John B. Doughton Midway was my first overseas tour and in December of 1957 with leave over I was on my way . This was to be the farthest away from home and the first time outside of the US . It is about 1200 miles northwest of Hawaii and about half way to Japan from the west coast although under the jurisdiction of Hawaii . The first part of my trip (from San Francisco) was a flight to Honolulu , Hawaii . My first Visit there will be a memory that will always stand out .Life was at a slower pace then with very little to hint at the huge growth to come. The airport was much smaller and quaint with all kinds of tropical growth. In those days You still had the juice carts around the airport where you could get all the free pineapple juice you wanted . I remember Buying Alice ,my girl friend, a ginger perfume and a carved wooden music box . I think I also sent her an orchid. I didn't have much time here before my flight on to midway but I did get to see the Hawaiian village and the openness of the beaches .This was in the days of the Hawaiian calls radio shows with the royal Hawaiians band . In looking back this was a rather Idyllic time and to soon Vanish with the coming of rapid growth . Each time in later years I would stop in Hawaii it was always more closed in and more of a tourist trap. Back then the Hawaiian Village was a natural part of town . It's now walled in by big buildings and seems fake. After a day or so wait at the Military Receiving Station I got a flight out and was on my way to Midway . They had two flights out a week , I believe on Tuesday and Thursday . These were usually civilian charter and used DC-6's . These were still the prop plane days and it took about six hours to get out to midway . As we neared the end of our flight we all looked out the plane windows to catch our first glimpse . We soon were able to see this small speck on the ocean and although it did get bigger as we descended it still was awfully small ! Sand Island , the main and largest of two Islands was only about a mile by two miles. (including the new runway over run) We landed on this Small Island that was to be my home for the next year . We were picked up by a bus and transported to the old barracks across from admin ,and by the brig. These barrack's were here during the battle of midway and had several 20MM shell holes thru the girders ! Still a part of living history . The first night I got indoctrinated into life on the island ! I went to take a shower and wash my hair . The hair wash didn't work out too well! My hair turned into a sticky greasy mess. After the other guys had their laugh , one of them loaned me his Pert shampoo. It seemed like only a couple of types of shampoo would work in the brackish water . Needless to say I did get some the next day at the Exchange . I soon was settled into the routine and working in the motor pool . My third class was now effective so I put on my crows . I had made it in a year, the minimum time it could be done . This was in a closed rate and 36 of out of 368 that passed the test made it . Our Island was fast becoming a mix of the old and the new . We had been in the past tasked to support ships , trans ocean plane stop overs as well as provide seaplanes for search and rescue. With the coming of long range bombers the US needed early warning so the navy flew super Connie patrols . This was the four engine prop plane with the three vertical tail stabilizers and were used by the airlines in passenger form. Ours had a big radome on the bottom of the plane and one on the top, with all kind of electronics . These were the WV-2 or the willie victor and flew long patrols of up to eighteen hours . When I arrived they had the big new hangar. Hawaiian Dredging was finishing new barracks, chow hall, family housing and the over run on the runway to extend it to 11000 feet . With over 2000 people on our small island we had several water systems to keep up with our water needs . Along with evaporators for fresh water , we had a brackish water system which was used for toilets , showers and most needs except cooking and drinking . Water was pumped out of wells and also water run off was collected from the runways . This was stored in open concrete storage tanks By the air terminal behind the air control tower . Periodically they would drain down the tanks and clean out the bottoms . Work crews would clean it up and we would provide a cherry picker to lift it out to our truck and haul it away .They would find all kinds of trash including tire rubber and even an occasional dead goonie bird. The water was cleaned up before it was used though . Midway Island is actually two Islands, Sand and Eastern, and originally were two sand spits surrounded by a coral reef. Without the reef I doubt that Midway would have survived . In the 20's and 30's the cable company put a station on sand island as part of an undersea cable connection for phones and commercial wire traffic . They set out to make the Island habitable by hauling in ship loads of soil to build up sand island .Ironwood tree's were planted along with vine like vegetation to hold the soil in place . This tamed the island somewhat and made it more livable. During the thirties Pan Am was looking for a stopover for it's big clipper flying boats on the routes to the orient and obtained rights to land and overnight passengers. They built a small hotel on the back side of the island to use for these stays . During my time on midway some parts of these buildings were still standing . The coming of World War II changed all of this with the development of long range planes and more modern communications . My arrival in Jan. 1958 was to a rapidly changing Midway . There were still many World War II bunkers and shelters scattered about the island especially out towards frigate point . These were mostly abandoned or covered over and a source of sometimes amusing even though dangerous incidents . One of these was when the Hawaiian dredging crews were digging up an old bunker in the housing area . they were hauling off trash from an old bunker they tore down and they threw a couple of boxes on the truck to go to the dump. They dumped them and later ,as usual, the dump was set afire to burn the trash . Luckily one of the navy guys was dumping, noticed the boxes and saw that they were marked hand grenades! needless to say he pulled them away from the fire and called someone to properly dispose of them. It could have been a lively place if the fire had gotten to them! Also out in the frigate point area the crews were digging up some sand and hit some wood with the corner of the dozer blade . he made another pass at it and spilled open crates of .50 machine gun ammunition . I think there were over twenty cases that had been covered over in the sand . they were hauled out to sea and dumped . I also used to check out the bunkers in the frigate point area when I got the chance . Most were still solid but abandoned . We were always hoping to find some old WWII articles. we had heard about someone that had found a wrapped up and cosmolined M-1 carbine down in the walls of one of the bunkers . It had been stored by someone who had hopes of picking it up when he was leaving the Island . We will never know why he didn't get a chance to take it . I did find a loaded M-1 carbine clip once but not much else . they had been picked fairly clean by 1958. I remember