Encoded for the Experiencing War web site for the Veterans History Project.
The recording of the interview with Harold Mulligan 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, May 17th 2012 we are at the home of Harold and Connie Mulligan. Harold was born April 11, 1923 in Vian, Oklahoma. In 1946 he married Irene White and they had one son, Patrick, born May 10th 1950. They were divorced. On August 15th 1970 he married Connie Herminghaus Foster in Nevada. The interviewer today is Virginia Myler Collins-Cooper, a member of the Bend Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She shall be known as Jinny.
I am really glad to be here and meet you guys today. Harold, did you grow up in Vian?
No, I was raised up in Tulare, California.
Oh, really? Your folks moved from Oklahoma? What year was that, do you remember? I mean, were you a little fella'?
1934.
SO, you were 10 or 12 years old by then.
Yeah.
SO you went to grade school probably.
Yeah.
Did you live out in the country ... ?
Hmm ...
I mean, was your dad a farmer?
Part of the time.
Was your father a farmer?
He was a farmer. JINNY : Yep. Well, so you got to Tulare in 1934, and you went to school there?
Yeah.
Well, tell me a little bit about that time. Did you have brothers and sister?
Yeah, I had an older brother in Arkansas, and then a sister in Arkansas, and a brother that lived in Tulare with us - older brother; and I had a younger brother and a NAVY-WWII younger sister and I was raised, I went to school in Tulare two years high. And, I was playing baseball and I had a chance to go to the Phillies ...
Really?
Yeah.
And, at this time, my buddy was in the Navy and they scheduled this scout to show up in Tulare; well, he didn't show up - this scout didn't show up. Well, he did later but I was gone.
You were gone when he showed up! (Laughing)
I was gone then, 'cause my buddy come home in a 'monkey suit' and I had to have one of those.
A monkey suit. I think you were in the Navy, is that right?
That's right! (Laughing)
Did you - you didn't get drafted, did you?
No.
You joined.
I was bound to - I joined. I argued with mom and dad for a coupla' weeks. Finally, they signed the papers for me.
How old were you then?
I was just 17 at that time, but I had a birthday coming up. But, anyway I talked them into it, so I joined the Navy and I went, they sent me to San Diego. I went through 'Boot Camp' in San Diego. When we got through boot camp I was shipped over, out to San Pedro Harbor and put aboard there, USS Maryland, battle ship US Battleship PC 49. And, my first ship - that's a second or third time I'd ever seen the ocean. And, we went to Pearl and a coupl'a months later they transferred me over to the Rigel - USS Rigel.
That's Rigel, isn't it?
R.I.G.E.L.
Okay.
And, uh, so I was on the Rigel, then I worked this one night, December the 7th, I worked in the *cofferdams ... NAVY - WWII
Wait. Was it December 6th, that night?
Yeah, and, I went in and worked until about 4 o'clock in the morning and we was working in the cofferdam, chipping the grime and stuff in the water tanks. And, I went up and took a shower, went to bed - next thing I know, somebody was shaking me. He said, "Hey! Get up! Get up! We're being bombed!!!" I said, "Get outta' here!"
You didn't believe it.
'Bout that time, one ofthose torpedoes exploded across bay, 'cause we were only a coupl'a hundred yards away. And, I guess you know I peeled outta' there, and I run up, I got dressed and run up on the deck and this one officer gathered about six of us guys, and said, "C'mon." We got in the motor launch and headed across the bay. We was going over to the fuel docks to help fuel ships so they could get out. We went out there - nothing but smoke and fire, all the way across. So, he says, he told the Coxswain says, "Turn this around -let's go back." We went back, we crawled up on the deck, on the dock and we seen this plane comin', so we all run behind - we had big sheets of iron there, that they were repairing ships with, so we run behind those. And, these planes was comin' in, and they was strafing as they came in. And, I'll never forget this one pilot - they just drifted by, not fifty feet above us!
Could you see 'em in the cockpit?
Oh, yeah, one of 'em waved at us! and went over, looked down and dropped this torpedo and went across the bay towards the battleships, then they shoot right straight up. And, here come some more, here come some more. So, we stayed behind those. But, every once in a while, they'd drop bombs. They dropped one right alongside of the Rigel, it went up by the bow and one by the fantail and all three of 'em, the shrapnel went through the Rigel. But, they had guys inside, they stopped the water from coming in. And, ah ...
How long did that go on?
I don't know - seemed like to me, hours, but it was just, ah, they made two passes and hit all the battleships and sunk -
Yeah, the Arizona went down.
