t
n
a
n
e
t
u
e
i
L
s
e
m
a
J
Robert
Lawson
on
wson was born
a
L
es
m
a
J
t
er
Rob
khaven, NY.
o
ro
B
in
3
2
9
s.
January 26, 1
of two sibling
t
es
d
el
e
th
is
el
Robert
Mt St, Micha
m
o
fr
g
n
ti
a
u
d
After gra
a scholarship
ed
iv
ce
re
e
h
l
o
High Scho
ross College
C
ly
o
H
t
a
ll
a
to play footb
Ma.
in Worchester,
icago, Illinois,
h
C
in
g
in
v
li
e
bWhil
US Navy. Ro
e
th
in
ed
st
li
Robert en
r country after
u
o
e
rv
se
to
d
ert wante
earl Harbor.
P
t
a
ck
a
tt
a
e
the Japanes
avy was his
N
e
th
se
o
ch
e
The reason h
n. There was
a
ce
o
e
th
d
n
a
g
love for ships
him about bein
to
l
ia
ec
sp
g
in
e at
someth
going to colleg
e
il
h
W
r.
te
a
lon the w
rses and specia
u
co
k
o
to
e
h
Holy Cross
tion.
ized in naviga
Robert’s first days of service began in July 1943. At this time
Robert experienced boot camp with a large group of young
men who wanted to even the score from Pearl Harbor. This
group of young men built a persevering camaraderie. Bootcamp started in Fort. Pierce, Florida where they were battling
the dysentery and mosquitoes. Robert survived boot camp with
a strong will and knowledge that at this point there was no
other choice.
Robert was commissioned as boat officer when he first
stepped aboard the ship. He was in command of six landing
crafts. These landing crafts would transport the army or marines to shore for invasions. His ship went from San Diego to
Pearl Harbor to stage for the invasion of the Philippines and
then New Guinea.
After training in Fort Pierce Robert picked up his boat crew
and boarded the LST 669 in Panama City, Florida. Here is
where they went through months of shake down crews and
were basically operating out of New Orleans. During the
shakedown cruise they practiced beaching until it became routine. It was a physical workout going from bow to stern learning all the ways across the main deck from which the LCT
would be launched. During the stay in New Orleans, they filled
the ammunition lockers and loaded the tank deck with 600
tons of Schlitz beer. They joined the convoy waiting for them
in the Gulf.
They were all set up and the ship sailed to San Diego through
the Panama Canal, stopping at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The
trip to Guantanmo Bay was uneventful despite reports of German subs awaiting convoys out of New Orleans. During the
visit in Guantanmo Bay, the Navy decided the LST would be
of greater service in bringing back captured Japanese submarines back to the states.
They left Guantanmo Bay and headed south at 12 knots and
arrived at Coco Sola on the Panama City Canal Zone. It was
a wide-open liberty town. The LST had apparently been there
before but for most of crew it was a new experience in the
“blue moon: Cafes.
Passage through the Canal, a series of locks and lakes was
a tribute to Army Corps of
Engineers and was accomplished without incident.
They left Colon and Cristobal on the Pacific side and
arrived in San Diego. All
Robert seemed to remember
was for two weeks he and his
crew seemed broadside to the
wind. From the choppy sea
they had very queasy stomachs most of that trip. He
recalls seeing High Mountain
tops protruding through the
clouds about fifty miles distant. They didn’t stay long in
San Diego. Just a few resident crew members aboard
were allowed to have a few
days leave. They would soon
be underway for Pearl Harbor.
They had an easier trip to Pearl Harbor on a westerly heading. It took them eleven days because of the prescribed zig
zag course that they followed. They stayed in Pearl Harbor for
about a month. Robert recalls visiting the Royal Hawaiian Ho-
tel in Honolulu and Navy base Kanoehe, after a wild bus ride
through a mountain pass. He recalled participating in a dress
rehearsal for what later was learned as a Leyte. One of the
LCVP’s was pounded to pieces by the powerful surf in Maui.
