THE ADMIRAL NIMITZ HISTORIC SITE - NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE PACIFIC WAR Centerfor Pacific War Studies Fredericksburg, Texas Interview with John Mesko U.S. Navy Interview With John Mesko My name is Frank Turkowski, and I am interviewing Mr. John Mesko on October 14, 2002. This interview is in support of the National Museum of the Pacific War Studies in Fredericksburg, Texas, to preserve historical information related to World War II in the Pacific. in Fredericksburg, Texas. Mr. Turkowski: Thank you for relating your experiences during World War H. To begin, may I ask, where and when you were born? Mr. Mesko: I was born in Eckley, Pennsylvania, in 1916, August 29. It was a little coal mining town. Anthracite coal, a coal mine, that’s where my dad worked. Mr. Turkowski: What were your parents’ names? Mr. Mesko: Andrew and Mary. Mr. Turkowski: Where were they born? Mr. Mesko: Austria-Hungary. My dad immigrated in 1909, my mother immigrated in 1911. They married in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1913. Mr. Turkowski: Was there an Austrian community there? Mr. Mesko: Wilkes-Barre was, actually, most of the Hungarians, Austrians, and Czechoslovak people. My dad and mother spoke the Czechoslovakian language. That was before Czechoslovakia was even on the map. When they lived there it was Austria-Hungary. Mr. Turkowski: Do you have any brothers and sisters? Mr. Mesko: Yes, I had three brothers and four sisters. Mr. Turkowski: What were their names? Mr. Mesko: My two twin sisters were older than I was, Mary and Ann. They were born in 1915. I was born the next year, ‘i6. Then Steve was born in 1918. Charlie was born in 1921, Ellen was born in 1923, Andrew was born in 1925, and Irene was born in 1926. Four sisters and three brothers. Mr. Turkowski: Did any of them serve in the military? Mr. Mesko: Yes. Charlie was with the Merchant Marines during the war, Andy was in the Mesko - Army, he served in Europe, in Italy with the Tenth Mountain Division. That’s the only two that were in the service. Mr. Turkowski: Where did you get your education? Mr. Mesko: In Elwood City, Pennsylvania. Graduated high school in June of 1933. I joined the Marines when I was 19. Mr. Turkowski: Why did you pick that branch? Mr. Mesko: No reason, just went to Pittsburgh and checked out the—this was during the Depression, as you know, and there were no jobs available anywhere for a high school graduate. Mr. Turkowski: What year was that? years. Mr. Mesko: I joined 1 June, ‘35 when I went to Pittsburgh, and enlisted for four Mr. Turkowski: Were you assigned any special group at that time? Mr. Mesko: When I left boot camp, you mean? Mr. Turkowski: Yes. Mr. Mesko: I spent my boot camp time down in Perris Island, but when I was transferred to Quantico from there, I was assigned to duty with the Fifth Regiment of the Fleet Marine Force that the Marine Corps had at the time at Quantico. Mr. Turkowski: Did you have a special duty, or any special assignment? Mr. Mesko: Just Infantry MOS all the way through my career. Mr. Turkowski: Any special memories of that time coming out of boot camp, or during boot camp? Mr. Mesko: You mean in booth camp, or... Mr. Turkowski: Both. Mr. Mesko: Booth camp was pretty rough then. They didn’t coddle them like they do now. The DI was pretty goddamn rough on us. What else can I say. Me.sko - you left Mr. Turkowski: I understand. Did they give you any special clothing or equipment as boot camp? Mr. Mesko: They gave us the whole clothing allowance, which included dress blues and khaki, mostly. The greens hadn’t come out until the war. Mr. Turkowski: From the time you left boot camp to when the war started, where were you? was Mr. Mesko: I was stationed in Quantico for about three months, 1935. Then I of transferred aboard ship. 1 went aboard the USS Wyoming in September 1935. Mr. Turkowski: That was a battleship? Mr. Mesko: That was a training ship. The Wyoming, Texas, New York, and Arkansas, those four ships were training ships that the Navy had deactivated and put out just to train troops. They took the midshipmen to Europe every year for their summer cruise, they called it, a three-month deployment onboard one of those four ships. And we went to Europe every year during June, July, August, and brought them back for the next class. For three years I was on her, and got off in ‘38. Then I was transferred back down to Perris Island, and I was out on the rifle range