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National Museum of the Pacific War NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PACIFIC WAR THE NIMITZ MUSEUM PRESENTS AN ORAL HISTORY BY JAMES JOHN TAPE NO. 391 PEARL HARBOR U.S.S CASE TODAY IS DECEMBER 6, 2001. MY NAME IS FLOYD COX. I AM A VOLUNTEER AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PACIFIC WAR. WE ARE HERE TODAY IN FREDERICKSBURG, TEXAS TO INTERVIEW MR. JIM JOHNS CONCERNING HIS EXPERIENCES DURING WORLD WAR II. TO START OFF WITH JIM, I’D LIKE TO TELL YOU, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO RELATE YOUR EXPERIENCES FOR THE ARCHIVES OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PACIFIC WAR. MAY I ASK YOU WHEN YOU WERE BORN, WHERE YOU WERE BORN AND WHERE YOU WENT TO SCHOOL AND WE’LL TAKE IT FROM THERE. JIM I WAS BORN IN A TOWN NAMED SUBLETT, WYOMING. IT WAS A COAL MINING TOWN, MARCH 21, 1923. I WENT TO KEMMERER HIGH SCHOOL IN KEMMERER, WY, GRADUATED IN JUNE 1941, THEN ENLISTED IN THE NAVY ON THE 6TH OF JUNE IN 1941. FROM THERE I WENT INTO BOOT CAMP. F.C. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BOOT CAMP? JIM IN SAN DIEGO. AFTER BOOT CAMP I WENT OVER TO PEARL HARBOR AND GOT PLACED ON A DESTROYER, THE USS CASE. F.C. WHAT WERE YOUR DUTIES THERE? JIM AT THE TIME I WAS WHAT WAS REFERRED TO AS A “DECKIE”, CHIPPING PAINT BUT I DID EVENTUALLY GO INTO FIRE ROOMS. F.C. YOU WERE AT PEARL HARBOR ON DECEMBER 7, 1941? JIM RIGHT. F.C. CAN YOU TELL US EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER AT THAT POINT IN TIME? 2 JIM YES. I WAS ON KP AND I WAS PEELING SPUDS ON THE AFTER DECK IN THE WIDE OPEN, SO YOU COULD SEE EVERYTHING. A DESTROYER IS VERY SMALL ANYWAY, SO I SAW THE WHOLE SHOW FROM RIGHT THERE. I WATCHED THE PLANES COME IN, WATCHED THE BOMBING AND THAT GOING ON. F.C. WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION WHEN YOU SAW THAT YOUR FLEET WAS BEING BOMBED BY AN ENEMY? DID YOUR KNOW WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT WAS HAPPENING? JIM I REALLY THOUGHT THEY WERE SOME OF OUR PLANES THAT MADE A MISTAKE. ONE THE SHIPS, THEY SOUNDED FIRE AND RESCUE. THEN EVENTUALLY THEY GOT AROUND TO SOUNDING BATTLE STATIONS, THEN WE KNEW IT WAS JAPS. F.C. WHAT WAS YOUR BATTLE STATION ON YOUR SHIP? JIM ON THE 5-INCH GUN. F.C. DID YOU GET INTO ACTION? DID YOU START FIRING? JIM WELL, THEY DID WITH THE MACHINE GUNS. ONE OF OUR GUNNERS SHOT DOWN TWO JAP PLANES THAT CAME ROUND. OURS WERE THE ONLY GUNS WORKING ON THE FIVE DESTROYERS THAT WERE TIED UP THERE. F.C. DID YOU GET YOUR 5-INCH IN ACTION? JIM NO. ALL THEY HAD WAS TARGET AMMUNITION ANYWAY. SO, NEVER DID. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN ----- I DON’T KNOW HOW TO EXPRESS IT. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A CATASTROPHE TO ADD THOSE 5-INCHERS SHOOTING AROUND THERE. F.C. WHAT WAS YOUR INITIAL REACTION? DESCRIBE IF YOU WILL, WHAT YOU SAW HAPPENING, JUST AS YOU CAN RECALL IT RIGHT NOW. WHAT WAS HAPPENING? 