My name is Richard Meisheimer. It is August 28,
2019. I'm interviewing Mr. Gerald, J-E-R-O-L-D
L. Cox, by telephone.
His phone number is 618-978-2102. His address
is 724 North Main, Marissa, M-A-R-I-S-S-A,
Illinois 62257.
This interview is to support the National
Antithetic War, the Antithetic Case Research
Center, for the President of the United States
of America's source of information to World
War II.
His alternative contact is his son, Kevin Cox.
His phone number is 618-444-8075.
Well, Jerry, I want to thank you for taking
time to do this interview today, and I want
to thank you for your service to our country
during World War II.
Thank you.
Now the first thing I need to do is read to you
this agreement with the museum to make sure
this is okay with you.
The heading says National Museum of the Pacific
War oral history project.
The purpose of the National Museum of the
Pacific War's oral history project is to
collect, preserve,
interpret, and share the stories of World War
II veterans.
Recordings of such interviews belong to the
Nimitz Education and Research Center at the
National Museum of the Pacific War, Texas
Historical Commission.
In view of the scholarly value of this research
material, I herein voluntarily and firmly
donate and convey, at no cost, our oral history
interview to the National Museum of the Pacific War.
I further understand that the National Museum
of the Pacific War will make the interview
available to the general public for research. I
have read and heard, or heard and understand
this agreement, which expresses a complete
understanding of the parties. Is that okay
with you? Yes, Sir. Okay, fine. Okay, now, what
is your birth date? January 15, 1924. 24.
And where were you born?
Sorrento, Illinois.
Did you have brothers and sisters?
I had one brother and he was killed in France.
Was he older or younger than you?
Two and a half years older than me.
What happened?
How did he get killed in France?
We're not sure, but we think it was friendly fire.
Oh, okay.
If you really want to know, it was at the
prelude to Operation Cobra, I think it was,
and the Eighth Air Force bombed them by
accident, and the next day they did it again
and killed
General Leslie McNair.
Atencio Yeah.
There was a large number of people killed and
wounded in that accident.
I've heard a lot about that.
Okay. Now what were your mother's and father's
first names?
My mother's name was Gladys. My father's name
was Merle.
Okay. Now you grew up during the Depression.
How did the Depression affect you and your family?
If we can backtrack a second, the last name was
Bean. B-E-A-N.
I'm sorry, what was that?
The last name of his parents was Bean, B-E-A-N.
Oh, okay. How did that happen?
Oh, it's a longer story than you want to know.
Dad was raised by a family named Cox.
I see.
To narrow it down, and that's how he wound up
with that surname.
Oh, okay. I understand then.
So you can word it any way you want.
That's fine. No problem.
I guess we'll just use Cox because that's what
he uses, right? Yeah.
Right. We'll use Cox. You use the same name, right.
Okay. Now, I ask you about the depression.
How does the depression affect you and your family?
The depression?
Yeah. How did it affect you and your family?
I guess I was young enough, it didn't bother me
much, but they were poor like everybody else.
That was the Cox family, now we're talking about.
What was Mr. Cox's occupation? What did he do?
Well, not a whole lot, I think. I'm not really
sure about a lot of that.
He wasn't a farmer though, was he?
No, he was not.
Now, where did you go to high school?
East St. Louis.
And what year did you finish high school?
I quit school in 40 or 41, went to CC Camp for
a little while.
and then went into the Marine Corps.
Atencio When did you join the Marine Corps?
Schwerin January 12, 1942.
Atencio And you had just turned eighteen, is that
Schwerin I didn't understand that.
Atencio When did you turn eighteen and boot camp,
wasn't it?
Schwerin Yes.
Atencio You turned eighteen and boot camp.
Schwerin Yes.
Atencio Okay.
How did you choose the Marines?
A. I saw a poster on Main Street, E. St. Louis,
and decided that I would do that. That s the
only reason I had for doing it. I just saw the
picture and that was it.
and you joined on January the 20th of 42
January 12 12 I got on a train to St.