as a rifle range coach. I was a corporal by then. When I left Perris Island I went to Quantico and they assigned me duties in 1940 as a drill instructor with the officer candidate class. I did that duty for almost two years. I’d been promoted to sergeant, platoon sergeant, first sergeant, and then they gave me a commission in the Reserve, second lieutenant commission, in December of 1942. When the war started, I was a buck sergeant. During the war, after December the 7th, ‘41, 1 continued as a drill instructor until December of ‘42 when I was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Mr. Turkowski: Where were you when the war started and what did you think about it? 1939, Mr. Mesko: I was in Quantico at the time. I had been courting my wife since and this was ‘41. I was in Pittsburgh when the war started, I was with her, we were visiting together. I heard the news on the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, so I just put my uniform on, I knew what I had to do. I got back to my duty station. I was on a 72-hour pass at the time. So I got back to my duty station, which was DI with the OCS class. It was about that time when I was promoted to platoon sergeant, which then allowed me to get Mesko - p married because I was able to get quarters. Sergeants didn’t rate quarters, but a platoon sergeant did. Mr. Turkowski: Were you directed into combat then? Mr. Mesko: No, I went down to Camp LeJeune in 1942. I went through the process down there—actually I was assigned to duty with the scout sniper school out at the rifle range. For some reason or other, I was a good pistol shot and a rifle shot, so they kept me moving in that direction in my duties. I was an instructor with the scout sniper school down in Camp LeJeune in 1943. This was after I was commissioned. I was transferred down there and that’s the duty I was doing when they gave me a regular commission. I qualified for a regular commission and I left the reserves and became a second lieutenant in the regular Marine Corps. Before that, had I not done that step, when the war was over I would have reverted back to my first sergeant rank. Mr. Turkowski: What caliber gun and what kind did you use for training snipers? Mr. Mesko: Thirty caliber. Thirty, a 1903 rifle with a scope on it. Two-man teams. But that was only a short duration, because shortly afterward they sent me down to Fort Benning as a first lieutenant. I went down to Fort Benning and spent three months going through advanced infantry school. Mr. Turkowski: On the sniper firing, how far were the targets? Mr. Mesko: We shooting out as far as a thousand yards. We concentrated usually on the mid ranges, 300, 6oo. Mr. Turkowski: Did the partner use a spotting scope? Mr. Mesko: Yes. Mr. Turkowski: From there you went... Mr. Mesko: I went to the school down in Fort Benning. And while I was down there I got orders to go to sea school, after I finished that schooling. Sea school in Norfolk. There I was assigned duties actually getting together the attachment for the USS Wisconsin, which was commissioned April i6, 1944, in Philadelphia. I went aboard her on that date with I think it was 102 Marines, a complete detachment, with a captain, I was the first lieutenant, and there was a second lieutenant that went aboard that ship at that time, with 102 marines. Mcsko - Mr. Turkowski: Did they have a special mission, or they were just. Mr. Mesko: On board ship? Mr. Turkowski: Yes. Mr. Mesko: The Marine special mission has always been the security of the ship. We would secure the armory, that was our job, to keep sailors from breaking in and getting arms and killing the captain, so we put a Marine corporal, usually, on duty as the captain’s orderly, and he followed him around all the time with a pistol on his side. On board ship he was the captain’s orderly. The communications room had to be secured. In general, we were the policemen on the ship. Mr. Turkowski: Who was your commanding officer at that time? Mr. Mesko: It was Captain Eagleburger. Lieutenant Dowden was my second lieutenant. We went on board and finally got out to the Pacific in November of ‘44. We joined the Third Fleet that was commanded by Halsey. We participated in the Leyte Operation as our first operation. Leyte landing. Then we went on up to Luzon, and we went into Iwo Jima and supported that action, then Okinawa we spent 90 days trying to keep the Jap kamikazes from knocking our ships, the Seventh Fleet, out.