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World War II Masonic Veteran - Part III |
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 What would a bunch of Marine Masons meet about during a "Square and Compass" meeting every week, in a Quonset hut on an Island in the middle of WW II?
The first order of business was to introduce the new members, have them sign the register and receive their membership card. A speaker and music by a band made up of service men from various units were always on hand for entertainment. My favorite speaker was a New Zealand major, who in civilian life was a barrister. While on Guadalcanal, he was the officer in charge of a detail of native Fijian Island scouts. Most of the meetings, from the clubs inception and through mid October 1943, were brought to an end by "Washing Machine Charley" dropping his payload of bombs before heading back home to Bougainville.
The whole island knew we were getting ready to liberate Guam, so in May of 1944, a motion was presented to have a steak fry. The argument started. Someone mentioned that a refrigerator ship landed loaded with beef from Australia. Most of the outfits on Guadalcanal didn't have the means to cook and no way to refrigerate or handle such a large ration of meat. Whenever we received beef, in one form or the other, it was served as a main course three times a day. Getting tired of all the red meat, someone suggested that we have a fish fry at our weekly meeting.
A Navy Lieutenant jumped up and volunteered to furnish the fish. He and his crew, all members of the Square and Compass Club, would sail every Tuesday from Tulagi to Guadalcanal to attend one of our meetings. For them, he said, it would be no problem to pick up a load of fish on the way.
The fish fry idea was voted on, seconded and passed. The Navy would provide and Gunner Wilkerson volunteered the Marine Corps to clean the fish. A joint exercise! The following Tuesday morning, we arrived at the Lunga docks just as instructed. Here we witnessed a PT boat docking and loaded to the gunnels with tuna. I asked one of the sailors how they were able to catch so many fish so quickly. The sailor explained that they just dropped a depth charge and there they were, hundreds, maybe thousands of pounds of fresh tuna. A Navy chief cook picked the fish he wanted and showed us what to do and we went to work cleaning fish.
That evening, as we were driving to the club for the fish fry, a Jeep pulled up alongside of us and motioned for us to stop. In the Jeep was General Lemuel C. Shepherd, who later became Commandant of the Marine Corps, and his driver. The General wanted to know if we were going to the fish fry and if they could follow us.
In our clubhouse was a table the full length of the building filled with food. On the end of the table were several large piles of fried fish and next to that a large container of potato salad. That was the first potato salad I had seen since leaving the states. It's very difficult to make a salad with dehydrated potatoes but they made it happen. The fish and the salad were the work of the 46th Seabee battalion galley. Next to the salad were loaves of French bread, a gift from the Navy 4th Specialist group, keepers of the only bakery on the Island... From the bread left off to the other end of the table were every kind of condiment possible, mayonnaise, mustard, catsup, pickles of all sorts, a platter of sliced lemons and malt vinegar, all from Australia. Things it had been quite a while since we last saw. At the end of the table were two large GI cans, one filled with beer and chipped ice and the other lemon aide, chipped ice and fresh lemons slices floating on top. The beer was flown in on an Army transport from Hawaii.
The entertainment for the evening was a swing band directed by a Catholic Chaplin. The speaker for the evening was also the Chaplin. One thing I'll always remember about the Chaplin's presentation was when he said, "If it wasn't for the Vatican and the rules of my church, I would ask for membership in your fraternity."
Jack Hoag |