During the visit they picked up a sort of show girl, a nude
Rosie the Riveter that was painted on the cabin housing and
was admired throughout the Pacific. Even
though 2 ½ years had
passed since the bombing of Pearl Harbor,
Robert said, “The sight
of the Arizona and
other ships stirred your
innards with a sense of
determination to even
the score”.
The crew departed
Pearl Harbor and headed west in convoy and,
as usual, the destroyers were covering the
flanks. Their next landfall was a small atoll
in the Marshall Islands
called Eniwetok. They
dropped their anchors very carefully as to not make any waves
that would flood the bases. Years later Robert would read
about Eniwetok as an atomic bomb test site.
They stayed on course and continued on west by southwest
heading towards Manus in the Admirality Islands, arriving on
Enewetak (or Eniwetok) is an atoll in the Marshall
Islands of the central Pacific Ocean. Its land consists of
about 40 small islets totaling less than 6 km², surroundd
ing a lagoon, 80 km (50 mi) in circumference. It is locate
′N
11°30
map]
ctive
at [show location on an intera
rn162°20′E / 11.5, 162.333, making it the second weste
820.
was
ation
popul
1999
.
most atoll of the Ralik Chain
n
Technically a Spanish colony, Enewetak was not know
ant
merch
h
Britis
the
by
1794
to Europeans until visited in
the
(thus
”
Range
n’s
“Brow
sloop Walpole, who called it
a
Japanese name “Brown Atoll”). It was visited by only
n
Germa
the
of
nt
ishme
establ
dozen or so ships before the
the
with
Along
1885.
in
s
colony of the Marshall Island
rest of the Marshalls, Enewetak was captured by Japan
ns
in 1914 and mandated to them by the League of Natio
in 1920.
The Japanese mostly ignored the atoll until World War
II. In November 1942, they built an airfield on Engebi
nes
Island, which was used for staging planes to the Caroli
to
fell
ts
Gilber
the
When
and the rest of the Marshalls.
the US, the Japanese Army’s 1st Amphibious Brigade
came in to defend the atoll, January 4, 1944. They were
unable to finish fortifying the island before the Februa
ary invasion by the US, which captured all the islets in
week.
After the war, the residents were evacuated, often
g
involuntarily, and the atoll was used for nuclear testin
of
s
Bodie
ds.
Groun
ng
Provi
as part of the U.S. Pacific
United States servicemen killed in the Battle of Enewetak
and buried there were exhumed before testing commenced
and returned to the United States to be re-buried by their
families. Some 43 nuclear tests were fired at Enewetak
from 1948 to 1958. The first hydrogen bomb test, codenamed Ivy Mike, was in late 1952 as part of Operation
Ivy, and vaporized the island of Elugelab. This test
included the use of B-17 Flying Fortress drones to fly
through the radioactive cloud for the purpose of testing
onboard samples.
The drones were controlled by B-17 mother ships flying
16
within visual distance of these drones. In all there were
half
which
of
ion,
operat
this
to 20 B-17s taking part in
were controlling aircraft and half were drones.
For examination of the explosion clouds of the nuclear
bombs in 1957/58 several rockets (mostly from rockoons)
were launched.
October 4, 1944. At the time, they didn’t know what was shaping up, but it looked like most of the amphibious forces attached to the 3rd and 7th fleets were joining them. They loaded
up with ammo, napalm, gasoline and amphibious tanks. They
left Manus and headed in a westerly direction, zig zagging every few hours to confuse the Japanese and themselves.
The LST finally opened the orders, and learned they were part
of MacArthur’s return to the Philippines. Their piece of action involved a well-fortified Catman Hill and the airfield at
Tacloban in Leyte Island. They woke up to find thousands of
ships had joined them during the night. This included troop
transports battleships, cruisers, and carriers. There were ships
of every description as far as the eye could see from horizon to
horizon.
