My name is Richard Meisheimer.
Today is April 27, 2016.
I'm interviewing Mr. Edward Shackelford, S-H-A-C-K-E-L-F-O-R-D,
at 101 North Upper Broadway, Trinity Towers,
apartment 1511,
Corpus Christi, Texas, 78401.
His phone number is 361-880-7151.
This interview is to support the National
Pacific War,
the NMEC Educational Research Center
for the President's Historic Formation
right after World War II.
His middle initial is E.
Ed, I want to thank you for taking time to do
this interview,
and I want to thank you for your service to our country
during World War II.
first off what is your birth date 913 21 you're
94 years old and where were you
born Kansas did you have brothers and sisters
no what were your mothers and
father's first name? Larkin and Patricia. Okay,
all right. Now you grew up during
the Depression. How did the Depression affect
you and your family? It did affect
my father directly because he had a job that
kept promoting him and of course
increasing salary. My grandparents lived on a
farm in western Kansas and I spent
the summers with them and they were very much
involved just because they were
right in the dust bowl. Did they have a garden?
I don't think so.
They lived on a farm though, right? Yeah. Did
they have chickens? Oh yes, chickens, pigs. Cows?
I think he had one or two cows. Milk cows
probably? Yeah. So you had some food there? Oh
yeah. Right.
But we never looked for food. So where did you
go to high school? Newtown High School in Alvahurst,
New York. In New York? How did you get to New
York? My father was promoted from
Wichita to Kansas City, Missouri to Detroit to
New York. And who did he work
for? White Castle System. Oh, is that the
hamburger company? Yeah. Okay. That was a
very popular hamburger back in those days.
Yeah, it still is, it's in parts of the country.
Yeah, Illinois, a lot of them up in Illinois.
Chicago, yes. Right, okay. What did you do when
you finished high school? I went to college.
And where did you go? Grinnell, Iowa. Okay,
and what did you study? Economics and business.
Did you graduate? Yes. And what year was that?
January 43. Okay, now on December 7, 1941,
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Do you
recall hearing about that? Oh yes. Where were
you and how did you hear? I was in
college and heard it over the radio. And when
you heard that, how did you think
that would affect you? Well, frankly I worried
about how I was going to
to finish school before I wound up being
drafted or enlisted.
Okay, so you were 22 at that time?
Well, 20, 20, yeah, 20 at that time, okay.
So then you were drafted, is that correct?
No, I enlisted in the Enlisted Reserve Corps.
And when was that?
In September of 42.
And in which, what branch? The Army? Yes, Army.
Army Reserve. And what did you do
there? Oh, I didn't do anything. I lived at Des
Moines, Iowa. Then I went back to
school and was able to finish in January. Okay,
and when did you go on active
service? March of 43. And where did you go for
your boot camp, basic training? I went to
Miami Beach for basic training.
Where was that?
I'm sorry.
Miami Beach.
Oh, okay.
We lived in a hotel of six to a double room.
And it was quite interesting.
I was with a bunch of New York people.
I've been in Iowa most of the time since I
graduated, so I had to get used to New Yorkers.
You graduated from college in Iowa. Yeah.
How was that basic training?
Probably 12 weeks, something like that.
And what all did you do there?
We learned to March, we learned to obey
commands, we had some quarrels around on golf courses.
Did you have weapons training?
Very little, because I was being trained in the
Army Air Corps.
Oh, you were in the Army Air Corps? Yeah.
Oh, okay.
So this was the Air Corps, Air Corps basic
training then, right?
And what were some things that, particular to
the Air Corps there?
I don't remember.
So when you finished basic training, where did
you go?
I went to Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado.
And what did you do there?
Learned to be a court typist.
Court typist, okay.
That's where I had bayonet training.
Bayonet training there, huh?
It was quite interesting.
Tell me about it.
Well, we learned to type. In fact, I would go
up to 60 words a minute. In the morning and in
the afternoon, we had basically combat training
and we got weapons training and the bayonet training.