Oh, the Arizona - that was a pitiful sight. She really went up, and the Maryland that I was aboard, she was down here (demonstrating) and the Oklahoma was outboard, so they torpedoed the Oklahoma and the Oklahoma turned upside down. And, so, ah, the repair crew on the Rigel, they jumped in a motorboat and went over there and climbed up on there and took, and cut holes in the bottom of it, and got a mess of guys out.
Oh, my goodness!
But, these guys on the Arizona, they was down in the bow, and man - the guys told us later they could hear 'em pounding on the bulkhead. I guess they're still down there.
Yeah. I understand, now, that any soldier that, or sailor that dies that was with that group, can arrange to be buried in the Arizona now. They will take his ashes down to be with his guys. Well, did you have anything to do with rescuing bodies from the water?
No, I couldn't - they took us out on a motor launch and the motor launches was pulling out - we had a bunch of them out there, and they was pullin' guys outt' a the water. But they didn't get 'em all.
Well, you hid behind metal, sheets of metal...
Yeah. Because all this strafing was coming down, and it never stopped. 'Cause everybody came through, they was strafing and they' drop a bomb here or there, and three of 'em ...
The three that hit your ship, though, were small eneugh that they could patch it and save it and keep it afloat.
Oh, yeah!
SO, what did you do when it began to calm down? Well, I don't know how long that would have taken. Did you leave the harbor, or stay?
No, no, we was getting new boilers and they had the whole top of our ship cut out, and they hadn't even took the old ones out, yet. We was just getting ready to lift 'em out, so we'd get new boilers. We had the old Scotch type, that you run around with a torch to light. I was up - we went from the coal docks around to Pier 13, and I was one of the guys that they put me down there with a torch ...
With a torch?
And, you watched, the, ah ... ah ... I'm losing my mind.
No, you're not! (Laughing)
(Laughing) ... the leaders and soon as steam went down, you stuck that torch in there and turned the oil on, and bring that pressure back up. If it got a little too high, you shut that off. And, we had, I don't know - one, two, three, four - I think there was six boilers in there. And, one guy'd take care of two boilers. That was something new.
SO, they were going to remove those and put in a new version ... ?
Yeah.
SO, what were the new ones like?
The new ones were automatic, you know,
Oh, I see.
... where you didn't have to light 'em. They'd light theirselves or shut themselves off. When the pressure got so high, they'd shut off.
Much safer. Was the Rigel a WWI ship?
I think it was - yeah, it was way back. At one time, it was a coal ship. They used coal...
Yeah.
Guys down there shoveling coal.
Well, it's a good thing that the Japs didn't hit the fuel tanks on the other side.
Well, they probably had ideas that they could use that fuel, see ...
If they took over ...
... and, where they made the mistake is they shoulda' brought in troops, 'cause they could'a' took that island; but, they didn't.
Big mistake. And, some of the aircraft carriers were out.
Yeah.
They were out of there.
We had one -let's see, one - one or two in the harbor. But, all those battleships, all our battleships was in the harbor.
How long did you stay at Pearl?
We stayed there until April of '42, then we set sail, we went to New Zealand, set up for repair there. And, we stayed there 'til, let's see -late July, then we sailed, we went to Espirito Santo, New Hebrides. And, when we was there, I don't know - it was about the last of July, this sub-chaser came alongside and it was Diesel! And, I liked diesel better than I like steam. So, I volunteered to go aboard the ...
They let you do it?
Oh, yeah, they transferred me right on there with those aviator firemen. And, I was a first class fireman at the time; but, that was on steam. But, I went aboard -
What ship was that?
That was a PC 479. And, ah ... See we patrolled the harbor for a day or two days and we got orders to go to Guadalcanal. That's one ofthe big battles - one of the turning points of the war.
Yeah.
I wish I had those pictures - I got a big board like this that shows all the ships that was sunk. They call it the Iron Bottom Bay.
That's right - the Iron Bottom ...
But we went in there the next morning and as we go up through the canal, there was Japanese up at Savo Island shooting torpedoes down through there hopin' to hit somebody. But, we went up through there and dodged 'em. We got up there, there was several of us. I don't know where they went, but we couldn't get contact on 'em. But, we was sent up there to patrol, had our patrol. There was some, let's see - 479, 478'another PC, and we met there and so we patrolled that. ..
That whole area?
... that whole area there, and there was some tin cans that was left out of that battle, very few. But, that's what this big board shows, where each ship was sunk and where each Japanese ship was sunk; and, you know, we lost more ships in that battle than the Japanese. And, ah ... But we patrolled there and 'bout every morning the Japs would send in a couple of Zeros, which I got a couple of 'em, but the other ships got some of the others.
Were they Kamikazes type-
No, those weren't Kamikazes.
They were just torpedoing.
