National Museum of the Pacific War
Nimitz Education and Research Center
Fredericksburg, Texas
Telephone Interview with
Mr. Maurice Thoresen Date of Interview: May 21, 2010 National Museum of the Pacific War
Fredericksburg, Texas
Telephone Interview with Mr. Maurice Thoresen
Telephone Interview in progress.
Ed Metzler: [This is the] 21st of May, 2010. I’m doing a telephone interview with Mr.
Maurice Thoresen; he’s located at his home in Washington State. I am
located in Fredericksburg, Texas at the Nimitz Museum. This interview is in
support of the Center of Pacific War Studies, archives for the National
Museum of the Pacific War, Texas Historical Commission, and it’s for the
preservation of historical information related to this site. So, Maurice, thanks
a lot for spending the time with us today and let’s get you started by having
you just introduce yourself. Tell us who you are and when and where you
were born.
Mr. Thoresen: I’m...my name is Maurice, M-a-u-r-i-c-e...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...Thoresen, T-h-o-r-e-s-e-n. I was born in British Columbia, Canada, and I
went passed the second, third grade there and then we moved to Everett in
Washington.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum, what year were you born, Maurice?
Mr. Thoresen: April 6, 1919.
Ed Metzler: Wow! That makes you ninety-one years old!
Mr. Thoresen: Right.
Page 1 of 35
Ed Metzler: Congratulations sir!
Mr. Thoresen: Thank you.
Ed Metzler: Okay, well, so you moved to Washington Sate when you were a young lad, is
that what I heard you say?
Mr. Thoresen: Yes.
Ed Metzler: And so...Everett, did you say Everett, Washington?
Mr. Thoresen: Everett, Washington.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum. Is that where you went to school then and is that where you were
raised?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I went to school here...I think Garfield School for the...(pause) for the
people that go there.
Ed Metzler: Uh huh.
Mr. Thoresen: From...oh, fourth, fifth grade up to the...sixth grade, something like that.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: And then (unintelligible).
Ed Metzler: And did you go to high school?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, go to...Everett High School.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And I graduated from Everett High School in 1938.
Ed Metzler: Okay, so right in the middle of the Depression!
Mr. Thoresen: Yes sir!
Ed Metzler: Times were tough, weren’t they?
Mr. Thoresen: Right, and I had a hard time finding a job. And...(pause)...
Page 2 of 35
Ed Metzler: So what did you finally end up doing for work?
Mr. Thoresen: I went and joined the...the CCs.
Ed Metzler: Oh, the Coast Guard?!
Mr. Thoresen: The...no, the CCC.
Ed Metzler: Oh, the CCC?!
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, the Civilian Conservation Corps.
Ed Metzler: Right! And where did they send you to?
Mr. Thoresen: They sent up to...back in from Stevens Pass, they were building a...kind of
a...place where people could go and...stay overnight or whatever up there.
Ed Metzler: Kind of a lodge or something?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, with their sleeping bags and...
Ed Metzler: Oh, so it was a campsite thing?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, and I...asked one of the rangers if I could drive their truck, and they
took me out and gave me a test and shipped me on over to where I had a truck
to drive every day.
Ed Metzler: So that’s how you first started driving trucks, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Right, and these trucks were...at first it was a few...trucks that hauled
the...crews or...and...
Ed Metzler: The workers?
Mr. Thoresen: ...the workers.
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Page 3 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: And then they shifted me over to where I...drove a...dump...dump truck where
you fill the truck up with...the back part of it with...either dirt or rock, you
know?
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And drive it to where they wanted...dumped and things like that.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. So how long did you work in the CCC?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I think I was there...probably...uh, probably a year and a half.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: It was right...right after I got out of high school.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And...this war in...in Europe was going on and I didn’t want to become
drafted.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: I wanted to join...one of the services that...that I had...that I signed up for...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...instead of being drafted. So I went to a neighbor who was a...a Skipper of a
boat in Everett...about a seventy-five footer, and I talked to him and I kind of
got some...uh, information from him that...caused me to...pick out what I
wanted.
Ed Metzler: Uh huh.
Mr. Thoresen: And it happened to be the Coast Guard.
Ed Metzler: Okay.
Page 4 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: So I went to Seattle and signed up and then was transferred over to Port
Townsend Training Station where they trained the young men...to
become...familiar with the things that the Coast Guard was doing.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, was this kind of like basic training if you were in the military?
Mr. Thoresen: Yes, uh huh.
Ed Metzler: Uh huh. So how was that; was that easy for you or was it a challenge or
what?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, it was...something very interesting, and then...not so much challenging
because all of a sudden we’re one group where...working with each other, you
know?
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: But we were just learning...how the Coast Guard...continued their...uh, jobs
that they had to do...
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: ...as a government and whatever.
Ed Metzler: Now had the war started yet when you went into the Coast Guard?
