Hi Chuck, I wonder if any one is still in contact with the Fr. Casper Museum where all of our artifacts and documents are filed. guess you are as close as anyone to make or re-make this contact. This is where the storm and mine story should be filed. Clyde Kirlin -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In a message dated 3/13/2006 3:03:52 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, Cab4bmw writes: To John Miller: Thank you so much for adding to some history of our Navy days. You have given me some information that I had never heard or have forgotten. I did not know about a mine being involved in that incident. Surely,Hoyt new this. It needs to be added to the history book that Clyde Kirlin compiled about his time on the Natrona. He was not on the Natrona on the third trip so did not have this information. Thanks again. Chuck----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck: I remember this night very clearly but do not remember the mine incident happening at that time. There was a mine incident but I thought that was another time in our travels. I also, have always thought that we lost power because of a mal function in the engine room due to a goof on repairs we had done while in port getting ready for another trek across the Pacific. Hopefully, Hoyt can clear this up so the correct story can get into the history. Neal Sternberg 3/14/2006-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Charles, news from John D. Miller-- I have 4 pages whirlpool-newspaper-Wishes you a Merry Xmas 1945 -First Edition - Third Cruise inside 1st page NOTICE-" A supplement to the History of the USS Natrona has been completed. Anyone who would like a copy of our travels since Lingayen Gulf, P.I. ,turn your name into your Division Officer so that he may be able to get a correct count. All new men who would like a copy of the complete history since this ship was commissioned should do the same. A count of the men in each division who desire the supplement and the new men who want a complete history should be turned into Fiss Y2/c in the Public Relations Office (former gunnery Office). Only the desired amount will be printed, and will b delivered upon request only. all requests from the Divisions should be in the Office not later than 1200 25 Dec.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If anyone has a copy of this supplement I would sure like to have a copy and please forward to all shipmates. This will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Sidney and John ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am going to tell all of you what I remember about the storm on our Third trip to South Pacific. A large round mine with horns all over it was spotted floating near our ship. Commander Bower was at this time the Captain of our ship. He asked a twin twenty millimeter gun crew to fire on it .I watched from the open deck with the huge waves rocking the ship and the mine. They were not able to hit it-Commander Bower halted the ships movement and he got in the gun mount and tried to hit the mine- due to the rough water he was unable to hit it. Also, his bringing the ship to a halt, they lost the control of the ship and it fell in trough between the waves. They had all of us not on duty to put on life jackets and hang unto to the railings of the deck, the next thing I heard was they had lost suction on the sea water because of the extreme rolls that the whip was taking. When they took landing craft at San Pedro-- that caused the screw to come far out of the water.They put tons of lead bars -in the bottom of #4hold. I watched them cover the lead bars from bulkhead to bulkhead with wide thick metal straps which was welded to the bulkheads until they were secured . These lead bars offset the weigh of the landing craft gave us the same draft and put the screw back down in the water. When our ship was making such drastic rolls they stated that our ship could not take no more than a 40 degree roll and they also said we made a 41 degree roll. My thoughts were on those lead bars. If they had broke loose the ship would have rolled and sank. At the time we were taking a northern route to Japan. It was very Cold water. God was with us through the 3-1/2 months at Okinawa. He was surely with us in that storm. In the last few years I have thought of this storm many times. My thoughts was that Capt. Winquist would never stop our ship in this kind of sea. Looking back we came very close of losing our ship and crew in that storm. I have a book titled "Operation Iceberg" by Gerald Aston that code name for the invasion of Okinawa. This book was written by an officer who served on board a ship at Okinawa . You will find it very good reading. Hoyt Ambioius was an officer in our boat group. I could not say enough for the officers and all the crew of our ship. I would sure like to hear from Hoyt about this storm.