Kamikazes, they'd come in and they'd try to bomb us. But, you know those PCs was the most movable boats, ships I was ever on. But, it was a thrill!
Yeah!
It was - they should' a called them submarines, instead of submarine chasers! And, then you get in rough seas - they was something else. 'Cause the shorter the destroyer, it was only a hund .... and, lets see, we was 103 feet long, and 60 men crammed on that ship ...
Well, but they were maneuverable -
Oh! You could be goin' along full speed, reverse one engine, and they just almost turned completely around! They just almost - man - another thing they'd do, they'd do 1100degree roll and still come back.
Oh, my! Well, did you ever get to 110 degrees?
Oh, no -
(Laughing) I don't think so!
We got ... (demonstrating)
Ninety?
Halfway -lot of times we hit halfway heeled.
Did you tie yourself to the deck?
I mean, you didn't turn nothing loose! You had ahold'a somthin'!
Hand to hand.
But, they was ...
How long were you in Guadalcanal?
We was there until, let's see - it was after Christmas - we ate hardtack for Christmas.
Is that right?
Yeah, because we couldn't get ships through. Once in a while they'd get one through, and boy, those Marines - they'd unload that thing before it ever got tied up with a single line. They was unbelievable!
Oh, boy. Lookin' for beer?
Oh, yeah, there was beer. But, ah ...
SO, where'd you go after Guadalcanal?
After that, we went to Brisbane, Australia.
Oh, back to Australia. Did you need repairs?
Huh?
Did you need repairs at that time?
No, but we needed it when we got there, because on the way in we hooked onto the Great Barrier with one screw, and just twisted it. (Demonstrating) So, we went in on one screw. Went in, went up the river to Brisbane, and they pulled us up on the beach, and ... changed that. It bent the shaft, too! They pulled that out, put a new shaft in, then a screw on there and-
On your way again.
... slid us back in the river and away we went. We went up to Townsend.
Townsend?
Townsend. And, that - have you ever read any books about the cowboys in the old days?
Oh, yeah. Zane Grey.
In fact, I'm readin' a good Zane Grey right now.
Oh, are you?
Well, we went ashore and it was just like an old time town. They had boards laid out on for sidewalks, it was raining and the streets just mud knee-deep ...
Just like the old west.
Just like the old west - and it wasn't nothing to be walkin' down through there and a guy come flyin' out through the-
Out of the saloon?
... and honestly, they like to fight I think. But, it was funny.
Well, they are about 40 years behind us, you know.
Yeah, and boy they - one would knock one out through there and they'd get out there in that mud, pretty soon "Matey, we've had enough!" And, they'd put their arms around each other, walk back.
Have another beer! (Laughing)
(Laughing) Have another drink. Yeah it was somethin'! Then, we went from there to Port Moresby, New Guinea. When we pulled in, we was two miles from the battle front. And, all you could hear all day long and all night was gunfire.
Shells going off, yeah.
And, then, so we was there a day and a night, and the General John Pope pulled in. She must'a had fifty thousand troops on there.
Oh, my!
I don't know how many, because at the bow, down at the waterline on the side of the ship, had a door open, those guys marchin' outta' there two at a time. And, they had one in the center, two at a time; down here, two at a time, marching outta' there. And, boy, they headed right up the hill towards the battlefront, which was just about two miles from Port Moresby. And, the Japanese was there. And, that's where I got transferred and sent back to the states, because I'd be over there almost two years, see, from the time ....
From the time you got in.
Yeah, from the time I went over.
Okay. And, they had a point system, I know, that they kind'a kept track of everybody.
Yeah, they - it pays them to send you back to the states.
Rotate you.
So, I came back, they sent me back - I was supposed to go to Diesel School. So, I got back on the General John Pope we went into San Francisco.' Then, they sent me to San Pedro to Diesel School. We was in there and everything going fine, two and a half days, eleven o'clock on the third day, this guy come through the door, handed my instructor a note, he read it, he said, "Mulligan!"
Now, what'd ya' do?
"Yeah, what'ya need?" He says, "The Exec wants to see you!" (Laughing) I was wondering then, I said, "What'd I do now?"
Yeah, what - you're in some kind'a trouble!
He said, "We're trying to start a new .... " To Alameda, to the USS Ordinance, he says, "You're going to have to help put in information". I said, "Well, what about my schooling?" He says, "We figure you're experienced enough" and all that. I'd been on the PC just six months - I made 2nd Class, I went past 3rd Class, to 2nd Class to skip above, I think. And, that's the only thing, the only experience I had. (Laughing)
Well, but you, after six months, you probably could'a taught the class on Diesel. I mean, you were interested in it anyway.