walking into one of the old bunkers and seeing a 250 lb bomb standing in the corner . Kind of startling but on closer examination found out that it was a practice bomb you filled with water or something to practice drop from your plane. One time out on frigate point ,just past the old machine gun bunker , we found some 20MM shells washed up on the beach . They had been in the water so long that the bullets had been pushed out of the casings . I kept several of the 20mm bullets for a while but was warned of possible explosive bullet heads so I got rid of them. With the finish of the new barracks we were moved into much nicer quarters . They did have one interesting fault though . We were on the third floor and we soon found out that if you flushed the toilet when someone was taking a shower he had to be quick or he would have a suddenly hot shower . of course we all learned to jump when showering and we heard the toilet flush. Our time in the new barracks was not to last long as BARONPAC was expanding and took over barracks 350 . We then were moved to barracks 217 (I think) which was the old wooden barracks behind the EM club towards the fuel farm . They were comfortable but old and besides no one else wanted them ! We had several interesting people I remember in Public Works . One was a third class driver named fish who was a good worker and quiet in nature . We got to talking one time and he told me how he had been in Korea and was in on the long retreat . with the freezing cold and the constant threat of being over run by the attacking north Koreans he said they had some desperate times. Like most people who had been in true tough battle conditions,he didn't talk much about it. We also had a first class mechanic that was around sixty and hadn't yet put in 20 years! "Pappy" had served I think in WWI and I know WWII plus Korea . he got out each time and finally stayed in after Korea . Pappy had been in on the Bikini Atomic bomb tests and his feet had some radiation burns . They would act up sometimes and he would wear old tennis shoes with the tops cut out per doctors orders . It was rather comical to see pappy in dress blues with his gray hair and tennis shoes with the tops cut out ! It looked like the navy was going to retire him at sixty with less than 20 years in the navy. I still worked at the motor pool and we had quite an array of equipment . this included a 50 ton crash crane , a northwest six crane, low boys, a TD 14 cat, a D-8 cat, a 20 ton mobile crane , a road grader, bus, pickups and various other equipment to maintain our little island . Our motor pool was located across the street from the station power plant which used big heavy diesel engines . We always had a low rumble and ground vibration which was a part of our every day life . I remember once they completely shut down the power plant for a few hours to do some work . When I got to work we all had the feeling that something was wrong but couldn't quite tell what . then we realized the silence and lack of vibration from the power plant was what it was . We would get jobs to patch up roads , haul supplies provide bus service, Pull boat engines with crane and drivers licensing . typically any maintenance that required equipment we were involved in . At the motor pool we had a power saw that wouldn't run and as I had worked with with them while logging ,took an interest in fixing it up . It was a Homelite model 7-29 and had not been very well taken care of . I took it apart, cleaned out the carburetor, fixed the starter cord rewind assembly and soon had it running nicely . It was rather odd though as it had a four foot bar and chain, requiring two men to handle while most of the Ironwood trees we would have to cut up were not over a foot in diameter! Real good planning ! I convinced my boss to let me order a couple of two foot bars and chains . When I got them we had a real handy tough saw . With 7 horse power and 29 pounds one man could cut even the tough Ironwood trees with ease . Of course I got the job of taking care of the power saw now too. when the construction crews left we were also called on to load and unload cargo ships that stopped in with supplies. I was assigned to run ships winches to lift pallets of supplies and equipment to the docks . I was good on the winches and remember one night we were backloading CO2 bottles on pallets . I had a good crew and was able to pick up a pallet from the dock and set it down in the hold in about 15 seconds or less . I was always able to enjoy these kinds of work where by my skill I was able to get a lot of work done . I attribute this to being raised on a farm and working with cats, logging from an early age. I did have a dad who trusted me to do a mans job at an early age allowing me to gain lots of experience. I would remember several times we would have some job to do and the rest of the guys would say it could not be done . I would say get out of my way and go ahead and do the job . They would ask how I knew how to do it and I would tell them it was a simple matter of experience to know that I could do it and then just figuring out how to do it . I bought a zenith transoceanic radio and at night ,depending on the skip, would be able to receive west coast AM radio stations and sometimes across the country . I did get a Chicago station at times and was also able to get a phoenix , Arizona station also . I of course was writing long letters to Alice , my girl friend ,and decided to send in a request to her on the phoenix station. I requested "special angel " and she liked it . I had decided to ask Alice to marry me so I ordered a ring set thru the exchange . In those days it cost 205 dollars in the exchange and had a guarantee of 450 dollars retail . I remember picking the set up and stopping by small stores to show it off . the guy asked if it was real and I said of course . Before I could stop him he raked the diamond across the glass counter top and put a big scratch in it . It sure scared the heck out of me but of course didn't hurt the diamond. We had an emergency defense inspection(ORI ,or operational readiness inspection) once where the base was graded on the ability to handle defense and support in emergencies . It was a lot of fun for us at the motor pool as we had to perform various simulated emergency functions such as load up the cat , haul it to the runway and simulate filling in a hole, haul emergency crews around and chased all over the place . The base had to set guards and have them check for saboteurs . I had duty driver that night and took with me a replica of a colt .45 auto. One of the guys had a run to pick up someone and borrowed it to take along. When he got back he said he was stopped by a sentry and was asked for ID . He pointed the fake .45 at him and asked if this was enough ID . It scared the heck out of the guard and he said sure ! Part of the drill was that the inspectors had people assigned to infiltrate and we were suppose to catch them. the guys at the plumbing shop caught one and turned him in . they caught him again later and figured if they were turning them loose they would just tie them up and keep them . This way they didn't have to bother with catching them again ! We all had some fun with these exercises and did get the base good high ratings on the ORI . Anyone that has been to midway will know the one thing constant about it is the goonie bird . (laysan albatross) From the early days when it was just a sand spit they were always there and only tolerated the disruption of man . They were everywhere , in the lawn, would try and nest in the roads and were noisy . They continued their life cycle around us . Each year the goonies would come back and try to nest in the same place they were born . this did create some consternation when roads were built and buildings were put up . You would find nests in the middle of the road and have to move them or run over them. They would spend a month or so with mating rituals , mating for life . We would all watch these rituals of billings, preening , strutting and calls to each other . They were always a source of entertainment . They would soon settle down and set a nest with an egg to hatch . Since food was gathered at sea the male and female would take turns setting the nest. They always took good care of the egg . Some smartelecs would take an extension cord and plug in a light bulb ,set it under a bird watch her settle down on it then turn it on . As it warmed up she would stand up an quizzically look at it then set back down . The goonies caused us many a laugh with their landings and takeoffs . They had to get a good run to get airborne and sometimes would run into the side of buildings ! Each years crop of birds would stay out to sea for I think about three years . when they arrived back from sea they had some spectacular flops getting used to landing on ground . They would flair in for what looked like a good landing, touch down their legs and roll end over end sometimes tangling with others. The funny part was when they would stand up ,kind of look around to see if they had been noticed and walk off with head held high! after the appropriate length of time the baby goonies would peck their way out of the shell and step into the world . For a time this little black feathery ball wouldn't edge out much more than his head to the world outside his nest .The parents would continue to take turns tending the nest and gathering the food . Now they also brought back food for the baby and fed it by regurgitating it into the babies mouth . Eventually these furry balls would turn into more mature birds that would have almost a full normal coat of feathers . They would now be trying their wings out , turning into the wind like an airplane running up his engine readying for takeoff . After they are about 7 months old the birds would start to solo and start their long sea odyssey not to return for 3 years or so . All of a sudden with the birds gone you would notice this deafening silence ! This was rather strange after the 9 months of constant noise. The birds would be gone for about three months and then a different group of birds that had left 3 years ago would show up . This was natures constant cycle that has been going on since the first sandspit had been formed . With all the goonies normally around and the addition of the barrier patrol plane flights there would be lots of conflict and damage from plane hits . They had the experts out trying to scare the birds away from the runways to no avail . They next tried to kill off those close to the runway and also saw meager results . They then tried to figure out how to co exist with them. Later on they flattened the frigate point dunes and put a coat of asphalt over the sand . this helped somewhat because it also cut down on the wind currents necessary for good flight . Anyway this settled the fight, with the goonies getting the better of most of the battles . For recreation we had fishing, boating And good swimming , with the reef keeping out the heavy seas , but the promise of a skating rink had my interest. Special services had received the hardwood flooring to put in one of the old buildings by 217 . I would check on the progress of the floor with much impatience and help out when I could . Before long it was finished and I would spend a lot of spare time learning how to skate . I did learn to skate fairly well and I was able to skate both backward and forwards . I did have a lot of fun and it helped to pass the time . At work we had a jeep that was about to be scrapped out because of a cracked motor block. I don't know who started the idea of putting another engine in it but we all became enthused with the idea . We checked with our Warrant officer ( motor pool officer ) and he said it was OK as long as it was not a V-8 ! We had our eye on several pickups and vans at the dump that had been left by the construction company and soon pulled a 1951 ford flathead V-8 . It was well worn with sloppy bearings but we were going to give it a try . Right off I had a fight trying to get it right . Most of the guys just wanted to put the ford engine and transmission in it which would not allow you to use four wheel drive. I held out to use the jeep transmission which would keep the four wheel drive. I then had to Figure out a way to do it with what we had or could make up. The ford engine had a short bellhousing that just covered the flywheel . this made the job easier . I cut out a circle of 3/8 steel to bolt up to the short bellhousing and then cut off the jeep bellhousing to a length that I could machine the combination for the proper length of the transmission to the flywheel . Although the experts said it wouldn't work without cracking the lighter jeep housing piece , I aligned up the housing piece to the round steel plate . With a good nickel rod welding in short beads so as not to get it hot and allowing it to cool in between welds I was able to make it work . We then took a lathe and turned the round plate to fit the ford housing and align the transmission with it . With mounting bolt holes drilled we had our adaptor . We now found that the ford clutch wouldn't fit as it was too long . We checked on what we had and found a Chevrolet clutch plate was thin enough . we redrilled the fly wheel to make it fit . We couldn't find a clutch plate to fit the transmission spline and large enough so we used the small jeep clutch plate. This we found out to be more than adequate. We now were into assembly with more challenges. with only a slight reforming of the lower firewall we had the engine in the jeep . I sectioned out the front cross member and put in an angle iron to re enforce it which allowed me to move the radiator forward for clearance. I rodded out the jeep radiator and put on new outlets to fit the ford engine . the left exhaust manifold and steering column conflicted so I had to section out and plate over part of the manifold going to the rear cylinder. Not an elegant solution but it worked well . We put short straight pipes on it and set out to tackle the last problem. The engine set up high enough so the carburetor came up even with the top of the hood . we didn't want the jeep to be obviously different so chose to cut a small hole in the hood and run it with no air cleaner . We now had a workable jeep ! We didn't have a good starter for it at first so we had to push start it . I didn't want just anyone using it either so this was just a good excuse. It turned out to be quite a good rig ! Awhile later our Warrant officer came by and needed a truck . we were out of trucks so he asked about our jeep . I said it was OK except it would need a push start and he said OK, he would keep it running . A quick push start and he was on his way. A while later he came