Dick McDanel interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Matt Hudnall

Dick McDanel interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Matt Hudnall

World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories

McDanel enlisted as a replacement and intended to go to Europe, but while he was in basic training, the war in Europe ended, and he was sent to Japan instead. He never saw combat and served in an Army postal unit in Hawaii, where he saw a two-person kamikaze planed that had crashed.

Buena Vista University

2/24/2011

These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial use.

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English

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Zoey Reisdorf, Matt Hudnall

Dick McDanel

DICK MCDANEL

Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] Today is February 24th, 2011. We are interviewing Dick McDanel at Communications Center at Buena Vista University. Mr. McDanel was born on January 20-- July 25th, 1925. My name is Zoey Reisdorf, and I'll be interviewing along with Matt Hudnall. So we know you were drafted in 1994. How did that happen? How did that--

Dick McDanel [00:00:30] 1944.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:32] I'm sorry.

Dick McDanel [00:00:34] Well, I was-- I graduated from high school in [19]43, and then July 18, I registered, and I was an automatic deferment because dad was on the farm, and then the Battle of the Bulge took place, and they needed some more servicemen. And I got a valuation from the draft board, and my dad was a World War I veteran, and he said, "You know, I don't want you to go, but I'm not going to sign for you to stay home. Because," he said, "when it's all over, you can look anybody in the eye. You don't have to hide your face from anybody." So we didn't even fill it out, sent it back in. Then I was eventually drafted, sent to Texas, by Tyler, Texas, for basic training and, that's where I had my infantry replacement. You know, we were referred to as cannon fodder.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:43] How was basic training? Was there anything memorable that--

Dick McDanel [00:01:46] Well, it was-- it was 17 weeks. It was three years pushed into 17 weeks. So it was-- it was strenuous and quick and hard and fast. And-- and to start with, we were probably preparing for service in Europe. Then while I was in Texas, well, along in May I think it was, the war ended in Germany. So then everything was transferred over to training for hand-to-hand combat in the Pacific.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:23] And you went to the Pacific, you said?

Dick McDanel [00:02:29] Yeah. But thanks to Uncle Harry Truman, he dropped the atomic bomb, and we didn't have to go into the invasion of Japan, which would have been-- I wouldn't be here today if we'd had to.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:02:39] So you never saw combat?

Dick McDanel [00:02:41] Never had to see actual combat. No. Thank goodness.

Matt Hudnall [00:02:46] Yes. So, what did you feel like on the way to Japan when you heard you were going to Japan?

Dick McDanel [00:02:51] Well, we never did. We left Portland, Oregon, went down the Columbia River and headed northwest. Of course, they don't tell you anything. We were on troop transport and [there] was one boy with us that had flunked out of Merchant Marines because he always got seasick. So he was acquainted a little bit, and we could see some mountains, and none of us knew where we were or what it was. "Oh," he said, "that looks like Diamondhead. We're-- that's Oahu, Hawaii." We pulled in and tied up, and they announced over the loudspeaker: "Nobody will disembark. Stay on board. We're going to take on some fresh water." Fifteen minutes later, they announced, they said, "Secure your gear. Everybody's going to get off." They took us up to 13th Replacement Depot up on the north side of Oahu, about probably 25 miles north of Honolulu. Then they, by that time, the war was actually over, and they started using us for replacements around the island of Oahu. A bunch of guys that had come up from down under had been in combat but didn't have quite enough points to go home. They used us for replacements, and I was eventually assigned to the 332nd Army Postal Unit on Sand Island, which is out in the middle of Honolulu Harbor. And I spent ten months as a guest of Uncle Sam in Hawaii.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:04:24] How did you feel being in Hawaii at that time?

Dick McDanel [00:04:28] Well, nobody wants to be in service. I was anxious to get home. But thank goodness I didn't have to have combat, so. And if you had to be in-- in the Army or in service where could be better than Hawaii? I spent Christmas, we went swimming in the ocean and New Year's. That's a far cry from being raised in northwest Iowa, farmboy.

