Compiled by Glenn M. Moberly

This is a story of Loyel Hoseck aboard the LCIL 1091 in WW2. He kept a diary during the war in the Pacific, and also wrote a narrative for this article, both are included . This is Loyel Hoseck's story:

I had signed up for the Navy , V-5 program before I graduated from High School in 1943, but I wasn't called right away. After graduation, I took a job at John Morrell packing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, That's the furthest from home I had ever been, 90 miles.

I had to report to Fort Snelling in the Cities in October. I caught a ride with a trucker that was going to the Twin Cities to deliver some things. We left Hendricks, Minnesota at 3: p.m. and stopped at every town on the way to drop off something. We didn't get to the Cities until about 3:30 the next afternoon so I was dog tired. He Dropped me off in Minneapolis, the size, traffic, etc. was all-new to me. I walked until I found a hotel and got a room for $2.00. I told the man at the counter that I had to be at Fort Snelling at 7:30 the next day. He told me where and which trolley to catch for Fort Snelling and that he would call me at 6 a.m. I went to my room and went right to bed, woke up at 6:30 and checked out and caught the trolley. When I got off the trolley, I had to find the right building; I talked to an older person who was walking. I said it sure seems to be getting darker for so early in the morning. He stopped and looked at me and said, "This is 7 o'clock at night." I had slept so hard and was confused. I caught the trolley back to the hotel and the same fellow was on duty and gave me my room back and assured me he would get me up on time.

I was a scared, lost, confused kid as I got to the right building at Fort Snelling. They put us through physical and mental tests and treated us worse than dogs. We got our issue of clothes, sheet and blanket and spent the night in a barracks with all the rest of the confused recruits.

The next morning they herded us on buses and we ended up in Monmouth, Illinois. There were two classes of upper-class men and they made it miserable for us, but our turn would come with the next recruits in a month or more.

The make-up of our class was about as follows: Half the class were just out of High School, one fourth of the class had had two years of college and the other fourth were college graduates.

Course work was tough for us younger guys and had a disadvantage. About three months later they cut back on pilot trainees, transferred the younger guys to the regular Navy and sent us to Great Lakes Training Station. We had been trained in Morse code, Semaphore and identification of all ships and planes of the United States and Japan, we had to identify them by silhouette pictures etc., it was tough.

From the Great Lakes we were sent to Solomon, Maryland Naval Station, the hellhole of the Navy.

The base was designed for 4,000 men; there were 12,000 of us there. It took us about two days, by train, to get there and our gear and clothes didn't get there until two days later. We slept out under trees with no blankets. They would take us on marches during the day to alleviate congestion. Food was a problem and so was the water supply, as we would run out of fresh water.

I volunteered for Gunnery School just to get out of Solomon for a while. We were sent to Dam Neck, Virginia for two weeks and that was good. We had a nice dormitory and good food. We shot antiaircraft guns of the 30mm caliber. Every third shell was a tracer bullet that would glow red so you used the tracer for aiming. The plane would pull the target (sleeve) and we would shoot. I was the shooter and was strapped in the shoulder mounts. The magazines held 50 shells and when you pulled the trigger it only took 7-8 seconds to shoot the 50 shells, it shook the dickens out of you, but it was fun and a diversion.

When I got back to Solomon, I was assigned to a crew for an LCI - Landing Craft Infantry - and shortly sent to Chesapeake Bay for training with an experienced crew. I was put on as quartermaster because of my training in signaling, navigation etc. We were with this crew for two weeks and for the first time were together as a group. Before when we were moved you never saw previous acquaintances again.

We were put on a troop train and our destination was Bay City, Michigan where the LCI's were built. The ship was 28 to 30 feet wide and 150 feet long. It was flat bottomed and had bow doors that would open and a ramp would drop down as we hit the beach, we would unload either a tank or foot soldiers. We took the ship out in Lake Huron for a shakedown cruise for a week or so to get familiar with our duties and check that everything was working. The LCIL 1091 was commissioned September 21, 1944.

Following is a sketch of where we went: As I remember, we went through Lake Huron through the straits of Mackinaw, into Lake Michigan, then the Chicago Canal to the Illinois River to the Mississippi River and down to New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. We could travel only by daylight so we docked every night; therefore, we were able to see all the scenery . We weren't allowed off the ship at any time.