back grinning from ear to ear and said it was all right! We never did hear anything about us using a V-8 in it either ! I had a lot of fun with it and we also put it to good use . I tow started a gallion grader with it and also towed in a loaded semi truck . One day we needed some old telephone poles to use around our parking lot . I went out to the dump and hooked onto two poles about 30 feet long to pull back to the motor pool . I headed down the side of the runway at around 30mph with this load . The guys almost didn't believe it ! Another time one of the guys brought it back to the motor pool and complained it had gotten hot and boiled over . I found out that he had been towing a 5 ton aircraft tow tractor to the dock including thru the sandy parking lot and had not even shifted into low range ! I asked him what he really expected ! The engine on the jeep was so worn that one day as I pulled into the motor pool, making a quick stop, it started to knock . I thought it was done for so hopped back in to move it out back and as I pushed the clutch in the knocking stopped . the crankshaft just had lots of endplay and the quick stop started it bouncing . we kept on using it till after I left . In fact the day I went around checking out I used the jeep. We had been very lucky to be able to modify the jeep as it was against navy regs. Later on after I left they sent it over to Eastern island to use as a duty vehicle .One of the guys was horsing around and rolled it . luckily no one was hurt . This scared the boss because of the legal implications so they were ordered to destroy it and put it in the dump . They drove it to the dump , pulled the hand throttle wide open and let it run . It wouldn't quit until finally one of the old radiator hoses blew and let it overheat and seize up . Before the jeep one of our guys took a dodge 5 ton semi tractor that had a big hemi V-8 in it and tuned it up to run well . He wanted to see how it would run so took it out on the taxiway between the two runways and really wound it out . He said he got it up to 90mph . the taxiway was short so he geared it down to slow up and flipped all the engine belts off . He was able to get it stopped and was darn lucky not to have wrecked this short bobtail at these speeds. Some of the crazy things our guys did ! We had a crazy run of accidents that had everyone jumpy for a while . One guy was electrocuted when he painted a high voltage transformer after he was told not to . he was just suppose to paint the fence around it . Another aviation flight line crewman ducked under the prop of a DC-6 Hawaiian airline log flight that was running and lost the top of his head . They suspect that he was used to ducking under the seaplane props that had plenty of clearance and tried it on the DC-6 with fatal results . Another steelworker was helping tear down an old bunker by the steel shop and was told to cut every other support rod thru the wall on the inside . these were double walls with sand between them . He went ahead and cut all the rods until it collapsed on him . they were not able to get him out in time . they said when they pulled him out that he had crushed his dog tags with his hand. We also had one of our guys hoorawing the goonie birds and hanging out the passenger side of a dump truck on the frigate point road when he fell out . The road was sandy and he probably hit his head on the only possible hard thing around . they got him to the hospital but his heart stopped . It seems like he had a plate in his head and hit on it . after all this everyone thought that we were jinxed ! One of our jobs at the motor pool was to provide bus service as we had no private vehicles . While we had our bicycles some did not ride and It was also hard to haul groceries back to your house . this was run from "downtown" (exchange &commissary area) thru the housing areas . It was run I think once each hour. The island had a quite temperate range, seldom getting above 80 degrees and I suppose not below 55 degrees . We would get some rain storms but not much else . One time we had some excitement when an earthquake was suppose to be sending a tidal wave at us . the old housing area was the high spot on the island so we were told to bring all of our equipment to high ground. We all had fun as we got to chase around with our equipment including the crash crane and then wait it out to see if anything was going to happen. Around midnight we still had not a ripple of a tidal wave so they called off the alert . The one thing that was always talked about was when you were leaving . The tour for single men was one year and as they got down to the last month or so a lot of them would wear "short timer" chains . these were beaded chains like you used to use on the bathtub stoppers . Anyway the number of beaded links would be how many days you had left. you would cut one off each day and you could show everyone how short you were getting . I remember one of our guys was real anxious to get home as he had a new baby girl that he hadn't seen and was born while he was on midway . The day finally came and we saw him off . Later on he wrote us and told us what had happened on the way back. He was on his way from Hawaii to California on a DC-6 , thinking of his new baby girl he hadn't seen, when an engine cut out ! Shortly each of the other engines cut out and he was slowly gliding toward the ocean . He said it seemed like forever as they kept getting closer to the water. All he could think about was that he was not going to see his new daughter ! The engines finally all caught as they seemed about to crash and they made it the rest of the way uneventfully . It looked liked the pilot let the tanks run dry before he switched over . Before I left I found out that I had made second class . again the field was tight with 158 of us passing the test for construction driver and 15 of us being advanced . This again was in minimum time of two years. I was now getting short and received orders to mobile construction battalion three currently working on Okinawa . I was to report to Port Hueneme near Oxnard California. Soon I was off leaving pleasant memories of midway and as the island dwindled off to nothing in the large expanse of the pacific ocean , little did I dream that I would be back here in the near future. After several flights with minor interruptions I finally arrived in phoenix ,Arizona tired but happy to see Alice . I knew she was the one I wanted to marry and so giving her the rings I had bought on midway , asked her to marry me . She accepted and later on I asked Her father and always the laconic one , he looked at me and said " are you sure you know what your getting into" ? I said "I hope so" ,but I did want to marry her . Too soon I had to be on my way and head for my next duty assignment. After checking in at Port Hueneme and MCB-3 they sent me out to Okinawa . I flew over In a Navy squadron DC-6 And Had a short stop at Kwajalein Island . This Island was part of the heavy fighting in WWII . It was a small horseshoe shaped Island , even smaller than midway . We only had a short fueling stop but sure would have liked the opportunity to have looked around . Even in early 1959 a lot of the smaller Islands had a lot of WWII sites virtually undisturbed. We had to be on our way though to Okinawa . I arrived in Okinawa and was soon checked in and working with MCB-3 on the