Mr. Thoresen: No it hadn’t.
Ed Metzler: Okay.
Mr. Thoresen: That’s why I joined...something that...where I wouldn’t be drafted.
Ed Metzler: Right. So after you finished your training, where did they send you?
Mr. Thoresen: (Pause), let’s see, they...when I went into the Coast Guard?
Ed Metzler: Yes.
Mr. Thoresen: They sent me down to California.
Page 5 of 35
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And I believe I was over in Oakland for awhile.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And...(pause)...oh, I’m having a hard time thinking of...what I was doing.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, well were you onboard a...a Coast Guard cutter or were you having
shore duty or what?
Mr. Thoresen: I was having...shore duty.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: It was Coast Guard...headquarters just off of the main street of San Francisco.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And (pause), I got to work there and then I drove a...a truck there, too.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And it was a...it was a communication truck, and I got to drive that around
San Francisco...and (pause)...and when I got sent out to Pearl Harbor...or I
mean, to Honolulu, I went aboard the [USCGC] Roger B. Taney, Coast Guard
cutter there.
Ed Metzler: And what, I’m sorry, what was the name of it again?
Mr. Thoresen: Roger B. Taney.
Ed Metzler: Okay. So that’s how you got out to the islands?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, it was...of...it was...abbreviation of...USCGC Taney and then
parenthesis...WHEC-37. And...I went aboard it as a...as a beginner. And the
ship that...we...we went to different places. There was one time when I
Page 6 of 35
was...on the helm of the...of this ship and...we were heading back to Hawaii;
we’d been out at sea, and I saw some...a big, black space...up ahead...
Ed Metzler: Uh huh.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and...
Ed Metzler: Kind of a black...place in the water you mean?
Mr. Thoresen: It was...yeah, it...it wasn’t a...from a...a cloud or anything, but it was...we were
quite a distance from it. But I saw it and...I called the...person that...gave me
the...the steering wheel (unintelligible) to do this work, and he was in...sort of
in charge of that that because he had a higher rating than a lot of people...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...of the younger people that...just came aboard, including me. And he went
down and got the Skipper and they...relieved me of my job; they put
somebody on that was...more skilled than me...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and they (pause) called the engine department; told them to get the
engine...up to full speed and we...changed the direction that the ship was
going and go away from that area. If that had been the...the night, and we’d
kept on going in the same direction, we’d have gone aground there on
that...whatever it was.
Ed Metzler: And you don’t know what it was then, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: No, we never did find out then.
Ed Metzler: So what do you think it was?
Page 7 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Well, it was down in the...southern islands; it may have been just a...island but
it didn’t show it.
Ed Metzler: Oh okay.
Mr. Thoresen: And it was...more or less, night time, too; close to that, but I happened
to...pick it up and...and it scared me; I reported it to the officers and we got out
of there...going a different direction.
Ed Metzler: Do you...what islands were you down in the area of...when that happened?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, well, we’d been down to Samoa...
Ed Metzler: Samoa.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and, I think, we were down...along the Marshall Islands.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: (Pause), and there was a naval base...across the...from...like where you’re
heading down to Austria or something.
Ed Metzler: Australia?
Mr. Thoresen: But...that...before you got that far.
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: We had a...naval station there where ships could go in and fuel up and
whatever they had to do.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum, so what was a Coast Guard cutter doing down there?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, we would...sometimes...take some supplies to some of the islands that
were far out...like...like the Marshall Islands and...and some of the other
islands.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Page 8 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: So we were...helping out there and then we were...also...getting the...a boost
of...a ship going in the areas that didn’t know anything about...we learned how
to do that...
Ed Metzler: And so then did you head...so did you head back to Pearl Harbor, I mean to
Honolulu?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah. This is before the war started.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, this is all before the war, right.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah. (Pause) And...before the war started, again, we made our trip down to
Samoa and...went ashore there. I think we spent a...maybe a day or two there,
and we got to go ashore and talk to the people.
Ed Metzler: What was that like?
Mr. Thoresen: That was...quite interesting because they were...people that...we didn’t know a
thing about hardly. Maybe the older generation did, but...us crewmen didn’t.
Ed Metzler: So these were native Samoans then, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: These...yes, they were, uh huh. And...we...pulled out of there; it was at...in the
night time...we picked up a contact with our new submarine sound gauge that
they’d put aboard our ship.
Ed Metzler: Uhm!
Mr. Thoresen: And we decided a...a whale or something like that.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: And, come to find out, Japan had a...a...place down in the islands there
where...oh, where Singapore was...
Ed Metzler: Right.