Matt Hudnall [00:05:00] Yeah, without the snow. Beach instead. [laughter]

Dick McDanel [00:05:02] Well, I guess over on the island, Hawaii, up in the mountains there is some snow. But, of course, on-- on Oahu, there isn't. Absolutely. The-- the average temperature, they said, for the year-round was about 68 degrees. Now, how could you improve on that?

Zoey Reisdorf [00:05:26] How did you feel when you heard about Japan surrending?

Dick McDanel [00:05:30] Oh, tickled to death. [laughter] Because if-- if you're going overseas as an infantry replacement, you know, what you're going to replace and what you're going into. And you knew from the basic training you had down in Texas, in the judo pits and so on and so forth. And you know that the Japanese were very, very skilled at judo. We didn't know nothing about it. So, no, it wasn't going to be a pleasant situation. But when you're-- when you were in service and you had to go, you had to go.

Matt Hudnall [00:06:10] While in Hawaii, did you see any, or hear any, remnants of what happened at Pearl Harbor?

Dick McDanel [00:06:15] Oh, yeah, see-- they was close enough-- when I was there, a friend of mine who went through basic training with me and so on and so forth. He was stationed over, and we got all split up. He was stationed over at Hickam Field in supply, and I'd go over there and visit him, and the big hangars were all pockmarked with machine gun fire from the from the Japanese strafing. And we got acquainted with some of the civilians. There was a lady, Mrs. Wilson, that worked up at the Army/Navy YMCA. [She would] sew on buttons or if you-- you know-- new chevrons [sewn] on if you got a promotion. And of course she had lived through it and her family. And so we heard a lot of first-hand accounts of what it actually was on that Sunday. But, of course, we had no-- none of that. So it was [unintelligible]. And then down on the south corner, there was a two-man Jap submarine that had been beached down there. And we went down, looked it all over it, but it sat there all the time I was over there. I suppose now it's gone to scrap, but it was-- it was there where they had tried to-- or probably was trying to invade. But of course they never did because they were apprehended [be]for[e] they came-- as they came on shore. And it was that-- that two-man Jap sub was destroyed. But it wasn't going to be a pleasant situation if they hadn't gone ahead and dropped the atomic bomb and ended it. Thank goodness.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:08:05] Before you went to war in1944, what did you hear about what was going on over in Japan and overseas?

Dick McDanel [00:08:14] Well, you heard a lot of atrocities that took place. And then after I got home, I was well acquainted with a patrolman that used to be here in Storm Lake that had gone through that death march from Bataan as a young fella. And it was-- it was terrible, the stuff that went on. And, of course, it wasn't too good over in Germany, either. I had a good friend that was a prisoner of war in-- in Germany, and he said, "Well, we didn't have anything to eat, but the guards didn't either." So it's just one of those situations. Everybody was suffering. War is never nice.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:09:00] What about the war on the home front? Did you have anyone who, like, friends or relatives that were in the service?

Dick McDanel [00:09:12] Well, I lost a good friend. He was in the Navy. Ahead-- way ahead-- he was older than me. Family friend was lost in the-- in the South Pacific. See, the war started December the seventh [1941]. And I think by-- it was in March of the next year, four months after the war started, his ship was sunk. He was a Navy, and [the] body was never recovered. So, as far-- he's missing in action and then, of course, finally was declared dead. But it was never a body found. So it was-- it wasn't a pleasant situation for anybody.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:09:58] How do you handle news like that? Hearing relatives and such or friends--

Dick McDanel [00:10:05] You just do it. There's no alternative. You have to live with it. Oh-- thank goodness, I've been lucky. All of this modern time now over in Afghanistan and over there, I really don't have any personal friends or any immediate family involved. I still I'm a life member of VFW, so I have feelings for all of 'em. But-- but I'm not directly involved with anybody at the present time.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:10:43] Do you-- did you know anyone involved with the atomic bomb?