I studied ... they had books aboard - I studied 'em real hard. And, ah ...
Well, now, was this the ship you were gonna' go in Alameda - was it a new ship just being ...
Yeah, it was settin' up on the beach; they was still weldin' it together.
Was that - they didn't make 'em in Alameda, did they?
Yeah, they made 'em right there!
Oh, 'cause I know they did in Portland.
Right on the beach. They put that iron together right there, right on the beach. And, so we settled there, we -
Where'd you go?
Oh, we went out on maneuvers, and shakedown, they called it.
Yeah, a shakedown cruise.
And, after that - Pearl Harbor.
Back to Pearl.
And, we went to Pearl Harbor from there. And, let's see - it's hard to remember. But, anyway, we was - they sent us on patrol, or, ah, escort with'seven ship - I think, there's the history of it right there.
Okay, I'll take that with me.
That is the history of the Ardent.
It says, 'February 20th, 1943, Alameda'. And, so, you were an escort ship, then?
Well, we were everything. It's a minesweeper's, what it is.
Oh, I see. Well, tell me about it. I don't want to read it, I want to hear what you say!
We escorted convoys back to the states. This one trip, we got contact - we had seven ships we was escorting. This one trip, we got contact on Japanese ship, sub. It was the 1112, who later the Japanese admitted that that was it. It tells you all that in there. (Pointing to the papers he's submitting) And, so, the Rockford, she broke off - she was helping escort - and between the two of us we finally sunk it. It was a big one! It was one of their long range. One of the biggest the Japanese had. And, ah, I don't know - it took us a coupla' hours to sink it. And, finally we got a bunch of debris and stuff. Oh, well, we went on our way ...
Was there a lot of joy and elation when you, when stuff would come up and we'd say, "We finally got it!"
No ...
Did you yell, and holler and be glad, or was it kinda' sad ...
No, none of that, it just - everything seemed just quiet x
Nobody shooting at you.
No, no, nobody shootin' at us, but if that sub had ever got above water and got on our guns, it, ah, 'cause we only had a three-inch on our bow. And, I don't know what size gun they had, but I gather it was a pretty good size.
Pretty big ones, I suspect.
It was bigger'n what we had, I think. And, if she'd ever got up, and got head on our guns, we'd'a had a hard time of it. Well, what we would'a done is ram it.
You would, huh?
That's the only thing you could do - ram it.
Hmmm. Was the front of the, the bow of the ship built to withstand that?
It's stand, it certainly might stand it, and it might not.
But, it's a last-ditch effort. That's all...
That's all the bulkheads, and everything. Everything was closed tight for that.
SO, after that encounter, where did you head? Did you go back to Australia again, or New Zealand.
Oh, no, no.
Never again?
I never got to Australia again. But, from there, we did escort duty certain places. Then, Iwo Jima, we got orders and then Ulithi, we formed a transfer, a convoy. We had a little over 800 ships in that, to go to Iwo Jima. So we went to Iwo Jima -
You didn't carry troops, though, did you?
No, no we didn't. Well, we did later, we had took some high officials in Hiroshima, but -lets' see, where was I...?
SO, getting ready to go to Iwo Jima you were an escort ...
Yeah. NAVY-WWII
.. .for the convoy. But, you weren't armed to really be in battle, though, were you?
Well, we had a three inch gun, we had us a twenty millimeters; we had one of those 'Pom-Poms' - that's for aircraft. We was set up pretty good for aircraft; but, not real combat.
Not like a destroyer.
No. And, but when we went to Iwo Jima, we was there eight days before they ever brought the troops in.
While they were bombing the island?
Oh, bombing!!! Millions and millions oftons of ammunition hit that island, anddwhat was it? Didn't do a thing!
No, they were all underground.
All underground, like ants. But, boy - when them boys hit that beach! We was escorting all these boats with troops in 'em, and we was - we'd go along and keep 'em to the right of Suribachi, because if they went around this way, no place to get on the beach. Only from here, up here. (Demonstrating) So, we'd keep 'em over so they'd hit the beach. So, we'd go in so far, then we'd turn around, come back, get in line, do it again. Oh, man, seemed like millions of boats! And, as they'd hit the beach and the Japs would mow 'em down like mowin' corn.
Yeah ...
You could see 'em over there - they was just stacked up on each other.
Yeah, and the medics had a horrible time, too. HARROLD: Yeah.
That was a horrible thing to watch.
He has nightmares, yet!
Were you getting fired on, on the ship?
Oh, yeah, constantly. Because we was in there cuttin' them mines loose. We had to cut the mines loose, all the way around that island, we cut all the mines. And, they was firing at us all the time.
Yeah, to keep you from doing that.