Louis to be and to go to California okay and
that's where you went through your
basic training was it California yes sir San
Diego tell me about that how was
What's your basic training? Rough.
Was it pretty tough?
Yes, Sir, it was.
What all did you do? Everything.
We had regular boot camp training, rifle range,
the whole bit.
Okay, have a lot of marching a lot of it. Okay,
a lot of
Physical exercise too, right?
Every day. Yeah, well your drill instructors
pretty tough on you. Yeah
Well, they combat veterans
Yes, as far as I know
Some were some of the old China Marines. Okay.
All right
Anything you recall in particular from your
boot camp?
No, only that it was rough, it wasn't too bad,
but it was different than anything I
had had before. -Okay.
Then what happened after boot camp, where did
you go then, what happened?
-From boot camp, I was sent to Pearl Harbor, to
the Marine Barracks, and I think I was
there about a month or six weeks, maybe, and
was put on a transport, headed for the canal.
I was sent to Pearl Harbor after boot camp, I
was sent to the Marine Barracks at Pearl.
And then, after a few, I don't know, three
weeks or so, maybe a month, as I remember,
we were put on a transport headed for the canal.
Atencio Okay.
Do you mean the Waddle Canal?
Schwerin Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Schwerin I got her.
I heard her.
Atencio Yeah.
Schwerin The ship.
The landing in the Rottweiler Canal was August
the 7th of 1942.
Eberlestein Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay. Did you land on the first day?
Eberlestein Yes.
Atencio Tell me about that. What was it like?
It really wasn't too bad.
There was a lot of Navy action.
The ship shelled on the beach.
Atencio And you were in the 1st Marine Corps-I mean
the 1st Marine Division.
Schwerin Well, we were-our whole battalion was attached
to the 1st Division.
Atencio Okay.
Tell him what it was.
What was it?
Tell him what battalion it was.
Ebertson So that was a defense-the 3rd Defense Battalion.
It was attached to the 1st Marine Division.
Atencio Okay.
Now did you land on the first day?
Ebertson Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Was it on the first day?
Ebertson Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Now did you land on the first day?
Ebertson Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Now did you land on the first day?
Ebertson Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Now did you land on the first day?
Ebertson Yes, Sir.
Atencio Okay.
Now did you land on the first day?
Yes, Sir.
Was there much opposition when you landed?
Not a whole lot and not a particular landing.
And then what happened?
Well, then it just got worse.
Every day after that. Yeah.
I had no desire to go back.
No desire to go back. Okay.
Q. Did you tell me you landed with a different
bunch because that officer sent you over the side?
A. I told you that the other day.
Q. What was that?
A. I was talking to my son, but I'll tell you
what we were talking about. I was on the
ship, the Batalgus, that was the name, standing
at the rail in the dark, and the officer came
and said I was supposed to go get going with
everybody else.
They were going over the side on the cargo nets
to landing boats below.
So I went like I was told to do, like in boot camp,
you know, and do what they told you to do.
And that was the last I saw my outfit for three
or four days.
Oh, I went down and got in with a bunch of raiders
In their boat with their dogs. Oh, okay
And all I heard in there because everybody was
jammed together is don't touch the dogs
And I didn't and they didn't
I didn't know then that I was in in the boat
with a bunch of Raiders
Then what happened?
Well, then I went in with them.
That was about three days later when I finally
got back to the Third Defense.
Evans Okay.
Now, what all did you do with the Raiders?
Evers Just went in and they did their thing and
I was left standing somewhere.
Evans Okay.
And what were they doing?
Evers They were going further inland and they knew
exactly where they were going, but I didn't
know where they were going.
Not a whole lot for me for a few days. I was
pretty well by myself.
Then it was just the usual thing, carrying
ammunition, unloading the ships and the whole
be it for several days.
Early life Were you involved in any combat?
Well, only that I was there from day one until
they closed the place down.
Were you ever attacked by the Japanese?
