Oral history interview of William Edward Andrews

Collection:: Veterans History Project: Oral History Interviews
Title:: Oral history interview of William Edward Andrews
Creator:: Pahr, Marilyn A.
Andrews, William Edward, 1923-2011
Date of Original:: 2004-05-14
Subject:: World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Japan--Okinawa Island
Railroad travel--Rocky Mountains
Amphibious assault ships--United States
Shipbuilding industry--Oregon--Portland
Typhoons
Japan--History--Allied occupation, 1945-1952
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Ocean
World War, 1939-1945--Amphibious operations
V-J Day, 1945
Columbia University
University of Georgia
United States. Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944
United States. Navy--Drill and tactics
Japan. Kaigun. Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kōgekitai
Kamikaze
LCS68
Location:: Japan, 35.68536, 139.75309
Philippines, 13.40882, 122.56155
Rocky Mountains, 43.3578532, -110.9175065
United States, California, San Diego County, San Diego, 32.71571, -117.16472
United States, Georgia, 32.75042, -83.50018
United States, Georgia, Atlanta Metropolitan Area, 33.8498, 84.4383
United States, Georgia, Cobb County, Vinings, 33.86483, -84.46437
United States, Georgia, Stephens County, Toccoa, 34.57732, -83.33239
United States, Hawaii, 20.78785, -156.38612
United States, Oregon, Portland, 45.5202471, -122.6741949
United States, Virginia, Virginia Beach, Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, 36.91847, -76.16469
Medium:: video recordings (physical artifacts)
mini-dv
Type:: Moving Image
Format:: video/quicktime
Description:: In this interview, Ed Andrews recounts his experiences in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during World War II. He completed his officer training at the U.S. Naval Reserves Midshipman Academy at Columbia University New York where he was taught subjects such as navigation, meteorology and damage control. He traveled west by train and describes his first encounter with the Rocky Mountains. He lived in the historic St. Francis Hotel while his ship was being completed by the Albina Engine and Machine Works. He served aboard a Landing Craft Support (LCS) in the Pacific and describes in detail its armament. He participated in the Battle of Okinawa and the occupational forces in Japan.
Ed Andrews was a U.S. Naval officer in the Pacific during World War II.
William Edward Andrews interviewed by Marilyn Pahr on May 14, 2004 Pahr: ____________________________ Atlanta, GA . Mr. Andrews was born on September 9, 1923. My name is Marilyn Pahr and I'll be conducting the interview. Good morning. Andrews: Good morning. Pahr: Mr. Andrews. Andrews: I'd like to be called Ed instead of Mr. Andrews. I'm a retired lawyer and I'm go get away from all that stiff collar, neck tie, formal things now, I'm enjoying life. Pahr: Could you tell us a little bit about where you were born and a little bit about your childhood growing up? Andrews: My dad came to Atlanta in the Legislature when I was 2 years old and my family moved here later and we lived in Atlanta for all my life and I practiced law in Atlanta for 35 years. I really _________ because I lived here except for the first 2 years of my life and I feel right at home here. Now that I've retired, I've moved just a tap ________ limits to ___________, GA just across the Chattahoochee River and we bought us a house over there. We're very happy because we've got all the benefits Atlanta without the traffic and hustle and bustle, but we love Atlanta. Pahr: So growing up when you were younger – the war broke out. How old were you when the war broke out? Andrews: I don't remember how old I was. I remember I was about 18 when I volunteered – I volunteered _________. Pahr: So if you volunteered then, in May of 1943, do you remember where you were, ____________, you would have been about 18, 16? Andrews: I was, I remember that I couldn't get a drink in a bar. I was a Naval Officer but I couldn't get a drink in a bar because I wasn't old enough. I volunteered here in Atlanta, I went through Columbia ___________, a school in New York. A 3-day, 90-day wonder course which I admired tremendously. I didn't realize how important it was _______________ because we all realized how important it was ___________________ trying to learn as much as fast as we could. We sensed the urgency of it so we had navigation, meteorology, _____________ navigation and control __________ all that. They called us 90 day wonders, I say it's a wonder that we carried this much good information and ______ as we led a crew, we had ____________ it very well. Then we got, we went to Little Creek, Virginia where we got sea training, they already knew what kind of ship we're go be on _________________ so my education was handled by real experts and I admire the ________ did. They prepared us very well. Pahr: You said that you were ____________ decide to go into the Navy? Andrews: Truth of the matter is, my father was in World War I. He was a Medic and then when I ____________ no doubt in my mind, that I always wanted to be in the Navy. _____________ Pahr: ____________ Andrews: __________ They didn't want to see me go away but they were pleased that I joined the Navy. Pahr: Could you give us some idea, you mentioned the training and how in-depth it was. Can you give us a little bit of the sense of when you first arrived? Did you have any sense of how much training and what was the typical day like