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Our Victory ship, the S. S. Marine Marlin, had just completed its maiden voyage across the Pacific Ocean and dropped anchor at the entrance to Tokyo Bay. The date was 20 December, 1945 and we were four days overdue. We had encountered a terrible storm just north of the Hawaiian Islands and tried to circumvent it by heading straight north for four to five hundred miles. We then sat dead in the water for a full day until the storm passed south of us. Most of the troops on board had been seasick for days but I felt fine. One guy had been ill in his bunk the entire trip, too weak to get up. We took him bread from the mess hall and he could hardly get it down nor keep it down.

All of the rest of us were ordered to spend all day on the deck, rain or shine. Only at meal times and after dark were we allowed to go below deck. The mess hall was indeed a mess - the ship rolled from side to side so violently that many a mess tray escaped our grips and, sliding down the table, crashed into the side of the ship. Some even lost their footing while carrying their tray and dumped it on the floor or on one of their buddies. What a mess!

Evenings were spent playing cards or reading. I wasn't a gambler so I usually read or talked with friends. One night during the storm one of the guys got bored, grabbed my book, dashed out a hatch with me in hot pursuit. We ended up on starboard "B" deck (one deck under the top deck). When the ship rolled to port we would run down the darkened deck - when we rolled to starboard we had to stop and hang on to a railing which was attached to the cabins and the waves would wash over our lower legs and splash all over us. December ocean water that far north is very cold! We dashed down the next stairwell with a flood of water chasing us. Everybody laughed at us when we got back but how foolish we had been - we could have been washed overboard and lost in the darkness!

My bunk was on "D" deck (below the waterline) about thirty feet from the head (latrine and showers). At night the only sound was the gurgling of water as it swished over the thick hull of the ship. About three days out the latch on the hatch to the head broke. From that time on as the ship rolled from side to side it was - Creeeek - SLAM - Creeeek - SLAM all night long.

I had not been seasick for the entire trip. On the last day we were out of food so we were served no lunch at noon. Soon afternoon we sighted the coastline of Japan. As the ship entered the coastal waters the rolling changed to an up and down bobbing motion. Suddenly I hit the side rail with the dry heaves (nothing in means nothing out!) which persisted almost until we dropped anchor.

We were quite a distance from shore but soon we saw a very small boat approaching. It was a small boy about nine or ten years of age. The boat had a single oar on the stern which he waggled from side to side for foward propulsion. All the guys cheered as

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