Fortunate, we didn't get hit. And, in there, then we pulled outta' there, we hooked on to a ship that was damaged and towed it - I forget where we towed it, but we towed it over, NAVY-WWII then we came back, we picked up mail, and came back. Then, after that we got ready for, we formed a task force in route, and went to Okinawa. We was there three days before they ever brought troops in there. And, we went into Buckner Bay and we was, 'cause that's where they was gonna' land the troops in there, and we went in sweeping. And, one of our ships, the Skylark, she hit a mine, one that was set shallow. Because with these mine sweeps you gotta' go over 'em, before you can get paravanes to come cut 'em loose. And, she hit this one, so we backed out, slacked off on our cables and we picked up 19 of the boys - they all didn't get off, but they was quite a few of 'em that got off. We got 19 and the other ships was in there, they got whatever boys that was in the water.
Did you see that happen right in front of you?
Yeah.
Were they ahead of you and they went on the beach and ...
Yeah, and we - they was one of those mines scraped right alongside of ours, ship; but, it didn't break one of those bubbles. See, they've got little bubbles on 'em. If you break one of them ...
Kaplooey!
But, it scraped right alongside. And, we had a colored kid - he was about, I think, six, seven feet tall- and just slim, like this. Pretty funny, and he was 'goosey'. Ifya'd touch him, he'd start swingin'! It was just, he couldn't help it. And them guys would go up and touch him
Poke him?
... some of 'em got, they'd get knocked flat. But, he was up on the bridge and I think his eyeballs was stickin' this far out! He was watching that mine pull alongside that ship. And, I was in the engine room.
While that happened, you were down below?
I was in, I was the only one in the engine room, was on the throttle, it was DiesellElectric, and I was on the throttle with earphones. That way you didn't have to wait for 'em to ring a bell, they'd tell you -
Instantly. NAVY-WWII
Just like that! (Snapping fingers) And, you gave it to 'em - throttles, or reverse or whatever they wanted. And, then I came up and they told me about it. Funny feeling. Then, at night we was parked and anchored in there, all of us, and, these Kamikazes - they said they sent 60 a night out. I don't know how true that was, but it seemed like it. But, they'd hit, get 'em a ship every once in a awhile, they'd hit one. And, I seen one hit this carrier one nighttright onto the deck, the flight deck? Boy, it blowed and they was all loaded, and as I understand, they was told, "Don't come back".
Yeah, they had extra fuel on board ...
And, then one night I walked up, and I'd just got of~watch, and this kamikaze was comin' straight at us - it'll tell you in there - comin' straight at us, and everybody was firin', and all of a sudden I see him coming - he looks - I tell ya', it's a funny feelin'!
OH, it's terrible! (shivering)
To see something like, 'cause you know ΓΈ
You know what's coming!
You know what's coming. And, all of a sudden, they'd got him! They got 'em. And, there was another one came at us like that - I didn't see it but the boys was tellin' me about it. But that - and then we left there, that's when Truman dropped his bomb on Hiroshima. And, we went - we picked up some Army guys, and took 'em in there.
You went to Hiroshima?
Hiroshima, yeah. We went in there. And, you know all that radiation - but at the time, no one thought anything about it.
They didn't know at that time.
And, but we took 'em in there.
Did you get off the ship?
No, I had the duty, thank goodness! But, one of my buddies brought me back a rifle and a box of ammunition.
Oh, great!
You know, I took that home with me, I don't know what ever happened to it - I think my brother got it. I think my brother got that.
How long were you there, in Hiroshima? NAVY-WWII
We was just there just a few hours.
Oh, you didn't stay in the area ...
We got outta' there. We went back to Okinawa and that's when, that, ah, typhoon blew east ...
Oh, yeah.
It hit there.
Can you hold one second? I'm going to turn over the tape.
Okay. PLEASE FAST FORWARD AND TURN OVER THE TAPE
So, now you left Hiroshima area and went back to Okinawa?
Yeah.
And, what was the purpose of that? What were you doing?
Oh, I guess, kind-of, you know, clean up or escort ships outta' there. 'Cause we had a lotta' ships. But, typhoon blew our ship.
That's right. That's what you were going to tell me.
So, there was seven of us - minesweepers. And, we had orders to go get out of there. And, we just did - we got out. We went with the storm and we was out about a day or two, and we got orders to come back. When we turned, we was in waves 40 feet high at that time, but we got orders to come back. 'Cause we was up, and we was down. When we turned, when we turned around, we did a 42Q roll, and that ship when we tested it at Alameda, it was only good for a 45Q!
Wow! That close!
That was close. I mean, we was over there!