On October 19th, they steamed into Leyte Gulf. Robert will
never forget the white-hot 16” shells going in over their heads
as they headed for Catman Hill. On October 20th they anchored about 2 ½ miles off the beach, opened the bow doors
and unloaded our amphibious tanks. Their boats accompanied
the tanks onto the beach. If the tanks’ pump failed, they would
take on water and sink. In that event, the troops would transfer
and ride in the boats to the beach.
After a day long bombing by carrier planes and some fierce
fighting at Tacloban, the beachhead at Tacloban was secured.
The 669 hit the beach to discharge its cargo of gas, ammo and
napalm for the flamethrowers. The whole operation at least
their part, took about four days. The Phillipinos were very
friendly and cooperative. They just asked for food in the form
of C & K rations. They had a way of squatting with their behinds about 1” of the deck.
On the 24th, they left Tacloban again in convoy with other
LST’s and destroyer escorts enroute to Hollandia, New Guinea.
They were under full head of steam, 12 knots, about Sunset
when a Japanese sea plane came out of the sun and staffed the
entire line of LST’s. They didn’t realize it at the time but the
Japanese plane was off a Japanese cruiser. The battle of Leyte
Gulf was about to take place. Darkness finally came, and they
squeezed through without further incident.
They arrived in Hollandia, New Guinea, on October 30th
to pick up
reinforcements for
the Philippine operation. MacArthur’s
headquarters were in
Hollandia
after the fall
of Bataan.
They were
on the
beach at
Leyte DDay plus 3,
where they watched him wade ashore with the cameras grinding away. So much for Hollandia , they left November 5th.
At some point they visited Biac and Woendi and probably
picked up troops for their return to Leyte. Robert remembers
visiting an Army Air Force outfit and getting check out rides
on a B-50 in exchange for a hot shower and a hot meal. The
Biac – Woendi visit on November 6th and 8th were relatively
quiet. The war in this area was in the sky. After a while, since
guns couldn’t reach them, they would shut off the movie and
watch the dogfights upstairs. They left Woendi on November
9th and returned to Leyte, where they discharged their troops
and cargo. They left a few days later to return to Hollandia.
They left Hollandia on December 5th and arrived at
Finchaven, New Guinea, on December 8th .They took aboard
the 31st infantry Division to support the Morotai, Netherlands
East Indies invasion. This was
accomplished
on December
18, 1944.
They spent
there first
Christmas at
Morotai where
Santa Claus
finally delivered
them mail.
They loaded
up again with
another Army
outfit on January
1, 1945 to start
the New Year. They landed at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the
Philippines on D-day plus 2. This was January 4, 1945.
After unloading at Lingayen, Robert’s ship returned to Leyte
(San Jose) and Mindoro on January 28, 1945. By this time
they had natives eating well. Now they wanted food and blankets and were selling “pom pom” for 50 pesos off the fantail
and from dugouts. “Pom Pom” is a native delicacy.
MacArthur returned to the Philippines in force
on October 20, 1944. He waded in with Philippine President Sergio Osmeña, restaging the
landing a second time for the newsreel cameras.
The US Army forces met resistance, but steadily
advanced, until the landings at Ormoc on December 7, 1944. Most of the fighting was at sea
during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Ormoc saw the widespread use of kamikazes
while the Americans ran into fortified positions
and heavy artillery. MacArthur fought north
through the Philippines all through the Fall of
1944, reaching Manila and the main island of
Luzon in January 1945. The initial landing in
Lingayen Gulf was unopposed, sparing the Japanese a prolonged bombardment as they retreated
inland. The Japanese had a network of caves,
pillboxes, and artillery. The defenders hoped to
prevent an invasion of the home islands by offering a stiff resistance in the Philippines. MacArthur entered a shattered Manila, which had been
destroyed by the retreating Japanese. Japanese
Imperial Army General Tomoyuki Yamashita
had ordered a withdrawal on Manila without
unnecessary violence, but 19,000 soldiers under
Vice Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi were encircled.
Most of Manila was taken in hand-to-hand
combat block by block. The retreating Japanese
killed civilians in vicious reprisals. They turned
on the civilian population of Manila, killing
100,000. Almost all the Japanese were killed or
commited suicide, including Iwabuchi.
The Battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, was fought on
the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in
the Pacific Theater of World War II.[1][2] The 82 day battle lasted from late
March through June 1945.
The battle has been referred to as the “Typhoon of Steel” in English, and tetsu
no ame (“rain of steel”) or tetsu no bōfū (“violent wind of steel”) in Japanese.
The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of gunfire involved, and sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted
the island. The battle has one of the highest number of casualties of any World
War Two engagement: the Japanese lost over 100,000 troops, and the Allies
(mostly United States) suffered more than 50,000 casualties, with over 12,000
killed in action. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, wounded
or attempted suicide. Approximately one-fourth of the civilian population
died due to the invasion. The Tenth Army had five Army Divisions, the 77th,
the 96th, the 27th, the 81st, and the 7th. Three Marine Divisions fought on
Okinawa, the 6th, the 2nd and the 1st. All these divisions were all supported
by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.
The main objective of the operation was to seize a large island only 340
miles away from mainland Japan. After a long campaign of island hopping,
the Allies were approaching Japan, and Okinawa would serve as a springboard
for the planned invasion of the mainland islands. Although hastily converted
to a base for air operations, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
caused Japan to surrender just weeks after the end of the fighting at Okinawa
and the invasion never took place.
They loaded up again in Mindoro on February 3rd and hit the
beach at Subic Bay and landed troop reinforcements. Subic
Bay had an iron bottom from all
the ships that had been sunk during
the initial assault. They had a few
anxious hours when the stern tore
loose and they beached. With the
use of their small boats and engines, they managed to backoff the
sand bar into deep water.
They returned to Leyte on February 8, 1945 and for reasons unrecalled, they visited Dulag, Bincay
and Terraguna. They loaded up
with troops again and departed
Leyte, March 25, 1945 for an island in Ryukyus called Okinaowa.
It was located far north of the Phillipiens Islands, at the doorstep of
Japan itself.
They were bringing in the DDay assault troops at the assigned
beach. They were unable to beach
the ship because of the natural coral fingers that stretched out from
the beach. They put the nose of the
LST against the Coral and lowered
the bow ramp on top of the coral.
At one point one of the tanks broke through the coral trapping the men inside. One of the heroes was an Army Sergeant
who did a great job navigating a steam shovel over the narrow
strip of coral by swinging the shovel back and forth.
Robert will never forget that first evening as the sun; a big
ball of red fire was setting. Waves of Japanese Kamikaze
planes manned with pilots that
already had their funeral services
dove into the larger ships around
them. The sky was black with exploding anti-aircraft shells.
It was in Okinawa that they put
their smoke generator to work.
Their guns couldn’t reach the Japanese planes so they covered the
beach with smoke. The crew was
very happy to leave Okinawa on
April 9th. They gave a silent salute
to the destroyers doing picket duty
who took the brunt of the kamikaze
attacks as they passed enroute to
Ulithi. They arrived on April 17th.
During this time Robert caught
a bit of rest and relaxation. They
played softball and drank beer on
the beach. They watched some
beat up carriers on the beach with
funny names like “Mog Mog. After a month of fun in the sun, they
headed back to Leyte on May 20,
1945. The natives at this point were
well fed, well clothed and were selling everything back to the
GI’s. They moved around from island to island this trip. They
were carrying marines and made the bunkhouse a lock up for
Japanese prisoners.
They visited Okinawa and then went back and forth between
Saipan and Guam for almost a month. They carried Marine reinforcements back to Okinawa where there was another assault
landing on July 29th, 1945.
They unloaded quickly because there orders were to get back
out to sea quickly before the granddaddy of all typhoons with
170 mile per hour winds was about to hit Okinawa. It was was
like a rollercoaster leaving Bruckner Bay. For three days they
rolled over the Pacific until the storm subsided. They returned
to Okinowa and saw numerous ships that didn’t make it to
the open sea and were washed up on the beach. Quonset huts
were blown all over the place and flying metal was the greatest
hazard ashore.