Like about every ten to fifteen days when they
shelled us and bombed us.
combat, I guess no. Other than that, they
bombed us and there was no place to go but
stay there.
I understand the fighting was pretty rough
there on Guadalcanal.
Yeah, it got worse as time went on when we
moved further back off the beach.
Tell me about some of the things that happened.
Ebert. Well, you've got me there because I have
forgotten a lot of it. There's been
a lot of years go by.
Eberth How about the cigar escapade with Geiger?
Ebert My son just reminded me. General Geiger
came on day one that evening and I was in
a foxhole and this guy came up wanting to know
if he had room for one more and I did
because I was the only one in it.
And he got in it and it turned out to be
General Geiger, who I didn't know that at the time.
I had a cigar of his that I carried around for
a week, cut the fire off, you know, and
save it for the next day, as that happened,
that he didn't know me, and I didn't know
who he was until later.
And he, as I remember, is-there was a pagoda, a
Japanese pagoda on the hill right above us.
I think the following day, Geiger must have
sent a dozer up and they got rid of that pagoda,
and I don't think the Japanese ever hit
directly on the airfield much after that.
Their bombs wouldn't go over the island.
That's interesting.
What's some other things that happened?
Well, I think that I was put in a CP
overlooking the so-called airfield at the time,
and somewhere
along the line the Japanese came up with a
battleship, I believe, if I remember this
story right, with a seventeen-inch shell.
had replaced their new battleship with 17-inch
guns as opposed to our 16s. And we had one
of their shells laying on the roof of our CP
just a little below where the Japanese
Pagoda was standing before and it didn't go off.
Apparently it just landed flat, so they had to
get some equipment up there to get their
shell off of the CP, the CP roof.
We had logs over us, sandbags and logs.
But that shell didn't go off then?
Ebertson It did not.
Vigil Yes.
If it had, you wouldn't be here.
Ebertson Yes.
Vigil Then what happened?
Ebertson Well, then things went on a day-to-day operation,
carrying ammunition and unloading ships.
I don't remember exactly how long the Navy was
there, but they had to pull out and I
think they went back to New Hebrides and left
us for about six weeks, either four or six weeks.
I'm not really sure, but we ran out of food.
Atencio They pretty well abandoned the people there
on LaGuardia Canal.
Schwerin They did, yes they did.
Atencio Right.
What are some other things that happened?
Schwerin The other things that happened, I
think the
crew of the Atlanta, the cruiser Atlanta, maybe
got sunk during some of the-one of
of the night shillings, bombings that we had in
the shillings. The Navy had brought some
of them in ashore and came around to the land
outfit to hunt for clothes for the Navy, for
the boys that were on the ship. They got sunk.
Yeah, they called that Iron Bottom Sound
because of all the ships that were sunk in it.
Eberlestein Well, the Astoria was there I think
at the
time and that was the one that supposedly I was
supposed to go on as a trade for somebody
that wanted to get on-I'm not really sure how
this goes, I don't remember it exactly
anymore, but somewhere along the line I was
supposed to trade with some fella that wanted
off the ship or on the ship and I was going to
go on the Astoria in his place and he was
going to take my place.
I did not trade, he did not trade, and it
turned out that I never did find out who he
was or really what his name was.
But we didn't trade and I didn't trade, so I
stayed on the canal.
Atencio Okay.
Atencio And then what happened?
Schwerin Well, then things just went on and
then on.
As the battle progressed, we were in the CP
overlooking-with a gunnery officer, I was
NSCP as a radio operator with a gunnery officer
and a sergeant and I think, I'm trying to
think about this, I think his name, his last
name might have been Chervais and I don't
know how to spell it. -Okay.
Then what happened?
-The gunnery officers might have been Hemingway. -Okay.
Were you involved in much direct combat there
on Guadalcanal?
Only, only by being in a, in a CP with the
radio and being bombed and shelled by the Navy.
So that's, if that's direct combat, I was there.
If not, I guess I wasn't.