in the beginning? Andrews: Well the beginning was just like the end. Your _______ like 6:00 in the morning, you double time all day long, from one class to another, and there were no frills, you studied hard, and at night you carried your books home – to the dormitory. You only had a limited time to do your studying at night cause you had lights out. During all that, they gave us a great course in physical fitness and so forth so it was a well rounded power packed course and we were all anxious to succeed. When we first arrived, they said, during formation, said look to your right now look to your left. They said, one of you won't be here after the first ____________. Pahr: Did you find that to be true? Andrews: Yes. So, fortunately, I was not one of those who __________. I had nothing but admiration for the way it was set out, the way - they knew we wanted and we tried to do _________. Pahr: The _________ that you have that is May 1943 and then later after you're going through training, what was your sense then of how the war was going and your part in it? Did you know that you'd be going to the Pacific at that point? Andrews: We felt that we were. We didn't know it and we were prepared to go wherever they sent us but we all felt like we were headed for the Pacific in the war with Japan. The war in Europe was still very much __________, but we felt like we were go be needed in the Pacific and turned out we were right. Pahr: Then how were you, what was it like to be _____________ leaving the States. This is 90 days after training or ? Andrews: Well we had 90 days of training and then we had about 3 weeks of sea training in the Chesapeake Bay and Little Creek, Virginia and we really ________ ship that we were going to be taken over. So, it was well rounded. Pahr: _________ Virginia. Can you tell us the _______________? Can you tell us a little bit about the steps along the way or did you go and did you go through the Panama? Andrews: We took the training across country. It was a beautiful training. It was ___________ and _____________ so forth. People were so very hospitable. When we got to the Rocky Mountains I had never seen the Rocky Mountains and they took off the steam engine, back then, of course, we rode the train and __________ cannon ball and ________ the train , _________ranges and mountains and it was snowing. I hadn't seen a lot of snow. _____ is unbelievable, so it was a very pleasant trip to the West Coast. When we first ________ they were building our ship, they were finishing the ship, they were in the final stages of construction and we stayed in the St. Francis Hotel after all the dormitory and military life, there I was in the St. Francis Hotel and _________ I could go to any restaurant in town. __________________ Pahr: How long of a time period were you waiting? Andrews: You know, days run together in my mind. I think about a month. Then the, every day though, we would go down to the ship yard and inspect our ship and I was at that time, a Communications Officer and I was checking the equipment and everything and supplies were coming on the ship, on board the ship were big tractor trailers and they would _____________ making sure ______________to, pleasant time. Pahr: Were there other _______ or other ships also in the ship yard going through the same stations as your own? Andrews: Well, not, I was only the ship, our ship was the only ship in that particular ship yard but right across the harbor was another ship yard and they were building a similar type ship. Pahr: What kind of ship was the ___________? Andrews: It was a ____________ ship and I'd like to show you a picture of it. Pahr: Sure, please do. Andrews: I'm very proud of this little ship. It's 152 feet long and it's, it was a, it was then the smallest sea going ship in the Navy and __________. And it was specially constructed for us _________ in the Pacific. The one Pacific was primarily on the ______________ . I _____________. This little ship ________ tell from this, this 152 foot ship has 3 __________ of __________, one there, another there, another one there __________. We had 4 ___________ and two 50 ______, we had more fire power per ton than a battle ship. We also _________ from the front, _______. We could fire 120 rockets per minute and, this ship __________ I want to brag on the ship a little bit. Pahr: Tell us the name of your ship, the name of your ship. Andrews: My ship did not have a name. It was #68LCS68 and my skipper's name was Lessie. L E S S I E – and he was a ____________. We fired rockets on __________, it was a thing to behold. It had a tremendous anchor on the stern. ___________ and you drop this big anchor over and this long cable and you - that is when you have 100 yards off shore and ________________ rockets and _________ the rockets and then you retract hopefully and you then straight ___________ . They trained us so that, _________ after thoughts, that __________, they trained us to do all these things and I can promise you that during our entire tour of duty, I don't know of a single ___________ Pahr: ? Andrews: _________ kind of where the enemy were. We learned that if you would just _______ the tail of the ship and go and ride _________ ________ miles an ______ you could whip any kind of storm. ________ Ships were not ________, we ______. Buy anyway, I'm very thrilled about that ship and great thoughts went into it and great training cause we got 3 weeks of training aboard that same type ship. _________, I