You fired a rifle there? Yeah.
Which one did you fire?
It may have been the carbine, I don't know, or
the M1.
No, it wasn't that new a rifle.
It was probably the Springfield? Yeah.
Bolt action? Yeah.
World War I weapon.
Were your drill instructors pretty tough on you?
Well, they weren't too tough on me because I
led the flight, because I have a good voice
and a loud voice, and we sang as we marched all around.
Anything particular stand out from that training?
Anything funny happen there?
Not that I think of offhand.
So how long was that school?
I don't know. It must have been about three months.
Okay. Then when you finished that, then what happened?
I went to Gunter Field, Alabama. I was a close type.
And I worked there until, you know, I've got
some business apartments since
oh four, and I've got it total.
Then when you went to Alabama, what all
happened there?
I was in the budget and accounting portion
because I had quite a bit of accounting.
And I worked there all approximately six months.
And it said in the training command that there
wasn't much possibility of promotion.
So I volunteered to go overseas.
And then what happened?
And we went - I left Irving, went to Utah,
outside of Salt Lake City, and then we went
to, I guess, Treasure Island in San Francisco.
I boarded a ship to New Caledonia on June, I
think it was the 6th.
It was the same day that they invaded Dortmund.
June 7th of 1944, June 7th, 1944.
And we went on a World War I ship.
It was too slow to be in a convoy.
Oh, okay.
And 90% of the ship were seasick going out of
San Francisco.
In fact, I was not one of the 90.
I have heard that that sea is awful rough,
leaving out San Francisco.
Oh, yeah.
I think they said the ship was tilted up to
about 25 degrees, and at 26 that would sink.
Yeah, lifting over at that point.
Oh, lifting. Right.
And we took 30 days to go to Nicaragua.
Oh, okay. And...
Now, on the way down, were you threatened by
Japanese submarines or anything? No.
I didn't think we were important enough for you.
You didn't have a convoy, I mean there's no
escorts, no escorts, right?
We were all by our loads.
Then what did you do when you got to New Caledonia?
Worked in casual labor for a month and then
went up to go to Canal.
Okay, and what did you do at Guadalcanal? Yeah.
What did you do there?
They trained me to be a radio operator. Okay,
tell me about that.
Well, I didn't understand what they were doing,
and after we were trained for about a
months we went to Bougainville, and we worked
at the DF station there.
What kind of station is that?
Well, if the Marines got lost, aviators, they
would call us and we'd tell them the countdown
from 10-1, and we would give them the alternate
of what we wrote on the thing.
Okay. Did you have any radar at all?
Yeah, there was a radar stationed on the same
hill that we were on.
But you didn't use it in finding these people? No.
Okay. You triangulated and found out where they
were and come in, okay.
And I guess about six months later, we went on
up to the Philippines.
To where?
the Philippines. Menda now.
Okay. How did you travel up there?
By ship.
How was that trip?
Well, I piloted a couple of trucks and had
talks with them,
ripped one of them out and made myself a bed
between two trucks and mainly tried
to disappear because if they found us, they'd
put us on labor. But by then I was
knowledgeable about what I could do and what I couldn't.
Okay. Now, on Mindanao, was the fighting still
going on there?
Uh, as I remember correctly, it was 26 days
after they had landed.
There was still fighting going on, but about
anywhere else.
Okay. Now, same thing on Bougainville. That was
over with by the time you got there. Yeah.
Every place I was. After.
Yeah, it was laughter.
We got a little scared of Bougainville, but
they also came in, they went up through the
perimeters of the island, and the Japanese came
down, and they were wandering around
the jungle. You got 300 inches of rain a year,
and if it didn't rain that day, you'd better
take your raincoat anyway.
It was going to. Okay. Now, I understand the
jungle was really thick on Bougainville.
Yeah, it was. We moved into an area, it was a
radio station that had been set up already.