marine helicopter base . After about 2 months I saw a notice posted on the bulletin board asking for Second class equipment operators to volunteer to go to midway! I remember telling some of the guys that I sure would like to volunteer But Knowing you had to have 6 months in the outfit before they would let you ,I didn't even ask . Word must have gotten around That I would like to go as next thing I knew I had orders back to midway! Now I had to get things in gear so I could get married! I immediately wrote Alice to get things moving as I would be home soon . with us married and as a second class I would Be able to take her to midway as soon as housing opened up . Being a young naive man I didn't quite realize what a bombshell I had thrown . Bless Alice and her mother Bernice who with much family help were able to pull off a full church wedding . We had a nice, but short 10 day honeymoon and all too soon it was time to leave . It Was hard to leave but I was counting on not too long a wait before I got base housing . the last of July 1959 I was off and on my way to midway again . Alice , bless her heart , decided to meet my family by herself which was a brave thing to do . When I landed and was picked up by the bus I asked If I would be going directly to barracks 217 . The guy looked startled and then said " your the one that's coming back". Most of the other sailors could not Imagine wanting to go back to midway! I was soon settled in and reacquainted with the goonie birds . I had my request in for housing and was back working at the motor pool . Things had changed somewhat in the time I was gone and as junior second class I got some of the other duties I'd missed before . I caught several months duty as barracks master at arms . this was a job of seeing that we had orderly and clean barracks . I of course had a crew of seamen to do the work . I always looked at it as something I had to do before I could get back to operating equipment . Although It seemed like a long time It did pass and soon was back at the motor pool . I had an assignment for a while as drivers license examiner which was kind of interesting . I remember we had these courses set up out across the runway ,to have each of the guys being tested run for time and skill in handling of the vehicle . We usually had some old pickup for the test but on this day one of the special services guys brought their new station wagon . This was a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air station wagon with the big 348 ci V-8 engine ! Just what you needed for The leisurely several block short jaunts around midway ! Anyway he was a pretty good driver and on my obstacle course he really smoked it . He set a new course record but I had too decide if it wasn't too fast . I did pass him but made a note to myself to remind others that maximum speed wasn't required to pass ! We still had periodic ships in to unload and I still caught duties doing this . As second class I was assigned hatch boss With a crew to unload cargo. We usually were left on our own as long as we kept cargo moving . I do remember we had an academy Lieutenant that would not keep out of our way . One day when I had hatch boss he came to my hatch and went down to check on how the crew was doing , trying to tell them how to do it . We were pulling 4x4x16 out of the sides of the hold and offloading to the dock . Anyway the LT was getting in the way and trying to boss the crew around . we were starting to pull a bundle out and he was standing around so I nodded to my winch man to click it up a notch faster . The LT saw the lumber swing toward him and headed up the ladder. the lumber swung over to where he had been and then was hoisted over the side . He kind of looked over at me ,glared and left . I did not put him in danger but he got the hint and didn't bother us again . The LT , when he left us went over to the second ship that was unloading cold stores . He went down the hatch on this ship and was showing the hatch crew how to sort all the peas on one pallet and etc. Before long the work crew were all standing around watching Instead of doing the work. Someone must have got a hold of the supply commander as he was told that the commander wanted to see him . After that he stayed out of our way ! One other time I was unloading a truck out of my hatch and the duty officer didn't think I had it rigged short enough to clear the hatch and said to lower it . I just looked over at my winch man and told him to take it over the side . He set it down on the dock with no problems . The officer looked at me ,came over and said "you are doing a good job, keep it up ". He then went on to his rounds . I usually had more respect for an officer who would realize that you knew your job and leave you alone to get the job done . I didn't like to be baby sat when I knew more about my job than what he did . One ships working party I was assigned to run our Northwest six crane in unloading containers . I made a mistake in accepting the assurance that the weights were within limits for my crane .I was all the way up to the dock edge with the tracks but had to reach out with the boom too far . I managed to lift it part way but lifted the rear of the crane . I told them we would not be able to lift it clear . The second mistake was letting them talk me into trying to set the container back on its pads . I just got it up a little and as I tried to swing it back the 45 foot boom buckled in the middle . I bounced and rocked as the crane unloaded , but was watching with horror as the crane boom and sling came down close to about four of the crew on adjacent containers . I do think the good lord was watching over my shoulder as other than one guy getting bruised up as he scrambled out of the way , no one was seriously hurt . We had a job one time to haul several semi loads of explosives that the construction crew had left behind . we had to take a physical to be legal . I remember we had the usual blood pressure test , reflex tests and what not. We then had the doctor ask our group if we had any concerns about our health . McGraw another second class said he sometimes had a hard time hearing low sound . The doctor looked at him and said "do you suppose you could hear the dynamite if it went off on your truck "? Mac said sure . He then proclaimed us fit to haul explosives! We had no unusual experiences with hauling the explosives . We had one ship come in with a load of equipment for a CB battalion coming in to clear off and flatten the frigate point area . This was then asphalted in another effort to keep the goonie birds away from the runway . Anyway our interest at the time was in what equipment was coming in . Several of us were off duty but quickly figured out that the unloading crew could use our expertise ! The equipment was mostly open deck and ready to run so instead of crews having to winch them around , we went aboard ,checked them out ,fired them up ,drove to the winches and off the dock as they set down . We had all the trucks and tractors off in record time and had fun doing it too . I had a job one time running our D-8 for Hawaiian dredging construction building up sand around the tanks they had installed by the fueling piers. This was only for a couple of days though . I had a job on Saturdays doing oil changes and lube jobs on cats and trucks for another construction company . This kept me busy