Call, Max

              Eric Walz History 300 Collection
Max Call – Life During WWII
By Max Call
October 26, 2004
Box 6 Folder 6
Oral Interview conducted by Heather Scoresby
Transcript copied by Devon Robb February 2006
Brigham Young University – Idaho
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HS: Where were you born?
MC: Born in Ogden, Utah.
HS: How old were you on December 7, 1941?
MC: I was a senior in ’ 41. Graduated from high school in ’ 43, must have been 16.
HS: What do you remember about that day?
MC: That was when the war, uh, we had Pearl Harbor. And December the 7 th as I remember,
and uh, and I was in church. And I think somebody mentioned that they heard this was the
case. I think it was before the meeting or after the meeting.
HS: What did you think when you heard about the attack?
MC: Well I thought that we would definitely be involved. Because, you know, they’d
been a lot of war going on in Europe and with Hitler and so forth; I thought it was just a
matter of time and it proved to be so, that we did get in.
HS: Did you serve in the armed forces during the war?
MC: Yes.
HS: Where did you serve?
MC: I graduated from high school in ’ 43 and was drafted in the service, in the Navy. Took
my boot camp at Fairgate and some additional training at California, and then left to the
South Pacific. We didn’t know exactly where we were going, but uh, we had some
experiences along the way, we wound up in the Philippine Islands in Luzon. And we went
in two days after the invasion on Luzon, even though we were in the Navy we were uh, just
like the Marines and this sort of thing. It’s um, some experiences there that I will always
remember.
HS: What was your rank and some other assignments?
MC: I was a seaman, seaman second class, to start with and then first class and most of the
time it was that way while I was at Luzon until after the signing of the Japanese and they
surrendered and then I was called into the personnel office. And worked there and became
a [ inaudible] first class, second class. And during that experience I received this letter
from our commander and he in accordance with paragraph number 20, subparagraph C,
and some other references there, “ You are hereby authorized, and empowered to receive,
transport, prepare, record, deliver, forward, and file such top secret, secret, confidential,
and registered mail and documents, as may be entrusted to you for such purposes. And uh,
that was one thing I was working with personnel in our unit. Prior to that I was driving a
big truck and hauling supplies from our camp after we unloaded our ship. And we were
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working our way towards Clark Field, near Manila. The heart of the war at that time was
still going full blast.
HS: Did you meet and make any new friends during the war?
MC: Yes, and one of my friends, LeGrand Poore, he was one that kinda helped me get
into personnel office after the war, I mean after the singing of Armistice with the
Japanese while I was in the personnel office.
HS: Did you meet any old friends from home?
MC: Yes, uh, I met a couple of them and an uncle there, and it was quite a reunion when
you see.
HS: How did the military train and prepare you for combat?
MC: I think mostly it was to be physically fit, and it’s very important because we put on a
lot of hours and worked hard, and I think they saw that we ate properly and got our rest and
you’d be strong and able to handle situations. And uh, we learned how to use a rifle, and
protect ourselves and that sort of thing.
HS: Is there anything you wish they would have told you?
MC: Well I uh, I knew how to drive a truck before I went in and so I was assigned to
truck supplies from Liungayen Gulf to Clark Field. There I was carrying a load of 500-
pound bombs. It was night time, that was quite an experience and then uh, so having
worked on a farm, I knew how to do stuff like that.
HS: What was your image of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito during the war?
MC: Well I felt like they were not good people. They seemed to be taking advantage of
their people and take away our freedom and we didn’t want that to take place because
having our freedom is everything. I remember when I got back from tour of duty over
there and the war was over and I was seeing the American flag as we were pulling into
the port of Los Angeles. I was so grateful to be back home that I kissed the ground. No
place like America.
HS: What is your opinion of Japanese and Germans now?
MC: Well I think now that they have their corrupt leaders away and they uh, there’s good
people, fine people I think, you know good leaders and so forth. And the way to have good
leaders is for us all to be Christ- like and then we’ll have the joy and happiness and so forth
that comes.