From Galveston we went through the Caribbean Sea and skirted the shores of Costa Rico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Yucatan, El Salvador, Guatemala and then through the Panama Canal, along to Mexico and the Baha Peninsula to San Diego, California.

I got a ten-day leave at that time and took a train home. It took 3 days each way so I had 4 days at home, it was great to see Dee, Mom, Dad and family. Those 4 days went fast, I knew when I got back to the ship, we were headed for the war zone. Mom, Dad and Dee took me to the train depot in Lake Benton. It was tough to leave and when Dad gave me a hug and looked me in the eye, I was sure he thought he might not see me again.

The day I got back to the ship, we left for Hawaii. Our crew was pretty well sea worthy as the Caribbean and Pacific had been rough and most of us had been seasick, but had to get used to it. We had 25-30 soldiers aboard for transportation to Hawaii. They were in the center hold which was the smoothest, but they got seasick and what a mess. When we got to Hawaii, we made them clean things up before we let them off the ship.

Left March 6th from San Diego to Pearl Harbor for couple of days, the battleship Arizona and several other ships still damaged or sunk. Anchored off one of the many islands and we were awaiting other ships to form our flotilla. Headed for the Marshall Islands and stopped at Enewetak Atoll for fuel, this island was all sand and only four to six feet above sea level, just a small Army group to run fuel supply depot, no other supplies, like food, were available. From the Marshall Islands we headed for Guam, which was part of the Northern Mariana Islands.

We got some supplies there from a supply ship from Australia, half sides of frozen mutton and chicken. We couldn't eat either one, the mutton was terrible and the chicken was just blue. We claimed it was seagull. We did get a large supply of macaroni and cheese, which would keep without refrigeration. When future supplies were available and mutton was part of it we dropped the halves overboard. We had to take the mutton as part of a package deal, but none of it was eaten. When we got along side of a U.S. supply ship we got pretty good stuff. We didn't have much refrigeration room so fresh food was limited. Cheese and macaroni would keep, just cut the mold off the big blocks of cheese and the rest was okay. At times it seemed like weeks that we ate mostly macaroni and cheese. We did have some K-Rations that we broke out occasionally and even with a bad reputation as food, it was a treat

From Guam we went through the Philippine Sea and headed for Iwo Jima, these three islands were volcanic islands. We were in sight of lwo Jima when we got word that Iwo was about to surrender, actually the flag was raised two days prematurely but the Jap Forces were about ready to give up so we got orders to change course and head for Okinawa, which was the largest island in the Ryukyu chain.

1 didn't keep track of days but we came into Nagagusuku Bay (this was later renamed Buckner Bay as General Buckner was killed there by a sniper)about sunset. I was on the tower standing watch with Captain Allen when general quarters were sounded. My battle station was at the helm of the ship (steering) and I said I better get to my station and Captain Allen said, ""No, you stay here so you can read semaphore or code messages". This was a Kamikaze attack; the harbor was full of ships. We were about a block from the U .S. Missouri when four Jap suicide planes came in out of the sun; they always did that at sundown and sunup because they were harder to see until they were right there. All the ships opened fire; the first Jap plane was hit but dove into the Battleship Missouri. We were less than 200 yards from the Missouri and the plane carrying bombs dove in the mid ship's 40-millimeter gun mounts. Its bomb and fuel combine for a lot of destruction. It got so hot from the explosion and fuel on fire that shells started exploding. Forty plus sailors were killed plus some injured.

The 2nd Jap plane was hit hard and the pilot couldn't steer it into a ship so it landed less than a block behind our ship. How the other two got away I never figured out. I should tell you that they often came in just a few feet above the water for two reasons, first, it was difficult for Radar to pick them up that low and also the ship's gun mounts didn't allow you to tip them down too far or you would hit your own ship.

Maybe you are not familiar or have not read about the invasion of Okinawa. The Island is long and narrow with the largest city being Naha on the southern tip. On the northern tip closest to Japan it had high rocky cliffs. I would think 60 to 80 feet high or more. That dropped off straight down into large boulders and rocks and the heavy sea waves, tide, constantly pounded the sea into them giving a white water effect. The island had been bombed heavily and the big guns from battleships, cruisers, etc. softened the enemy to some extent.