Page 9 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: ...down in that area...they had a...a naval...station there where
they...(unintelligible) our ship...their ships would go in there for repairs or
needed...or needed work on...something...or this or that. And...we...we heard
later that Japan had sent out, I think, it was about three submarines to go to
Hawaii...to Honolulu and...try to locate our aircraft carriers.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: They did not know where they were, and they...these submarines they...they
could probably locate a few or not.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: And so, our orders were, up to that point, was to go back into...Pearl Harbor
on our way back from...Samoa, and they...needed to do some more work on
our ship; maybe add some...new...provisions to the ship.
Ed Metzler: Right, maybe some new guns or something.
Mr. Thoresen: So...but the night before we got there, we got orders...to go to our regular
voyage which was any one of the docks in Honolulu where the Matson ships
tied up. So if there was a vacant one there; we...we get to...pull in there and
tie up to the dock. And just down the street a ways was a Coast Guard station
but they had...two ships that were a hundred and twenty-five footers that tied
up there and a couple of the seventy-five footers...and...but there was no place
for us to...tie up...down there at that...oh, Coast Guard station. So...I mean,
what was that now?
Ed Metzler: So you couldn’t tie up right next to the Coast Guard station, so where did you
tie up?
Page 10 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Well, they...we...we couldn’t tie up like where the other ships tied up...down
in Pearl Harbor...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...so we tied up down there where the...in...where the ships would come
into...to Honolulu.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, the passenger ships.
Mr. Thoresen: Passenger ships.
Ed Metzler: Right, the Matson Line.
Mr. Thoresen: Right, the Matson ships.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: And...I was...oh, our orders...when we came in from Samoa, our standing
orders were to go...we had work to be done in Pearl Harbor again; some things
that had to be...re-vitalized or changed or whatever.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And...the night before we got there, our orders changed...and says...to go to
your regular mooring which was downtown Honolulu...
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: ...at...one of the piers that was open, so we pulled in there. And the one that
was open that we went into was Pier Six. And I had the twelve to four
midnight watch in the radio shack, and the USS Ward was coming back from
being out at sea, and they said that they were being followed by an
unidentified, underwater object. Well, one of the things that they had...
given...our naval vessels and submarines...is when they came into the
Page 11 of 35
Hawaiian area, they were not supposed to be under water; they were supposed
to be on top of the water to come in and go into the...into Pearl Harbor.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And this was one was...under the surface, and it was following the USS Ward.
Well...
Ed Metzler: Boy, that sounds suspicious!
Mr. Thoresen: ...my relief came and I told him what was going on and I said, “I’m going to
go down and go to my bunk.” And about seven o’clock that morning,
the...our general quarters alarm sounded, and we went to our battle stations.
And...(pause)...the...one of the fellows and I...were in this little room where
there was an elevator that...a small one, that you’d...was on a cable or a rope, I
can’t remember, and you’d lower it down into the powder magazine and
they’d load on these...three inch, anti-aircraft shells that...we had...on the
ship...kind of onboard...up on the top deck...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and so we hoisted that up, and it was just a dummy thing because we
thought it was a drill, and it turned out...voice come over the communication
that this is no drill, so we loaded this back down; we got...live ammunition.
We handed that up to the crew above and they...loaded their gun with that.
And so this fellow and I that...we had a few minutes to go and we...went out
the door and wondered what was going on and we saw the...person on
the...right side of the gun cranking the wheel, and the gun is swinging to the
Page 12 of 35
right, and a fellow on the left side was cranking another wheel and his
gun...his...wheel was elevating this gun...up into the sky.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: Well, it’s...four o’clock in the morning so it’s still dark out, and...pretty soon
we saw three planes coming down...towards us, and the report said, “There are
no friendly planes in the sky.” And these three planes...were down pretty
low...coming down Marine Drive and when they got within distance of where
we were...our gun was elevated up there and...following them...with a fellow
stationed on the gun, and that gun went off; we couldn’t believe it, the planes
disappeared...
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: ...’cause on...each side of us was...were these warehouse buildings, and they
were way higher than the ship that we were on or any other ship that came in
there to tie up. So we couldn’t believe what was...really happening, and here
come three more planes like that; they were in formation, and we fired on
them. And...and they broke up formation and we don’t know where they went
to. And then...a little after that, well, that...there was a squadron of...about six
or...eight planes, and we fired on them, and they broke off and disappeared
around the city there somewhere. And then there was a second...uh, group of
planes of...of the same number...about six or eight planes and they also
scattered when we fired on them; that was the last we saw of any of those
planes. We did see some planes come in...down by Diamond Head, but they
didn’t come our way, so we didn’t know what they were.
Page 13 of 35
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: But we were tied up there...till the next morning.
Ed Metzler: Now did you hear or see any of the battleships being hit by the Japanese
torpedoes and bombs?
Mr. Thoresen: No, no...we were...tied up in Honolulu...
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: ...you know, it’s quite a ways from...Pearl Harbor.
