The War in the Pacific

Friday, February 5, 2010

We travelled from Johnson City, TX to Fredericksburg, TX to see the National Museum of the Pacific War.  We had been told about this museum by the Park Ranger at LBJ Ranch.  This was a beautiful drive through Texas Hill Country, and Texas Wine Country.  There are numerous vineyards and wineries along this route along US 281/290.  We didn’t stop at any of the wineries but on our next time through here we will put that on our “to do list”.

We arrived at the National Museum of the Pacific War, just after opening time and we were lucky enough to get a parking spot right in front of the main building.  The museum tells the story of the American and Japanese war in the Pacific.  Prior to the outbreak of this war Japan had been carrying on a war with the Chinese in a struggle to gain much needed raw materials.  It tells of some of the atrocities committed during the “Rape of Nanking”.  The success of this war emboldened the Japanese to extend the war across the Pacific. 

At this point you are led into a dimly lit room with only a Japanese mini-submarine.  Then you are bombarded by the sounds of air raid sirens, bombs exploding and the rattle of anti-aircraft guns.  It is a vivid re-enactment of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. There were clues that there would be an attack on Pearl Harbour – the capture of the Japanese mini-sub; the radar detection of a fleet of airplanes coming across the ocean.  But these warning signs were disregarded as were the warning signs of 911. The Americans were now at war.

You are led through the various battles and campaigns that comprised the war.  The internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry and the segregated treatment of Black Americans serving in the military are also discussed.  The museum does a very good job of remaining fairly dispassionate and neutral when discussing these flash point issues.

One of the most tragic stories, is that of the Sullivan’s..  Five brothers from a New Jersey family, had requested to serve together on the same ship.  The ship of course was sunk with the loss of all five of the brothers. What was more tragic was the fact that rumours of this loss circulated through the town without confirmation from the War Department.  Mrs. Sullivan actually had to write a letter to the War Department imploring them to confirm or deny their deaths.   Her letter stated that letters from her sons had suddenly stopped a few weeks previous and that there were rumours circulating that they were all killed.  The rumour was confirmed – all five of the brothers were killed in action.  This tragedy led to a military rule that siblings would no longer be permitted to serve together in active duty.

The final battles to retake the Philippine Islands from Japanese control saw some of the most intense fighting with heavy casualties on both sides. Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Iwo Jima got the military brass to re-examine their method of “island hopping” their way to Japan – they needed a better way to bring the Empire of Japan to the bargaining table.  Heavy “strategic bombing” which claimed thousands of Japanese civilian lives only hardened the resolve of the Japanese.  America needed something convincing to change the thinking of the island nation.  The atomic bomb brought about that drastic change.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first of four bombs that were built. The external casing of the last one is preserved in the museum.

After a late lunch we went to another of the museum buildings a couple of blocks east of the main museum which is called the Pacific Combat Zone.  We arrived there about 2:10 PM, just after the tour started and had to wait till 3:00 PM for the next tour.  The Pacific Combat Zone is mostly an outdoor venue, however; you have to enter through a locked Quonset hut door.  In the courtyard in front of the entrance are numerous naval ordinance with detail descriptions of their use. We spoke to the volunteer there for some time and examined the the torpedoes, depth charges, anti-aircraft guns and marine mines. Janet grew somewhat bored of this and went to sit on the benches at the front of the entrance, while I continued to crank the wheels on the guns and read how mines were deployed and detonated. ( Mines are anchored to the sea floor and have buoys attached by a metal cable that rise up close to the surface.  When the metal of a ship touches the copper buoy it creates a galvanic electric charge which detonates the mine. The ship does not physically touch the explosive mine itself as is shown in the movies.)  So now that you are concentrating so intently on how a mine works you will know how intent I was reading about it – so much so that I became unaware of the time, and unaware that the next tour had begun – without me!!  I turned the corner by the front entrance to find everyone, including my loving wife had disappeared into the building.  The volunteer with whom we had spoken earlier was gone and the door was securely locked!  I tried it three or four times just in case it magically unlocked after the first few attempts.  I knocked heavily with my fists trying to get someone to respond.  I peered in through the window to see that there was a second set of doors just beyond the entrance.  I tried knocking louder but still no response.  After beating the doors for a further 10 minutes, my loving wife, finally clued in that I wasn’t in the group.  (Imagine that, a group that was only 8 people in total and she didn’t realize that her faithful husband was not at her side!!!!!)  I glared through the window as she finally came to the door to unlock it for me! 

For several weekends from March through November, island landings are re-enacted in the centre court area.  These re-enactments include the use of a napalm flame-thrower and the sights and sounds of grenades, cannon and machine gun fire. These re-enactments are apparently very realistic.  Another Quonset hut also houses one of only two surviving PT boats.  The boats were made primarily of wood to avoid radar detection and operated mostly at night in shallow coastal waters.  These boats were equipped with four torpedoes which were manually launched from the sides. (The earlier launch mechanisms caused the directional tail fins to be bent which in turn caused the torpedo to travel in a circular direction and periodically hit the PT boat from which it had been launched.)  The boats had a number of other armaments including two machine guns mounted on each side of the wheel house.  This type of machine gun is still in use today.  The final exhibit is a mobile army hospital set up in a Quonset hut. There is an audio presentation of a nurse who served in one of these hospitals, in the form of a letter home which is very emotional.

After we got back to the truck, Janet started laughing and I gave her shit for abandoning me outside!  The rest of the trip back to Johnson City was in relative silence.