Anaheim Masonic Lodge No. 207

Inactive Duty, 1943 to 1945

I was sworn in as a Cadet, U.S. Maritime Service, Reserve, Inactive and midshipman, U.S. Navy, Reserve, Inactive in early March, 1943 at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.

My training was in engineering and various Navy courses. Life at the Academy was strictly military, including getting up at 5:45 A. M. for exercises and in bed at 10:00 P.M.

Classes were from 8:00 A.M. to 5:00 P. M., Monday through Friday, with compulsory study 7:00 to 9:45 P.M. six nights a week. I left the Academy in June, 1943 for assignment to a ship for six months of sea training.

I was assigned to a troop transport carrying 4,000 troops. My first scare happened 3 days out of New York, when I saw the periscope of a German submarine about 200 yards behind my ship. Nothing happened. We were in "torpedo alley", the route traveled by troop and supply ships traveling from the U.S. to Great Britain and return. German wolf packs (submarines) lay in wait to sink the ships.

We took another 4,000 troops to Tunisia, North Africa. We were bombed and strafed in the Mediterranean Sea but, fortunately, the German's aim was bad. We returned to New York, loaded another 4,000 troops and sailed to England. The troops were off-loaded and we took on a load of Canadian troops. We joined a fast troop and supply convoy and headed for Italy. We didn't get there. I saw the first ship blow up at 6:05 P.M. on Nov. 6, 1943. I saw a German plane headed for us five minutes later. He got us with an aerial torpedo. No troops were lost or injured, but five Merchant Marine crewmembers, including a 72 year old man, lost their lives. We transferred our troops in lifeboats to another troop transport. A large number of ships were lost. We were transported by truck and train to Casablanca, Morocco where we waited for return to the U.S.

After short survival leave, I was assigned to a supply ship where we made an uneventful trip to Egypt and return in April, 1944. I had completed my six months of sea training and was ready to return to the Academy, but I was told that I had to make one more trip. I was assigned to a fast supply ship. I made a few more crossings through torpedo alley and was then transferred to a tanker ship carrying 5,300,000+ gallons of high-octane aviation gasoline. Another round trip through torpedo alley. That was scary if you thought about it.

Finally, after 16 months at sea, I was sent back to the Academy in Oct., 1944, where I graduated on Dec. 22, 1944 as an Ensign, U.S. Maritime Service, Reserve, Inactive and as a licensed Marine Engineer. I was then sent to San Francisco, CA for assignment.

I was assigned to a Navy invasion troop transport that had just returned from an eleven-month voyage with three invasions in the Pacific and needed extensive repairs. The repair work was completed, a large Merchant Marine crew and a larger Navy crew came aboard. The Army troops were loaded and we departed for the Philippines. We returned to San Francisco just as it was announced that Japan had surrendered.

Official records show that I had 450+ days in the combat zones of the Atlantic, Mediterranean-Middle East and Pacific. That was all inactive duty. I've often wondered what active duty would have been like!

By Br. P. Dale Johnson