Ed Metzler: So that’s a good ways away, yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: It’s about a mile.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: It’s about...like...Marysville was from Everett, you know, quite a mile, quite a
ways away.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: But we heard the explosions and saw the flame, and...the...sky was
getting...covered with...with...smoke from the explosions and all the stuff that
the Japs had dropped into Pearl Harbor there. And the very next morning we
went out on patrol...all the...there were no...enemy that we could see
anywhere, but we...we went on patrol. We’d...we patrolled between Diamond
Head and...Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor. We had our depth charges racks
loaded with depth charges, and we didn’t see...any planes in...or anything the
next morning. But....later on, we patrolled there for...about a week afterwards,
every day and night, and we dropped depth charges every day.
Ed Metzler: Really?!
Page 14 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Yep, we made contact with something that was lurking and...we found out
later that the Japanese had these midget subs that were brought into...to the
area to try and locate the...I...I think trying to locate our...our...aircraft
carriers...
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: ...we had; we had about three or four aircraft carriers. And so finally it eased
off and...they had...sent out a unit and they tried to swim...an extra
submarine...they brought it off the bottom and brought it in and had it...upon
the piling in the...spot there and you could...you could go aboard if you
wanted to.
Ed Metzler: Really?!
Mr. Thoresen: And...
Ed Metzler: Did you go aboard?
Mr. Thoresen: I made my...yes, I made...a trip...probably a week later...I made a trip out to
Pearl Harbor on a bus, and it drove me down to the waterfront and I got out,
and...over where we usually tied up at the dock...with a...side of the boat...up
against the dock...here was the [USS] Oglala that had been hit by a torpedo...
Ed Metzler: Uhm!
Mr. Thoresen: ...and it was lying over on its side down in the water. And that’s where we
usually tied up when we went out to Honolulu...out to Pearl Harbor; our ship
would be tied up there, so we...
Ed Metzler: Well you got lucky, huh?!
Page 15 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, I’ll say we were. And...we just couldn’t believe what we saw. The
[USS] Arizona was...still aflame, burning, and it was...sunk where it had been
tied up or anchored, and the [USS] Oklahoma and, oh, other ships, too; we
couldn’t believe what we...we learned something about these things during the
week out of the paper; we couldn’t hardly believe what...what all happened.
And there we were...out there.
Ed Metzler: And you would have caught a torpedo if you’d of been in your normal spot!
Mr. Thoresen: Yes, we...well, yes we would have, yeah.
Ed Metzler: You might not be here today if you hadn’t been lucky on that!
Mr. Thoresen: Well, what gets me was...that...the ships that were there...patrolling...knew
about this submarine; they didn’t send out any warning signals or nothing...to
the Pearl Harbor people.
Ed Metzler: Hmm.
Mr. Thoresen: Not until the planes came over and started bombing did they get orders, and
that was already too late...that...there were so many planes that came
over...and dropped aerial bombs on the...all the ships that were around there.
If...if when they first heard about the USS Ward...being followed an
unidentified, underwater ob...object, they should have turned on the...uh,
the...what do you call it?
(end of tape 1, side A)
Mr. Thoresen: ...destroyed; that wouldn’t have happened.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, I wonder why they didn’t give the alarm and put everybody on alert.
Page 16 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: I don’t...we don’t know. That was one of the things...I talked to...several of
the different military organizations...how come they didn’t...turn on
the...general quarter’s alarm.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: Could have been anything. And people that...would have needed help...they
didn’t do that! There was quite of them that were on...liberty; a lot of the
officers, and a lot of the officers had homes up in the area near...Pearl Harbor,
and same with the military guys. Some of them were even...uh, naturalized
Hawaiians that came aboard and took...I think we had one or two of them
aboard our ship.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: But there were quite a few that were in the military there, and...they did
not...cause any alarm until after the...worst of this attack had...
Ed Metzler: Hmm.
Mr. Thoresen: ...just been over with.
Ed Metzler: Now Maurice, you were telling me earlier that you went down to get a closer
look at the...at...didn’t you say the Japanese sub that was up on the...on the
dock...(pause); is that...is that what you were telling me earlier?
Mr. Thoresen: What about it; what was it?
Ed Metzler: Uh, didn’t...didn’t go down to look at the Japanese submarine that they...that
the...the little miniature sub that they captured?
Mr. Thoresen: Uh, I think that was...sometime later on.
Ed Metzler: I see. Well, what did it look like?
Page 17 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Looked like (chuckles)...uh, regular...submarine.
Ed Metzler: But just smaller, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: See, the...the big submarines...carried some of those smaller subs on...on...on
the deck of the...
Ed Metzler: Oh!
Mr. Thoresen: ...of the ship.
Ed Metzler: So they were kind of a mother ship and then they had the miniature subs
coming off the mother ship.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: It’d be harder...harder to locate a...miniature than it would be a big one.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And that’s what they were out there for. And I think...when the
York...the...that...what’d I call that...that...destroyer?
