World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Italy--Sicily

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy

Landing craft

Icebreakers (Ships)

V-1 bomb

Ford Model T automobile

Lamborn, Charles Alonzo, 1912-1987

LST-309 (Ship)

LST-158 (Ship)

Philadelphia (Cruiser : CL-41)

Boxer (Aircraft carrier : CV-21)

Vulcan (Repair ship : AR-5)

United States. Army. Infantry Division, 3rd

https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do-th:geh_vhpohr_402

fix was split pea soup. I can't stand the sight of that stuff. But most of it was just general…naturally I wasn't on a war ship. I was on a landing ship. Our job was landing troops and supplies. The fact of clearing that six…we didn't really realize the importance of carrying sixteen tons of ammunition and high-test gasoline to Sicily till we seen that ship get hit. And then everybody turned out to unload that stuff. We didn't have no trouble getting that unloaded. Naturally, we had a regular run of submarines and things like that, but submarines that…or I guess they'd already found out they couldn't do much with an LST because they had such a shallow draft. We ran into a lot of Frenchmen and…now, when we went to Normandy, each time we'd go to Normandy, we'd bring back…right after the landing we brought back paratroopers, you know, that…a lot of them had missed their mark and all. And then other times we brought back German prisoners and things that they carried that we had captured from them. We brought them back to England. We went up one side of England and down the other. We just…[inaudible] time. Interviewer: Actually, let me ask you…talk about having Germans and I'd like to ask this question for the English, French and the Germans. What was your impressions of each? Bishop: Well, I didn't have any close contact with the Germans other than when they were prisoners of war. But I know one thing, the Englishmen were…they were good sailors, good fighters and…we never had much personal contact, but you know, working and the things that they accomplished during the landing at Normandy and clearing out the coast of France over there and all. They…I respect them for that. They were good fighters. Naturally, we worked with some British troops, you know. We carried British troops sometimes like we carried American. Now we went to…they sent us to Gold Beach on the trip and we had to take the British. They were either the British and the Canadians, or one of them. We had to take them off of Le Havre Beach because the Germans had…I mean, off of Gold Beach because the Germans had them zeroed in with those eighty-eight guns and we went in there and evacuated them off of that beach. And there were a lot of exciting times along. It wasn't just constantly going and coming. I remember one time we were going down the coast to Cherbourg and there was a…had a destroyer as an escort. And most of it was quiet that far down and we passed a little peninsula stuck out in the water and the Germans had a gun emplacement there. And they started firing and the destroyer escort fired back. Well, finally the Germans hit the back of that destroyer. It hit the water level. Didn't do a whole lot of damage. But that skipper of that thing turned that thing and nosed it in at that peninsula and fired everything he had at it and blowed [sic] that peninsula out of the water. [laughs] That was really amusing. Naturally we were on the ship. We were watching it all. We carried twenty millimeters and forty millimeters and for the…the Mediterranean operation we had one three-inch gun. But I don't think we ever…we didn't learn how to shoot that three inch. [laughs] We couldn't depend on it anyway. Interviewer: The…an LST is landing ship tank? Bishop: Yeah. Interviewer: Did you ever carry any tanks? Bishop: Carried tanks constantly. One time we carried…they said they were the secret weapon. And they had them covered up. Didn't nobody get to see them. But I think it was a tank that floated. And we went up the Thames River. Let's see…the Thames in France? Unknown: Thames [pronounces Tims]. Bishop: Thames River, yeah. We went up the Thames River to some [inaudible] France. Way up inland and carried those tanks. When we started to come back the tide was going out and the tide in that river was so strong and it was so narrow that we couldn't make all the turns in that thing. We had to go…we reversed the engines all the way down that river. That was…when that tide went out over there, buddy, it went out. [laughs] I'm telling you. We had a lot of submarines tried to break into the convoy, but usually the depth charges and all from the escorts took care of them, so undoubtedly [inaudible] one submarine. They weren't too active in the English Channel at that time. Now when the [inaudible] started coming over from Germany…the first one we seen, we were going up the English Channel. We could see it, but didn't know what it was. Looked like a little small airplane or something, you know, making a heck of a noise. And so we asked the captain could we fire on it. We went to general quarters and I asked him if we could fire on it. He said, “No, sir”. He wouldn't let us fire on it. But we didn't know what it was, you know. We thought it was a plane. And then we made all them runs with them coming up and down there. One time we were going across a yard in Pillsbury Dock on the Thames there and we were just out messing around more or less, just looking around. We were in the dock at Pillsbury. And there was a bunch of English fellas sitting over there eating their lunch. And one of the [inaudible] come