Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Harold Whittington was digitized.
This transcription was encoded with minimal changes to the original text in an effort to preserve original content and idiosyncrasies of the person interviewed. Period language and terminology are also retained. Encoding is literal with regard to the transcriptionist's capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Spelling errors are indicated with [sic]; however, recurring errors in spelling within a single document have been marked the first time and not subsequently.
Today is June 4th, Friday, 2004 and this is the beginning of an interview with Harold P. Whittington at my home at 420 Homestead Avenue in the Legacy of Warrenton, Pennsylvania, 19876. Mr. Whittington is 79 years old, having been born on 1/28/25. My name is Charles French and I'll be the Interviewer. Harold Whittington and I worked together at the Philadelphia Gas Works.
Harry, could you state for the recording what war and branch of service you served in?
I served in the United States Marine Corps from June 1941 until June 1947 in the WWII and also in Korea.
Does that mean you were in before Pearl Harbor?
I was in before Pearl Harbor, I joined up early at age 16, about 16 and a half.
Where you did you serve?
I served in the Pacific area of operation, primary, most of my years of service. It should be noted for the record that I was enlisted in the regular service, not drafted or otherwise inducted into the Marine Corps
Where were you living at the time?
At the time I was born and raised in Charleston, West Virginia and that's my enlistment city. I was then transported from Charleston, West Virginia through Richmond, Virginia to Paris Island, South Carolina where I went through the boot camp training.
Why did you join?
Well, there's no really good reason for that. At the time the United States was going through a depression area and I was 16 years old and no one was having a job down there. Grown men couldn't get a job so I was out of school so I just decided to go in the Marine Corps and follow my older brother who had previously joined ahead of me in the Marine Corps.
How did you get out of school so early?
I just stopped going.
Oh. You didn't finish high school?
I didn't finish high school at that time.
Why did you pick the Marine Corps?
Well, it just seemed like a nice service to go into. Little did I know what I was faced with but my older brother had gone into the Marine Corps and he seemed to like it. We had gone down to visit him at Paris Island, I just seemed to look to what I seen there. Like I say, not knowing what I had to go through to get to the same position that he was in at that time.
Do you recall your first days in service?
Oh, yeah, very much so. I had spent the previous six months in the Civilian Conservation Corps which is run by the Army and I was --
The CCC?
The CCC and that was, I was stationed out of in Oregon; Salem, Oregon, so I had a little taste of what the military life was all about. So, I was not unfamiliar with something that I was going to be faced with, but when I got to Paris Island I really wasn't prepared nor was anyone else that I was with at that time prepared for what faced me in boot camp. The Marine Corps has always been noted for very, very gruff training and very solid training and they certainly lived up to their reputation at that time.
What did it feel like?
It felt awful. You know, you lose your hair, they clip off all your hair. They pretty much strip you of all dignity, if you even knew the term dignity at that time. They reduce you down to basically nothing and they just make you feel miserable because you really are rushed through to get uniforms, to get rifles, and they get all the stuff that they give you, and God, we were still at peace. It was a peacetime Marine Corps so it was rough; it was very rough but like I say, I had some previous taste of military life and I really didn't mind it because you do what you're told and do you it quickly and you'll be okay.
Do you remember your instructors?
I had one drill sergeant, he must have been 6 foot 3 and the other one was a corporal. The platoon sergeant was a regular sergeant and the platoon corporal he was about 5, 9 and both of them were mean, mean and mean.
How did you get through it?
I got through it by just trying to do what I was told and learn as quickly as I could and certainly if everything that they threw at me and they threw a lot at me. Particularly there's two phases to boot camp. There's the first phase which is primarily close water drill and the other T board and the second phase is a rifle range.
Are you saying learning what?
The rifle range; learning close water drill and the platoon that's where they meld you into a single unit and you learn to work in the unit. You lose your own individuality but you work as a team. You really learn team effort and this is primarily what the first phase of training is. The second phase is all about weaponry. It's hard and at that time we had the Springfield OC rifle which in my opinion is one of the better arms that was ever made.
Does the Army use the same one?