while waiting for Alice . I did learn what they were building also . It was a storage area for nuclear devices which I assumed to be torpedoes or other tactical devices . The storage area was on the back side of the island near where the old PAN AM hotel used to be . It was interesting in the way they designed the storage building . It was a square or oblong building with walls that were thick at the bottom and tapered down near the top . on this they had a light roof . If you stopped to think about it this made perfect sense . If you had a nuclear device go off you wanted the energy to go up , the path of least resistance, instead of sideways .When it was finished it had two fences around it with two marines and dogs circling inside of the fences . later on after I had left they had one of the marine guards shoot the other one and run off . I don't remember much about the navfac facility , always assuming it was built later . In looking back I recall we had one project where we took the D-8 cat out to the frigate point area . we dug out a cable trench down to the water and as far into the water as we could go without damaging the cat . They had some divers to run cables and lay them out past the reef . I am sure these were for navfac use and this was around 1959 . still don't remember any buildings for navfac though . While we always had the twin engine SA-16 seaplanes and the AVR rescue boat we finally got in a small helicopter. Compared to todays modern helicopter it was rather small and fragile looking . There was a flurry of activity by the Flight officers to get in some flight time . It wasn't long before one of them had to ditch it into the lagoon just off the officers beach !I didn't hear whether it was a mechanical failure or pilot error. Public Works got the job of recovering it . We put our 20 ton mobile crane on a barge and brought it around by tug boat to pull the helicopter out of the water . They shipped it back to pearl harbor but we did not get a replacement. I guess they thought it was too expensive a play toy for us ! The AVR rescue boat was about 35 feet long with twin Hall-Scott engines . This was suppose to be used to rescue downed pilots and others . I can't recall ever needing to use it for rescue missions though . Some of the officers would take it out to get some boat handling experience though . As was bound to happen we finally had one of them bang it up a bit . One of them was getting pretty cocky on his boat handling and was bringing it up to the pier fast intending to back it down hard and bring it up to the dock neatly . the only thing was he was slow in backing down and bounced it off the seawall doing some damage to the stern . Needless to say the boat crew didn't think much of his showboating and damaging their boat ! I also had to take the northwest six crane down to the dock to help pull one of the Hall-Scott engines . I was told that the engines were pulled at specified numbers of hours for exchange as long as they hadn't been torn apart . We also hauled a LCM landing craft down to the steel shop for a lot of work refitting her and reinforcing the old hull . It was then used as a working utility boat . In those days our sewage was run out to the ocean in long pipes extending a ways out . We had trouble with one line out by the old PAN AM hotel area and I had to take the D-8 cat out and dig up the line . The UT crew Plumbers had to do all the dirty work after I had dug it up but we were all called in to get shots I think it was Gamma Globulin And it was by weight . they asked me my weight and told me I would get two shots . One for each cheek! Gee and I didn't even get down in the ditch! During my second tour we had several visits from U-2 planes . This was after Powers was shot down over Russia and they were more open about the U-2 . We heard about them coming, which would have been hard to keep a secret , and were allowed to watch them taxi in . The taxiway to the SAR hangar came by the motor pool , the old big concrete power plant building and we had quite a crowd out . We all stood on the low sand dune between the road and the taxiway and were able to watch it go by from less than 50 feet . It was interesting . the plane had big wings , a small body and landing gear only under the center of the fuselage . The wings had rub strips on them so that as it slowed down it would tip to one side and rub on the tips and not damage the wing . To taxi then they would slip small wheels on rods into the wings to keep it up. I got to see one land from alongside the runway and it was different . It must have landed at 10 or 15 knots and you almost had to set them down ! As I watched this one come floating in slow and about 10 feet from the runway a light gust of wind took it up 15 or so feet . I also watched one take off and as he applied power It started up , the taxi wheels came off and he went straight up and thru the clouds. what a sight! With all the barrier patrol WV-2 flights we had some interesting things happen . One pilot took off with his pitot tubes covered and didn't realize it until he started to lift off with no indicated air speed . He reversed all four props when he was about 10 or 15 feet in the air and kept it in one piece ! They checked it out and flew it back to the factory to see if the frame was still OK! Another time we had a mission go out fully loaded and as he got airborne and retracted his gear the left strut broke off ,wheel and all . He circled as we got out the crash crane and fire trucks dumping his fuel load . After several passes he set it down gear up on the short cross runway. He wore off about half of the bottom radome and bent all four props but little else was damaged. all walked off the plane ,shaky but no injuries . We hooked up our 50 ton crash crane but was not able to get a good lift . Every time we put a strain on it we could see the skin on the plane start to wrinkle . They finally had airbags flown in to lift it . They put another landing gear on it and towed it to the hangar . With four new engines, props and a new radome cover a volunteer crew flew it back to the factory for tests . When the landing gear had come off the plane it fell on the runway, coming down on the tires bouncing up ,flipping over and coming down with the strut punching a hole thru the concrete and doing it again . I also heard about a B-36 making an emergency landing on the short runway (The long runway was closed) with several engines out . This was a while before I got there . They said he used every bit of the runway ,stopping almost at the seawall ! He was so big that his wings over hung The sand dunes on the sides of the taxiway to the SAR hangar (the only one there at that time). They flew engines in and when all was ready they hung JATO (jet assisted takeoff) on the plane to get it off on so short a runway . Since we were about half way to japan we would get some emergency landings . I remember one night I was listening to my short wave radio and I heard that a civilian DC-6 with a bad engine was being diverted to midway . I rushed over to the motor pool and told the guys that they would be getting a call soon for a bus to pick up some passengers . They didn't believe me but shortly we got a call for the bus . This was evening and I did not have duty but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for some excitement . No problems though We