Forty-two one direction, and then back 42 the other? I mean, it must have come back and gone down as well.
Oh, you come back, you leveled out - not really. You was still tilted. But, you wasn't doing that - that's when we turned. The ripple hit us - NAVY - WWII
Well, were you headed into the wind going back?
We was headed into the storm, and we went back to Okinawa.
Why'd they want you to come back?
Oh, I guess for escort duty. We did a lot of escort duty. And, when all we got back, here's ships layin' on the beach; I saw one patrol, and it was washed all the way up on the beach on its side. Let see - what did we lose - 266 ships, I think it was. I think that's the number it was. That one book I had told the whole story, and I don't know what happened to that book.
Everybody that was over there at that time, talks about "Louise". And anybody out on the water got caught in it.
Oh, they was guys stacked up on the beach - by the hundreds that got drowned out here and they'd drift up on the beach. The water just stacked 'em up and they had the Army step out there pickin' 'em up when we come back. It was a awful sight!
Horrible.
So, then we came -let's see, where did we go from there? Oh, from there we went outta' Kobe, Japan, we picked up a convoy of these small mine sweepers - wooden ones.
Wooden ones?
Yeah. They didn't pull much water, see, and they could get in close to the beach?
Yeah.
And, like at Iwo Jima? Man, the shells would hit 'em and all you'd see was legs and arms and boards - they just blew 'em outta' the water. They's all wood and - anyway, we was out at Okinawa, and we got orders to go on to Kobe and we picked up this convoy. I don't know, it was 10 or 12 of 'em. We's to take 'em back to Pearl. And, there was another ship that was helpin' us, and that. And, we was goin' along, and we got word that there's a tidal wave comin! About a four footer!
That's big enough! (Laughing) Whew!
So, the captain signaled all of 'em to turn around and head in to it, 'cause it was gettin' close. And, they was one of 'em that didn't get turned around. When it hit -
Did it hit it sideways?
No, he hit it straight ahead, but he caught that one sideways or something and, but by gosh, it didn't bother us at all.
You just went right through it, didn't you?
Oh, yeah. We just ...
Were you down below? Drivin' the thing? (Laughing)
Oh, some - not all the time. Sometimes I'd have the 'watch'. When you had the 'watch', you had to watch. and you couldn't be up drinking coffee or settin' somewhere gambling - (laughing) - or playing cards. And, ah ...
SO, you weren't in the area when Japan signed the surrender? You never got in that area.
No, I think, ah ...
Was that Subic Bay where they did that?
Yeah, I think..J don't know.
Up in the Philippines?
We was - I don't know, we took that convoy, we went to Pearl. I guess that was - I guess that was signed while we was on the way, and I was prob'ly takin' those boys to Pearl.
SO, now, did you, when you got to Pearl, then - 'cause we're getting near the end of the war-time, did you go, you went back to Pearl just temporarily, and then on to another assignment, or what happened?
We went to Pearl, took all those minesweepers to Pearl, then we got orders to go on to San Francisco. Let's see - San Francisco ....
Were you discharged in San Francisco?
That's when I got transferred 'cause I got in a little trouble aboard ship ...
Oh, yeah? You wanna'-
... and I went to my captain, and got transferred.
You wanna' tell us about that? C'mon! What'd you do?
There was a Chief aboard, and him and I didn't see eye to eye.
I see! Umhmmm.
At one time I had him over the side ...
Oh!
... and it was on a Sunday. We was aboard ship and I had the duty. And, the chief, he was aboard. Why, I don't know - he was odd. I was a First Class Motor Machinist Mate, he was Chief. And, we was all settin' down below, along the side, and he blasted off that, "Oh, he could whip that Mulligan in nothin' flat". The next HE knew, he was on the side and had me by the shirt, and somebody up on top, said, "Bring him back aboard, Mulligan!" And, I looked up and there was the skipper.
Whooops! Oh, dear.
Well, the skipper knew that me and the chief was havin' trouble. So, I drug him back aboard and about 30 minutes later, I went up and knocked on the captain's door, which is a 'no-no'.
Oh!
You're supposed to get permission your Engineering Officer to go to the Exec, and get permission from the Exec to see the Skipper.
Certain channels you have to go through.
Yeah - the heck with them channels! (Everyone's laughing) I knocked, I went in and I told him, I says, "Captain". I says, "I didn't get permission to come and see you." I says, "I never got it"! 'Cause the Exec, he was kind of a funny joker, too. He'd never approved it. But, anyway, I told him, I says, "Is there any way possible that I can get transferred off this ship before I get in trouble?" And, he knew what I meant, you know. And, so he said, "Well", he says, "I'll go over to COMPAC tomorrow and see what I can do." He come back that afternoon and send word he wanted to see me. He said, "You're being transferred to the Buttress", which was just tied up right into the end. And, it was actually the same as what I was on.
