Page 73 - The History of Veterans at Highland Springs

BERT KRAFT
HIGHLAND SPRINGS RESIDENT, NAVY
My Navy experience began in the summer of 1944 after graduating from High School in St. Johns, Michigan. After completing Boot Camp at Great Lakes in Chicago, I was assigned to the USS Pioneer, an 890 ton, 221-foot-long minesweeper. I reported to Norfolk, Virginia and we deployed on February 15, 1945 to the Pacific Theatre with a crew of 98 men and eight officers. I had great jobs during this phase of my naval career; painting the ship, peeling potatoes, etc. I loved being on the Ocean in those first months; especially during the trip through the Panama Canal. We arrived at Pearl Harbor on March 18th. There, we underwent training exercises and then left for Okinawa. We experienced
several air raids and survived Typhoon Louise. However, we only had one injury on our ship. My friend Scotty was hit by friendly fire and taken to a hospital ship. Over the years, I have contacted the Navy many times about him. To this day, I don’t know if he survived. We reached Okinawa on August 7th not long after the horrific battle of Okinawa. During 82 days of fighting, approximately 100,000 Japanese troops and 12,510 Americans were killed, and somewhere between 42,000 and 150,000 Okinawan civilians died, as well. By the time we arrived, the U.S. had control of the Pacific and the largest Armada ever assembled was gathering for a massive invasion of Japan. Six minesweepers (including mine) were assigned to lead the Armada. As far as the eye could see, mid-sized ships, massive battle ships and aircraft carriers gathered. By that time, I was a helmsman on our lead ship. We were within hours of the planned invasion when President Truman ordered an "A BOMB" dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th. Three days later, another was dropped on Nagasaki and the Emperor of Japan surrendered. The very next day, we had a very serious air raid. The war was over, but the Japanese bombed our ships in Buckner Bay. Twenty-five to thirty-five men were killed. For the remainder of my service, the Pioneer joined in the gigantic task of clearing Japanese and Chinese waters of the thousands of mines buried in
a decade of warfare. Once peaceful use of the ocean was restored, we returned
to San Pedro, California, arriving on February 14, 1946 to inactivate. I was
discharged at age 19 as a Seaman First Class Helmsman.
73