Vickio I mean, with a rifle up and shooting with
a rifle on the front lines.
Elgin No, I didn't have to carry it around.
Vickio You were fortunate there.
overlooking the airfield. I think we might have
had twelve, as I remember, might have
had twelve machine gun emplacements around the
airfield, which wasn't much at the time.
Atencio Yeah, right. Okay. What else happened there?
No, I don T know about the field. The Raiders
were all up in the hills back in the jungle,
so I don t know what happened there. We were
stuck around the airfield.
Q What about that time you saw that P-38 chase
that Japanese plane to the water? Remember that?
My son reminded me of some P-38s came onto the
canal later on. I don't remember how long. But
this P-38 and a Zero got into it and the 38
chased him to a high altitude and then they
both headed for the ground.
and we watched that P-38 chase that Zero right
into the ground.
The P-38 pulled out. He was all right.
Yeah, good, good.
There were a lot of air battles down there. Yes.
Did you see many of those?
We weren't overloaded with airplanes.
No, that's right.
You were lucky to have a P-38. Those were good airplanes.
Ebertson - Yes. We thought we had to borrow one
when three or four of those came in at
one time and landed on the airfield. But before
that was the F-40, the old Wildcat. I think
at Major Smith was one of them, one of the
pilots at the time when they first came on
with the first airplanes that landed there.
That s the only name I remember.
Vandenberge Okay. Yeah, there was a lot of air battles
Schwerin Gobs.
Vandenberge Yeah. What s some other things that happened?
Well, I wouldn't know about a lot of it because
I was stuck at the CP. We were overlooking
the airfield and our guns were on it.
Q. Did you actually see those Japanese ships
coming around when they ran them aground on
the beaches?
A. No, no. No, we were too far back.
The Japanese had their battleships and other
ships do a lot of shelling on Guadalcanal.
It seemed like they preferred the fifteenth of
the month mostly.
What's the name of that island across the bay
there from Tarawa?
That was Tulagi.
That bay between Tulagi and Guadalcanal, they
call that Iron Bottom Sound because of all
the ships sunk there.
Early life.
As we speak, I showed my son a book that I have
about the history of the canal, the history
of the Marine Corps, actually. And the canal is
listed all through the book.
Atencio Yeah, okay. Yeah, that was a lot of big fighting.
That was the first big battle in the Pacific of
the war.
Schwerin That was the only big one at the time.
Atencio That's right, right.
Atencio Didn't you guys relieve the Army of
their M-1s
when they came ashore?
Schwerin No, I never did see an M-1. No, I had
the old
three, the bolt-action.
Atencio You had the Springfield bolt-action.
Schwerin Yes, Sir.
Atencio Right.
Schwerin Best thing done.
Atencio Yeah.
Atencio Tell him maybe what you're telling me about
Thievin from the Army, getting their supplies.
Schwerin Maybe I shouldn't tell him about all that.
Atencio Yeah, they may come looking for you.
Schwerin We had-
Atencio Go ahead and tell me.
Schwerin Okay, I'm going to tell you.
I'm forced to tell you.
We had a-I think a full bird colonel that drove
around in a Reekman car.
And he didn't have to have a driver.
He was one of the old bunch.
He done his own driving.
come air raid time when everybody had for
shelter, here come the old man with his recon
and now I wound up every trip with him and four
or five other people, we would go out
and raid child dumps because we didn't have any
and they did.
But that got us through for a while, until the
Navy came back.
Then they gave every man supposedly a one-pound
steak, and I had steak-my teeth were loose-and
I had a steak in my pocket for probably a week,
just getting rid of a mouthful at a time.
Q. What about Grandpa being there when he was there?
A. Oh, my son just reminded me.
My father-
Q. That you didn't know?
that I didn't know was on the island probably
at the same time I was. He was a thirty-four
year Army veteran when he finally died. My
wife's father was a flight surgeon with the
original flying Tigers in China.