At that time the Army still had the Springfield but they were in the process of getting the new grand, the M1 rifle which was an eight shot repeater, a gas operated repeater whereas the Springfield 3 was a bolt action and you had to work the operative method yourself and as a matter of fact one of the first things you do on the rifle range is a term called snapping in where you do nothing but sit there and work the bolt, time after time after time and you do that for hours and what you're doing is you're skooting off the high spots on the bolt mechanism so that when you're in actual combat or in a firing position the bolt works very quickly very freely. It's very slippery. It's a good exercise but certainly is boring and tiring, plus you're learning the position. At that time there was a offhand position; there was a sitting position, a kneeling position and prone position. The sitting position and the kneeling position, some people really couldn't do it because basically what you're doing is sitting on your right foot, you're folding your foot over and you're putting your whole weight, your whole body weight on that foot. Some people just couldn't do that. What they do is if you couldn't do that, you assume the primary position and then they would put a man on your back and you would be forced to sit in that position so that's how you learned the sitting position.
You say you served in World War II and also Korea, right?
That's correct.
Where exactly did you go?
Well, I started out in the combat situation in Guadalcanal and I finally ended up in Japan as occupational troops and I stayed in Idelhach (ph) which was McCarthur's theory of recapturing the Philippines, I suppose where I finally was shipped back from Japan and the whole unit was shipped back intact to San Francisco.
Do you remember arriving and what was it like?
Arriving where?
In the Pacific?
Well, I did not get seasick. A good number of my friends and our fellow marines, they were seasick and it's terrible I suppose but I ate like a king the first three days out. But arriving, the unit was a good time quartered on Tarawa Territory and it was pretty confusing on arrival but everything was pretty well worked out so that you weren't confused. You were told exactly where to go there with people there to meet you and put you in the proper place. So, yes, I do remember that.
What were your jobs?
Well, every marine is trained basically as a rifleman, an infantryman. They are trained at all the phases of weaponry, which is a hand grenade, the pistol, rifle, Browning automatic rifle and machine gun. Sometimes you're broken apart into a specialty which would be a machine gunner or a rifleman or artillery unit.
Did that happen to you?
Eventually I was in all of those phases, yes. As a matter of fact, I taught artillery in Quantico, Virginia to the new recruits. Even as a corporal I was what they called at that time ammunition NCO, non-commissioned officer.
So, you participated in some landings on the islands?
Yes, I did. I had three basic landings.
What did you do before that? Did you practice landings?
Oh, yes, you had to. They had all kinds because it's what they call maneuvers you would go through a soft landing on beaches. You would go through jungle training, they would set up traps for you. It was basically what you would be faced with if and when you saw combat. They tried to make it as close to combat as possible so that there would be no surprises. Unfortunately, they could never be as realistic as the actual thing.
What island did you first invade?
We first invaded, I was in Reserve on Guadalcanal. That was primarily the First Marine Division operation and we were coming in later on to help them mop up and that was a big operation. We were the Second Marine Division, second battalion and we primarily were in the Reserve for that operation so the credit and rightly so should primarily go to the First Marine Division.
Did you go on the island?
Oh, yeah, yes, everybody goes on the island at one time or another.
How long did they fight on that island -- this is Saipan, right?
No, this is Guadalcanal.
Guadalcanal, okay?
The Second Division wasn't involved from 10 October 1942 and it was finally secured on 9 February 1943 so it was a pretty good sizeable operation and they estimated that at the end there was some 25,000 Japanese who died in that battle, in those battles. The Japanese were well dug in, well supplied and they were very, very defiant pros, I would like to say.
What was the next island that you invaded?
Well, the next island was Tarawa in the Gilbert Chain of Islands and that was a pretty sparrow operation, only the Second Division I understand was involved in that. The island wasn't all that big. It was really called Betio, B-e-t-i-o but everybody knows it as Tarawa and there was lots of mistakes made on that. Some units of the Second Division had a very difficult time. Other units really did not have all that much resistance when they went on the island but my unit had the seawall. We were cramped up on the seawall and we couldn't get over it.
Did you go in on landing barges?
We went in on what's called a Higgens boat.
How many people were in it?
There was about 30, 30 people on that boat.
Were there any casualties?
Oh, yeah, there's always casualties when you get off the boats. Sometimes the coxswain on the boat was anxious for you to leave so he can get back out, maybe get another load or two. Other times you just get hit going over the side. So, there's always casualties one time or another. Some drown, some people drowned but our problem at the time was we didn't have too much of a landing area. The seawall --
Short beach in front of the seawall?
