Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:50 | John McGinty well remembers the end of the war in the Pacific. There was a huge "V" formation of warplanes and they had a little party on a tiny island. He thought he had it made with only a point and a half to go to get his discharge, but the Navy had other plans.
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As a small boy on a farm in South Georgia, John McGinty learned a valuable lesson from his father which shaped his future as a grown man.
They started in the eleventh grade, military recruiters giving tests and reminding students about the draft. John Mcginty joined the Navy two months before the draft would take him in 1944. He went aboard the brand new light cruiser USS Atlanta while the welders were still working. As a Projectileman, he had to load shells that presented a unique challenge.
The Chief Petty Officer in charge of the gun turret was tough on him, but John McGinty says it was because he liked him. His first action was at Okinawa, where the skies were full of planes and the sea was full of ships.
One of the worst things that happened to John Mcginty during his Pacific tour had nothing to do with the enemy. It was a monstrous typhoon that had the ship reeling.
If you treated your Navy hat with salt water, you could roll it up in a really sharp way that also let you show off your Pompadour. That was how John McGinty hit the streets of Long Beach, but it wasn't long before the Shore Patrol noted his breach of grooming regulations.
While his ship was anchored there, John McGinty took the opportunity to visit the Nagasaki bomb site. What he saw in his walking tour through the devastation would affect his actions for the rest of his life.
