Larry Zeller

When Pearl Harbor was bombed I actually thought it was an island in the Philippines! The Nation got all up in arms. I was at the right age and they would have drafted me. The Army and Marines had the reputation of being more dangerous than the Navy, so I chose to enlist in the Navy Air Corps. I chose to volunteer because when you're drafted you’re at the mercy of where the armed forces needed you and I wanted to choose my service. My parents approved and they said "yeah, no problem". I had finished high school and one year of college. I signed up on a Friday and they told us to come back on Monday to be sworn in. That weekend the government froze all enlistments because they wanted to handle what service they wanted you in. So we were put on "status quo" and told that we would be notified when it came time. Six months later I still had no assignment.

After this wait, I was too old to start in the Air Corps because they had an age limit. So they released me. Soon after, I was picked to go to the Navy and that where I ended up. I had no other direct family in the service, as my brother was 4-F from a football injury. I went to boot camp and then received special training in signal school for six months. Altogether I had one year of special training.

My station was the signal post, and only once I had to be a gunner, and I was never injured. We had scares when we went to battle stations because there was a sub or a plane.

I got married while in the service to a girl I met in high school. We had to write back and forth a lot but you accepted that because you knew that was the way things went at that time. What was my happiest memory? It was the time when we were stationed at Treasure Island in San Francisco just after we were married. It was a nice town and we lived in group housing off-base set up by the government. You walked up two stories and had to share kitchen and bath facilities but had your own icebox. This was the happiest time of the war, and I have many fond memories of it.

When we were away from loved ones we communicated by letter or telephone. Holidays were great if you were in port, I even marched in parades with fixed bayonets. But when we were at sea, holidays were just another day.

I was in battle in the South Pacific. I was seasick twice, but after a few days you get your "sea legs". When we swam in the water four or five guys would stand guard with rifles to shoot any sharks we saw. We tried eating fish from the ocean but it didn’t go over very well and we kept eating our sea rations. I never had to go hungry. While I was on several islands, I never went to the Japanese mainland. I was on a cargo ship, we where assigned to a fleet and we were in many air battles. After the first bombing in Okinawa I was used to the sound of airplane engines flying overhead. But one time I heard an odd sound and saw a kamikaze fly overhead and crash into the ship next to ours. It's hard to understand but dying in this way was a great honor to the Japanese.

We were pretty sure we’d win the war but it would be hard and slow going to invade the islands. It was no picnic but I had no doubt we’d win.

Our boat was a steamer, a Liberty ship of the type used in both theaters of the war. Once, we carried an entire hospital detail, sometimes ammunition, and firebombs as secret cargo. We had lots of escorts while carrying bombs. We were glad when they bombed Hiroshima because you were pretty sure this was going to mean the end of the war. In fact, the chaplain had given us our last confessions because we were part of the invasion force meant to go into Japan, and they didn’t think we would be coming back. I felt the Japanese deserved it at the time because of all the deaths they had caused. Now looking back I feel there should be strictly controlled use of nuclear weapons only when more life would be lost if they were not used.

We made some friends aboard ships and formed a camaraderie but made few friends in port. My boat was lucky and we had few injuries even though we had been strafed (attacked by aircraft). When they had alerts and we were sent to battle stations that did make me a little scared. You were just proud that you did your job well, went there, and helped to win the war. When they dropped the atomic bomb we felt the war was near its end.

I wouldn’t say that I was downright mad, but I don’t feel good about what the Japanese did to the people that lived on the islands they took over, or about what the Germans did either. I think that because humanity was being overrun, that in this case war was the moral thing to do.

After coming home I joined my wife and son born during the war. When we disembarked in San Francisco, there was a parade and the people were cheering and celebrating along Market Street. When you got back from the service it felt good to be home and to know that the war was over, and we tried to keep busy. I was just glad to be home and with my wife and children in Oklahoma. Being in the service made you appreciate being able to do what you wanted when you wanted. My advice to you is if there is ever another national emergency, back your country.

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Last update 03/25/01 08:21 PM
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