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changes of underclothes and a couple pairs socks and loaded with a bottle or two of liquor. There was also a marine that was going back to Quantico, Virginia, for medical discharge that hung out with us. We landed basically the Marine Raider Battalion was on the way. A lot of times it was just a hit and run. They'd go in there and do their job, they destroyed a munitions dump or something like that and come back to the ship and a lot of times we'd leave some of them. We worked with the 1st and the 4th Raider Battalions. We had some of each on there and our first landing was at Tulagi which is where we made our first landing. When we went aboard ship there was only about seventy of us that had been to sea before so we went out to sea on our shake down and there were a lot of seasick sailors lining the rails. After our shakedown we made it out to get a place in invasion and got to give air support to our troops on Guam. That was our first operation after we left the States. After that we were assigned to a carrier task force and operated with the carrier task groups until we got to the Okinawa campaign and then we provided fire support for the troops on the beach and on picket duty. We fired over eighteen thousand rounds there and wore out our gun barrels there. We took on ammunition about every three days while we were there and we had already worn out our engine so we were getting to be in pretty sorry shape. They kept us out there for about two months after the war was over just so we could provide help for any emergency that might come up until everything was in hand over there until the peace treaty was signed. If something went down or some ship had a problem, that was our duty. MR. MORRIS: You said this ship you got on was newly commissioned? MR. REDLE: Yep, the second one. MR. MORRIS: Did you wear it out that fast? MR. REDLE: Oh, yes, we were out there for nineteen months.
MR. MORRIS: When you say you give fire support, what exactly are you shooting at when you're doing that? MR. REDLE: Anything that they bring up. If they find a bunker or something that needs destroying to help them advance or something like that, or when the troops got in a jam. One night one of the marine officers said if you can't put up flares all night here we're a gone goose. And we managed to keep flares in the air there all night over them so that the Japs didn't advance on them. They were pretty thankful for that. Our R&R was two
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Richard Reedle. Reedle joined the Navy in January 1942. He served as a boatswain’s mate on the USS McKean (APD-5). Reedle describes how his ship landed Marine Raiders throughout the Solomon Islands. He also discusses being critically hit by an aerial torpedo and being the last man off before it sank. Reedle then joined the crew of the USS Preston (DD-795) and became a captain of one of the five-inch guns. He describes providing gunnery support at Okinawa and screening carrier task groups. Reedle also discusses kamikaze attacks and going through a typhoon. He left the service in November 1945.
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