HS: When did you first hear about the German Concentration Camps?
MC: Well I didn’t know much about them because that area that they were fighting Hitler
and that sort of thing and we were in the South Pacific dealing with the Japanese and we
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just, you heard those that were in concentration camps that were sometimes not treated well.
But uh, you just tried to do the best you could and you always had a prayer in your heart
that the war would be over soon.
HS: How did your life change as a result of WWII?
MC: Well I thought having had that experience that little problems would come up like
flat tires or maybe didn’t make the football squad team, those didn’t amount to anything
anymore. Those things that counted were family, home and country, and these other
things that you encounter I thought, “ Man, they don’t bother me anymore.” I’m just
grateful to be here.
HS: How did your religious beliefs help you cope with your military experience?
MC: Well I think it was – I was always taught from youth you know, to pray and strive to
keep the commandments and I certainly did a lot of that. Uh, would you like for me to
relate a little experience that I had?
HS: That would be fine.
MC: First of all, after landing at Liugayen gulf we were getting our material and supplies;
we were striving to get to Clark Field. I had this load of 500- pound bombs on and I’m sure
most of them were on fire. And I was driving my truck in a convoy with other trucks that
was taking supplies to Clark Field. And uh, we went through rivers, ‘ cause the bridges had
been blown out and we drove along the railroad track because that was the only way to get
up over the river. My truck for some reason just started not functioning properly. It was it
didn’t seem like it was getting the gas. So the nay guard that drove pulled me over and said
I wasn’t driving fast enough, to pull out and bring up the rear end of the convoy. And uh,
and uh, you never been on the route before and you didn’t know what you would encounter,
I really prayed. Made it through ok and coming back the next day was more frightening
than the night because I saw what I had actually gone through. And it was an experience.
And then, whenever there was a clear and full moon, you could pretty much except the
Japanese fighters and bombers to come. And uh, sure enough, that seemed to be the case. I
was living in a tent with three others, it was a four man tent and one of the buddies got
transferred to another assignment and so he took his gear and left. And uh, I that afternoon
or evening, I got the impression, “ Max, more your cot from this position over to where
your buddy used to be, and to dig a fox hole right there.” And uh, if there is a problem you
can just role off your cot in the middle of the night, in your fox hole and he more protected
than if you’re above ground. I got a strong impression that the spirit said, “ Max just do
that.” And I didn’t hesitate a bit. I just went at and did it. And my buddies were wondering
what I was doing. Sure enough that night the clouds cleared and a big moon came out and
here came Japanese fighters and bombing things and they got our ammunition [ inaudible]
and they started shooting off like fireworks. That was some fireworks. There was fire
almost everywhere. It uh, I remember trying to fight back with our guns and spotlights. A
big spotlight is more effective when it’s dark at night, but then when there’s a full moon
you can spot the planes very well. But the next morning, right where I had my cot, tent,
there was a slice in the roof of the tent and a piece of shrapnel right where I had my cot. I
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figure I’d a got it in the stomach and I wouldn’t be alive. So that’s why I was told to move.
I’ve got that piece of shrapnel; I’ve kept it all these years. But I, uh, I was sure grateful I
listened to the promptings. Because of our activities there and involved with ACORN
group which was more or less personnel that helped to maintain the base so that the pilots
had a place to sleep and eat and so forth. And then they get their planes and take off. So uh,
at this ACORN unit I was in – we received and I received this from the commanding
officer and its’ through the United States Pacific Fleet Air Force, ACORN 34 from
commanding officer to me, an authority for wearing of decorations and or ribbons. “ In
accordance with reference A, you are authorized to wear the following decorations or
ribbons,” you know that the military wears on their chest, um, “ the Asian pacific ribbon
with one bronze star and the Philippines Liberation ribbon with one bronze star.” So uh,
when I got back home and on my dress uniform I have those two ribbons with the bronze
stars, on it for activities and how we served in the war.
HS: What kid of food did you eat?