Ed Metzler: The Ward?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, the USS Ward, yeah.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: They...they probably...didn’t know what was going on there, but
they...they...were coming into Pearl Harbor and I heard them on the...up in the
radio shack on the...on the receiver we had...I...we were dialed...dialed to the
Page 18 of 35
same station and they were talking with...with the...(unintelligible) officer at
the Diamond Head...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: I mean in Pearl Harbor; they were talking voice communication right there.
Ed Metzler: Hmm! So you heard some of the communications about all that.
Mr. Thoresen: And that was just...talking about this...under water object; no one knew what
to do about it.
Ed Metzler: Uhm!
Mr. Thoresen: Well, they finally were able to drop depth charges but it was all...too late by
then.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And on the Arizona...there were several men that were up on the top deck...at
night time...they were up there and...visiting with each other and what...when
that plane came over and dropped depth, uh, his bombs on the Arizona, and
some of these fellows, with the concussion, they were blown out into the
water.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: And I think they swam over to the [USS] Helena, some of them did, and the
Helena was later torpedoed or whatever, and one of the fellows that I met and
got to know...he...he was telling me about it.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: And he was...knocked off of one ship and climbed aboard another and they
were torpedoed.
Page 19 of 35
Ed Metzler: Wow! Well now, after the...the attack was over, you...your ship patrolled
there for about a week around Honolulu to Diamond Head and...looking for
submarines and what have you. How long did your ship stay in...in that area
or did she go back out...into the Pacific again?
Mr. Thoresen: No, we...we stayed there during that...oh, for a week at a time we would
go...patrol back and forth and anchor up sometimes. One time we...we were
coming into Pearl Harbor...or...and...there was a fleet coming out - destroyers
and cruisers and whatever...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and they were coming out of Pearl Harbor and so we couldn’t go by them,
and...one of the ships had a...light that...they were signaling...signaling the
Skipper aboard...our ship...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and probably their own that...that there was a torpedo heading our way.
Ed Metzler: Whoa!
Mr. Thoresen: And...some of the fellows on the stern of the boat...saw this go right by our
stern where the...depth...depth charge racks were right there; they saw
the...well, the displacement of waters as...as they went by.
Ed Metzler: Now this was kind of at the entrance to Pearl Harbor, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, yeah; it was right near it. So we...we patrolled every day out there
for...oh, weeks and weeks at a time. (Pause)
Ed Metzler: Okay, so did...how long did you continue to patrol? Did you...did...did your
ship ever...during the war actually leave the Hawaiian Islands again?
Page 20 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah, we did. In fact, in June or July of...same year, we escorted the USS
Wright out to Pearl Har...or to Midway Island, and we...the...USS Wright was
a ship built to do repairs on...on ships or whatever...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...to Pearl Harbor. I mean that...the Japs...when they attacked Midway, they
did quite a bit of damage there, but this...this...USS Wright that we escorted
out there...they...they went in...right into...close to shore and anchored up
there. Well, there were no Japs anywhere to be found and they headed back to
where they came from.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: And we found out that...that our aircraft carriers...on the north side of the
island in...in disguise...and they had...their planes that had flown over to where
the Japanese...aircraft carriers were, they dropped depth charges on these
planes and they sunk...damaged about three of them I think it was.
Ed Metzler: That’s right!
Mr. Thoresen: And that was the turning point in the war with Japan.
Ed Metzler: Yes, it was! In fact, they ended up, I think, sinking all four of the Japanese
carriers. They caught the fourth one when she was re...retreating.
Mr. Thoresen: Uh, that could have been, yes.
Ed Metzler: So what other areas did your ship go to during the war besides being in the
Hawaiian Islands?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, (pause) when all that was over with (pause) well we went out to some of
the different places just to...kind of in a cruise-like thing ‘cause we knew there
Page 21 of 35
wasn’t any...enemy out there looking for us. But anyway, our ship finally
made a trip to...back to the States.
Ed Metzler: Oh!
Mr. Thoresen: And...I was transferred off and...and there was a...oh, a place there; they had a
communication truck and this Bill Afferton (sp?) was sort of in charge of
the...station there, I believe, and...
Ed Metzler: Now was this on the west coast?
Mr. Thoresen: Yes.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and he had me try out this Coast Guard cutter...anyway it was equipped ship
that had transmitter and receivers...just like a regular station did.
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: So I got to drive that all over San Francisco (pause), and...
Ed Metzler: And what were you looking for in that truck?
Mr. Thoresen: Anything that was...haywire (laughter).
Ed Metzler: Okay.
Mr. Thoresen: But...nothing happened. And then...uh, I was transferred...back to Samoa.
Ed Metzler: Oh really?!