hauled the passengers to the BOQ and the next day hauled them back after the plane was fixed . Little things but they kept life interesting ! After I had been back 3 or 4 months and in December of 1959 my name came up for housing and finally Alice was on her way over . I met the airplane and was sure glad to see Alice after this long apart .We were dropped off at the house and the first thing she wanted was a drink. Before I could warn her she got a glass and filled it at the sink . Boy did she have a weird look on her face as she spit it out ! As I said before we had brackish water and in the house we had a separate faucet with fresh water used for cooking and drinking . She sure remembered this ! Since the Island was so small we used bicycles to get around on and which we called "horses". Anyway Alice was soon settled in and getting around on her horse . We of course had goonie birds around on most all of the ground ,including hospital , exchange and admin areas . You couldn't walk down the sidewalk or across the grass without getting clacked at . We did have a Mayberry like small town existence . we could go to the movies which weren't too old, or at least you hadn't seen them yet after you had been there a while . We had bowling , Hobby Shops, and of course swimming With beautiful beaches . Alice was soon pregnant and showing with baby. she would get around on her bicycle up to the time of birth and again soon afterwards . I remember one day she was huffing along on her horse and I jokingly said I would help pull her . I reached over to pull her and we went down in a tangle . She was bruised up and though well along with the baby , didn't see the doctor till her next check . Of course he was horrified when she told him about it. She had no problems from it . With being pregnant and away from home the first time She could get quite excitable ! I remember one evening I sneaked out to pick up her birthday present and she locked me out of the house . She felt bad later on when she found out what I had gone out for . If I remember right, during the later part of pregnancy Alice had bronchitis and once sneezed so hard she cracked a rib . With the baby carried so high and kicking It made it real hard on her. Soon it was time and I was the proverbial panicked father . Alice woke me up about 0300 saying it was time . I jumped up and called the next door neighbor who was a corpsman and asked what to do . He wasn't to excited in being woke up and told me to call the hospital . we called and the military ambulance came out to pick us up . We meandered along about 20 MPH thru the housing area and of course I am worried about getting there on time . I needn't have worried because the baby wasn't born until 1100 that morning . I only had the chance to see her several times while she was in labor and she sure let me know in no uncertain terms that this was all my fault! In those days doctors didn't want husbands around to get in the way . We were suppose to stay out in the waiting room until it was all over . I can distinctly remember the doctor coming out to see me . The whole front of his gown was covered with blood and he must have realized from the shocked look on my face how it might seem to me . He quickly explained to me that mother and baby were doing fine . I was sure relieved to hear that. I was soon to see Alice and the baby . I was quite proud of both mom and the worlds most special baby we had. No prejudice here was there ? We named her Deanna .She was somewhat jaundiced for the first day or so but we were assured that this was normal . While midway was considered part of the Hawaiian Islands for official purposes , we were also issued a Midway Island Goonie Bird birth certificate. Since we only had bicycles to get around on , Dee even as a small baby was carried around in a basket on the front of the bike . Today this would horrify everyone ! We got around safely with her the whole time we were here . Alice always said the Lord watched over us as we had a baby doll to play with and at times sure needed the benefit of some experience . With the new baby we soon were able to move next door to a two bedroom place and have a separate bedroom for baby . I am not sure of the number but It was probably A-34 as it was next door to our old place(A-33). As an interesting note the "A" area housing picture out of the handbook that is currently (9/97) on midway web page is of my house . It was taken after I left as there has been a wall added along the sidewalk !I think about 1969. Across the road from us was also the new type housing built in 1957/1958 and was of concrete construction with two stories . They used ground up coral for the concrete with some surprising results . Several of the units had live coral grow out of the walls ! They also ran the conduit for the electrical wiring in the concrete . This proved not to be such a good idea as they started to sweat water that ran down into switches and light sockets . they had to soon replace wiring and run conduit on the surface of the walls ! But with time they worked out the bugs and they were good housing units . I was a little prejudiced though as I still liked the Older housing better . On midway with ships delivering most goods we did not get many fresh foods such as milk, eggs and lettuce . You would hear thru the grapevine That some fresh food was flown in or just got in on a ship and all the wives would rush down to the commissary To try and get some .We had separate upright freezers provide in housing so you could stock up on meat and other frozen foods. We always had plenty of basic foods but if you didn't buy the good stuff you would not get much variety. milk was normally sold in one gallon tin cans and you had to use it up fast after it was opened or it would spoil .We did get some frozen milk concentrate for a time that was fairly good but a lot of work to get it mixed up right I remember later on we could get fairly fresh milk that was packaged up in a plastic bag in a box like you see wine packaged now days . This was a whole lot fresher than the canned stuff. We were really coming up in the world ! The small exchange was a lot like the commissary In that if you saw something new or nice on the shelf you had better get it now . tomorrow it may be gone for who knows how long .Again we had lots of the basics but you had to keep a sharp eye out for new stuff . This was still in the days when exchange goods,especialy foreign ones were real bargains .This sure made our military pay go further. as a second class petty officer in 1959 I was making $158.00 a month plus around 30 dollars a month for COMRATS. (money paid for meals not eaten at the chow hall) so the bargains were appreciated Of course you could order stuff out of the exchange in Hawaii but it was slow . As I said life was small town and rather Idyllic , with a nice slow pace . The two Islands had a reef around that protected us from the sea and gave us great beaches . This same reef in the PAN AM days gave a quiet lagoon for them to land and takeoff from . You soon learned the lesson of the tropics and sun around the ocean. Near the equator and especially around water with its reflectiveness you sunburned real bad fast. Also you could come out of the water not even red and go home and shower and be red as a beet ! We of course got to be friends with several of our neighbors . Of course this