It's called the Bettress?
The Buttress. And, so, I went aboard the Buttress. We went to, ah - where's Seattle up there. I can never think of the ....
Are you thinking like Fort Lewis, or ....
Huh?
Are you thinking of a particular place in Seattle?
It's across the bay.
Well, Alameda is across from San Francisco.
That's in San Francisco - this is Seattle.
Well, I don't know.
I was thinking 'bout it this morning - had it on my mind.
Vancouver?
Maybe it'll come to you ...
Anyway, we went up there, we put the Buttress out of commission, I was transferred to the LST 997 - I helped put it outta' commission. Soon as that was over, I got orders to go to San Diego. So they sent me to San Diego and I got discharged, and here I am!
Well, at one point, you said something about being in Eniwetok.
Eniwetok. That was after I got discharged in 1951, or 1950, September they called me back to service.
Okay, so after you were discharged, did you stay in the Reserves?
I had no choice.
I see.
They put me right in - I was regular Navy, and when I got out, they put me in reserve. I had no choice.
SO, you got called up again, then, in 19 ....
So, they called me back, and they needed me like they needed a hole in their head. But, anyway, they sent me to San Francisco - anyway, what they did at Treasure Island, they wouldn't let me off the island. I had a truck over in, my truck over in San Francisco, my wife was over there - they wouldn't let me go over and make arrangements to get rid of my truck, for nothin'! Finally, here's another one. I pulled another one on this one, I guess he was a commander. I went and told him my story, he says "Tomorrow, you go take care of your business over there". He says "Anybody says anything, tell 'em to call me!"
Oh! Good for him!
So, I did. Then I went to San Diego. They sent me to Tora ... ah, over, where was it, Tornado, Toranado?
Toronado?
Toronado. There was three hundred people in all, and they talked to all of us and they went through and they picked 10 men for this LSM, 10 men for this LSM, and picked Mulligan for this one. I was the Engineering Officer for the LSM and Executive Officer. So, took all three of these LSMs and we went aboard the *Cabildo.
I'm sorry, what?
The Cabildo.
Okay.
Which is a floating dry dock.
Oh.
You never seen anything, so - we put all three these LSMs in thatt
Really.
She sunk down in the water, we drove 'em in, she closed the doors and pumped the water out and we was in there settin' high and dry! We sailed, and went to Eniwetok.
I never heard of such a thing.
That's it! She stayed there all the time we was there.
What happened there.
Hmm?
What happened there?
She was parked out here, and that's when we got all, went and got our supplies. And, 'cause we was 10 men. We had a cook and everything. Man, we had the best cook there, and we eat the best. And, ah, all three of us did, all three LSMs. And, we run ferry duty. One'd leave, say 5 o'clock in the morning; and one'd leave at 6; and we'd leave at 7. We wrote up whatever was going up to these islands up here. See up here is where's they was building that for the big bomb.
Umhmm.
And they had these other little islands, and that's where we set off the three little ones. But, we'd take gasoline trucks, bulldozers, cranes, backhoes - 'cause they was taken this stuff outta' the sea and they'd stack it up. So, we set the three little ones off. And, we run this every day! Twenty-six miles from Eniwetok to the atoll up here where we was gonna' set the big one. We stopped - sometimes we'd stop at all these little islands, whatever island we had stuff for.
How much did you know about what was going to happen?
We KNEW!
You knew what was gonna' happen?
Oh, yeah! We'd set the first one off - nobody thought anything 'bout it.
Did you stand there and watch it?
Oh, yeah. I seen every bone in that hand. (indicating his right hand)
Oh, boy.
That's been that was for 40 years. Not that bad p
Your nail.
But, it's gradually getting worse and worse.
Yeah. How 'bout your sight? Did it-
I lost this eye.
Did 'ya?
Yeah, I only got one eye. But, you never seen anything so bright in your life. But, these little ones, they wasn't bad, they wasn't.
But, the smaller ones were atomic ...
They was atomic, but they had little test deals.
Yeah.
Like firecrackers! We called 'em firecrackers.
Little poofs.
But, when this big one went off, that was something else.
And, you weren't looking at that, were you?
Yeah, I seen it.
They didnt' tell you to turn your back?
Oh, they -
They did but you didn't do it!!
That I will tell'ya.
Oh, my.
And, but I looked at my hand - I seen all those bones. I've got VFW books. One of these guys over here in the Nevada desert. This book I was tellin' about - his buddy was standin' up in front of him when they set one of them off, he says, "I seen ever bone in his body!" (Laughing)
Oh, my gosh.