Mr. Thoresen: And we built a...we built...this...what do they call it...this...equipment
that...will get a signal...off of a...plane or...
Ed Metzler: Oh a radar, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: ...yeah, communication.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Page 22 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I forget the name of it now.
Ed Metzler: Now what ship did you take to go down there to Samoa; was this still the
Coast Guard cutter?
Mr. Thoresen: No, I don’t believe I...I don’t think I did. (Pause)
Ed Metzler: So when you were down in Samoa then you...you guys were what...putting
this equipment in, is that right?
Mr. Thoresen: We’re building...building this...Loran...Loran station.
Ed Metzler: Loran?
Mr. Thoresen: And, yeah, and there was one at...at, I believe, Kwajalein.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And our station was the master station that some...it...was...island...darn, I
can’t think of the island. We built...our station and then ours was the master
station, and this other one was...was one like...it built...up north there further
and one...in the South Pacific...further down.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And they’d...they’d pick up a signal and they could tell where this vehicle was
or...whatever, and also a plane could get a signal from...shore there and they
could tell within...feet of...where they were.
Ed Metzler: Well, it was for...navigation of planes and ships and...(unintelligible), too.
Ed Metzler: Okay, okay.
Mr. Thoresen: It was Loran...Loran Navigation equipment.
Ed Metzler: Alright, so it was...it was for navigation purposes.
Mr. Thoresen: Yes sir.
Page 23 of 35
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And it was new equipment, too, it was different than...other things...was...
Ed Metzler: So that was brand new technology?!
Mr. Thoresen: Right.
Ed Metzler: And so...were you in Samoa this...for a long time or...or just a short time or
what?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, on that...when the ship went down there to Samoa?
Ed Metzler: That...well when you did the...Lo...Loran stuff.
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, that was on the...the....Samoa; it was on...it was north of Samoa but...
Ed Metzler: Oh yeah, and you mentioned Kwajalein, I think, also.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, Kwajalein.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: We built a station there and...I was there for...oh, quite a while, and then
transferred back to...to Hawaii...or I mean, to San Francisco.
Ed Metzler: Well now during this time when you were in the South Pacific, were you
sending letter home or getting letters from home, and did they know you were
okay or what was going on?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah. Yeah, the...I’d write letters to my folks and they’d...write back to
me...to the service.
Ed Metzler: Did you kind of miss being in America when you were out there?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, I had so much work to do (chuckles)...that...
Ed Metzler: (Laughter), you never got a chance to be home sick, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: It...it...this was...did I say Kwajalein?
Page 24 of 35
Ed Metzler: Yes, you did.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah. We were the...the head...station there, and up at Kwajalein...was a
station, but it was smaller...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...than the one south of us...and one...on our...end of our island, too. Anyway,
we saw this...well, I did, all the lumber that we had left over from...building
this...big unit...and I asked the Skipper if I could use that to build a boat,
“Oh,” he said, “go ahead.” His name was...let’s see...Mr. Pierce (sp?).
Ed Metzler: That was the Skipper?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: He...he said, “Go ahead.” So I designed a...a...this sailboat; it was about...in
the end it was about...nineteen or twenty feet long.
Ed Metzler: My gosh!
Mr. Thoresen: And I built it and there was an airfield on our...island...and these islands were
together, you know? You could be...four or five islands, but they were still
the same...area.
Ed Metzler: Right, they’re all grouped together.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, and there was a airfield there where we had planes and they would...go
down to where the Japanese were; there was...islands of Wuji (sp?), Jaloot
(sp?), and Mili (sp?) that were still...belonged to the Japanese, and...
Ed Metzler: Now tell me again which islands these were.
Mr. Thoresen: Mili, Jaloot and Wuji.
Page 25 of 35
Ed Metzler: Wuji?
Mr. Thoresen: Wuji.
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: And they were still there, and the island that we were on was...what’d I say it
was called...uh,...
Ed Metzler: Was...Kwajalein?
Mr. Thoresen: Kwa...no. Let’s see...
Ed Metzler: I don’t remember you saying which island you were on, but okay; it doesn’t
matter. Tell me what happened with your boat.
Mr. Thoresen: Well I...instead of...helping the...sweep the grass and stuff around there
(chuckles) and do things like that, the Skipper let me...work on this boat.
Ed Metzler: Sounds like a nice Skipper.
Mr. Thoresen: And...yeah, they had a...over on this one island, they...the airfield there...they
had a...fellow there that knew how to build...sail...sails for planes or
where...parachutes...whatever.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum, uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And he built my sails.
Ed Metzler: (Chuckles).
Mr. Thoresen: I designed the shape that I wanted them to sail, and he built it right to the...on
the spot.
Ed Metzler: How about that?!
