. Misenhimer What was your reaction when you heard that? Mr. Brown I was shocked; really shocked. Mr. Misenhimer You were about 18 at that point. Mr. Brown No, I was a little younger. Mr. Misenhimer You were born in 1923? Mr. Brown 1923. Mr. Misenhimer Did you think that would cause you to go into the service when you heard that? 4 Mr. Brown I figured that later on I might have to, yes. It didn’t bother me none. I figured it was supposed to be that I would take care of things and do that for my country. Mr. Misenhimer When you went in at San Antonio, where did you go from there? Mr. Brown I went back home and took what little clothes they said to bring and I caught a train there and went to San Diego, California. Mr. Misenhimer To boot camp? Mi. Brown To boot camp for twelve long weeks. I thought I would never get out of walking and marching. When I got out of there then I went to San Francisco. Mr. Misenhimer What all did you do in boot camp? Tell me about boot camp. Mr. Brown It was mostly just marching and the guns. We got a gun and all that. And swimming; of course, I didn’t know how to swim but I learned how to swim. Mr. Misenhimer Did you have knot tying and that sort of thing? Mr. Brown Oh yes. We had all of that. They told us everything about what to do and we went to movies at night and all that. 5 Mr. Misenhimer What did you live in there? Mr. Brown They had so many that we were in a tent. They had wood walls but the top was canvas. Then after I stayed there about four weeks they moved us into a barracks. The name of it was Paul Jones I think. Mr. Misenhimer How was the food there? Mr. Brown It was good. It was pretty good except on Friday they would give us cold cuts. Mr. Misenhimer Anything else that you recall from your time in boot camp? Mr. Brown No, just that they put us in a boat like a life boat and made us row in the bay there a little bit. We would march out to Pacific Beach and it was about 10 miles out there. Sometimes we would jog. Then we would have to break step when we came to the bridges so it wouldn’t fall in under the weight. After that I went to San Francisco. Mr. Misenhimer You went from San Diego to San Francisco? Mr. Brown Yes. Mr. Misenhimer On a train again? 6 Mr. Brown Yes, on a slow train. We got there and I didn’t know what, I had never been there before. They took us on a ferry from Oakland across to San Francisco. Then a bus picked us up and took us halfway back and we went to Treasure Island. Mr. Misenhimer What did you do there? Mr. Brown I thought this was the best place that I had ever been because they said, “You can relax here. You can go swimming. You can go see a show. You can go ashore.” That’s what we did for about a month. I thought I had it made. Then one day they came and said, “Get all your stuff, we have a place for you.” They took me to this old ship and when I say old, to me it was old. I wasn’t assigned to the ship. They put us in cots up in one of the holds. We stayed there for about three days and then they sailed. We went under the Golden Gate Bridge and we didn’t know where we were going. I got a little nauseated. Most of the guys got sick because the old ship did all that rocking. They headed north and they fmally told us we were going to the Aleutian Islands. Mr. Misenhimer What kind of a ship were you on? Mr. Brown It was a transport. It was PA-3, the USS Zeilin. Mr. Misenhimer APA-3? 7 Mr. Brown Just PA-3, Pacific Attack. I was supposed to be stationed on the place after they fought the Japs. But there was not a Jap there. They had abandoned it and left. I didn’t blame them because it was so cold. Then I couldn’t be on the island there so they brought me back. I was doing watches all this time; look-out watches with binoculars. When I got back to San Francisco they assigned me and some other boys. Mr. Misenhimer On the Zeilin when you went up there, what were your duties aboard ship? Mr. Brown Just scrubbing paint and painting and stuff like that. Mr. Misenhimer Did you have any special schooling in boot camp or anywhere? Mr. Brown No. Mr. Misenhimer You were just a Seaman? Mr. Brown Yes. I was an Apprentice then a Second and then a First at the end. That’s all I had. We had 32 boats, landing craft on the ship, the davits and all and 4 tank lighters, what they called tank lighters, 50 foot. Personnel carriers were 30 foot. Mr. Misenhimer This was on your PA? 8 Mr. Brown Yes. That’s when we took off for Hawaii. Mr. Misenhimer After you came back from Alaska? Mr. Brown Yes. Mr. Misenhimer Did you stay on the Zeilin? Mr. Brown Yes. I was still on it; I was assigned to it then. We went there and I was amazed at the sunsets and how beautiful they were. We stayed on the ship and we stayed there about a week or so; maybe a little longer. I can’t remember just exactly. I got to go ashore and all that. Then one day we sailed. Mr. Misenhimer When you were in Pearl Harbor was there much wreckage still left there from the attack? Mr.

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