And the lieutenant said, go draw a tent and
build yourself a tent. There were three of us.
And so, we did, we raised the tent up about yay
high, wooden, and then used a double tent
on top to keep it cool, because it was quite warm.
until the nurses came in, all the nurses. We
wore shorts, we cut off our tatties, and wore a t-shirt.
Yeah, it was very humid there too.
In Mindanao, I guess I was there a month or so,
they sent me up to Luzon or just below it.
Anyway, I was being trained to go into a-we
were being trained for the invasion of Japan.
Oh, okay.
And we were-we learned how to plot aircraft
coming in, our own aircraft.
Before I got finished with that piece, they
evidently knew that a piece was coming because
they sent me over to the power line and I
worked as clerk types every third day as I
Ervin's Club the rest of the time.
Then what happened? August they declared peace
and I was
shipped to Manila.
In the Philippines, or where?
Well, Manila.
Manila, okay.
We flew over B-25s, I think, and take off from
Paraguay, and the B-25, as it happens,
dipped as soon as it takes off.
And I was in the tail of it, but it recovered
faster, I'm glad.
and we landed at Clarkfield. Then on December
25th, I think it was, 1945, I boarded a ship
going back to San Francisco.
Okay. Let me ask you, when you were over there
on April the 12th of 1945, President Roosevelt died.
Did you all hear about that?
Oh, yes. In fact, we had a memorial.
What reaction did people have when they heard that?
On the whole, it was so sorry, he was, I think
in most cases, he was admired.
He was the only president most people had known
at that point.
That's right.
Your age, I mean, you know.
Yeah, 30s to 45.
Yeah, right.
Then on May 8th of 45, Germany surrendered.
Did y'all hear about that?
Yeah, oh yeah, we had the, what was it?
Armed Forces Radio?
Yeah, and then we had a newspaper that came out.
Oh, OK, yeah.
When you heard that, did you have any kind of a celebration?
I imagine.
I don't remember.
Oh, yeah, the lieutenant broke out
his liquor, rice and lettuce.
Then on August the 6th they dropped the first
atomic bomb, have you heard about that?
Oh yes.
And what reaction did people have to that?
Well we figured that the war was being shut down.
In fact we had already had the indications of
it because we had been taken out of the school
and shipped out to various places.
And then, of course, on August the 14th, when
Japan surrendered, did you have a celebration then?
I don't remember, but I'm sure we did. Yeah.
Did you ever hear Tokyo Rose on the radio? No.
You know who she was?
Oh, yes.
No, no.
You never heard of her?
I didn't carry a radio myself. I don't know. We got
Did you go to Japan?
In 1957.
I mean, not in... No.
Okay. And you came home when?
January of 1946.
Okay. And you came home when? January of 1946.
You mentioned right, came home. Okay. Then when
did you get out?
January of 1946. I enlisted in the, I
re-enlisted in the Reserve.
Okay. And why did you re-enlist in the Reserves?
Well, I didn't think it was too
peaceful at that time and it had taken me three
years to make something about sergeant
and I wanted to keep that rank if they called
me back. You enlisted in the
Reserves, why again? Mm-Hmm. Why did you enlist
in? Because I wanted to keep my
stripes in case I was called back because I
didn't think it was too peaceful.
Now, in the reserves, were these inactive or
active reserves? Inactive.
You didn't have to go to meetings or anything?
Didn't do anything. Yeah.
Then, when you got out, did you have any
trouble adjusting to civilian life?
No, I just couldn't find a job.
wife had been just moved to Connecticut, New
York, so we went up there and I worked
as a budget officer for a while and then she
was transferred back to New York, so
I wandered around for a while. When did you get
married? 43. She was a girl I met
in college.
Oh, okay.
How long were you married?
Seven years. Seventy?
Seven years.
Oh, seven years.
She divorced me.
She was climbing the career ladder.
I was sitting still.
Oh, okay.
