Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:11 | The Navy boot camp seemed like it must be the Army to recruit Clifford Brooks. All the drilling with a rifle made no sense to him. He was sent to radar school and then assigned to a brand new Attack Transport, the USS Karnes. In the Pacific, their duty was to deliver troops where needed.
Keywords : Clifford Brooks Lexington GA boot camp Camp Peary Virginia drill Virginia Beach VA RADAR Seattle WA USS Karnes (APA-175) radio Signal Corps Pacific Ulithi Guam Philippines Douglas MacArthur Higgins Boat Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel (LCVP)
Radarman Clifford Brooks was off Okinawa as the battle raged for the island. His ship wasn't hit but he saw a kamikaze blow up a battleship. Only one man was injured during the Pacific tour on his own ship, an Attack Transport. During an Easter stop in Hawaii, he found a beautiful spot to attend church, but he didn't think much of the leave in Honolulu.
It was a terrible typhoon. For three days, Clifford Brooks had to crawl around the ship because you could not walk. It was the only time he was really scared during his time in the service. It was crowded aboard ship, and hot. As a Radarman, he was able to hang a hammock up on deck, stretched across a Higgins Boat.
During a stop in Tientsin, Clifford Brooks saw first hand the effects of wartime inflation in China when he went out for a steak dinner. It was $1.25 in American dollars and over a million in the local currency. He relates the tale of a hijacked beer truck in the Philippines before returning to Hawaii to train for the inevitable Japan invasion.
They had delivered the occupying Marines to Sasebo and the crew of the USS Karnes were granted shore leave. Clifford Brooks and some friends decided to walk deeper into the residential district and they met a man who spoke perfect English, had been a student at Stanford University, and had been stranded by war during a visit home.