The invasion was something like this: The U.S. Forces assembled and a large invasion force out from the Northern tip of the island. The Japs thought the U.S. forces were going to invade from the north so they pulled most of their forces toward the north 1/3 of the island. The U.S. had another invasion force some distance or hidden from the southern tip.

The Japs could see the U.S. ships etc. from the cliffs above the northern tip. U.S. troops were loaded into small boats and started toward shore as our ships and air force shelled and bombed the landing area. The wind was right and smoke was laid to create huge amounts of smoke, which drifted over our invasion forces so the Japs couldn't see them but were ready. The smoke cover that started in time gave our forces time to turn around and get back to the ships. At the same time our forces on the southern tip of the island moved ashore and took half the island with little resistance. Then the real bloodshed began. The Jap Navy had been pretty well beaten further south in previous battles.

After Pearl Harbor the U.S. was down to about three battleships and other Naval power was hurt, but rapid progress was made on repair. The Japs still had about 1000 ships. New ships were built rapidly and our Navy regained fighting power and a good share of the Jap Navy was destroyed in some of the battles near Guadla Canal, Guam, etc.

Back to Okinawa: The city of Naha, on the southern tip, appeared to be about the size of Sioux Falls, SD as far as I could tell from viewing from our ship, about 63,000 population. The U.S. started building and repairing air strips immediately as our battles continued.

The U.S. Air Force and big ships continued to pulverize the island and it wasn't long before our big bombers were taking off and bombing Japan. If you were on watch at 4 A.M., you could count the planes as they took off for Japan and then count them when they returned and know exactly how many were missing.

The Japanese Navy was not a problem but the Air Force and suicide planes were constantly coming in. Also, we shot every floating thing like boxes, crates, etc. because the Japs from shore would probably be swimming behind it with a depth charge to get next to a U.S. Ship some of these were civilians. Our main responsibility was to make smoke to hide or cover the big ships, like battleships, cruisers, etc. They were the ones that the suicide planes wanted to hit. This left us on the perimeter on the windward side. We would cruise back and forth and have the smoke pots and blowers going constantly.

The big ships would bombard the island and when the wind was from the island out to sea, we would be between the island and the big ships. They would be shooting 12, 14 and 16-inch guns over us and the concussion was brutal as it made our ship shudder. The shell for the 16-inch gun weighed 1800 to 2000 pounds loaded with explosives and was fairly accurate for several miles.

During the day when you saw the hits on the island there would be huge craters. For those of you that have shot a 12 gauge shotgun with a 1 oz slug, you realize the noise and kick it is. An 1800# shell should create 18,800 more than a shotgun; I know it's a lot. We delivered mail and one day we were along side a cruiser, my station was in the pilothouse steering the ship, when we came along side. I was looking out the porthole while the cargo was being unloaded and they shot a 14-inch gun. We were tied up just below the gun mounts; the concussion blew me way across the pilothouse which was about 10 feet in diameter.

At night when the big ships were shelling the island and shooting over us, we would have to strap ourselves in our bunk or the concussion would flip you right out of your bunk. One strap was across our chest and another across our hips, sleep was hard to get.

Back to the ground fighting on the islands. We would listen to the radio and pick up fighter pilots dogfights with Japs, but they got less and less as the Jap air force power had dwindled. We also got reports as to where our ground forces and battle lines were. As I said earlier, we had the Japs pushed back to the northern 1/3 of the island. There was a town of Sheri that exchanged hands five times and casualties were heavy . We had it for a few days and then the Japs would push our forces back. A lot of Japanese civilians moved to that part of the island also. Women were not detained at first, but it was soon realized that women were carrying grenades and explosives under their dresses and kimonos to the Japs. I remember the radio announcement to shoot women attempting to cross the battle lines.

As the U.S. prevailed through bombing, shelling from ships and ground forces gradually pushed the Japs back toward the cliffs, wild water and rocks below. Most of them refused to be taken prisoners but chose suicide by jumping off the cliff, which was almost sure death, and others and many civilians chose Hare Kari. If you don't know what the term means, you take a bladed knife or sword and jam it into your belly real hard and pull it toward your rib cage, that takes a lot of guts, no pun intended.