And I wanted children.
She knew that.
She didn't want any. We divorced in 1950.
Did you use your GI Bill for anything?
Yeah, I went to Columbia University in New York for...
I guess I finished one semester in the graduate
program in the county.
Okay. You didn't get your degree there, diploma? No.
Okay. All right.
Did you have any experience with the Red Cross
when you were in the service?
See, I think I borrowed some money from them
when my wife came down to visit me in Alabama.
Okay. Everything went fine with them? Yeah.
Okay. Did you ever see any USO shows?
We saw one in Bougainville, I believe.
Okay. Now, when you were overseas, what outfit
were you with?
What? 319th Fighter Control Squadron, and then
I was with the 13th Air Force Headquarters on
Apollo 1.
The Japanese were in World War II. We should
have hung our heads in shame.
But they were really rough on us, on our
prisoners. They just didn't treat them well at all.
Okay. How was the morale in your outfit?
Good, I'd say.
Good, okay.
We did. We got beer regularly, and we had our job.
Didn't have too much to worry about.
Got paid regularly.
What kind of work schedule did you have?
I think we were on a free-shift schedule of
eight hours each time.
Now when you went down to do Hebrides, you
crossed the equator, right? Yeah.
Did you have any kind of a ceremony when you
crossed the equator?
I don't remember. I don't think so.
Okay. Usually they had a, maybe more than Navy,
I'm not sure, but they had a ceremony where
they made them into shell bags.
I knew about the ceremony, but I don't remember.
If you would have, you'd remember it.
The accommodations on that ship were very poor,
but we did not have any salt water soap,
and we didn't have any fresh water showers.
So by the time we got to New Caledonia, we were
not in too good of shape.
And when we got to Caledonia, it was
mid-winter, and the showers were outside, but
we needed
a bath badly.
Did you ever get to Australia in the service? No.
Have you had any reunions since you've been out?
Any of what?
Any get-togethers of your people? No.
I didn't have - I was in so many various
assignments that I didn't accumulate any
real close friends.
Did you keep up with anybody at all from the service?
Yeah, one man that I went overseas with, and
while we were at Getter Field, I was his best band.
And I saw him several times after I got back.
He was a New Yorker, a dated New Yorker.
My parents stayed there after I started moving around.
And I visited him several times, but outside of
that, I can't think of anybody.
When you were overseas, could you get your mail
with any regularity?
Very well. It came in on a regular basis.
Did you ever have any experience with the
medics? Did they have to do anything for
anybody, the medics?
Yeah, I dropped it on a broken bottle in
Bougainville and had to cut a hole in the
bottom of my foot and it bothered me for
several years afterwards.
In fact, we took sand out of the bottom of my
foot four years after I was discharged.
What medals and ribbons did you get?
Three Battlestars of the South Pacific, Good
Conduct Medal.
The Good Conduct?
Probably got the Asiatic Pacific. Yeah.
World War II victory?
I assume so.
There were five of them, if I remember
correctly, five Reubens, probably got three or four.
I understand you were going to be going on the
honor flight this Friday? Yeah.
Tell me about that.
Well, we had a meet-and-greet thing over in Houston,
and we're going to Houston tomorrow evening.
And Friday morning at 6:30, we have to report
to the airport.
We landed at Washington at 12:00 on Harvey.
Okay, huh?
Oh, well, no. Washington airport. Yeah.
We sightsee that afternoon.
They turned us loose about 8:00 that night.
The next morning at 6:30 we'd get up and we'd
sightsee in the morning, then we'd get on
the plane and return to Houston.
Okay, good.
You have not seen the World War II memorial
there, then? No.
This will be your opportunity. Right.
I visited Washington several times, and I was
stationed at Kelly later.
But we were always going to Fort Pleasant, so I
never got a chance to see anything here.
Well, the World War II memorial wasn't done
until about ten years ago.
No, I was right.
It's very interesting out there.