When we went aboard in the ship at Rickmond I was called down to the chief security force. The chief and I would serve 3 months and rotate off. I was surprised because I was in A division of the Motor Macks. They normally took them out of the deck force. The chief of the security force was Hershel Rose , when my 3 months was up he told me he would like to keep me on the force if I wanted to stay on. His boss was Commander Bower. He could go to him and keep me on . I stayed on the security until we put the ship mothballs. I also served as engineer on the Captain gig. Whenever he left the ship on the water I was on his gig. When we were going into the beaches with our landing craft I was eng. on the LCM. I enjoyed being a part of the USS Natrona crew for the whole time that I served. I could write a book and it would all be good. I never lived among a better group of people in my life. I would like to hear from any of you. I love all of you and I only wish I had contact with all of you years ago. Shipmate John D. Miller ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------More history from John D. Miller- Ambrosius Hoyt was in the engine room and may not been aware of what was happening top side. Joe Di Domenico was standing close to me topside and would have heard and saw what I did. Ensign Phil Arnot was officer of deck watch. He would have known about the mine but he is not on the current mailing list. I take he is not living. But Joe Di Domenico will remember this just like I do. Be sure and send this to Joe. Even though we did not destroy the mine Commander Bower wanted to shot it and it nearly took us to the bottom of the ocean. Commander Bower was a regular navy and a very good man. But I bet he spent many times thinking the rest of his life- what a close call that was. He was aware of that tons of lead bars in the bottom of #4 hold. John would like a list of the shipmates with their email addresses. Have a good night. Sidney -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3/19/2006 Chuck, Where did you get the information on our ship being dead in the water in that storm. signed by J> P. Arnot--For years I wondered if they would write the truth in the ships log. Stopping the ship in that kind of sea was a bad mistake. No mention of trying to explode a mine in the water with the 20mm gun. First the gun crew and when they could not hit it. Skipper Bowers came down and got on that gun and could not hit. Too much roll of ship and mine. I don't blame Bowers for trying to explode the mine. Put that in the ships log as it really happened would not be a good ideal for the skipper. Some one gave the order to engine room to stop. Bowers must have given the order before he came down to the gun tub. I told you there was a bunch of us top side with life jackets on holding on to deck rail. The ship did not lose power till it was stopped and fell into the trough between huge waves. There were a lot of men on open deck that was seeing what I saw. They told us they had lost suction on the sea water going to the boilers. When they lost sea water to the boilers they had to shut the fire off. To this day I don't know how they got water to the boilers. We were sure lucky that they did. Sorry this happening was not logged like it happened. John D. Miller -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3/19/2006 The Log book seems to have the wrong name. I don't recall his last name . We all called him George, his first name. George was an old salt to most of us. He could have been 8 to 10 years older than Joe DiDomenic and I. He had been thru Tarawa and some other bloody battles. He was looked upon with high regard by everyone on the ship. When we were in Long Beach he had a woman that took him in. The ship had 3 or 4 LCVP's on a rope tied to the fan tail. They had a rope ladder to go down to the LCVP's so if some one was going ashore they would bring the LCVP around to the big ladder at the quarter deck. George went AWOL , took a LCVP into Long Beach. Well they said we were ready to go back to sea. Commonder Bower was our skipper at this time. Not only was there a LCVP missing , but so was George. Well George showed up in the missing LCVP Several days out to sea, they decided to court marshal George. They set up court in the ward room where officers ate. There were 3 officers to hold court . Chief Rose over master at arms Force said I would have to escort George in and out of court. I would have to strap a pistol on --the only time I ever wore a gun. They asked me to bring George into the ward room. the were not asking question, George and I were to stand in the passage way outside the ward room. These officers had two very thick Navy Law Books. They would call us in and then they didn't know how to carry on the court. About the third time, George and I were in the hallway, George said John tell them I know what they should be saying. George had been thru court before. Well they listened to George and held court. They decided to bust him down one grade. I was surprised they didn't give him time in the Brig. I went through the list of crew members. I feel sure he was George Kenneth Cummings MOMM2C.If Bill Hamben were living he could confirm this name. I don't remember who the officers were in this court, but if they are living they would surely get a big laugh out of this. Again the way it was.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- P>S> I have more stories to send when my wife can send them. I know that George was a MOMM2nd C and I know he was in "A" division the boat group. So long for now, John D. Miller .