3 JIM WE WERE RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE BATTLESHIP ROW. WE SAW THE TORPEDO PLANES AND THE DIVE BOMBERS COMING IN AND JUST BANGING HECK OUT OF EVERY THING. THEN 3 DESTROYERS IN OUR SQUADRON WERE IN THE DRY DOCK. OUR DESTROYER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THERE BUT THE USS SHAW HAD A COLLISION WITH AN OIL TANKER AND THEY PUT HER IN THE DRY DOCK INSTEAD OF US OTHERWISE WE WOULD HAVE BEEN BLOWN UP. F.C DID YOUR SHIP TAKE ANY HITS? JIM NONE. ALL THROUGH THE WAR NEVER GOT HIT. F.C THAT’S SOMETHING. AS THE ACTION COMMENCED, DID YOUR SHIP START PICKING UP SURVIVORS OR WHAT DID YOUR SHIP DO? JIM YOU SEE, OUR SHIP WAS ALL TORN DOWN. WE WERE ALONGSIDE THE TENDERS. IT TOOK ABOUT 4 HOURS TO GET EVERYTHING PUT BACK TOGETHER, THEN WE GOT UNDER WAY AND HEADED OUT. THERE WAS A JAP TWO-MAN SUB THAT WAS STUCK IN THE MUD AND THEY KNEW WHERE IT WAS SO THEY SENT US IN TO DROP DEPTH CHARGES ON IT. IT WAS ONLY IN 40 FEET OF WATER SO WE DROPPED A DEPTH CHARGE. IT DID MORE DAMAGE TO US I THINK THAN IT DID TO THEM. IT DID MANGLE THAT JAP SUB QUITE BAD. F.C. DID THE SUBMARINE SURFACE? JIM THEY FINALLY HAULED IT UP LATER ON. THEY SALVAGED IT. IT WAS WELL BLASTED. F.C. DO YOU KNOW WHEN THEY SALVAGED IT? JIM NO, I SURE DON’T. F.C. YOU GUYS HAD ALREADY LEFT. JIM OH YEAH AND WE HADN’T BEEN BACK FOR A LONG TIME. F.C. 4 AFTER THE DECEMBER 7TH ATTACK, THE FIRST WAVE CAME IN, NOW CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE SECOND WAVE? DID THE SECOND WAVE HIT WHERE YOU WERE? JIM YEAH, YEAH. THEY CAME IN AND TRIED TO PICK ON THE----- THEY DIDN’T GET ALL THE BATTLESHIPS TO START WITH SO I GUESS THAT WAS THE MAIN REASON, BUT THAT’S ALL WE SAW WAS THE TWO WAVES. F.C. YOU DID NOT GET ANY DAMAGE TO YOU’RE SHIP? JIM NO. THERE WERE FIVE OF US TIED UP ALONGSIDE OF EACH OTHER ALONG THE BIG TENDER. F.C. AFTER THE ATTACKS WERE OVER, AND YOU GOT YOUR SHIP UNDERWAY, WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO PICK UP SURVIVORS OR WHAT WAS YOUR COURSE OF ACTION? JIM THEY PUT US OUT OF THE HARBOR ON PATROL. F.C. SUBMARINE PATROL? JIM YEAH. F.C. OF COURSE YOU DIDN’T HAVE ANY CONTACTS AFTER DECEMBER 7TH, DID YOU? OR IS THIS WHEN YOU HAD CONTACT WITH THAT SUBMARINE THAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT? JIM THAT WAS IT. F.C. THAT WAS IT AND THAT WAS PART OF THE INITIAL ATTACK. JIM RIGHT. WE NEVER DID SEE ANYTHING AGAIN AFTER THAT. F.C. HOW LONG WERE YOU OUT ON PATROL BEFORE YOU WENT BACK IN TO DOCK? 5 JIM ABOUT TEN DAYS. THEN WHEN WE WENT BACK IN, THERE WERE THREE OF THE BATTLESHIPS THAT WERE JUST CRIPPLED, SO THEY HAD US ESCORT THEM BACK TO SEATTLE. A BUNCH OF DESTROYERS ESCORTED THEM BACK. THEN WE CAME BACK. F.C. YOU TURNED RIGHT AROUND AND CAME