They returned to Saipan on August 14th and did the shuttle
trip to Guam... They reloaded with Marine reinforcements and
took them to Iwo Jima on September 3, 1945 catching the tail
end of another Typhoon.
They returned to Saipan on September 15th. The atom bomb
had been dropped on Hiroshima. Japan had surrendered. All
the ships had their bunting flying and horns blowing.
They were on their own for another run to Leyte, arriving
September 23, 1945. They visited Samar and Luzon and were
finally ordered to Japan. They boarded occupation troops from
Okinawa during November 1-15 and arrived in Kyshu, Japan
(Sasebo) on November 18, 1945.
It was a great feeling for them steaming past the line of Japnese wagons and cruisers and having them dip their colors to
the 669. The bitterness from seeing the Arizona at Pearl was
quitted.
They were ordered back to Saipan, arriving December 1,
1945 and shuttled again to Guam, outlasting two typhoons by
December 11, 1945.
They were ordered to Ponape, a small island on the Equator in the Caroline Islands. These islands had been governed
by Japanese mandate for twenty years. Their orders were to
remove the Japanese and return them to Japan. Many soldiers
had intermarried with the natives and, of course, these families
were to be taken to Japan. The islands were to be returned to
native control.
They filled the tank deck
with these families and
their possessions that
they could carry in one
day. They headed back
to Guam on December
17, 1945. It was winter in
Japan and they returned to
Guam with heavier clothing for the women and
children.
They spent their final
Christmas at Guam that
year consoled with the
thoughts that they too
would soon be heading
home. Robert had his replacement already aboard
and only had to break them in on their trip to Japan.
They departed Guam on December 31st and celebrated the
New Year at sea arriving Honshu, Japan, on January 6, 1946.
After Honshu, Japan, the 669 returned to Guam and Siapan
until at least February 19th.
The most memorable experience was the invasion of Leyte
in the Philippines. The LST’s were slow moving ships, so they
set sail five days before anybody else. On the morning of the
invasion, the horizon was filled with ships, carriers, and battlewagons. They set sail into the shores of Catman Hill. The
objective was to take the airfield of Tek Loabin, a small town
in the Phillipines along with the army infantry. They went in
early in the morning about 3am towards the beach. The cruisers and planes shot and bombed the beaches. They landed on
to the shore of Leyte
at sunrise. They escorted the army crews
on amphibious ducks
because they could
sink into the water.
The LST crew was ordered to bring back the
wounded to the hospital ships. They were
ordered off the beach
because of mortar fire.
During this time
Robert stayed in touch
with his family and
friends by writing
letters, which took a
number of days to get
back and forth and
prayed a lot for good luck. Fortunately the food was very good
on the ship. As the Navigator, Robert got up early with the
cooks and bakers and ate very well. The LST 669 had plenty
of supplies on boards. They crew entertained themselves by
listening to Tokyo Rose, who played beautiful Glenn Miller
music. They only relaxation they had was the last island they
took. The entire time he was in the Navy he never had a days
leave.
9
f the LST 66
o
s
r
e
b
m
e
m
s. As the
n
io
n
u
The crew
e
r
r
o
f
nd
cassionally
are still arou
still meet oc
r
e
w
e
f
d
n
a
r
ry
ewe
d harder eve
years go on f
n
a
r
e
d
r
a
h
t
on.
to ge
er still lives
and it seems
h
t
a
f
d
n
a
r
g
d, my
ars
year to atten y enough to spend 27 ye
luck
all his amaz
h
c
r
a
I have been
e
s
e
r
d
n
d learn a
e so
with him an
. It makes m
e
f
li
in
s
t
n
e
shm
r
ing accompli out how my grandfathe
ab
much.
proud to talk the country he loves so
,
erve
ood-hearted
g
,
wanted to s
t
s
e
g
n
o
r
t
s
king
artest,
tion best loo
n
e
He is the sm
m
o
t
t
o
n
y
g man,
always be m
l
il
hard workin
w
e
H
.
w
ever kno
man.. I will
hero.