Mr. Thoresen: And then I had a...a keel on the boat...was steel, and they had a big sheet
of...steel that was...it was stainless, and...they cut it out to the size I needed
Page 26 of 35
and that was bolted to the bottom of the keep of the sailboat. And finally I...I
got it...ready to go and...and I took it out on the water and sailed it and brought
it back in and one of the fellows says, “If those Japanese return,” he says,
“could we get in the boat and head for Australia?”
Ed Metzler: (Laughter).
Mr. Thoresen: I says, “Oh, I don’t know; that’s a long, long way off there! We might be able
to make it, but...be difficult! Any old storm up...might...capsize it or
whatever.” But I..I think I’ve still got a picture of that...sailboat I...built.
Ed Metzler: Now when you left the islands, you had to leave the boat there obviously.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: I wonder who got it?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, one of the...I asked my Skipper that, and he says, “Give the...the...orders
about the boat and whatever, and take it down and anchor it down there at the
next island,” which was one of ours, and it’s where we had another station.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And he had the...had the boat anchored in the water, and another fellow made
an offer, so I got paid off (chuckles).
Ed Metzler: How much did you get for the boat?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I didn’t expect to get what I did, but I...about a hundred and fifty bucks.
Ed Metzler: Wow! That was a lot of money back then!
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah, it was. I...I think I gave the fellow that helped me some...
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: ...I think I...gave him some money, too.
Page 27 of 35
Ed Metzler: Wow, so you ended up being a boat builder!
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, sure I did.
Ed Metzler: (Laughter), did you ever build...build any more boats when you came back to
the States?
Mr. Thoresen: Uh, I...I think I...attempted to...maybe, but I...I bought a sailboat.
Ed Metzler: Oh okay, it’s a lot easier to buy one than build one, I guess.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: Well now, after you...after that...when...after the spot where you built the boat,
did you go to any other islands?
Mr. Thoresen: No, I think that was the last place.
Ed Metzler: Okay.
Mr. Thoresen: But I got...figuring it out...after I got back to the States...the...about Amelia
Earhart flying around the world?
Ed Metzler: Right, right.
Mr. Thoresen: Well, the ship I was on, the Roger B. Taney, it was in that area; that was
before the war started, and this ship, the Roger B. Taney, it was before I went
aboard it...it was anchored down there somewhere...trying to get in contact
with Amelia Earhart.
Ed Metzler: Is that right?!
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, and...the thing was that...a couple of the fellows and I...we sailed my
boat...out across to one of the other islands and when we turned around and
came back...we happened to cross over and saw...a hull down below...in the
water.
Page 28 of 35
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: And...this is salt water, of course...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...but it was way down deep, but we could see that it was a...hull of a plane.
And I think I mentioned to some of the...other people, but I never got a chance
to talk to someone that was closer to Amelia Earhart...
Ed Metzler: Hmm!
Mr. Thoresen: ...because they never did find her plane or...or her body.
Ed Metzler: Nope, she disappeared from the face of the earth!
Mr. Thoresen: And that might be...where she could have landed.
Ed Metzler: It might have been her!
Mr. Thoresen: Because...because it was close by...the island that she tried to land on, and
evidently she ran out of fuel, and it could have been where she...had...gone
down. Nobody could have seen her there because it was just too far away
from this island that...where we signaled over to.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And...she could be...could still be there for all we know.
Ed Metzler: That’s true. Now did you have any close buddies that you got to know pretty
well when you were...there in the South Pacific?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I’m sure I did, but getting out of the service or...or getting transferred
away...you hardly ever see them again (chuckle).
Ed Metzler: Right. Well, that was a long time ago, wasn’t it?
Page 29 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: Well, there was one fellow up in...our group, Coast Guard...we’d meet at the
Coast Guard Station and...just above Mount Vernon, and...and there’s a place
behind there called the Cranberry Tree Restaurant...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and we meet there. And one fellow by....his name was Chris (sp?)...
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Mr. Thoresen: ...Kristofferson (sp?) or something like that.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: And...
Ed Metzler: So...so you...Pearl Harbor survivors get together from time to time, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah, they do. I haven’t been able to because of my...situation now.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: My...(pause)...was a friend of mine whose...he...he passed away and his wife
called me the other day and asked me if I’d like to go up there to
the...Cranberry Tree Restaurant for a Pearl Harbor Survivors Meeting. I said,
“Oh, I’d love to.” So she stopped by and picked me up and we drove up there.
Ed Metzler: Oh, that’s nice!
Mr. Thoresen: It was not...oh, maybe a month ago.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. Well, let me ask you another question about the war years. Were you
still in the South Pacific when the war ended?
Mr. Thoresen: Uh...
Ed Metzler: Or had you come home by then?
Mr. Thoresen: No, I think I was still there.
Page 30 of 35
Ed Metzler: Uhm. So do you remember a big celebration when the war was over?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, uh, I forget now where I was; I think I was in San Francisco.