Albertson Oh, okay. That was Grandpa, he was
with the 125th
Infantry Regiment with the Americal Division.
Yeah, they lost their flag on the canal, and
then we got it back.
A lot of things, I guess, that I don t know
anything about, but I was there until they
They declared it, the canals secure, and that's
when I was sent to New Zealand.
Atencio Well, in December of 1942, the Marines transferred
off of Guadalcanal and their army came in.
That was in December of 1942.
A lot of automobile problems out here in case
that bothers you.
Albertson - They brought in that 125th Regiment
early to reinforce the Marines before the
rest of the division, or I assume the same
division, quite a while before they showed
up I believe.
Now, when y'all left Guadalcanal, did you go to
Australia or New Zealand?
I went to New Zealand.
Did you?
That was supposedly to reorganize the battalion. Right.
New guns, new men, the whole bit, you know.
Then what happened?
That was through a little town, Masterton,
about sixty miles inland from Wellington.
Atencio Okay. What all happened there?
Eglinton Well, that was the reorganizing time. That
took almost six months.
Atencio Okay. And then what happened? Did you
have malaria then, or-
Well, yeah. That was it. Well, anyhow, about
the end of the time, the end of the six-month
rehab time for us was we were put with the
second division that went to Bougainville.
Tell me about Bougainville, how was that?
Did not you have a new name, the battalion?
They changed the battalion name from the 3rd
Defense to the 3rd Anti-Aircraft Group.
And it's also - I was in G-Battery Machine Gun
Group in the 2nd Division with them.
But I think I only lasted there about two months.
I had malaria and my time was up in the Marine Corps.
I got up-discharged on points. Atencio-Okay.
Now, when did you get discharged?
Schwerin-I got discharged January 12th in 1946. Atencio-Okay.
So this is after the war. Schwerin-Yes.
So a lot of things happened before that.
Let's go back to Bougainville.
What all did you do on Bougainville?
I was a radio operator there and I was only
there-they were building a new airstrip.
The Japanese had already started that Airstrip
and they finished it.
And then the Japanese were trying to get off of
the island and they were firing anti-aircraft
against the side of a volcano where the
Japanese were using to get around the jungle so they
could get out.
That was the volcano on Bougainville.
Victorio Cortes And you say you were in
anti-aircraft artillery
on Bougainville, right?
John A. Robinson Yes.
Victorio Cortes What kind of weapons did you have?
John A. Robinson Ninety millimeter.
Victorio Cortes Ninety millimeter, okay.
They had some 1-155s and 105s, all triple-A,
well the 155s and 105s, were they triple-A
or were they field artillery?
I don't know, they were firing those things
from the beach, and I was back off of the
beach ways.
A1C Now when you were in this AAA outfit, were
you on the gun or were you in the office?
A2C I was still on a CP.
A1C A CP, okay, alright.
A2C I was out living off pineapples.
A1C Oh, where was that?
A2C That had to be on a canal.
A2C Okay, we got it covered.
A1C What was that?
A2C Back on back to the canal for a minute.
A1C Okay, go ahead.
While we were waiting for the Navy to come back
to feed us, if they had left for the
food and a lot of ammunition, we were getting
pineapples, eating pineapples off the trees
to get by.
Trees off the island.
A1C We got fish heads and rice from the Japanese?
A1C Yeah. Canned, no less. Good stuff.
A1C Okay. Go ahead.
Back in those days on the canal, the Japanese
had what I call wonderful hardtack.
That stuff was really great and it took good
hot coffee to dissolve it so you could eat them.
They were delicious, I thought.
Maybe it was because we were hungry.
That's really about all I know.
After Bougainville, I was sent home with malaria.
So you came home after that then? Yes.
About what date?
Do you have an idea when you came home?
It seemed to me like I left there in July, I
might have got home the last of July or
early August.
Atencio What year?
Schwerin That would have been 1946, I guess.
Atencio No, no, the war got over in 1945.
Schwerin No, no.
Atencio No.