There were about 93,000 Jap Soldiers and about the same number of civilians killed on Okinawa. A large number committed suicide. Those that jumped over the cliff into the ocean were usually killed or drowned when they hit the rocks. This went on for quite awhile as we gradually pushed them back to the cliff, as they wouldn't surrender. It was not unusual to see hundreds of bodies floating among the ships and further out to sea each day. No one tried to recover them, the tide would take most of them out to sea and I suppose sharks and other sea animals ate them.

There were crevices in the cliff and rock walls and when the tide went out, the Navy and Army would go along the shore with flame throwers. These would throw a ball of fire two feet in diameter, along ways. They would direct it in a crevice and pull the trigger, you knew if someone was in there but the screams didn't last long. They were fried in a few seconds. All this has me kind of calloused toward death.

It happened and you have to put it behind you and move on. Most of us over there were young, 18 to 23 years old. We probably worried more about our parents and loved ones than ourselves. If we were killed it was over but our loved ones would bare the grief for quite awhile.

A little about suicide planes, the Jap Air force was dominated by ours while we were at Okinawa and their total military was riddled by our forces. The suicide planes had one mission toward the end, they usually had only enough fuel to get to our ships and they were to dive into our ships with their bombs and usually went for the bigger ships. They were on a one-way mission, most of the time the Jap pilots were killed in the plane.

I remember one that was hit hard and the pilot couldn't steer his plane into a ship. It hit the water a couple hundred feet from our ship. After the big splash, we couldn't believe it when the pilot surfaced. We threw out a lifesaver with a rope attached, he grabbed it and we pulled him over to the ship. We put a rope ladder for him to climb; we thought we might as well take him prisoner. Four of us were at the railing and two had guns. As the Jap reached The edge of the ship's deck, we offered him a hand to help him aboard. That's when he pulled a knife and was going to get one more American. The guys with guns were alert and a couple blasts sent him tumbling into the ocean. One wanted to go down the ladder and get his helmet; they had nice leather headgear like early pilots wore years ago. We didn't let him go down. But as a comment and don't want to dwell on, some military personnel used to recover the gold teeth of dead Japs.

The living quarters on our ship was about 28 by 18 feet, there were eight triple bunks for the 24 enlisted men plus a steel locker, about 3 feet high, 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide, for our possessions. With the change of guard or duty three times per day, can you imagine how hard it was to get sleep with all the activity under normal conditions and then add general quarters (battle station) at all hours? I can't remember for sure if it was 48 or 52 hours the longest we went without sleep when we were under heavy attack. We had a room where we ate our meals, the rest was tank deck or for foot soldiers on invasions. We had a radio room but only the military radio to follow progress of our troops etc. We had a phonograph and two records but no library or books. We played some cards for entertainment.

We got off the ship for a half-day each in Hawaii, Guam and Okinawa, half a day when we visited the site of the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. We toured the rubble and nothing was standing, bodies all over and Japs with flesh gone off arms and helpless people, buses, vehicles, etc., were melted like cinder blocks, 70,000 Japs died. We didn't know anything about radiation then but we were in hot stuff. I don't think it has affected me.

Can you imagine 24 enlisted men and four officers living more than a year in such cramped quarters with only 2-3 days off the ship in about one and a half years? We got off the ship an hour or so when docked at Nagoya and a few other places.

Tempers flared at times, but we settled our differences and got along fairly well, considering the make up of the Crew. Most were from different States.

April 28 1945: Air raids last night. Attacked by suicide Zekes & torpedo boats.

April 29, 1945: Air raids most of night. Shelled beach all night, made smoke all night to cover BB Texas, Alabama, New Mexico, Tennessee & Cruiser Tusclusa.

April 30, 1945: 200 enemy planes attacked our fleet at Oknawia. Suicide planes crashed into hospital ship. Largest raid to date.

May 1, 1945: Air raids & suicide boat attacks.

May 2, 1945: More air raids.

May 3, 1945: Jap suicide barges from Island, shot-up twelve of them, one hit a PA Transport.

May 4, 1945: Air attacks, one plane dove into LSM, one sunk. Robot bomb & Rocket hit cruiser Birmingham, taking water in Bow.

May 5, 1945: More air attacks & suicide boats.

May 6, 1945: Long air raid. Shot down 58 enemy planes & 15 suicide boats. Jap snipers shoot at our ship. What a life.