Very short beach in front of the seawall and there was a lot of people crowded on that short beach. So, you stick your head up you're liable to get it blown off but that's what you have to do to get over it and on other sections of the landing there wasn't any resistance at all.
Did you shoot back at all?
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, you shoot when it moves. But at that time we were armed with an 8 shot grand rifle which makes it a lot better and you carried a lot of ammo with you, you had a bandoleer over your shoulder, you had a full belt of ammunition around your waist. So, you were pretty well loaded down.
How did you get over the seawall then?
Climbed over. That's basically all you do. You just do the best. Everybody climbs over.
And they were against the Japs --
Yes, they were fine and they were well dug in, they were in foxholes, they were in entrapments and they had a big bunker, their command bunker was a huge thing, I think they had one 18 feet thick but they were pierced by the naval shells. They were in foxholes and slit trenches and everything, so...
Did you use hand grenades?
We used hand grenades, we had tanks there, we had flame-throwers, we had borders. We had the whole array of arsenal. We had Browning semiautomatic rifles which I happen to think is a very good rifle. At the time it was just too heavy for me to handle, but it takes a big guy to handle that with all the ammunition, but you can use it. It can be used both as a machine gun for it to be used as individual firearm. So, it's a very good weapon.
Tell me about a couple of your most memorable experiences?
Where, on Tarawa?
Wherever.
Well, one of my most memorable experiences when I was souvenir hunting and I saw this sword over in this field, a little area that, on camp and I went to go over to get it. So, I stepped over this palm tree log and I was right in a mine field.
Oh, really.
Yes, yes, and I just didn't know what to do, so I didn't do anything, I just very gingerly stepped back over that log and then I promptly beat it out of that area. I never did get the sword.
How did you know you were in the mine field?
You seen the wires and the shelling had exposed some of the mines.
What was exposed?
The mines, they were like round objects so I could see the thing. So, I didn't spend too much time in that area.
Were you awarded any medals or citations?
Nothing -- We had unit citations where the whole unit but I particularly never got any individual medals.
What do you call those unit citations?
Well, that's where the whole unit gets citated by the president for extra action.
Did you get a ribbon and a medal?
Yes, you get a ribbon on that and you get a medal for it.
Was it for Tarawa?
Yeah, Tarawa and then also in Saipan. The Second Division has quite a number of medals that way.
In other words, the first was Guadalcanal and then Tarawa and then Saipan?
Yes.
And you got a unit citation for each one?
I didn't particularly get it but the unit did, yes, yes.
I mean with you as part of the unit?
Oh, yes, yes.
Do you have those medals today?
I never got all my medals.
No?
Never got them and never really wanted to get them really. I've not followed through and been asked the question as to why I didn't -- I don't really feel that I want them because it's a personal thing. I'm not really interested in medals. I was just interested in doing what I was supposed to do and doing my job, so I know I was there and I don't have to prove that I was there.
All this segment is about life. It says how did you stay in touch with your family?
Well, I never got too many letters from my family. I got letters from my brother who was also in the Marine Corps at that time. He was in the Fourth Division. I never got too many letters from home. It bothered me, it bothered me that everybody else was getting letters and I didn't but that's the only way you can stay in touch is by letters.
What was the food like?
Well, we got the K-rations and then we had C-rations weren't very -- no, the K-rations weren't very good but the C-rations were pretty good but remember I was from West Virginia and our food situation there during the depression wasn't very good, so what I got was all very good. I happened to like the rations.
Did you live in a town in West Virginia?
More or less rural. We lived outside of Charleston.
It was like a village.
No, no, it was just a group of houses, you'd call them the suburbs now, but the place was called Lick Branch so you can determine from that what it was like. So, it was a rural southern area is what it was.
Did you have plenty of supplies?
Yes. On Saipan and thereafter we did have plenty of supplies. There was a goof-up on Guadalcanal where the aircraft carriers left and then when the aircraft carriers left so did the freighters that was carrying the supplies and there was a shortage of just about everything. And the rains were left high and dry and at that time I believe they had a little perimeter around 600 yards and they were fighting with whatever they could get to lay their hands on. At Saipan we also used Japanese units. We learned, we got a lot of mortar rounds and we used those against them because they were millimeter mortar so we were able to use those rounds against the Japanese.
