Dearest All June 15, 1945

Now it is my time to put to use ye olde carbon copy. As long as I have so much to say to all of you I thought I would try it. The only trouble is that my hunt and peck style is making this letter an all night affair and at ten cents an hour I will soon go broke, but I shall go bravely on and ——you shall receive a bill.
Leave us file this letter under battle reports. It probably won’t contain a full account of Warren’s travels and adventures but it may give you some idea of I have been up to for the past few months without offending the censor at the same time. First of all, however, let me observe how pleasant it is to be back in the states once again. As stubb will quickly concur it only takes about two hours out there to make one really appreciate the niceties of civilization.And as I have returned much before one usually is allowed to I feel very fortunate. Still I know it won’t be awfully long before I shall head west again so my conscience doesn’t bother me. Then too I kind of have the urge to return to the forward areas again. The atmosphere out there can be uncomfortable at times but there’s just something about the whole get-up that makes a person want to be around while it is being straightened out.
Let’s start at Pearl. I left there the night of Feb. 27, headed for Guadacanal where I was informed I would be able to pick up the Mustin. The G-54 was packed with an assortment of cargo and personnel, the night was clear, and I was excited at the prospects of being carried closer to places and scenes that seamed so far removed from my little world previously. Climbing to 8,000 ft. above the snowy, whispy, clouds we headed due southwest at 180 m.p.h. Our first stop was at Johnson Island at about midnight. We were there to refual. Except for the runway the iland was completaly blacked out but as we came in I could see the shadowy forms of fighter planes lined up along the way. Waiting by the beach for take-off time the almost complete warmth and stillness of the tropical night gave me a rather eria feeling as of the peacefulness of the

scene was only an ironic contrast to the chaos and confusion that existed elsewhere in the world – the planes were proof of that fact. From Johnson we made the six hour trip to Kwajalein in the Marshalls. There because I didn’t have the rank to go with my priority I was bumped off for a few days gut soon got out on a another flight and seven hours later on the 3 of March was sweating it out on Guadacanal – and I do mean sweating. I don’t think the Devil fares as badly as do the boys stationed there – it is terrifically hot. The ship was in the vicinity, but for a week I couldn’t get it as she was out on patrol. Finally after much confusion though I managed to board her on March 8th. I think I have told you all the nature of the ship, my general duties, and how the officers and men aboard received me: so I’ll skip that end go on with my travelogue.
It didn’t take me long to find out that the Mustin was slated to be a part of a task group that would soon set sail northward, and that her ultimate destination was the invasion of Okinawa. Part of the invasion force had been prepping for it down there so thats where the Mustin came in-we were part of the screen that as to convey about twenty troop ships carrying close to 25,000 Marines up there. We shoved off the middle of March and six days later arrived in Ulithi, a fleet anchorage southeast of the Phillipines. There for a week we gathered any necessary supplies, made all needed repairs, and generally drew up final preparations for the invasion. There were few battleships, cruisers or carriers preset as the big boys were busy softening up Okinawa and giving Japan a through massaging. Well, we left the anchorage march 25th and after six days of a very rough sea we were on the night of the 31st only a few hours off OK. Jap planes were reported to be planning on giving us a hot reception and although the ship was not at general quarters everyone was more or less expecting that alarm to ring at any minute so there wasn’t too much sleep to be had. About midnight it happened that only two of us were in the wardroom trying to catch a little sleep-we had 12-4 watch so didn’t want to bother hitting the sack. All of a sudden I heard the faint sound of an airplane as it approached, thinking it was one of ours, there having been no signs or word as yet of any Japs. He roared in pretty close and I’d about decided the pilot was foolish to do that if he didn’t wish to be shot at by a bunch of trigger-happy gunners, when all of a sudden the machine guns opened up for a few seconds with that steady tat-tat-tat and then all was quiet again. I rushed out to see what was the story and was told that that plane was indeed a Jap. It means that no one saw him come in until he was very near and evidently he didn’t see us either because he went right on by, deciding not to stick around when our guns started to talk. A little while later though some ship must have tagged him because off in one direction there appeared a bight red glow that can come only from an exploding plane and the resulting burning gasoline. Nothing else happened that night, but at sunrise on the following morning “D” day, all men were at their battle stations – my station was just about any place I wanted it to be because the ship natural had all necessary places manned long before I ever came abroad so I decided to go topside to see the fireworks. As compared with Iwo it was a very quiet landing with little opposition. While the transports unloaded we patrolled on the outside as an anti-aircraft screen. The Japs like to attack at sunrise or sunset because it is hard to see them then so we expect the worse, but there was little air activity. One Jap showed up near us but for some reason headed for a smaller ship rather than ours-one that was about 1,000 yds from us, both of us opened up on him and shortly there after he was sp;ashed. There wasn’t much of a chance for other planes to get in because as soon as it was sufficiently light the carriers in the area launched their planes and what a beautiful site it was to see them come. Hundreds and hundreds of fighters, torpedo bomberds, etc. covered the sky over the landing area until it was almost black. (Theres nothing ships like so much as good sir coverage.)
For the next few days while the transports were busy unloading men and supplies the Japs didn’t bother us much. However air intelligence reported a big raid up the end of the first week. We were probably fortunate not to be there then as some of the ships didn’t fare as well. The Mustin left a few hours before the raid, bound for Saipen with some empty transports that they wanted to get out of there. We left the transports at
Saipon and went back to Ulithi to take some more troops and supplies to Okinawa
Incidentally April 10th at Saipon was the last time I received mail for the next two months- it was being held in Pearl.
Upon our second arrival at Okinaka we spent the next few weeks carrying our various assignments. One night was spent bombarding the beach in support of the troops. The rest of the time we patrolled in certain areas keeping a guard against subs, ships or planes. One patrol station took me up to within a day’s traveling from Tokyo, and there we did spend a few rough nights as it was on a direct route to planes coming down from the homeland to hit Okinawa. In fact we used up most of our ammunition on that station, chasing off Jap planes. We did some poor shooting in not hitting a thing but manage to keep the boys at arms length and that’s what counted at the moment. Naturally we were happy to leave there and even happier in receive our next assignment which was to operate with some escort carries that were carrying out strikes against Formosa and Sakishima. We cruised about in that area for almost a month acting as an anti-sub screen, while the flattops launched daily strikes against the aforementioned places. The weather was excellent as we were never bothered by enemy planes it was definitely good duty.
The good news came at the end of May when the Mustin was informed that she was to be released to return to the states for an overhaul. You can imagine how the crew liked that as the ship had been out 21 months and had seen a lot of fighting. So we went back to Okinawa and there along with our sister ship the Russel picked up the New Mexico and escorted her to Guam. She was carrying Adm. Spruane Com 5th Fleet who had been relieved by “Bull” Halsey. From Guam we proceeded alone to Pearl where I received my orders to return to this school. I left the ship June 12th, was assigned a seat on the Pan-American Clipper leaving Pearl the 13th, arrived in Frisco the 14th and out on a TWA stratoliner the same day, and reported to this school on the 15th as my orders read.
So that’s it. Sea duty was interesting to say the least and I hope to see some more in the future. Right now however this school looks like a good deal. Classes start Monday and will consist of instruction in gunnery, radio, map=reading, etc. Will have liberty every weekend and as there won’t by much to do nights (everything is done in the classroom) most of them will be free too. What a life! There is a fair chance I’ll receive a leave at the end of this course eight weeks hence as it has been done before-but I can’t promise a thing until them. Meanwhile ——- Love to all, Dick