May 7, 1945: European Victory. Eleven hundred sailors wounded or killed so far. More air raids & suicide boats.

May 7, 1945: Suicide plane missed LSM by yards. At GQ a long time.

May 9-10 1945: More attacks, enemy suicide planes dove so low we could darn near touch them.

May 11, 1945: More raids, losing a lot of sleep.

May 12, 1945: LCI blown up by suicide plane, two survivors. Planes straffed & killed Engineering Officer & two men on LSM-414. Had been moored alongside them the day before. Suicide plane crashed into New Mexico, killed about 150 men. I saw it come in at dusk, out of sun.

May 13-14-15-16-17, 1945: More air raids, every night & day.

May 18, 1945: Destroyer blown up, whole bow off, several dead. Took picture of it & a few survivors.

May 19, 1945: Carrier Essex hit with two 500 lb. Bombs. Her bombs, gas etc. exploded. Several killed & wounded.

May 20-21-22-23, 1945: Air raids & suicide boats every night. No rest for us yet.

May 24, 1945: Air raid, flack fell on deck like hail.

May 25, 1945: IE Shima caught hell. Sunk LSM. Two destroyers hit, still burning the next morning. Also hit gas dump.

May 26, 1945: Air raids night & day.

May 27, 1945: Planes bombed our Air Strips in Okinawa.

May 28, 1945: Low flying Jap plane blown up right off our starboard bow. My birthday & a lonely one. LCI hit. Man badly injured on our ship, broken leg & crushed chest while unloading mail.

May 29, 1945: Prepared to invade Iheya Jima, the first.

May 30-31, 1945: Air raids. Tomorrow to invade, hope we come out ok.

June 1 & 2, 1945: Invasion put off, too much surf to land.

June 3, 1945: Invaded Iheya Jima, intense air raid. Japs lose heavily. Ernie Pyle, News Reporter killed by sniper 100 yards from our beached ship.

June 4, 1945: Spent night at Iheya Jima. Air raids.

June 5, 1945: Expecting typhoon. 250 miles from Japan, BB Mississippi & Cruiser Louisville hit by suicide planes. Heavy casualties.

June 6-7-8, 1945: Heck of a lot of air raids night & day.

June 9, 1945: Invaded Aguni Shima, got some souvenirs.

June 10-11-12, 1945: Air raids & suicide boats, looks like its almost over for the Japs. Hope we hit Tokyo soon.

June 13, 1945: More suicide planes.

June 14-15-16-17, 1945: More raids. Bombs falling a hundred yards away.

June 18-19-20-21. 1945: Numerous air raids almost all night. Last night cannot get much sleep.

June 22, 1945: Island secured all except moping up.

June 23, 1945; Big raid, sunk a destroyer, LSM strafed, and APA & another ship.

June 24, 1945: Close shave with death. An APD was hit by a Jap suicide plane. We were to escort her to Ie Shima but our orders were changed at the last minute and an LSM and an LCS took our place. Three Jap suicide planes came in low, radar failed to pick them up. Sunk all three ships, just a few survivors. Lucky our orders were changed.

June 26-27-28-29-30, 1945: More raids mostly at night.

July 1, 1945: On the side of Island nice & calm, good swimming.

July 2-3-4, 1945: Pretty quite. Couple of raids at night.

July 5, 1945: Plane crashed into ammunition dump on shore. Bombs & ammo exploded all day. Quite a loss. B24s took off for Japan.

July 6, 1945: four months overseas. Philippines secure. Plan to move Air Force to Okinawa. Here's hoping we hit Japan soon. New planes coming in, B-29-A20 Bostons, really look pretty.

July 7, 1945: Pretty quite. Saw a lot of Jap Prisoners loaded on the APA-144.

July 8, 1945:Went to Kerana Retto. Air raid.

July 9, 1945: Went to Kerama Retto, got money from Marine. also part of Jap plane (Oscar).

July 10, 1945: went to Kerama Retto.

July 11, 1945: Went Kerma Retto, hit Army Duck & sunk it. saved the two survivors.

July 12, 1945: couple air raids.

July 13-14-15-16, 1945: Not too busy, delivered mail to Southern AA Screen.