Schwerin That had been 1944, 1945.
Atencio 1944, 1945.
A4, A4?
A4, a45, one of the two. A4.
Well, you got married in A44, wasn t it? A4.
So you hadn t be home before then. A4.
I was home in August of A44. A4.
You were home in August of A44. A4.
And you wound up out of Quonset Point.
How did that happen? A4.
Well, that s where I got discharged from. A4.
for a while though, correct?
A- Well, we stayed there for a couple of years
then and left there after I got discharged.
A- Now, that s about all I can tell you that
will help, I think, if it does you any good
at all.
A- Yeah, okay. Now, I ve got some questions
here for you. What would you consider your
most frightening time? time.
Almost all of it.
Any occasion that was really bad?
Well, only the bombing and the shelling raids.
After that it wasn't so bad.
Okay. Now, when you were over there, did you
ever hear Tokyo Rose on the radio? Yes.
And what did you think of her?
And what did you think?
Eglinton Yes, she killed us a lot of times.
Pelley Yeah.
What did you think of her?
Eglinton I thought it was a pretty good program.
They had good music.
Pelley Yeah.
That's what I understand. Right.
What did you think of the officers you had over you?
Eglinton I thought we had pretty good ones.
I didn't know much about officer material at
that time anyway.
still pretty new to me. I didn't especially
like being told when to go to bed, when to
get up, when to eat and that sort of thing, but
maybe a lot of others didn't either.
What did you think of the medics? Did you have
much experience with them?
Eberts They were great. That's all you need to say
about those people.
Hayes Yeah, they did a good job.
Eberts Yes, they always did.
Hayes Right. And how was the morale in your outfit?
Eversett Well, I didn't know much about morale.
I wasn't even sure what it meant back then,
those days, but I thought it was pretty good.
Once in a while somebody would go buggers, but
that was the expected.
Eversett When you were overseas, could you get your
mail with any regularity?
Well, I only got a couple of letters. I got a
mail from my girlfriend and it wasn't a
while from my foster parents. I think it was
pretty good, actually.
Did you ever cross the equator? Twice.
Did you have any kind of a ceremony or anything?
Oh, yeah.
What did they do to you?
My job-I call it a job-my initiation into the
equator crowd was-they had a huge fat
cook with a sweaty belly, bare belly, and some
of us had to go up and kiss his belly.
And in my case, when we left the equator, we
had an officer named Valoran that was in
sergeant in the aircraft, if I remember it. He
had a big-I had a big head of hair, and
they lifted up one of my curly locks and cut it
off, and they almost skinned that measure.
I think he hated me from that day on.
And it's strange you ask about the officers, I
was talking to a lady here in town who was
a pharmacist at our local drug store and her
name, her married name, her last name is Halloran
And I think that's what this major's name was
that was our gunnery officer on the 90 millimeters.
Our gunnery officer, who I think his name was
Halloran, Major Halloran, the Japanese
used to come in with twenty-four airplanes at a
time at about twenty-four or twenty-six
thousand feet. Now this was back to the canal
days. And one of these, in our latter days,
that gunnery officer picked off about twenty of
those twenty-four airplanes, one right
after the other. And what you could see is full
of airplanes and parachutes once in a
while. Sometimes they'd open, sometimes not.
Valiant Miller That was interesting.
Eglinton We understood that their bombers only
had a
bomb site in the lead plane of each formation.
And when they dropped, everybody else would
dropped theirs then.
Atencio Right.
Now you say you came home in August of ë44,
what did you do when you got back to the States then?
Schwerin My wife proposed to me and we got married.
Atencio Oh, okay.
What date did you get married?
Schwerin August 26th.
Atencio What year?
Schwerin 1944.
Atencio Okay. 1944.
Now, when you got back in the States, what else
did you do?
What kind of-what kind of-did you do for the Army?
What did I do for what?
In the Army.
For your work in the Army.
What did you do? Marines.
I'm sorry. Marines.
I'm sorry. Yeah.