over, and me and the boy that was with me, we ran and jumped up on the box car. You know, and it didn't even phase them. They didn't look like they thought nothing about it. And we jumped up under that box car. And when we come out they were just a laughing. [Inaudible] laughing at. Come to find out that box car was loaded with ammunition. [laughter] Interviewer: Sounds like you had a lot of close calls. Bishop: We had a lot of time it's…look back on it it's funny, you know, in memories. But… Interviewer: Would you use the word fun to describe some of your experiences in the war? Bishop: Oh sure. Some of it was. Some of it was fun. And you know, we were over there two and a half years on that tour of duty. The LST…the word was that the LST was made for ninety days. That's all they cared about using it for ninety days. And that was the landing at Sicily. And when they made the landing at Sicily it worked so good they decided to keep it. And then they made the landing at Salerno and behind the lines at Anzio. And then they carried it to Normandy. It worked so good they carried it to Normandy. And all together that ninety days wound up being two and half years. That's how long we were over there on that tour of duty. Interviewer: That's a good while. Bishop: It sure is. Half of that time you didn't have no liberty and what you did have was in those African towns down there, you know. We had…finally we got over to Italy. We had some pretty fine [inaudible] there. Now they had a big…in Palermo, Sicily, it was just a little round harbor like that and they got a bunch of ships in there at one time. And we were on our way to there and the Germans sent dive bombers in there and they come over the mountain. And that little old harbor down there, so many ships that it couldn't maneuver. They come around, they were cutting out power lines and stern lines trying to get out of there. It was a big mess. I don't know if people in America read much about it or not, but they lost two or three ships in that thing…were hit. And we were…I guess maybe we were half a bay from there. Interviewer: Talk about people in America hearing things, when you were on board the ship, or actually anytime during the war, how much information did you have as to what was going on and what you were…your ship was doing? Bishop: Well, really more…the most information we got was from the ship itself. We didn't, you know…everything was quiet then. Hush-hush. We didn't get a whole lot of news on there. I know in Palermo, Sicily, I mean in Mercado [phonetic], Sicily, when that landed…the soldiers went in there and pushed Italians and what Germans were there on out. So we went over and looked over the town and all. And there was one…one fella there found a tape…not a tape player…a record player and a radio, console set. And some way or another he bargained for it, brought it back aboard the ship and it had a bunch of Italian records and one American record. It was going on, on that record. We wore that thing down into the pad there. [laughing] Interviewer: Did you get, on your leave, did you get ashore as often as you would have like? Bishop: Well, our skipper was real lenient. Anytime he thought it was safe and he could, he let us ashore. Now I think actually we got more than most ships cause like I say, usually you get a man that came up through the ranks. He's been through it all. He knows. And every chance he got, if he figured it was safe, he would let us go ashore. And of course, he put limits on it. We could…you know, around the docks and all. We had to be close to the ship in case we had to leave in a hurry. Usually LSTs didn't have to leave in too big a hurry [laughing] because they…but I…really and truly, looking back on it, I wouldn't have missed it for nothing. Interviewer: So you'd do it again? Bishop: Yeah. But [laughing] I don't know. After I got married, all that was…I forgot all that then. But I would have actually…I'd intended to make a career out of the Navy when I went in. While I was stationed in Charleston I met my wife and we got married and then…that put a halt to that. Interviewer: Well, let's see. We've got about an hour on tape if you're comfortable with that. I know I don't want to keep you too long. It'll wear you out. I could keep…personally, I could keep you here all day. Bishop: Well, anything that you want to know that I know I'll tell you. Of course, it's been fifty years. I forget a lot of dates and probably… Interviewer: Well, one thing that's good too, we've got your information here as other things come up, you know, [inaudible] get you in here again too, just to do a follow up. We do that sometimes. But the questions I've had you've answered pretty much all of them and then some. [paper noise] So, that's it. Like I said, if you've got anything else. Bishop: Well, let's say as far as I know…I know that Japanese…on the Korean part of it? That Japanese icebreaker that we got there, all of the writing was in Russian. All the writing was in Russian. No, you didn't know…didn't have the pipelines, you know, they hang tags usually what the lines are. We'd be in engineering down in that…in that engine room trying to figure out which was our oil line and which was the water lines [laughs]. That kept me busy for quite a while. But when they rushed me off to Japan…when I got over there they didn't know what I was over there for. And they had flown me across the country and put me on the boxer and that's when that boxer made that speed run, you know. It broke a record or tied a record. The trip between San Francisco and Yokosuka, Japan. I