| Subject: USS Berrien |
Author:
Stephen Hamrock
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Date Posted: 23:34:28 10/01/07 Mon
In reply to:
Mark Finster
's message, "USS Berrien" on 21:42:07 12/06/06 Wed
My father was an "Operating Room Tech" on the Berrien. The Berrien was converted into a hospital ship as soon as the troops were sent over the side and into the landing craft. He assisted the surgeons in the operating rooms as the injured were brought back from the beaches. When not in the operating rooms he was responsible for tending to the wounded in post-op recovery rooms.
He did not openly talk about his experiences, but would tell stories when asked. Sometimes he would laugh about a memory, and other times he would shake his head in sadness as he recalled some sight or event.
My father was just a few months shy of 20 years old when he participated in the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Many of the Marines were younger.
He said he could vividly recall seeing the American flag just after it had been raised over Suribachi. All the ships in the fleet set off the on-board klaxons, bells, and whistles, while thousands of men cheered. He remembered seeing Kamikaze pilots at Okinawa swooping in to hit the American ships. The 16" projectiles shot out of the huge guns of the battleships sounded like freight trains rumbling through the sky as they sailed overhead.
Over the weekend I found a small "booklet" of snapshots my father had produced while on the Berrien. They primarily picture the traditional Hazing/Initiation ceremony that all "guppies" (or is it "pollywogs") must endure when passing over the equator for the first time. However two of the pictures show, respectively, Mt Suribachi and a landing craft tethering to the side of the Berrien as it prepared to offload the wounded.
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