 Weaving in among the Philippines we slid past Mindanao
out into the great Pacific Ocean and began to move in the Great Circle
Route toward Pearl Harbor. Sailing through the Pacific Ocean with little
to see, we had plenty of time for many thoughts and no few of them in
considering how once upon a time not so very many months past, these
same waters which we were now sailing so placidly over were far from
safe. They were filled with hot naval actions and dark threats of
submarines. The names of the islands we just passed, as well as those
we approach, and those in the surrounding water are all familiar to us.
Guam, Wake, Midway, Mindanao, Saigon, Davoa, Mindoro, Truk, Saipan,
Rota, Tinian, the Carolinas, even Pearl Harbor, bring thoughts of
landing operations and fierce fighting and of men left behind not to
return.On the sixteenth of January we passed north of Guam. Guam is part of the Marianas and is the largest island of the group. It was used by the U.S. as a naval station until occupied by Japan on December 10, 1941. The island returned to U.S. possession the twenty-seventh of July 1944. By taking the Great Circle Route we by-passed Wake and Midway Islands. Wake came under the U.S. flag July 4, 1818. It was occupied by Japan December 24th, 1941 and was retaken by us during the Philippines Campaign. On the nineteenth of January we still had some two thousand miles to travel on to Pearl Harbor. Explaining the International Date Line to you is impossible for I cannot explain it to myself. I do know on the morning of the twenty-first of January we crossed it and for some reason we had two Mondays that week. I don't know if having extra days gets us any closer to home any faster but if it did all well and good. About here we began to notice a change in temperature. For most of the trip it had been warm, not as hot as Burma or India but still warm. Now it is cool and as we sailed closer to the States it got colder and colder. It's been four years since I've seen snow and really experienced cold weather but there isn't going to be even a chirp out of me about that! Wednesday, the twenty-third of January, saw each of us lining the rails to catch the first glimpse of a U.S. possession, Pearl Harbor. If we had lined the rails on other occasions, this really put them to shame. Men everywhere including places they shouldn't have been. As we drew nearer to land and the vague outline changed to a definite shape, you could hear one man say to another, "Looks good, doesn't it?" and the word "Yes" came from more than one pair of lips. We slipped past Diamond Point Head into a berth opposite Oahu and tied up to the wharf very close to noontime. Traveling through the channel toward the dock I felt a real pang of homesickness. This is the closest I'd been to Stateside in thirty months and it looked good enough to eat. All that afternoon we stood on the decks straining our eyes in every direction, taking in all we could see. Speculation ran high on the nature of the buildings, ships and the general picture around us. There was no denying the scene spread out before us was typically American and it sure was fine. Nightfall brought the lights out and every man could use his imagination and believe these were his hometown from a high place. I know I did! The next morning we hurried away from the dock at seven-thirty, anxious to be on the last lap of our journey, but even as early as we were, there were many ships as early or earlier and the sight held our interest as the land receded from view. It is about time for me to draw this letter to you to a close. The shores of the United States are just coming into view and I have a few things yet to do. It's hard to tell you how I feel at this moment, I have dreamed of it so many hours of the day, so many days of the week, far happier than I have been for a long time. I am grateful as well, grateful for many things, too many to tell. I do know the the trip is over and I am satisfied. It hasn't been a luxury cruise but it sure has been a pleasure one, a pleasure to get back to the land I love. Someday you may leave the United States for a long time and when you return you will feel just as the other three thousand guys and I feel at this moment. Love from your grandfather, Elmer W. Jones |
AFTER DISCHARGE DO'S AND DON'T'S
To those returning to the States, here are some helpful suggestions: |
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