being the navy ,people were from all over the country and quite varied backgrounds . Rochelle was one of the Innocent types and Alice was telling her that she had been to Hollywood . She could hardly believe it and asked how she had gotten there . It seems as if Rochelle thought Hollywood was an Island somewhere out in the pacific and you had to get a special flight out to it ! Alice soon had her straightened out though . Bev and Gary lived in the house right behind us and we became good friends . Gary was an amateur radio operator or Ham as usually called . I became Interested and found I could help Gary out with some of his electronics . He would later be Instrumental in changing my work in the navy . He also Introduced us to the ham patch where Alice could call home once in a while by Ham radio . It took some getting used to one way conversations and then saying over to listen to the other end . This at least kept us in contact with the outside world . While we had local phones we had limited , expensive long distance hookup . We would get together with a few friends and neighbors and cook up a meal for an evening get together. Alice and I would cook up tacos and enchiladas for our turn and Maria Who was Italian would cook up the best pizza for her night . I don't remember who else cooked what but we did have some fun get togethers . I remember one night when maria had cooked pizza that Dee wanted some . She was about a year old and after some pizza and coke she had diahrrea the whole next day . Dee was special and always getting her picture taken for grandmother storrs . Grandma also kept the mail busy sending pretty new clothes for her to wear . Alice kept her baby doll dressed up to show her off . our housing when my wife arrived on my second tour was in the older " A" area housing . I think it had more character than the newer concrete standard navy type housing . we were on the edge of the housing towards the beach and had an old cemetery across the road . This cemetery had been here since the early sailing days I think . It never bothered us to live next to a cemetery though ! We lived in A-33 until my daughter was born and then moved next door to A-34 which was a two bedroom unit. We had the bamboo type of furniture with mats on the floor instead of rugs. I think this was the standard type of furnishings,at least for these times. These units were to be the first housing of our married life. Midway was quite a change for a 18 year old pregnant bride away from home for the first time and also quite an adventure. needless to say my wife never saw midway in the same light as I did! My watch standing duties now consisted of being the public works duty petty officer . I would spend the evening and night during my watch dispatching the duty crews to take care of public works emergency jobs . This was usually only several times a month . I remember getting a call from BARRON PAC about one toilet out of six being plugged up at the hangar ,about 0300 in the morning. I told them that I would have the day crew handle it . As you may remember this was the outfit that could only handle the barrier patrols on a wartime priority . I soon got a call from the Public Works commander who had been called by the Base Captain . BARRON PAC was just pushing our nose in it again . I sent the duty plumber up to fix it and didn't get any flack from my boss about it . They knew I had made the right decision . One Saturday I went down to the duty desk to check on things and found out that we had a WV-2 crash and burn during the early morning hours . This was Less than a 1/2 mile from my house and I hadn't heard a thing. When I got down to see it about 1000 It was almost all burned up. We had lost six people . A series of co incidences added up to make it worse . With two runways crossing at right angles a crash truck always parked on the side apron of the unused one. The pilot changed runways at the last minute and the crash truck stayed in his spot well off to the side on the active runway. This was the short runway and the first 100 yards or so from the seawall was rough with rocks and sand . The crew said that the pilot just before touchdown called out to hang on that this would be a rough one . He hit hard with left wing low in the rough stuff before the concrete and they think he broke the left wing root pulling the plane towards the left side of the runway . He hit and tucked the small crash truck under the left side and flipping the plane over . All but four of the plane crew got out but it also killed both of the guys in the crash truck . The Ironic thing was that one of the guys in the crash truck was due to leave on the next flight out . One other thing about this crash was that during the Investigation they questioned me about the end of the runway where I had loaded a D-8 cat on to a lowboy truck sometime before. They wanted to know if I had left a ramp that he could have hit . I had just loaded with the truck in a low spot in the sand . This area was rough with coral chunks . They didn't pursue it and finally concluded that hitting that far back in the rough he was already in bad trouble . I had shore patrol that evening (one of the few times , as they had destroyers in) and my partner had to get some aspirin for a headache . We stopped at sick bay and while i was waiting for him a stretcher was carried by with a drape covering a quivering mound in the center . this was all that was left of one of the crash fatalities they were trying to identify . a rather sobering moment ! We always had birds around us and besides the Goonie birds we had the fairy terns . these were small white birds and very pretty . They did have a habit of bombarding with the white stuff though ! One favorite place for them you had to watch out for was a power line crossing the road by the chapel . The warning was the white stripe across the road under the power line! If you didn't heed it you could have some white splotches on you . Most of these things you took in stride and laughed about . My neighbor Gary was a communication technician and worked on Eastern Island . He was also a ham and had a radio station set up at home . I helped him set up various antennas and became Interested in amateur radio . Gary also got me Interested in converting over to electronics. I put in for CTM and was accepted into the Star program . I was soon due to be transferred and I received orders to ET school . I had to extend to get school so I shipped over in a nice ceremony with the captain in his office at the old admin building . It was May of 1961 and Soon we were scheduled to leave on one of the many log flights I had watched come and go so many times before. I was going to train for a new job in the navy and was excite about that but knew I would always have a soft spot in my heart for Midway and the memories of it . I went on to complete Electronics Technician school at treasure island , convert to CTM-2 and later on completed twenty one years in the navy to retire as a CTMC .
In writing this story of what I remember of my time on midway I've found out how much it has changed and brings up the old adage that you never can go back home . I still Intend to go visit midway if I get the chance , not expecting it to be my old midway . I have at least the old jeep I built When on midway, buried in the dump ! John B. Doughton E Mail jbdoug@teleport.com |