Did you use your own mortar?
Oh, yes, use your own mortar.
And used the enemy's ammunition.
We took the mortar shell if we could but anything else I never expressed using that, no. In other words our artillery you couldn't do that, different caliber.
Did you feel pressure or stress?
Was I scared?
It says pressure or stress?
Oh absolutely, everybody is scared; everybody is under pressure.
Yeah.
You have a certain amount of time to take an objective and if you don't get there you do get anxiety and you do get pressure if that's what you mean. Particularly on Saipan, the Fourth Marine Division and Second Marine Division were on two flanks and the Army 27th Division was in the center. Well, our divisions had advanced on both flanks and the 27th got bogged down somewhere, now there's some reason or another and they didn't advance as far, well, that left us exposed because the Japanese could come right down the center and up behind us, so that's pressure. That is very distinct pressure and that happened a couple of times and we weren't very happy about that. But scared, yes, that's a different situation. Yes, everybody is scared. The thing to do is not let your scaredness interfere with anything you're supposed to be doing.
Was there something special you did for good luck?
I don't recall doing anything special for good luck. I know people had rabbits foots and they had different ways of coping with that but, no, I never did much for good luck. I figure luck was how you made it.
How did people entertain themselves?
Well, when you're in combat there is no time for entertainment. When you're behind the line or when you're in your homebase you get liberty. In New Zealand we got liberty and in Helowa, Hawaii we got liberty but you read and all these people that play the guitar, the harmonica, and they form little groups and sing and of course, there's always card games; there's always crap games.
Uh-huh.
And you don't even need money to play those things. You just play the IOUs.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
You managed to entertain yourself?
Were there entertainers?
I saw several. I saw Bob Hope one time and he was great. I never saw too many of these so-called USOs now.
You didn't take a picture of him, did you?
No.
What did you do?
We didn't have cameras.
Did you travel while in the service. I think we have covered that.
Yeah, yeah.
After these three islands --
Yeah, I was in Japan. I went in Japan as occupational troops. As a matter of fact, our unit was assigned, we landed at Nagasaki to User Island and I was assigned to scout the hostile area, assigned to scout the area for hostiles because we really didn't know how the Japanese people were going to react to your occupation of course. So, my friend and I, we did scoop out where the atomic bomb had hit and we were there for a couple of days but there was no hostility there.
Was this before the bomb?
After the bomb.
After the bomb?
Yeah, we were on -- after Saipan was secured the Second Division stayed there. The occupational troops, that was our home base then so when the peace sailors came out we were there on site then.
What came out?
Peace sailors.
Oh?
We were in a convoy, they were making up the convoy at that time to invade Japan and when the peace sealers started to come out then of course all preparations ceased. I was under 15 minutes alert to go on board ship for the convoys that was going to invade Japan.
Did the peace sailors come from Japan?
I assume they did. You know, remember we were out of touch with everything. All we got was what we were told. So, they had suspended operations on the making of the convoys so we just seemed that's what it was.
Do you recall any particularly humorous or unusual events?
I don't recall any particular one except that there was this one fellow who was extremely bald and he had, this guy was a New Yorker and he had some kind of solution that was mailed to him and he got it and he religiously applied that thing to his head and he was sure he was going to grow hair. Of course he never did, but he kept everybody occupied with his manipulations of his scalp.
What were some of the pranks that you or others would pull?
Well, we were bedded down one night and I decided to liven things up so I took a dud hand grenade and pulled the pin and threw it in the middle of them. I never seen an evacuation so quick in my life. Of course they almost killed me afterwards.
What did you think of officers over fellow soldiers?
Well, our officers were very well trained. They had to be because we didn't put up with anything that wasn't good. So the Marine Corps officers are just as good as the enlisted personnel particularly in the regular service. But as far as the other services are concerned the Navy is very good. I can't say too much about the Army.
Did you keep a personal diary?
No, no. First of all, you don't have the means to carry writing paper because in combat the first thing you get rid of is everything that you don't really need and that being the writing paper and pen. You wouldn't know what to do with it even if you did because you had so much time to do a job and you can't deviate from that time.
This is a segment that's after service. Do you recall the day your service ended?
Not really because I was in the regular service and I still had time. I had extended my enlistment by two years so regardless whether the War was over or not I still had time to serve. If you figure the War was over in 1945 or '46, I had to go to 1947 anyway.