thought, “Man, they really…they really want men in a hurry”. And I got over there and I went to report in. I asked the fella what my duty was gonna be. He said, “Well, I tell you. According to this record you were sent here to make a…to help establish an emergency diesel station. And according to this thing it ain't due to start in two years”. I said, “Man, I ain't got but seven months in the Navy”. He said, “Well, I don't guess you can help there then”. Nope. So what they done, they extended me a year. I was on a three-year tour of duty, so President Truman signed a letter than would extend me for a year and I had another year to put in. Interviewer: That was good of the President. [tape stop] Bishop: Yeah. Couldn't wait. I hadn't been married but three days, by the way. Three days when they called me and sent me over there. And then him hang a…well, I had seven months to do when I left…when they called me. I was stationed in Charleston. And I talked it over with the commanding officer. I said, “I think I'm gonna go…I think I'm gonna get married when I get home”. And I said, “If there's any plans to send me anywhere, I'd like to…you know, I'd like to know if you have any information on it”. He said, “Let's see. You've got seven months to do? Ah, no. Don't worry. They ain't gonna send you overseas for seven months”. I said, “Okay.”. [laughs] I come back. I went in his office and me and him went round and around for a while. He said, “Look here. Don't you say another word to me. Look at this paper”. He had been sent to Guam. [laughs] Interviewer: How you'd break the news to your wife and how did she take it? Bishop: Well, we were together when the telephone call came. And I said, “What?” They said, “You report back immediately”. I said, “Well, it'll take me a…you know, another day to get there. I'll leave in the morning”. And they said, “Well, we want you within two days”. So they drove me to Savannah and I caught a bus in Savannah up to Charleston. And six o'clock the next morning I was on that airplane on the way to San Francisco and I stayed out there about two weeks, I guess, before they put me on that aircraft carrier. So, I thought when they put me on that airplane, man, I was gone. I thought, “They're gonna send me straight to Japan”. [laughs] But they didn't. The LST I was on, it went on to the Pacific and it participated in another two landings. I don't know. They were other there for quite a while before they decommissioned it. Interviewer: Under the same skipper in Japan or in the Pacific? Bishop: No. Uh-uh. We changed skippers in…I believe in New Orleans. The skipper went ashore in New Orleans and we got a new skipper. And we weren't near as pleased with him…that's…[laughing] you don't get to chose, that's one thing. But…they said at the convention that they had a letter than the skipper had passed away. He…he wasn't an old fella. He was fairly young. But he'd been in the Navy a while at Pearl Harbor. He might have been a little older than I thought. He was real active. I guess that's about all unless there's something…something you know that you'd like to ask me about. I'll tell you anything I know. Interviewer: No, that's perfect. Like I said, I've got your information here. If something comes up, I'll just give you a call or something and get in touch with you that way. Bishop: When I got to Japan, they put me on another LSU that they'd taken over from the Army. And we scurried around in that round the harbor there. We ran up and down the coast of Japan taking supplies and all. It was LCT in the Navy. In the Army just taking them over, I guess, after the conflict in Germany. Started using them as supply ships. So they moved the Navy crew in there on them and we started making the ships around to Oklahoma…Okinawa. We went to Tokyo. I can't think…three of the biggest cities anyway. That's what we did, the time we were there until they brought this icebreaker in. Being just married three days when they said that thing was going to Boston to be refinished…put back in service, I started working right there to get on it. [laughs] And I did manage to get on it and we brought it back. The engine broke down in Pearl Harbor and we went in there and stayed two weeks in Pearl Harbor while the Hawaiians redid the engine. Then we came on in to Boston. Interviewer: Did you have any leave while you were in Pearl Harbor? Bishop: We had…we didn't do nothing. The Hawaiians were doing the work. We had free time there. One of the boys that I ran around with had been stationed there and he had friends…he was in the motor pool and he had friends there. And one of his friends had a model T Ford with a rumble seat in it. And since we didn't have nothing, he told him anytime he wanted to use it during the day, he was welcome to use it. So we…he got it and we would ride all over the islands and all in that model T Ford, just so we were there the time he got off work. [laughs] And it was really nice. I got a buy in my ear over there. And they plundered around in there. Wasn't nothing open but a sick bay when it happened and they wallowed around in my ear trying to get it out and they never could get the bug out of my ear. So I had a lot of trouble with my ears since I've been out. [Inaudible] need a hearing aid. I can't hear a thing without them. I'd be… Interviewer: Well, all right. Thank you very much. Bishop: You're welcome. [end of tape]

moving image

Kyle, Glen

Bishop, Walter L., 1923-2014

none

Digital Library of Georgia

full:001:https://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/do-th:geh_vhpohr_402