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My Father's Experience in SACO Across the Pacific to Calcutta (June 1945)
In late May 1945, my father completed – or perhaps more accurately, "survived" – his rigorous training program with the Navy's Scouts and Raiders in Fort Pierce, Florida. It had been six months of constant, grueling exertion, both mentally and physically, interspersed with two months of recuperation from a near-fatal accident.
He and the other members of the Roger 4 group were given two weeks of leave, then were ordered to report to San Pedro, California, near Los Angeles. They were scheduled to board a Navy transport ship in mid-June that was headed for Asia. The Leu family – Don, Anne and their newborn daughter, Dorothy – said goodbye to their Navy colleagues in Fort Pierce, some of whom would become lifelong friends, then they packed their bags and boarded a train bound for Don's hometown of Skykomish, Washington.
Don's parents, living in Skykomish, finally got to meet Anne and their new granddaughter and they adored them both. "I think my mother liked Anne more than she liked me," he said later with a laugh.
But after a few joyful days, Don said goodbye to everyone and hopped on a train, bound for the naval station at San Pedro. Anne and little Dorothy left Skykomish soon afterwards on a train heading to North Dakota. Anne would spend the rest of the war living with her mother in Bismarck, caring for Dorothy and waiting (and hoping) for Don to come home.
Don arrived in San Pedro, where he checked in with the Navy and was reunited with his Scouts and Raiders buddies from Fort Pierce. After a few days, they boarded a crowded troop ship, the E. T. Collins, which sailed across the Pacific, stopping for fuel in Perth, Australia, before continuing on to their destination of Calcutta, India. Traveling in waters possibly infested with Japanese submarines, the ship constantly zig-zagged to evade torpedoes, heading for several miles in one direction and then suddenly changing course, as it made its way across the Pacific.
My dad told me some funny stories about the ocean transit. When they crossed the equator, the ship's officers staged an elaborate ceremony for "pollywogs," men who had never before crossed the equator. Every pollywog, including my dad, was dunked with a bucket of seawater and was the victim of other humorous shenanigans throughout the day (see his official "King Neptune" certificate below).
There were several Red Cross nurses on the ship, some who were shy and reserved and others who were less so. Since he was in an elite SACO group, he had access to some of the most advanced technology of the war. He found a pair of night-vision goggles, some of the first ever developed, then he and his SACO buddies had fun at night using them to watch the nurses cavort with frisky sailors on deck in the shadows of the ship. "We got a pretty nice show," he told me with a laugh years later.
He greatly enjoyed his time ashore in Perth, on the southwestern coast of Australia. Many of the servicemen on the ship, including Don, were hosted ashore by local families there and they got to spend a few days enjoying Aussie hospitality and sleeping in a real bed. "They treated me to everything," he told me later. "They wouldn't let me pay for anything. And every morning for breakfast, they served 'stoik and oigs' " (steak and eggs), he recalled.
As he reboarded the ship, Don hoped to return to Perth someday to repay the kindness he had received there. But despite his many travels in the coming decades -- before he died he visited all seven continents, including Antarctica -- he never returned to Australia.
Above left: Don had left home as an Apprentice Seaman, the Navy's lowest rank, in 1943. He returned home two years later as a naval officer. This was in Skykomish, Washington in June 1945 after his Scouts and Raiders training in Florida. My dad is holding his first child, my sister Dorothy. Don's parents, who are on either side of him, met their new daughter-in-law, Anne, and their newest grandchild during this brief visit. Above right: Moments later, my dad boarded a train. He was headed for San Pedro, California and deployment overseas. As he boarded the train (and like all deployed servicemen during the war), he didn't know if he'd ever return.
Above left: The troop transport ship, E. T. Collins, that my dad took from San Pedro, California to Calcutta, India. Above right: A picture postcard of the E. T. Collins coming into San Francisco Bay.
Above left: The Collins could get pretty crowded. Above right: When the ship crossed the equator, every "pollywog" on board was dunked with seawater during an initiation ceremony to make them a "shellback." They also received this King Neptune certificate.
Above left: The ship stopped for a few days in Perth, Australia to refuel and resupply. This is a postcard Don bought of downtown Perth. Above right: Don was hosted ashore by a kind family in Perth. He never forgot the hospitality they showed him.
Next Page > A Navy Convoy on the Burma Road
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