July 17-18, 1945: Air raids both nights. 18th, typhoon, 40 ft. waves took life jackets to bed with us. big attack on Japan continues.

July 19-20, 1945: Lashed everything for typhoon at 0300 on 20th. It hit rough as heck. also air raids.

July 21-22-23-24-25-26-27, 1945: Few raids at night, one ship hit in Buckner Bay.

July 28, 1945: went ashore. Cemetery's Buckner Grave. Naha 65000 population. Completely ruined visited Natives, gave cigarettes and he bowed. Went thru B29, B25, B24, at Cadina Air field.

July 29-30-31, 1945: Mail run is about all. More raids at night.

August 1-2, 1945: Another typhoon, went to Nago Wan for protection.

August 3-4, 1945: Returned to Hagushi, received mail. Dee's perfect letters help so much, she's so perfect. Mentioned bumpa.

August 5, 1945: Bombs dropped just astern of us (lucky) during day. Worked on F1, unloaded supplies. Rotten deal.

August 6, 1945: A-Bomb Hiroshima. Mail run. Got several letters. Told Mr. Howe what I thought grr. Raid that night.

August 7-8, 1945: Mail run.

August 9, 1945: A-Bomb Nagasaki. Mail run. Russia declares war on Japan.

August 10, 1945, 9:10 PM: Mail run. Reports that the war is over. Delores darling will be together soon. Ronning was speechless, then everyone cut loose. All ships in Harbor & Shore Batteries cut loose with all size guns, flares, star shells etc. What a display of fire works. I turned cold-goose pimples all over me & still the sweat poured off me. after the fire works & hollering every thing was quiet. Can it really be true. Darling I'll see you soon. I could almost see home, mother Dee & everyone, almost taste good food again.

August 11, 1945: Mail run.

August 12, 1945: Mail run, allies accept peace offer, waiting for Japan's reply.

August 13, 1945: Mail run. Air raids, two ships hit in Buckner Bay, one sunk.

August 14, 1945: Escorted LCT to Kume Shima, 50 miles west of Okinawa. Had raid on way. Went to GQ. A very pretty place, went swimming that afternoon. Warned of gas attacks.

August 15, 1945: War over. Went ashore on Kume, got souvenir’s, Victory Parade with natives. Military Government. Had a lot of fun. Saw thousands of natives. Heard about girl Japs had fooled with. Sens-a-ga-wanto meant war is over in native language. Had a great time ashore, but still had an air raid that night even though the war was over. Darn Japs.

August 16, 1945: At Kume Shima, natives came out & we traded K-rations & cigarettes for cats eye, Dove for coins, Left for Okinawa, got mail.

August 18, 1945: Same routine, still having air raids.. dam Japs.

August 19, 1945: Escorted LCT to Sesoko Shima, saw Jap planes come in with Jap Envoys, painted white with green crosses, escorted by P-38.

August 20, 1945: Went to Hedo Saki, escorted LCT rough as heck.

August 21, 1945: Returned to Hagushi, LCT lost her anchor while beaching, so had to return. got mail.

August 22-23-24, 1945: Same as before, still have smoke station near Naha. Rumors that we may leave soon, either Japan or states.

August 25, 1945: Went to other side of Island (Buckner Bay) part of the fleet was in.

August 26, 1945: Took liberty party from Cruiser Alaska.

August 27-28-29-30-31, 1945: Still at Buckner Bay, no mail.

September 1-2-3, 1945: No mail. Still at Buckner Bay. Got orders to go to Japan to assist mine sweepers. Pretty lonely, I miss my Dee. When the Peace was signed September 2, the 1091 was alongside the USS Missouri, we were delivering mail.

September 4, 1945: Plan to leave tomorrow, got a little mail, but so much missing. Fouled up in Hogushi Bay. Lifted censorship that night.

September 5, 1945: Didn't leave for Japan due to unknown reasons. Wrote ten page letter to Dee. Liberty ship Joseph Jefferson almost rammed us. Sleeping out on deck.

September 6, 1945: Underway for Japan.

September 7, 1945: Underway as before.

September 8, 1945: Arrived at Kagoshima Kaiwna, active volcano. Do not need us so are being sent to Kochi.

September 9, 1945: Left for Kochi.

September 10, 1945: Arrived at Kochi Shekoku, Japan.