MC: One thing about the Navy is they uh, they fed us well, we had good nourishing from
food, and received, uh, I picked up a little weight there, ‘ cause it was good. Didn’t change
too much, but my, I said my uncle, but I guess he’s more of a cousin. Anyway he was in the
Army. And I was in the Navy, but we met there on Luzon. And uh, so I went to his camp
and had dinner there and then he came to the Navy one. At his [ place] we had stewed
tomatoes and bread and I think the stewed tomatoes was the main course and we had little
metal cups and you held your steal helmet right there, that if you needed to put your bread
in, you could just put it right there. Anyway that’s what we had. And when he came to ours
we had fried chicken and potatoes and gravy, and ice cream for dessert and he couldn’t
believe it and he says, “ Boy I’m in the wrong military.”
HS: How did the war affect the community?
MC: I think everybody was, they new we’re fighting for our freedom. I think the whole
community was very supportive. And there would be in the windows stars, a little emblem
of a star. If there were two sons there would be two stars that type of thing. But I think our
community, Malad, Idaho, why everybody was very much trying to do their part. Those
that went in the service and those that stayed home and worked on the farms. You know
sugar was hard to get, tires were hard to get, certain things like that, but everybody realized
it was for a good cause and they were willing to help in any way they could.
HS: Did you know any young men that did not return from the war?
MC: Yes, some of them were my friends.
HS: How did their families cope with that?
MC: It was pretty sad, but they were grateful that they were able to serve and proud to
serve and then the families were really proud of them.
HS: How did the community cope with that?
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MC: They uh, were very supportive and they were just [ inaudible] friends and neighbors
and so forth and they were all very understanding and they just tried to help.
HS: Did you have a father or brother who served in the military?
MC: I had my older brother who was in the Navy. He was in the medical. He was a
doctor and I was next to the oldest. And my younger brother next to me was in the Air
Force. And he went in as a dentist because they were in dentist school and so. And then
my youngest brother was in the Coast Guard, so four of us were all in the service.
HS: Were you in contact with any of them personally during the war?
MC: No.
HS: Through letters or…
MC: Yes, we corresponded that way. But uh, I was the only one who was overseas. And
uh, the mail wasn’t too regular.
HS: How did you get your mail?
MC: I remember when we left to go over there we didn’t get any mail. And I think it was in
February I got a 103 letters I think it was. And I stayed up all night reading them. And when
we were going over, we ran into uh, there were some other ships with us in our convoy
there, but ran into some Japanese submarines. And they got the tanker right next to our ship
and 250 lives were lost there and that was, uh, our destroyers were trying to throw death
charges and we were fighting and we finally got through that ok. And I think it was a
[ inaudible] that got to ours in that particular area and then we continued on and we got to
the Philippine Islands and landed there.
HS: What are some of the most vivid memories of the WWII experience that stand out?
MC: Well, I know that when we were there we saw the Pilipino children and they had little
buckets and little cans and eating out of garbage cans and this sort of things. And I’d never
seen anything like that before. And uh, I, and nearly all of the others would always save
some of the food on their plate and give it to the children whenever we ate. And uh, they
needed it and we were happy to give it.
HS: What were some of the things you would do to entertain yourselves?
MC: Well we tried to play football a bit and sometimes we’d get movies and they showed
both on the ships and the temporary base. And then when we’d hear that Bob Hope or some
national figure, why it was exciting.
HS: So you had TV’s on the ship?
MC: No.
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HS: So how did you watch movies?
MC: The old, we’d have a generator that operated the projector. So we’d have the screen.
This goes back a long ways, the war in ’ 41. That was a lot of years.
HS: How did you feel when you knew that the war was coming to an end?
MC: Oh that was a happy fact. Oh it was great! We just uh, then we thought about how
soon we’d be able to head for home.
HS: So did you get home before the war was over?
MC: No, the war was over. We were still in Luzon on the island there when we heard the
news. The Japanese had surrendered.
HS: How was it when you saw your family, when you came home?