Did you stay in the Marine Corps until the Korean War broke out?
No, I was in what's called Volunteer Reserves which Harry Truman talked us into and he said that we wouldn't be called up unless there was a national emergency. Well, when the Korean War broke out he didn't want to bring the ready reserves in so he called up the volunteer reserves because we were the most recent discharges, dischargees on the regular service and we were the most trained and I guess you want to call us, we were expendable so that's why we were called up and I had the reserves anyway so that didn't bother me.
Where did you go in Korea?
I wasn't in Korea very long. I was called back because I was in a sensitive industry at that time.
Because of what?
A sensitive industry at that time, aircraft manufacture, so I got a deferment and I was, got a discharge from that so I wasn't in Korea all that long.
Where did you go in Korea?
I only made the west coast. Just the west coast, that's all, and it was hell up there in Camp Pendleton.
Where were you when your service ended?
At Quantico. I was in Quantico, Virginia because I was in the artillery.
What did you do in the days and weeks afterwards? Did you work or go back to school?
No, I tried to find a job. As a matter of fact I was in Philadelphia, decided I want to stay in Philadelphia and I tried to find a job and I did find one and I stayed in that job for about 10 months and then I went to school.
What kind of job was it?
It was test engineer out at GE, 65 --
Testing what?
Testing switch gears, electrical switch gears.
Where did you go to school?
I went to Temple.
Did you go under the GI Bill?
I went under the GI bill which was a very good bill.
Did you make any close friendships while in the service?
Oh, yeah, yeah, but they're all gone now. I'm trying to find a guy -- I'll be right back. (Brief recess. Recording turned off.) (Recording Resumes):
Okay.
Did you make any close friendships while in the service?
Yeah, I made several close friends, one of them is Trig Relee (ph) of the United Nations.
Who?
Trig Relee of the United Nations.
Really.
And Mr. Gremeko of Russia. I wouldn't exactly say they were close friends but they were friends.
You're kidding?
I'm not kidding. I was with the United Nations as one of their Marine guards.
Oh, really.
Yeah.
How about that? Did you continue any of these relationships?
Not really, they were too political for me. As a matter of fact, for a poor boy from the hill they were a little out of my league.
Did you join a veterans organization?
Not right away, not right away because I was more interested in schooling and getting on with my life. I did't join any veterans organizations till later on with the gas works.
And what organization did you join?
American Legion and then subsequently after that, I joined the Foreign Wars.
What did you go on to do as a career after the war?
Well, I was with Kaiser Metal Products as aircraft manufacturer because I was very good at production and aircraft and they were busy with aircraft. Following that I went to the Franklin Arsenal and as one of their production specialists.
Did your military experience influence your thinking about war or about the military in general?
Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, I'm very violently patriotic. I love this country and I love the military particularly the Marine Corps. There is no thing as an ex-Marine, maybe a former Marine but not ex.
What kind of activities does your American Legion Post do?
Well, my post is very small right now. We're losing veterans every year. We're down to less than a hundred. But we participate in of course all military things; on Memorial Day, New Jersey -- the battleship New Jersey; anything that has to do with the veterans.
Do you attend reunions?
I've never been to a reunion. I went to -- let me correct that, I was at one, oh, about two years ago which was a defense battalion because one of my very good friends had died and his family, and wife who I had been friends with for many, many years asked us to come so we did. That was a defense battalion, was primarily artillery.
How did your service and experiences affect your life?
Military service in my opinion always affects people and if you're in combat it affects you even more. You cannot be a real human being once you've seen combat. You're a cool and calculating to a certain degree, you're hard to a certain degree and you're non- emotional to a certain degree. All of these things affect married life. It affects your situation as a father, and it affects your outcome of how you do your job.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yes, I would like to add that I think that the military in this country is very good. I think that good leadership, I'm not so sure about the president, as a commander in chief, but it seems to me like the attitude of the military is changing for the better. They're taking care of their enlisted personnel and they're taking care of their enlisted personnel's family which is good. And no one should have to go on food stamps or welfare to make a living if their spouse is in the service. So, but I do wish that the veterans administration would make more effort to serve their veterans.
Thank you very much for sharing your recollections. This is the end of the interview. (Interview concluded.)