took care of us all the way through. Pahr: How many men would be aboard a ship that size? Andrews: 72 enlisted men and 6 officers. And we were all in the same boat. We were all literally, in other words _________. Pahr: Was this group of men the same men that you came with from Virginia with? Did you travel as, as a group, with the same men? Andrews: Yes. Pahr: Tell me a little bit about the day that the ship is all ready or ready to leave - what was that like and was there any kind of send off? Andrews: Uh, they had a formal 10 minute send off. They tried _________ the flag raising and the proclamation read and we went to sea. Pahr: Did you go to sea alone or were you part of a convoy? Andrews: Well, _________ there we were with our new ship and our new crew and we were headed down the coast to San Diego, first stop. _____________ last night ashore so we had all groomed everybody and __________ all had the last night ashore and we went down the __________ into the Pacific Ocean and everything was so pretty and out to sea and a real storm came up and it was so rough. We were uneasy, we were on a new ship, first time in a storm and we were all sick, all of us. We learned that you can beat the adversity head on ________ and we did it. We loved, we loved the Navy. It was an exciting experience. After that, we learned that regardless to what kind of weather we had, we'd get storms that would last more than 3 days and we learned that the roughest times were the _________ on watch and everybody had a watch, a 4 hour watch every night. It was at night time, because you can't see the waves come in and all of a sudden, you up, you're down, you're up and you're down. _________ old sailors in there who had been in the Navy a long time and they _______. But, you don't die from it and you know, you see the light at the end of the tunnel. So it was a __________ experience where we all met ________ hardships and _______ we thought they were little hardships and remind ___________ our ship __________ it was on ___________. We were out at sea for 2 years, all over the Pacific and that ship never had any problem, any problem at all. I think the ________, I wish I knew who designed that ship cause it did such a wonderful _______, how many, _________ like on a submarine. But we were on the surface ________________. _________ a beautifully designed ship in the ___________. We were designed to fight fire ___________ _____________ getting a lot of our ships and we _________ special fire ____________. _________________ and we would help them and probably the most important duty we had was the _________ duty. And some of the ship _________ was just perfect for ________ and hopefully shoot down the ___________ and by the way, that's comes to mind right often now because the terrorist _____________. ____________ our first experience with the kamikaze, people who wanted to die _________. We were on _____ duty and we were about 20 miles outside ________ Japanese and we did and we shot all of them down and ___________ ship, we did. But if you didn't get them, at times they would mistake you, and ________ running out of gas, ___________ . Pahr: Did any of these engagements, what would be some of the larger ones? Your ship and how many other ships into sea __________ during a major engaged in? Andrews: Well, uh, ________ duty. That was the only tact engagement we had ________ troops. __________ a lot of ships – destroyers and cruisers. As far as ______ and ________ firing, ___________ we were patrolling between the battleships. ____________ never had seen any combat or we didn't know what to expect and we received these credit cards _____________. _________ we got closer we saw this _______-battleship. According to the Marines ___________, 14 inch guns, and when they fired those 14 inch guns, those _________ are real hot and went through the air and it looks like - going through the air red hot and we had the duty of patrolling between the shore and the battleships to keep the kamikaze _________ from coming in and striking the battleship. If he ________ a little off course, got too close, they'd ________ they would yell and they'd fire __________. Anyway, it was very exciting and challenging. The cycle of it was not, it was almost _________ to the _______ ________________. Pahr: You didn't go to shore or Hawaii at all? Andrews: Oh yeh, yeh. We went to Hawaii for 2 weeks and did some things in ____________ Hawaiian and played an active role in __________ . We made it 2 or 3 hours per week on the way out and from the ________ we ________. Pahr: ___________ a lot of activity and then, what did you do ____________? Andrews: You read and played __________, ________ the wall, we ___________ ______________ we _________ fire on and we _________________ Japanese _____________ . Pahr: ___________ information that you have leading up to that point ___________, where were you when you heard of the atomic bombs? Andrews: ______________, wait a minute, that was ____________ atomic bomb. ____________________ celebrating ___________ and ___________ . Pahr: ______ communications so you do get a sense, did you get a sense of how, how did you get a sense of how the war was going, ________ did _________. Andrews: We all thought it was going well. But we didn't get any details. We knew less than other _______________. Pahr: You were getting closer and closer to Japan – you were progressing? Andrews: Yeh, __________ 100 miles off coast. Pahr: Did