MC: Uh, I uh, was just so happy to see them. But uh, my dad was ill at the time. He
wasn’t able to meet me there. We came from port of Los Angeles and then we were able to
get on the train and come through to Ogden. Family and neighbors came to pick me up
there, bring me to Malad. My dad was ill so he wasn’t able to be there. My other brothers
were still in the service too, so they weren’t there.
HS: Was it hard to adjust to life after the war?
MC: I think it happened quite rapidly. I stayed and helped dad, and he had gotten some
livestock we had a little farm.
HS: How did you join the Navy?
MC: I was drafted.
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HS: How was that?
MC: Well I uh, I was happy that they needed me in the Navy, rather then in the Army
‘ cause I was, you know my older brother was in the Navy, but anyplace, I was just happy
to serve.
HS: Is there anything in particular about your experience in WWII that you would like to
share?
MC: Only that I was happy to serve and I know that the Lord blessed and watched over
me and others, and an appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy and others. How fortunate
and blessed we are to be Americans. I thought these two little experiences with the 500-
pound bombs and shrapnel through the tent are experiences that I will always remember.
And just at our last reunion, why we did the pledge of allegiance to the flag then some of
the grandchildren said, “ Grandpa, what did you do during the war?” So I thought that
would be a pretty good time to relate these experiences. Believe it or not, but I was able to
get in my Navy uniform and show them the ribbons and tell tem some of the experiences
that I had in the war. And I think they were kind of surprised. As a family, I wrote, “ Why
We Believe the Way We Do” in this little journal type of thing. So I wrote down a few
things that the family would know about and I’d written about.
HS: Did you ever have any run- ins with the enemy?
MC: Even though I was involved during the war, I never had to shoot a person and I was
never shot or wounded. I’ve had, when I was, we were getting some supplies; I was riding
guard on the truck headed to [ inaudible] Bay. We got supplies and headed back. The next
day the person that took that trip and was riding it, he was killed. My first airplane ride ever
was with a friend that was in the, dealing with the air pilots and this sort of thing. He wasn’t
a pilot, but he was part of the crew, a gunner, he wasn’t the tail gunner, but he was a gunner.
But we went out on sort of [ an] observation weather look, trying to see across the China
Sea. And we ran into a storm and there were four motors. Two on each side and the storm,
we couldn’t see outside motor and we were just kinda bouncin’ around, and that was scary.
And then we got back and landed and again, that was quite a first airplane trip ride. And the
next week this friend was, his plane hit the top of the mountain somewhere and was killed.
The same crew and everything and the weather was just a little bit different, and he was
from Draper, Utah.
HS: What was it like to hear the gun firing and to hear planes and just the sounds of war?
MC: Uh, you’re afraid, but you know you have some things to do and you just didn’t let
that, you just went ahead doing what you had to do. And when we were going across the
ocean, before we went into those submarines, my job was, whenever they sounded those
alarms, to go down to the third hole down, up the main deck one, two, three down, and I
manned a fire hole station. The others were to get up above where they’d be close to the
deck, the main deck, where they had to get into life rafts or something like that. My
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assignment was down in that hole with that fire extinguishing. So you didn’t even think of
other things.
HS: Did you ever wonder if what you were doing was really helping with the war?
MC: Yes, I thought we were helping. Even though I was in the Navy, I spent most of the
time, other than running across the ship; most of the time was on land. But our job was to
get the supplies and get to Clark field so the planes could operate off that airstrip and
prepare the pilots in the [ inaudible]. After the war, or shortly before the signing of the, we
turned it over to the Army and the Navy moved out. But during the fighting of everything it
was the Navy that was in there with those big high- tailed PB42Y planes. So we turned it
over the Army after we got through.
HS: Those are all the questions I have. Is there anything else you would like to tell?
MC: Just that I get a great feeling whenever I see our flag waving and when we have our
parades and so forth, I stand a little taller I think, just to be able to put my hand over my
heart and thank the Lord for living in this good land, for the freedoms we enjoy, and how
proud I am of that, stars and stripes.