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Mr. Metzler: So during that month you built that landing strip with steel mats?
Mr. Doig: Well, we didn't, the Army did. The Army had been brought ashore. Mr. Metzler: So what were you doing in that time? Mr. Doig: I was shuttling. I was on the night shift. I was on from six at night until six in the morning, unloading merchant ships and we'd go out beside a merchant ship and beg them for a sandwich and some coffee because when the Ashland dumped us off on the island, they gave us nothing. We didn't have a cook, nothing. Mr. Metzler: So you lived on what, K-rations? Mr. Doig: They gave us a bunch of K-rations and we were supposed to make do with that. They gave us a big garbage can and a boat paddle and said there, you can put it over a fire and heat your stuff and throw it in there and that's what you're eating. Well, the first time I came back hauling some Army gear, I landed, I was a sergeant. I was a sergeant in the Army in the chow line. That's the only way we could eat. As far as the Navy was concerned, they just got rid of us. Mr. Metzler: So the Navy just ... Mr. Doig: They dumped us on the island. Mr. Metzler: ... and the Army guys, they had food. Mr. Doig: They set up a regular campsite for themselves. They had cooks and everything. One of the officers, I'm standing in the chow line with my tray and he said where the hell did you get that? And I said, I swiped it off one of the sailors over there. I had a tray and they all had mess kits. The Army had mess kits and I'm standing there with a tray and that kind've gave me away a little bit but he didn't seem to think too much about it. I had an Army fatigue on ... Mr. Metzler: Where did you get the Army fatigues?
Mr. Doig: One of these gears broke when they came ashore and I just picked out a few pieces and I just kept them for myself to put on and use. Mr. Metzler: Were any of the others guys able to do the same?
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with James Doig. Doig joined the Navy in December of 1942. He completed Diesel School, repairing landing craft engines. Beginning August of 1943, Doig served in the fire room aboard USS Ashland (LSD-1). While he was aboard, the Ashland participated in the assaults on Kwajalein and Eniwetok. In the late 1944, Doig was transferred to USS Kenton (APA-122). They transported troops to the Philippines and participated in the Okinawa invasion. Doig was discharged in February of 1946.
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