------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck , Here is information from Friday March 17 2006-11:18 a.m. Fort Casper Museum. From Rick C. Young email address is ryoung@city of Casper Wy.com He quotes" We do have a few related to the U>S>S> Natrona. This includes the engineering log, ship wheel, photos, etc. E-mail from Bates- March 19th .He says he has obtained your ship's deck log. Chuck , we all lean on you to put all the history in the museum. I will be sending a lot more to you. Will you see that all the shipmates gets my notes. Should get more coming from others. And I have more Chuck, the whole story was not put in ships log. I feel sure Commander Bower did not want this recorded. He was regular Navy, With his career still ahead of him, I am sure if one of us had been in his shoes, we would have wanted to forget the bad part. Bless you. John lD. Miller ---------------------------------------------------------------------P.S. I think the complete story should be placed in the museum. It's History. ----------------------We received an email form Joe today (20 Mar 2006). He was on that deck with me and remembers what a close call that was. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3/22/2006 U.S.S. Natrona ; we had a three cell brig, port side of Galley close to the bake shop. I would unlock cell door and the cook would hand me a tray food. I would set the tray on the bunk. We had an army officer who, while we were at Okinawa that had seen too much, he went berserk There was a little hall way in front of these cells, by the time I had cleared the hallway, He threw his tray at the cell door. Food went everywhere. They took him out right away. I am sure he was brought back to the states for treatment. We had a few of the crew that served time in this brig. I tried, from the list of crew to pick out the cook. But I could not put a name on him. This cook was a big fellow, light skin, every one liked him. We had a crew member in the Brig. This cook and I would get together and decide whether to feed him. This would be ones to have only bread and water. This cook would make a big sandwich and fold a newspaper over it. We would make sure the passage way was clear and I would unlock the cell door and this cook would hand him the newspaper with the sandwich in it. We had one shipmate that we thought was due only bread and water, no sandwich More memories later John D. Miller-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smiller2808 To: Cab4bmw@aol.com ; MDidome640@aol.com ; NDSternie@aol.com ; sidjan@juno.com ; CKirlin@aol.com ; dbatesmd@juno.com ; hambrosius@verizon.net Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 3:23 PMSubject: Memories from John D. Miller Shipmates: I have stated that I was a MOMM2C, but served on Master at Arms Force, under Chief Rose. I went on this force when we went aboard ship at Richmond Navel Base. I stayed on Master at Arms Force till we moth balled the ship at Stockton, Calif. Most of the crew was on board from ships beginning to the end. There were 4 or 5 of us on this force, could have been more. Would you believe I don't remember any of them,only, Chief Rose. The ship had set times that every division would have a muster. I always made muster with "A" Division. They made sure everyone was still aboard. One time this cook was having trouble lighting the big cook stoves. They would have a blast that would scare the cooks. They said the ship's machine ship could not fix it. Chief Rose sent word had come down for me to try. Well, I will not say why I was asked, that’s another story. Just remember when you tried to light, there would be big boom. I had worked a while in a machine shop when I was seventeen. There was a motor on a hinged door that sprayed the fuel into the range. When I looked inside the range you could see fuel oil had leaked into the range. Bad fiber gasket. I got some gasket material from ship's crew and cut it to fit the motor housing. No more explosions. He said John from now on you get to eat whatever you want anytime. He took me over to the bake shop. Baker agreed to the same thing. The officers could not have had it any better. When this cook would take mess cooks to frozen food locker down below, he would say, John, come with us. He would get me a large container of orange juice or what ever I wanted. Bless that cook. Wish I could remember his name. He was about 10 years older than me, I am 80 years old (Young?) He has, I would think passed on. Thanks, John D. Miller - ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 22,2006 From John Miller------------During G Q I was in charge of gun replacements, on the quarter deck close to Engineer’s office. After a while it got like a ball game, I would give headphones to one of the replacements and walked around the ship to watch what was going on. One morning I was at the quarter deck by the engineer's office port side. I saw a jap plane over one of those little mountains. He was headed for us. You could see black spots all around him, but he kept coming. The only time I wanted to run, but I couldn’t move. I just froze. IF he had come on I would love to have been there. The shells got to close to him and he dove into a ship that was closer to him. I looked behind me an old warrant officer engineer had his head sticking out of a port hole. His neck was sticking out and his eyes were big as your fist. Later I thought he was frozen there too. If the plane had come in on us, we both would have been standing there. John Miller --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Books --Another book that tells what we saw at Kerme Retto. "Little Ship, Big War", author _Commander Edward P. Steffford, U.S. N. (Retired) -----You will remember the names of these ships when you read this book . It is a top notch book, on the way it was. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Another Book ---"Big Red" author - Douglas C. Waller----------------------The three month Voyage of a Trident nuclear Submarine - You will know why the U.S. is the most powerful nation in the world.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hope you all have enjoyed all these memories and write me some of yours . John D. Miller--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good Morning, John 3/25-2006 Your last story reminded me of the time that we were at G.Q. and the jap plane was coming at us at about 5 o'clock off the starboard stern about 30 feet off the water. Elmer Laubenheim and myself were on the Rangefinder (round tub) directly in front of the smoke stack at G.Q. I watched this plane coming in and when it got closer it disappeared behind the smoke stack. When it was determined he was down, I noticed my knee's were banging each other. That is the only time I can remember that happening. Chuck Bailey -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To my shipmates, on page 257 of "Little Ship-Big War" by Commander Edward P. Stafford, he served on USS Abercrombie-DE 343. This DE came up from Lete with us to Okinawa. Back to page 257---" After an attack by a Baka that they caused it to hit the water behind them. Three things had saved DE 343- the speed with which an alert gun captain had swung his mount on target, good ( and Lucky) shooting, and the proximity or VT fuse in the so-called "AA" Special" ammunition which was used . This highly classified antiaircraft fuse put out a radio signal which detonated the projectile within killing range (sixty feet) of the target without requiring a direct hit. It accounted for most of the enemy aircraft shot down by U.S. Ships in the Pacific. " We had a little help that we were not aware of. copied by John D. Miller------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three Victory ships (Logan, Hobbs, and Canada) were sunk during World War II, all by kamikazes during the invasion of Okinawa. These Victorys carried a total of 24,000 tons of ammunition (54 million pounds or 24,000 metric tons), including the majority of 81 mm mortar available in the United States. This loss severely restricted combat during the invasion. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------to all our shipmates----------What I remember about Nagaya. I remember our ship entering through a long narrow channel that had submarine nets along the right side of the channel. Like going through a mountain pass. When we got into the bay it is very large. All ships dropped anchor in this bay. Commander Bower must have been in charge. I stated before when the Captain left the ship in his fancy boat I went in the boat crew as engineer. He wanted to look the dock over before the ship went in. When we ge to the docks, there was a Jap male in top hat and tails. He may have been Mayor of Nagaya. He bowed to our boat, but the skipper never looked at him, just like he wasn't there. When we tied up at the dock, we were told that ships crew was not to leave the dock. In some of the towns the Japs were stilled armed. Some US service men shopping were dragged in back of shops and stabbed or shot. That was enough said. A long the docks were some very large warehouses. .These warehouses were covered in sheet metal. The metal looked like it had been subject to a lot heat, but they were in good shape. -We pulled some metal back and went into the warehouse, by the ship 3 or 4 of us, sorry I can't remember who the others were,.could have been 40 or 50 feet to the top of the warehouse at the center. It was full of coins. We climbed to the top and slid down with our feet in front of us. It was like a big hay stack. We brought some of the coins on board. We told some officers that we saw some lead bars. They asked us to bring some of the lead bars on board. They had heard the Japs put gold in them. We took some of the lead bars to the boat shop. They sawed them into with hack saws, but there no gold. I have six china copper coins, some large and some small. I have a New Zealand coin dated 1934, with king George V Emperor on the front. Looks like silver. I have an Australia penny dated 1944 with King George. I have a British North Borneo penny dated 1889. I have a filipino coin dated 1928 from that warehouse. There is no way to describe that pile of coins. You would have to have seen it yourself. Warehouse maybe 300 feet long by 100 feet wide. Coins maybe have been 40 feet deep at the center. That's the way it was. One of the shipmates. John D. Miller. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------P.S. They needed copper to make ammo.shells. They took coins in all countries, they invaded. Japan has no natural recourses. They have to import most things. Wonder what was in the rest of those large warehouses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chuck, please pass this on to the other shipmates. Many Thanks, John To all