Dick McDanel [00:10:49] Not really, no. One neighbor boy after the war was-- after the war was actually over, he was still-- was enough younger, he was just getting into the Navy when the war was over. And he was down in-- in the Pacific when they were [doing] some of those tests. And he died fairly young. And I often wondered if there was any any connection between Merlin's service and the atomic testing and his actual-- I think he died by the time he was in his high forties. Who knows? I don't.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:11:30] Do you have any opinions on the atomic bomb that--

Dick McDanel [00:11:34] Well, it was great at the time. I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for that. I'm sure of that. Like I said, it was-- the infantry replacements were considered cannon fodder and think what it would have been to invade Jap-- Japan in their homeland. They'd fought like cornered rats.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:01] Where were you on December 7th for the Pearl Harbor? And what were your feelings towards--

Dick McDanel [00:12:06] Well, as I remember, my folks and I had got home from church, and that was up by Rossie, and we were eatin' dinner when noon news, I guess it was WHO at that time. I-- Storm Lake didn't have a station and Spencer didn't have a station, so I guess it was probably WHO noon news broke in, and we were dumbfounded.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:39] Not exactly something you forget, is it?

Dick McDanel [00:12:41] No. Never will.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:47] Of all the things that happened during the war, is there anything in particular that you-- that you feel especially proud of?

Dick McDanel [00:12:56] Well, I did-- when they called me, I went. I did what I was told. And so, I'm proud of being-- proud to be an American.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:13:11] Who were the leros-- leeros. Oh, heroes. Sorry.

Dick McDanel [00:13:21] I don't know what you mean, what the--

Zoey Reisdorf [00:13:24] Like, who are the heroes? People that you specifically remember that stood out from the war that had accomplishments or--

Dick McDanel [00:13:32] Oh, I don't know of anybody specific. Anybody that was in combat and lived through it was a hero. And it's never going to be a pleasant experience for anybody. And I-- I think about all those guys over there now, but-- and they're-- they're doing what they were told, the same as we were. Anybody that-- anybody that doesn't think they're a hero-- they're a hero just for being there.

Matt Hudnall [00:14:19] So after the war, what was-- when you were in Pearl, you know, in Hawaii. What did you-- what did you do over there?

Dick McDanel [00:14:31] [laughs] Well, of course, I was in that Army Postal Unit and everybody that was still in service, there was-- there were thousands of servicemen on the island of Oahu in the Army, and they were there on-- on Sand Island. And I was in the Army Postal Unit, and we had two port battalions. We had two ordnance outfits. We handled the mail for all of them. And the-- and the headquarters detachment, the fire department, you know, they were all servicemen, the MPs. We were all-- we handled the mail for all of them. And now-- one thing I remember-- just before Christmas, we got-- the harbor master called and said that there was a Yugoslavian ship and a-- and a British ship that were coming in to Honolulu Harbor, and there was some mail and we went-- we went up to 15th Place Post Office with a three-quarter ton weapons carrier. And those-- we hauled that mail down and met 'em down at the end of Pier 40 when that British ship came in and those guys hadn't had any mail from home. Now, this was in-- in Christmastime after the war was over in September. But they hadn't had any mail from home in six months. And so we delivered the mail to those guys and they thought we were Santa Claus, bringing 'em-- bringin' 'em their mail. And the-- the captain of the ship, the big wheel, the man on top, he came down and he presented-- it was four of us went with the weapons carrier and hauled the mail down to 'em and presented us each with a fifth of sherry. The real fancy stuff from England, the kind that you take a drink today, and you-- and you take a drink of water in the morning, and you're still drunk. That was-- that was quite an experience. I'd never drink-- had it-- had any English sherry. It's potent stuff. To see those-- to see those guys get their mail, you know, and hadn't had any. And it was, you know, all of those are experiences you wouldn't even think of 'til this-- now, it happened to come back into mind. And I remember that Yugoslavian ship-- we got within, oh, about 200 feet. The odor was so bad that we couldn't get any-- we dumped their mail, and they came and got it. I have no idea what-- now, the English ship, you could'a' ate off the deck. But that Yugoslavian ship, I never-- I don't know what was in there, but it was potent. [laughter] So there was some funny stuff, you know, went on. Often wondered what that old lady that sewed on the chevrons, she was at the Army/Navy YMCO. Mrs. Wilson was her name. And, oh, I bet she was at that time, she was probably 80 years old, and she spent half a day, seven days a week down at the Army/Navy Y sewing buttons, sewing chevrons, or whatever. People like that, that, you know, I wonder, oh, I meant-- oh, of course she'd have to be gone by now because that was many-- 60 years ago. But-- but she was-- she was a joy to behold.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:18:28] Do you have any-- can you recall any other humorous or unusual memories?