Well, I imagine that's one of the things we'll see.
Who's going with you?
My daughter.
Your daughter? Pam?
Pat. Pat, I'm in. Yeah. She's going with you.
I've talked to a lot of people that have been
out there probably 25 or 30 that have made
that trip, and every one of them praised it to
high heaven. Well, the worst thing about it is
the fact that in 24 hours we covered a lot of
territory. Yeah.
the people going, vets going with their, and
each one has a guardian, and 29 of
those 30 are World War II vets. They seemed to
figure out everything that
could go wrong. And as you say, with all of us
at the age we're in, isn't that right?
And there's no cost to you, is that correct?
That's right. But your daughter
has to pay her own way. Yeah, that's what I
understand. I don't know what she pays.
I didn't figure they'd let us go, so I applied for
a commission, got it, and spent the next twenty
years in the service. I retired in
1971. What rank did you have then? Major. Were
you in the Air Force?
I stayed at the Army Air Corps, converted to
the Air Force in 1948, I think, and they
reenlisted me in the Air Force Reserve at that time.
What did you do then, for those years?
I went to Ohio, Wilmington, Ohio, as a Budget
and Accounting Officer.
And I'd gotten married just before, remarried,
when I was in Denver, going to a bunch of
accounting school.
And then we went to Wellington, Clinton County
Air Force Base.
and that they had amended our quota for
security service, and they sent me to
cryptologic school,
then to Russian language school, then to Japan,
then we came back to San Antonio for four years,
said we went to Germany for three years, said I
volunteered for Italy for two
years, then we came home, and I volunteered for
airborne, and one day
went up, we were up for sale, I couldn't get my
arm down. I thought you damn fool,
you're volunteering for something that you
can't even move your arm. So I changed my
mind and I had 29 years in and they told me I'd
surely go to Vietnam if I stayed.
so I retired. What date did you retire? April
1st, 1971. Now when they called you
you back to Korea? What did you do then?
He called me back to Mitchell Field, and I
stayed there until I was commissioned.
Did you get a direct commission, or did you
have to go to OCS?
I went home, picked up the bars, and came back
to the same squadron the next day.
Second lieutenant? Yeah.
I was thirty years old.
What squadron was that when you were there?
What squadron was that?
It was our training command.
Anything else you recall from your time in the service?
We had a, our work was very challenging, and I
enjoyed it practically all the time.
Except I had one bad station, and I didn't get
along with people, they didn't get along
with me.
Where was that?
in that? That's where I work in Germany. Oh,
what was the problem? What was the problem?
Well, I had been at a headquarters security
service when they had submitted
plans for something, and the plans of program
had turned him down, and they
They found out that I had been part of it, it
turned out, and they didn't like it.
When I got there, I was awarded a commendation
medal, and when the commander put it on, he
said, you don't deserve this.
OERs were bad for that period of time.
Otherwise, I'd be a lieutenant colonel.
Now when did you go to Japan? 57.
And how long were you there?
Three years.
And what did you do there?
I was in plans and programs.
I'm sorry?
Plans and programs.
And where were you in Japan?
Misawa, which is in the northern tip of Honshu.
We were.
We had a station at Watanai, which was on the
tip of Honshu, not Honshu, Hokkaido.
and they'd listen in on what the traffic and
they would alert if the planes were
coming. In the wintertime, the snow would get
over the security fences, you'd just walk.
What did you think of Japan?
I loved it. It was nice.
It was in every way, shape, or form.
How were the people?
Friendly. Always willing to talk to you in English.
I'd never found anyone that didn't appreciate
what I'd done.
MacArthur had done or whatever?
People, yes, had done, yeah.
Practically worshipped him. Yeah.
Well, Ed, have you thought of anything else
from your time in the service? No.
Well, I want to thank you again for your time today.
And I want to thank you for serving our country.
I hope you have a real good time on your trip
on a flight to Washington.
Oh, I hope so, too.