BACK TO PEARL. THEN, DID THEY SEND YOU OUT WITH THE FLEET? WHAT TOOK PLACE THEN? JIM WE WENT TO MIDWAY AND GOT THERE JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE AND THEN THEY SENT US UP INTO THE ALEUTIANS AND RAIDED THAT KISKA AND ATTU ISLANDS UP THERE. WE DID SINK A FREIGHTER UP THERE. THAT WORKED OUT PRETTY GOOD UP THERE BUT WE MISSED THE BIG BATTLE AT MIDWAY. THEN WE WENT BACK AND JOINED THE FLEET AGAIN AND STAYED WITH IT FROM THEN ON THROUGH. F.C. AFTER YOU JOINED THE FLEET AGAIN, WERE YOU IN ANY MAJOR BATTLES THAT YOU RECALL? JIM YES. WE WENT DOWN TO GUADALCANAL AND THERE WERE CONTINUAL RAIDS THERE. THEN WE WENT OVER ON THE MARSHALL ISLANDS AND RAIDED THAT. F.C. NOW, YOU SAY RAID. EXPLAIN TO ME AS A NOVICE WHAT A RAID A DESTROYER DOES DURING A RAID ON AN ISLAND. JIM WE JUST WENT IN AND BOMBARDED. F.C. IS IT USUALLY SEVERAL DESTROYERS, CRUISERS? AFTER YOU BOMBARD, WHAT DO YOU DO? DO YOU DO IT FOR A DAY? JIM FOR A COUPLE OF HOURS AND THAT WAS IT. F.C. 6 CAN YOU NAME THE ISLANDS THAT YOU REMEMBER THAT YOU WERE IN ON THE BOMBARDMENT OF? JIM ONE OF THEM WAS TRUK ISLAND. ACTUALLY WE BOMBARDED EVERY ONE THAT WE INVADED LIKE THE MARSHALL ISLANDS. THAT WAS AN INVASION, THEN IWO JIMA AND THE MARIANA ISLANDS. F.C. AND ALL THIS TIME, YOU WERE INVOLVED IN THE 5-INCH GUN CREW? JIM. NO. THEN I HAD MY BATTLE STATION WAS DOWN IN THE FIRE ROOM BY THEN. F.C. IN THE FIRE ROOM, YOU CAN’T SEE WHAT IS GOING ON UP ON THE SURFACE? JIM NO. F.C. WHAT IS YOUR JOB IN THE FIRE ROOM WHEN YOU ARE IN BATTLE STATIONS? JIM WE KEEP THE BOILERS FIRED UP SO YOU RUN THE ENGINES. WE OPERATED UNDER 400 POUNDS PRESSURE AND 500 DEGREES HEAT ON THE STEAM. F.C. SO, WHEN THE CAPTAIN CALLS FOR FULL STEAM, YOU GUYS ------. JIM WE CUT IN MORE BURNERS AND GIVE HIM MORE SPEED. F.C. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO KNOW THAT THERE IS MAJOR BATTLE STATIONS GOING ON UP ABOVE THE SURFACE AND YOU ARE DOWN IN THE ENGINE ROOM? DO YOU HAVE ANY FEELINGS? JIM YOU WONDER----- YOU HOPE THEY MISS. F.C. 7 DURING THE COURSE OF BATTLE DOES ANYBODY KEEP YOU ADVISED OF WHAT’S GOING ON? SO YOU GUYS ARE JUST DOWN THERE KEEPING YOUR FINGERS CROSSED DOING YOUR JOB. JIM YOU HEAR ALL THE GUNS SHOOTING AND EVERYTHING LIKE THAT. THERE WERE ONLY ONE OR TWO SURFACE BATTLES DURING THE WHOLE TIME. ONE WAS AT THE PHILIPPINES. THAT WAS THE ONLY MAJOR ONE. THE REST OF THE TIME WAS ALL AIRCRAFT COMING IN. SUBMARINES AND AIRCRAFT. F.C. WHEN YOU ARE ISLAND HOPPING IN THE DIFFERENT BOMBARDMENTS, WAS YOUR SHIP EVER HIT THEN? JIM NEVER WAS. F.C. WENT THROUGH THE WHOLE WAR? JIM WE GOT STRADDLED A FEW TIMES AND BARELY MISSED GETTING TORPEDOED BUT NEVER DID. F.C. AND THAT WAS THE SHIP GIVE ME THE NAME OF THAT SHIP AGAIN. JIM THE USS CASE. DD 370 F.C. AND YOU STILL HAVE YOUR HEART STILL WITH THAT SHIP I THINK.
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