Dick McDanel [00:18:34] Well, you know, when-- when the war was over, there was still some training going on in the States and some of those [unintelligible] lieutenants that came over. The war was over, but they came over and they were real big shots. They had their nice gold bar that were second lieutenant. And one evening, just about dusk, [I] came out of the PX. And a guy just ahead of me who I knew, and he met this young second lieutenant, and he didn't salute him. In fact, he didn't see him in time. And he said, "Soldier, don't you realize that all officers must be saluted?" "Yes, sir." "I'm going to teach you a lesson right now," he said. "Salute me 50 times." So he's wingin' them off and then countin' 'em. He got up about 35, something like that. Old Colonel Pivonka (sp) parol marshal? Nice old-- he was a-- did a lot of umpiring of our-- of our baseball games and softball games. He came [unintelligible] said, "Lieutenant, sir, what's going on?" He said, "I'm teaching this man some military courtesy." He said, "you know, it says in that book that every officer should be saluted." "That's right. Carry on." They went ahead from 35 or whatever it was up to 50. And the lieutenant says, "Now, I reckon the next time you see me, you'll remember to salute." Old Colonel Pivonka said, "Lieutenant, sir, that book you was talking about, a military courtesy. Every salute has to be returned. Give 'em back to him." And we just howled. We just laughed. I bet that poor lieutenant-- I'll bet he never said anything about anybody saluting him again. He stood there and give him back 50 salutes. That was funny. [laughter]

Zoey Reisdorf [00:20:36] You mentioned the baseball and softball games.

Dick McDanel [00:20:39] Well, see, the war was over with no training. We-- we delivered the mail. It came in up to 15th Base Post Office up by Tripper (sp) General Hospital. We'd have to make a run twice a day up there with a three-quarter ton weapons carrier and bring the mail back by 4:00 post-- we closed our little post office. We'd do what-- we had a Class A pass. We could do whatever we wanted to. Well, nobody had money enough to, you know, go do a lot of things, but we'd play baseball, pitch horseshoes, shoot hoops, and basketball. It was all that kind of stuff there. And we-- every-- every nine guys get together. They had a team. And I played a lot of softball and some baseball. Chaplains or or one of the bigger officers would act as umpires. And we got along good because we had no reason not to. The war was over. It was-- so what it amounted to, I ended up with-- I was there from September 'til the next July. And so I had ten months of-- of R and R at Uncle Sam's expense on the island of Oahu. Couldn't have been any better.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:22:09] So what else happened after the war?

Dick McDanel [00:22:13] Well, I don't-- see we were drafted for the duration in six months. And until they actually-- when the victory in Japan, that really wasn't the end of the war. I don't think the-- the official-- and I don't know-- I don't really-- don't know the official date of the end of World War II, so they could hold us. But, you know, there wasn't a whole lot for them to do. And they just kept guys going home, going home, going home and less all the time, less all the time. And finally, it was time. I left. I left over there and came to California. So, actually I went to California by the way of Hawaii. I left-- shipped out of Portland, Oregon, and came back to San Francisco, got on a troop train and went to Fort Sheridan, Illinois, got my discharge, and got on another train and came back to Storm Lake and got off the train. And my folks and my girlfriend met me there, and I got discharged on my 21st birthday, and a month later I got married. So I was a free man for 30 days. [laughter]

Zoey Reisdorf [00:23:32] So being in the postal service, was it easier for you to stay in contact with your family?

Dick McDanel [00:23:38] No, no, that wouldn't really make any difference, no. No, but it did give me a taste. Looked like that was a kind of an easy life. So then when after I got home, I farmed a while and-- and worked at the radio station and so on and so forth and-- and trucked. And I got a chance to take an examination, civil service examination. I got an appointment as a rural mail carrier, and I was a rural mail carrier out of Alta for 28 years. So and of course, I went-- I'd have never got that appointment if I hadn't had the service time. It all tied together.

Zoey Reisdorf [00:24:28] Well, thank you for coming here and sharing your stories. Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Dick McDanel [00:24:34] I don't know of anything else. No.

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