you, when and how did you hear the news that ______ passed away? Andrews: It was announced over the system. Pahr: What was the _________? Andrews: It was a very sad time. ___________ Pahr: I take you back to landing there in Japan because that must have been quite momentous? Andrews: It was not so momentous as you were trying to feel your way and you didn't know what to expect. They would send an officer or so with 10 or 15 troops and you stayed _________. _________ supervisor didn't _________. After several trips ashore you got __________________ it was ____________ and ____________ taxi cabs. They weren't __________ but they were __________. __________ popcicles or hot dogs ______________ . They weren't begging, they were proud people. I did not like them because we had been fighting with them but I admire them. Pahr: How long did you stay ________ do you recall what your _____________ came to shore? Andrews: I came in shore in Tokyo. You could ____________ little harbor in Japan and step off the step and you walk right into Tokyo. We were there for a while and we were in _____________ too. And after ________ 7 or 8 months, I lose track of time, and we found out we were going to be welcomed and treated nicely, I got right to leave and I'd get on that _________ train go 100 miles an hour ___________ and make sure I'd be able to get back, you know, on time and always did, ___________ and I thought we was great _________, he didn't want to have any _______ circumstances ______ world conflict so he knew he had Marines ___________ so every train had 1 or 2 cars set aside for _________ personnel. So, we weren't pushing and shoving and __________ and they thought he was a _____________ ____________ stars. __________ you didn't want to do so he ______________ end of conversation so no more for now. But, _______ very much in control. Pahr: Can you tell us a little bit about what you saw as you drove _________ ________. Andrews: Well, __________ the most interesting things ____________ and we just couldn't believe it. It's so different ____________. __________ There were any ______________ it was a, it was a public _________ something that everybody did. _______so well received and so __________ we'd done a great job and they were busy and they finally found that _____________ candy bars and they really. _______It was so peaceful _____________ Pahr: During, during this whole time period that you were in the service, how often did you communicate with home? Andrews: Oh, I'm sure that I wrote 2 or 3 times a week. _______________ _____________ and the mail bag ________________ in the middle of ____________ set aside _______________ that was the only camera we had aboard ship until we go to Japan. ________________. I got pictures of ________________ some of the fox holes and so forth and of my crew _________. That camera was a great gift. Pahr: So you are the official photographer? Andrews: (laugh) Pahr: Did you still retain most of those pictures today? Andrews: Yes, yes. Pahr: Well did you, this gets personal, but did you have a sweetheart at all during any of this time? Andrews: Oh, yes. I was gone so long, until I don't know what happened, but I got letters from her and I wrote and ______________ sweetheart, smell so good and we corresponded regularly but then the letters got fewer and farther between. _____________ just distance and time, but yes I had, I had several nice young ladies writing me. I was well taken care of. Pahr: _____________ was it after you went to the Philippines? Andrews: Yes, no, no it was before. We went to the Battle of _________. We went to the Philippines and that was something to behold. The _______ in the Philippines had been won but we, we were, weren't told any ________ the ships were coming in ________ the invasion of Japan and that was one of the most awesome sights I have ever seen, one of the most inspiring sights, I mean ___________ as far as I could see. Big ships, war ships, tankers, every kind of ship, __________ invasion, that's what we did. So, ______________ I resented that _________ opposed the dropping of the bomb, but those bombs saved hundreds of tons ___________ I had already seen how ___________ but it was at a very heavy price. I mean ___________ Pahr: So your ship was already on the way as part of the invasion force. Andrews: They didn't tell us _________ were. Pahr: _________ leave you and let you _______. Andrews: Yes, some of the islands, _____________ ships and __________ very ____________ didn't _________. _________ didn't have to _______. Pahr: So when your tour of duty is over, was when you were in Japan and tell us about coming back home. Andrews: Well it was one of the saddest times in the world. I ________ , I'd seen combat, _____________ lot of good and bad times, uh, in order to come back to the States, ________ oh, we were so happy. They said but we want to increase ________ to JG and put him another ship and stay there for a while. Oh, I said, “I'm sure that tears _________.” I went back to the ____________ stern of the ship and watched my ship pull out and waved to __________ I could just feel the tears running down my __________. The good news is I'm ______________ ________________ all my experiences were good. Pahr: _____________ when you came back to the states. What area, what city did you come into? Andrews: San Diego and uh we were held so long, I never understood this. _________ before you could come in and dock and unload, until _________ people __________ all the American flags and bands had already had their _____________ ____________________ San Diego and did some sightseeing. It was hectic because I knew that I was headed home and it was ________ I enjoyed San Diego. It's a beautiful town and the war was over and people were happy and people were very nice and ___________. Pahr: Was there anything that seemed really different to you that your 2 years earlier, anything seemed like it had changed or people had changed? Andrews: Oh yes, people were light hearted and gay and singing, the mood was so much happier and exhilarated, exhilarating, yes, very different. ____________ we were all, we were against some tough opposition _____ pulling together. That's one thing, I think about during World War II we were so supported by our country and our newspapers, news media _____________ now. And people don't realize it, we don't support our troops. We don't, many of us do, but in the newspaper and news media always harping on embarrassing things and ____________ concerned that we're not united like we should be because we are at war. We're gonna be at war with ________ of this Mid East __________ and they have that ____________. I know it's a very tough enemy. Pahr: Did you ever sense the war, ___________ ? Andrews: No, no, my wife Jan and I have been married for 35 years. She said, “Ed, I don't understand it, I offered to go with you to Japan” ___________ go back and see it and I don't. We travel a lot. We've been through the Philippines and I did go down to __________ battleship and we loved the ____________ islands. That was _________ we travel _________. Pahr: Can I go? Andrews: Yes. We get along so well. We travel so well. And Jan, right now she's back reading her travel books and __________ we're going to Canada. We'll just go to Canada. We drive and we're going up the East coast. We go stop and _________ sights and ___________ then sight seeing and so forth and end up in the place where we've been four or five times _________ and _________ __________ so it's a great time together and I'm enjoying the American Dream. Pahr: Leading up to coming home, __________ decided to do with your life after the war. Andrews: There was never any doubt at all, I wanted to be a lawyer. I came back and __________ finishing up my A.B. Degree at the University of Georgia and I, at that time, I _________ go to law school, I was _____________ and I ________ situation where I studied law during the regular school year. I finished up my A.B. degree in the summer going to summer school and it was great. I really worked and concentrated on my law and ___________ and _________ during the summer. ___________________ I never had any doubt I wanted to be lawyer so _____________GI bill took care of the bill. Pahr: So, you did use the _________ Andrews: Oh yes. _____________ Got both degrees ___________. Pahr: And that was the year ___________. Andrews: ? Pahr: And then you came to Atlanta to practice law? Andrews: Yes.__________ In the meantime my parents didn't, they were living in Atlanta. I had lived in Atlanta since I was 2 years old. I came back ___________ . Pahr: Can you tell us a little bit about when you met your wife? Andrews: Well, I thought I was a big shot. I had 2 _______ stripes on my sleeve and I was ________ pretty tall and she was a little ________ Georgia and her older sister who was ____________ year before and __________ Eddie this is __________ sweetheart ___________ say my baby sister is coming, would you like carry. I said I sure would. ____________ and I did and she wore bobby socks and long skirt, this __________ and I was _________ so I said _______________ ___________ I felt that she wanted _____________________ . Well let's go out to ________________ so we went out there and of course I was on a member __________ Navy and __________ ___________ so ____________ I said ___________ ______________ there is ___________ that was the beginning. _______________ she's remained very close ____________. Pahr: Any children? Andrews: I have 2 beautiful daughters who are both married and they've given me, well one has given me 3 grandchildren and the other one has given me two grandchildren and they all live within walking distance and we spend a lot of wonderful time together. _________ is on the ___________ cause she's always taking me off to Canada, Europe or some place. I enjoy ___________ and I _________ cause I'm the ________. ___________ Pahr: And your daughters and your grandchildren names? Andrews: My daughter is Mary Sue Curry and her oldest boy is Andrew Curry, named for me and her next boy is Smith Curry and I'm very close to him too and the next one is the little baby boy and he's Edward _______________. And ____________ is my youngest daughter and she has a 2 beautiful children that I spend a lot of time with and _______________ be with those children just as much as I be with the others. And it's a great life. Pahr: We're just about wrapping up. Are there any last words or any other ________ you'd like to ___________. Andrews: I'd like to say that my ___________ __________ back __________. Pahr: Thank you very much.
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Extent:: 44:17
Original Collection:: Veterans History Project oral history recordings
Veterans History Project collection, MSS 1010, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center
Holding Institution:: Atlanta History Center
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