When we got up to Iwo Jima, all the big guns on the front part of the island they had knocked out,
and it had to be hand-to-hand stuff from then on. And we was up there
to lay those nets at the harbor. That's when we encountered the suicide planes.
Hey everyone, I'm Josh from Memoirs of World War II. And real quick before we get into our
veteran's story, I wanted to tell you about who we are and how you can help with this project.
Memoirs of World War II is an organization run by myself and my family. We travel all over,
interviewing the last living Veterans of the Second World War and sharing their
stories in this series to ensure that their service and this important history
is never forgotten. We are funded by donations from people like you,
both through Patreon where you can choose what dollar amount you'd like to give,
and through our website. So follow the links in the description below and you can be part
of preserving this history. Thank you for your support, and now on to our veterans story.
I was with a 1939 Ford with Ed Albaugh and Rob Roy Walters.
It was on a Sunday when we heard that they had attacked Pearl Harbor.
Scary. It was scary.
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
it seemed the whole of the United States was prepared to go to war.
But Robert Denny of New Straitsville, Ohio, being too young to enlist,
had no choice but to watch as nearly every young man from his hometown joined the Armed Forces.
It was just a small town. I had a couple of friends that were taken from the 11th grade. And
I didn't turn 18 until I got into my senior year. And I went to the draft board at Perry County.
He said, "We have our quota filled for now. We'll take you as soon
as you graduate." That June I was standing on the State House steps.
Immediately following graduation,
Bob reported to Columbus, Ohio to enlist. At long last, he was joining the Navy.
I went to Camp Peary Virginia. I had my basic training down there. We had some training on
guns. I was on a 20 millimeter. And after basic training we was home for a few days,
then we went to San Francisco and boarded the ship that I was on. It was the USS Keokuk.
It was already loaded with the nets. It was a net layer ship that we layed invasion nets
so they couldn't shoot torpedoes in on us. It was already loaded and ready to go when we got on it.
For the past two years, the U.S Armed Forces had pursued the Japanese throughout the
Pacific Theater, one fortified Island at a time. Each battle was more brutal than
the last and the Japanese resolve only grew in desperation as the Allies made
their way West toward their enemy's homeland. As Bob deployed out to sea,
he had no way of knowing he was sailing into the climax of the lethal conflict.
We didn't know where we were going until we got out to sea a ways.
And the first time that the general alarm sounded,
they came to me and told me that I wasn't to go to the 20 millimeters, I was to go to the
ammunition for the five inch. I didn't even know where it was. I had never been there. And lo and
behold, there was this little round hole that we went down. And we was under a submarine attack.
I was never so scared in all my life. You could feel them
dropping the depth charges, and shaking.
But the five inches were never fired. They dropped depth charges and all that. It just got over with,
as far as I know. That was at Eniwetok that we had that sub attack. Then we went on down to
Saipan, Guam, and then up to Iwo Jima.
When we got up to Iwo Jima all the big guns on the front part of the island there they
had knocked out. And it had to be hand-to-hand stuff from then on. And we was up there to lay
those nets at the harbor. And man there was such an array of ships there that we were just
in the road. Everything was going smoothly. And that's when we encountered the suicide planes.
And I was downstairs when the general alarm sounded. And I ran and started back up the
steps and just got to the top of the steps to step out on the main deck. And, boom!
We had a suicide plane that hit our ship.
It hit right by the 40 millimeter and the sick bay. And we had an epidemic
of guys with mumps at the sick bay. And it killed all them, killed our doctor.
And I had just been relieved from my buddy - Jack Burton was his name. He relieved me and he was on
the fulcrum. And he was probably 150 feet away from where the plane blew up, but he got killed.
Bill Fisher, a friend of mine, lost a leg. And a lot of guys were burnt. We had an
awful lot of injuries. But the sick bay and all the medical supplies and all that stuff
been eradicated by the bomb going off. We had to find some place to put the wounded.
And we put them in the mess hall, on the tables. That was something that was hard to get over.
It was just terrible going into the mess hall, trying to eat and remembering things.
And then, shortly right after that, we broke out of the convoy and they
sent us to a hospital ship. It was right off of Mount Suribachi.
You could just see fighting going on. We was right there... The hospital ship could have been hit
with small arms fire. You could just see it out of the corner of your eye what was going on on shore.
After we got them men loaded, some how, some way - I don't know who - they did some repairs on the
ship when we was in there. And we got back out to sea, and that's when I remember burying the
dead and the guy that was in the plane. We buried him the same as we buried our guys.
Following the Battle of Iwo Jima, the newly repaired USS Keokuk would continue to carry
out its duties, laying nets at the next island invasion: the Battle of Okinawa.
Though the deadliest yet, Okinawa would prove to be the final battle in the Pacific Theater.
Soon after, the dropping of the atomic bombs would bring the Empire of Japan to its knees,
and at long last, an end to the Second World War.
Anyway, when we got back home they greeted this at the harbor and made us welcomed home. And then
shortly after that, I got discharged. The coal strike was over and I went back to the mines.
That's when I was getting a dollar, twenty-five cents an hour. That was big money then.
For nearly eight decades following Japan's surrender,
Bob's memories of the Second World War remained with him as vivid as ever.
I'll never forget going down that little hole to that five inch -
where the five inch shells were. That was scary.
But, yes it's affected me. You can be more appreciative.
What I seen when I went in the service... you didn't see this hullabaloo that's going on now.
You didn't see the division. You just saw the things that had to take place
to win the war. That's what was happening. You didn't see the kind of stuff that you see now.
It's really disturbing to see what's going on now. It's only been 70 some
years ago. To see what happened then and what's happening now... What went wrong?
I'd say, keep your freedom. That's the biggest thing. Keep your freedom.