Yeah, it's all wrote up. Big story, though.
Well, that was not where they set off the hydrogen bomb, is it? Eniwetok was all atom.
That was - at the time, that was the biggest bomb we'd ever set off. It was even bigger than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Yeah.
It was the biggest. And, it...Well, after that, I don't know, I guess it might have been the next year or two, they set off one at -
I can't think of the name, either.
I had it just before ...
Just before I ...
But, anyway, it was the biggest.
They put that one up on a tower.
All of ' em was up on towers.
Oh, was it the same as the atomic bomb?
Some of 'em a couple hundred feet up. I know that one at Eniwetok, I think it was a couple hundred feet up.
How long were you in that area?
We weren't allowed on the beach.
Did you swim in the water?
No! We did down by Eniwetok. It's twenty-six miles away where you swim down there. But, after we set offthis first little one, that all ended. They told us "Stay outta' the water".
The water was what? What was the water doing?
The water was boiling. It didn't boil on the little ones, but it boiled on the big one. Side of our ship, it was just, it was boiling! And, here's the Cabildo settin' out here, way out there, and the boiling around it - and a couple other ships out there.
Frightening thought.
And, here we goin', we go right into the, right into the cloud where it was set off. And, we lived in that 'bout six months.
You were there that long?
Yeah. Well, from when they set it off - April, until after Christmas off
'51
'52,51. Well, '51, I guess.
And, they - didn't they - you had to have supplies come in over a six months period; food and provisions of all kinds that would have been radioactive, I think..
Yeah.
... that you were handling.
Everything you, we handled was radioactive.
Including YOU!
And, nobody thought anything about it.
No, we didn't know.
And, here they tell us that ...
You're fine.
Yeah ...
SO, after that six months, did you get to go home, then?
Yeah. Yeah, we came back to the states and I got discharged out, and I don't know, couple years later, you know, you notice little things like your eyesight is dimmin'.
Did your hair fall out?
Hmm?
Did your hair, did you lose your ...
Oh, yeah, it gradually - everything came on gradual. I lost all my teeth real fast.
He had good ????teeth before that.
Well, Patrick was born before that.
Yeah, he was born after I came back from WWII.
Yeah. So, he was not affected. Because, a lot of guys had children that were affected.
Patrick was a great big guy - big as he was, I guess.
No, when I came back, I was sterile when I came back.
Were you?
Yeah. So, it-
SO, you're duty in the service was over, then, by '52?
Yeah.
Never called back again?
No, if I had, I think I'd told 'em to go jump in the lake!
What did you after you got out of the service?
I went back in, finally got back in the trucking business.
And, how did you get to Redmond?
She brought me here.
Oh, it's all her fault!
He liked, some of the story, he liked Oregon.
Oh, yeah. I, ah .. 1 went to drive in San Francisco, mostly for Disalvo, and ah then, I ah .. 1 came to Oregon. I worked on a farm, and ...
Well, you've got a really nice place here. I want to thank you very much for this interview.
Anyway, I came to Oregon; I worked on a farm in Albany ...
Oh, I see.
...for Willard McClagen.
For whom?
Willard McClagen. And, but anyway, then it came wintertime, Willard got me a job at Mayflower moving furniture. One day I was there, Russ G. - he was a manager of the seven northwestern states for North American Van Lines. And, him and Bud was talking and Bud said, "Mulligan!" He introduced me to him, he says, "Why don't you go to work for North American Van Lines?" I says, "I haven't got the money", 'cause you have to buy your own truck.
Oh, yeah.
"Ah", he says, "You'll figure it out." And, I did. But Russ told us, "Go up and see my buddy" - anyway the dispatcher in Portland. So, I went up and seen him, and he got a - a guy down the street had one ofthem little deals where you put a quarter in 'em and get a picture. You had to have a picture -
Oh, get a picture.
I went in and put a quarter in there, got a picture, took it back and he asked me a few questions, and we filled out an application. He says, "We'll be in touch." In 'bout two weeks he called me, and I went. Fort Wayne, went to school...
Fort Wayne, Indiana?
Yeah, I went to school a few days, they sent me out with a guy, student run. We was gone about a week, come back and I got the best recommendation a man could ever ask for.
So, I bought me a truck. I went to work for North American Van Lines. June 1st. One week I was on the East Coast, next week I was on the West. Back and forth.
Packin' furniture.
Back and forth, back and forth. (Laughing)
Okay. So, we will give you a copy of this tape and we'll type it up so you'll have a copy you can read and one you can hear. And, we'll send the original to the Library of Congress. How's that? You're going to be very famous! Thank you!