Ed Metzler: Okay, you back stateside.
Mr. Thoresen: It...(Unintelligible words)...the Japs attacked Midway, you know, after
the...battle of Pearl Harbor.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: And our ship went out there to the Midway Island.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And we left the...I think it was the USS Wright.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, you mentioned that earlier.
Mr. Thoresen: Well, when we...we didn’t leave for a day or two, but when we turned around
and started back...(unintelligible) lookout...I saw something in the water ahead
of us wiggling, moving towards us...
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: ...and he thought it was just...some fish or whatever...or maybe the big fish,
and by golly, the thing headed right for...side of our ship but went underneath
the ship and never touched us; we escaped that one!
Ed Metzler: What do you think it was?
Mr. Thoresen: A torpedo.
Ed Metzler: Ah, you think it’s the torpedo, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, because it was a...Japanese had...small submarines there...it...we think
there besides big ones.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Page 31 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: And it might have been one that was still...still left...
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: ...in the area.
Ed Metzler: Right.
Mr. Thoresen: See, that Battle of Midway was the turning point in the war.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, I know!
Mr. Thoresen: They lost so many...aircraft carriers.
Ed Metzler: Right. Now after the war was over and you were back in the States, did you
stay in the Coast Guard or did you become a civilian again or what?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh I...my time was up...and I got transferred out.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum. So’d you come back home or what?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah, came back to Everett or Marysville.
Ed Metzler: So do you think that being in the war changed you a lot; did you come out a
different person than when you went in?
Mr. Thoresen: (Chuckles), well, I was...think I...my looks or...
Ed Metzler: Well, you didn’t look different maybe (chuckles), but...deep down
inside...were you...did you kind of grow up while you were in the...in the war
or did...make you change your view on life or anything?
Mr. Thoresen: No really.
Ed Metzler: Okay.
Mr. Thoresen: I had...I remember having...quite a few friends and...was a...few times that
we...had over in Hawaii...
Ed Metzler: Yeah.
Page 32 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: ...ship’s reunion and...
Ed Metzler: So you...so you’ve been back to the island since the war, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah.
Ed Metzler: Uh huh.
(end of tape 1, side B)
Ed Metzler: Okay, this is tape two, side one. Sorry Maurice, go ahead. So...
Mr. Thoresen: (Unintelligible).
Ed Metzler: ...so you got married after the war and...and then the rest is history, huh?
Mr. Thoresen: I...the rest of what?
Ed Metzler: The rest of your life (chuckles).
Mr. Thoresen: Oh...oh, I suppose that you may say that.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. So...
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah, I...I graduated from Everett High School in1938.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, before the war.
Mr. Thoresen: Oh yeah.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. And what kind of job did you take as a civilian after the war was over?
Mr. Thoresen: Oh, I...worked for Pacific Grinding Wheel for...quite awhile.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: And then...let’s see, what else (chuckle)...(pause). I did work for Scott Paper
Company.
Ed Metzler: Uh huh.
Page 33 of 35
Mr. Thoresen: But I had my own shop then. I was having these...tape recorders that...needed
a...a ring at each end so they wouldn’t get blown out by a...a...bulldozer or
something to pick them up.
Ed Metzler: Uh hum.
Mr. Thoresen: I did that for quite awhile.
Ed Metzler: Well, how do you feel about the Japanese now; they were the enemy back
then. Do you still...do you have any hard feelings against the Japanese?
Mr. Thoresen: Well, I think everybody does. I mean, mainly it’s their superiors. The
Japanese people that come to live in...in the United States...I think a lot of
them are still here.
Ed Metzler: Yeah, that’s true.
Mr. Thoresen: And the school (pause). I know when I went to Garfield School there
were...couple of Japanese students growing up and...and I got to know them.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. Well, is there anything else about the war years that you’d like to talk
about while I’ve got you on the tape here?
Mr. Thoresen: Boy, I don’t know...
Ed Metzler: I don’t want to put you on the spot, but...you’ve remember a whole lot of
stuff, especially the Pearl Harbor stuff.
Mr. Thoresen: Yeah.
Ed Metzler: You were a part of history there, weren’t you?
Mr. Thoresen: Sort of.
Ed Metzler: Yeah. Well, I tell you what, let me...let me go ahead and end the tape here.
I’d like to end it...by thanking you and what you did for our country and for
Page 34 of 35
your generation. They don’t call you guys The Greatest Generation for...for
no reason at all, and so just wanted to kind of close the tape by thanking you
for...keeping America...safe.
Mr. Thoresen: Well thank you.
Ed Metzler: And so, I think what I’ll do is I’ll stop the tape now.
(end of interview)
FINAL copy CD – #OH02872a,b – Mr. Maurice Thoresen Transcribed by: K. Matras Houston, TX July 23, 2018
Page 35 of 35