September 11, 1945: Didn't do much.

September 12, 1945: Destroyed mines. Japs do not help much. no mail for ages.

September 13-14, 1945: Anchored all day. Layed buoys.

September 15, 1945: Anchored.

September 16, 1945: Destroyed mines, got seven, rained all day. Caught rain water & washed my clothes. Quite a life. Left for Wakiyama that night.

September 17, 1945: Arrived at Wakiyama Honshu. Typhoon rough as heck. that night typhoon struck 100 knot wind. 4 ships washed ashore, anchors wouldn't hold. Didn't get any sleep.

September 18, 1945: Still rough but getting better.

September 19, 1945: Took on water, also anchored.

September 20, 1945: Anchored. Survivors from XMS-478 came aboard.

September 21, 1945: One year since ship was commissioned. Beached on Japan, & helped salvage ships.

September 22-23, 1945: Anchored, still no mail. got mail late night on 23rd.

September 24, 1945: Anchored all day.

September 25, 1945: Went ashore, traded with Japs. Got Cameras, fans etc., really fun place. to leave for Nagoya in morning.

September 26, 1945: Left for Nagoya, rough as heck.

September 27, 1945: took shelter in cove 60 miles from Nagoya.

September 28, 1945: worked with mine sweeper in Iseno Suido.

September 29-30, 1945: Anchored all day. 30th painted Pilot House.

October 1st & 2nd , 1945: Worked with mine sweeper.

October 3rd, 1945: went to Toba Ko with some officers, nice place.

October 4, 1945: went to Nagoya, first U.S. ship there. Tied to dock. Japs friendly & cooperative. Nagoya is a very modern city, just like U.S. city. Saw Jap planes same kind they used to attack us at Okinawa.

October 5, 1945: another typhoon, not as bad as the other one, but bad enough. Anchored near TSU.

October 6-7, 1945: Operating with mine sweep in Iseno gulf. No mail & still raining.

October 8, 1945: Anchored all day, rain, no mail yet.

October 9, 1945: Typhoon on way, rain. Anchored at Chito Wan for protection. No mail. Cook from LCI 808 missing ashore, found beat up in bad shape.

October 10, 1945: Anchored in Atsumiwan during storm.

October 11, 1945: Storm passed, no damage to us. Wrecked 25 ships in Okinawa. Lost a lot of men.

October 12, 1945: returned to anchorage, got mail, lot of it missing. Heard about my new niece, Raya.

October 13, 1945: took men off ship that was going to run the mine field.

October 14, 1945: Had part of crew from APA-200 aboard. Saw movie on that ship in evening.

October 15-16-17-18-19-20, 1945: Same duty, very tiresome, no mail.

October 21, 1945: got mail, went ashore in Yokkaichi, got souvenirs.

October 22, 1945: still having men aboard.

I quit keeping a record for what reason I don' t know, until December 16th when I had points enough to go home. Three of us had points enough to be discharged. We didn't want to ride the 1091 across the ocean and stand watch etc. On December 16th we three got off our ship 1091 and it sailed for the United States. At 8:30 AM we went aboard the John W. Weeks DD-701, we couldn't get transportation home so, on December 18th we left the J.W. Weeks and caught a ride on a destroyer that was going to Sasebo. We hit heavy seas and the destroyer crew got sick, we thought it rode like a Cadillac. When we arrived at Sasebo we were put on the LST-888 to await transportation to the U.S. We caught transportation on APA-80 December 26, it was the U.S. Elkhart, a Merchant Marine ship, even though the 1091 left Japan 10 days before us, we got to the U.S. two weeks ahead of the 1091.

Loyel and Dee were married 18 February, 1946. They have one son and two daughters, five grandchildren and five great grandchildren. They live in Winona, Minnesota.

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About the writer:

I became interested in the 1091 because this was the actual ship I served on during the Korean War. The LCIL 1091 was brought from Sasebo, Japan under the command of Lt. Jg. John Garfalos to Astoria, Oregon in 1955. The vessel was put out of commission there, I was the electrician aboard at that time.

Other Books: Our Mountain Ancestors , 1994;

U.S.S. Chara AKA-58, 1997;

Glenn M. Moberly

1602 Warmlands Avenue

Vista, Ca. 92084

6 December, 2002