Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996
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Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996 (Text)
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lanson B. Ditto. Ditto grew up in Kentucky. He went to college at Washington and Lee University and then joined the Navy in 1940. After training, Ditto chose to join the Asiatic Fleet. He went to Shanghai, China where he was assigned to the USS Langley (CV-1). The ship went to the Philippines. They were at Manila when the Japanese destroyed all B-17's at the airfield on December 8, 1941. The Langley left Manila Bay that night and headed south. On that trip, Ditto mentions that his ship fired at the planet Venus. They went to Balikpapan, refueled, and spent Christmas at Surabaya. Next, they went to Darwin, Australia, then Perth, Australia. Then, they went to Java. Before they arrived at the port, they were hit by Japanese airplanes dropping bombs. Ditto abandons ship and swims to the USS Edsall. They steam to the Christmas Island. He transferred to the Pecos. The Pecos was then bombed by the Japanese. Next the 220 survivors out of 666 men were picked up by the Whipple. He was injured and went back to the United States on the Mount Vernon. They stopped in Adelaide, Australia, Wellington, New Zealand, and then San Francisco, California. In August 1942 he shipped out on the USS O'Bannon (DD-450). The destination was New Caledonia. In November 1942, the O'Bannon provided reinforcements and supplies to the Marines on Guadalcanal. The ship was then involved in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal on November 13, 1942. He describes the battle. Ditto mentions Admiral Halsey congratulating the officers after the battle. They were then assigned to permanent duty at Guadalcanal and Tulagi, where they sunk the Japanese submarine RO-34. He returned to the United States in May 1943. After going on leave, he was ordered to antisubmarine warfare school and in December 1943 ordered to the USS O'Toole. In September 1944 the O'Toole joined a convoy to escort ships to England through a hurricane and lost 19 men. From there the O'Toole went to Iceland and navigated minefields in the Irish Sea using LORAN. From Iceland, they escorted the Abnaki to New York, stopping in Newfoundland. In December 1944 they left for Algeria and returned to New York City in January 1945. In March and April, Ditto went to the Mediterranean again, and the O'Toole was passing through the Straits of Gibraltar when the war in Europe ended.
Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996, [transcript] ark:/67531/metapth1603404
Oral History Interview with Lanson B. Ditto, October 11, 1996, audio recording, October 11, 1996; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1607372/: accessed June 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.