What did you do after you got back to the States?
I landed in-once at Point Naval Air Station,
got discharged, and we got married, of course.
I stayed in Rhode Island for a couple of years
and worked at-
Erengineer Don T touch it.
I guess it was a Navy base actually. They were
selling-what do you call it? Supplies
when they-
Eberlestein Surplus?
Eberlestein Surplus.
Eberlestein Oh yeah, surplus.
Eberlestein We were taking care of surplus material.
Eberlestein Then I got back home, tried farming
for a
a while and got to working at a chemical plant
for about five years and decided I couldn't
hack that and went into the coal mine then.
So then what happened?
Then we raised a family and that wound up with
about twenty-eight years in the mine.
Now, back up, what date were you discharged?
Eberlestein On January 12th, that would have to
have been
1944, I believe.
Atencio Forty-four. Yeah.
Earlier you had mentioned 1946, but it was 1944.
Eberlestein Well, I went in in 1942 and I had
four years
in the Marine Corps.
When would that put me to?
Atencio That would have been 1946 then.
46 then.
After the war was over.
Is that right?
It ended.
Yeah, it ended while we were in Rhode Island.
But you got married in 44? Yeah.
So you were married about a year and a half
before you got out.
Is that right?
You said you were in four years. Yeah.
So you got married in 44? Yeah.
in four years, which would make it forty-six. I
thought you were still in the Marines when
you were out at Quonset Point for a while, but
you weren't?
A- Yeah. I worked at the Naval Air Station in Davisville.
A- In the Marines, right?
A- I don't know. I'm all confused now.
A- Okay.
You were back in the States when the war got
over, is that correct?
Albertson Yes.
I was around the Naval Air Station at Guonset
Point the day that the war ended.
a carrier had come in at Quonset Point, and
they had all kinds of gunfire when the war ended.
And you were still in the service at that point?
I'm not sure.
Now, Germany surrendered on May the 8th of 1945.
Do you remember hearing about that?
Yeah, but I don't know where I was.
And then Japan surrendered on August the 15th
or August 14th of 1945.
Any kind of celebration then?
There was a-that's the day-
This is side two, tape one with Gerald Cox.
How about where?
I don't know, hon.
Never mind.
A1C Well, there's two of us. I'm not sure anymore.
A1C Okay.
A2B Too much time's gone by.
A1C But you're sure you were in four years?
A2B Yes. Yeah. That I'm sure of.
A1C How much was the -
A2B I went in on January 12th and I got discharged
on the 12th.
A1C Four years later.
A2B That would make it 46.
A1C Four years later, 46.
later, 46.
Albertson Because I know you got out of the war on
your points. And my understanding always was
that you were doing something out at Quonset
Point as a Marine for a good while, a year or
more at least.
That would have been at the Davisville base.
That s when I worked for the Navy then after
I got discharged with Russell Allen from Rhode
Island. Remember them?
Let me ask you a couple of questions here.
April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died.
Do you remember hearing about that?
A1 No, I'm not sure anymore.
A2 Okay, tell me, that's fine.
A1 Did he understand me?
A2 Yeah, he said he wasn't sure anymore.
You don't remember where you were when you
heard Roosevelt died?
A1 No, I don't.
A2 Okay.
He doesn't remember that part.
May the 8th of 1945, Germany surrendered.
Do you remember that and did you have a celebration?
AZUZ I remember that, but I don't remember
where it was.
AZUZ What about the atomic bombs, do you remember
hearing about them?
AZUZ Are you really meaning discharged or just
like inactive duty or something like that?
When you say you were discharged, because you
got out of the combat zone on your point,
they wouldn t have turned you loose.
A. I came back to the States and it seems like
I was in the States a year, or maybe
be a little better. So I had to call in when we
got married to get permission to get married.
I would have still been in then.
A1 That would have been in 1944.
A1 Do you have a copy of his discharge or anything
like that there? Yeah, not that I can get my
hands on right quick. All these dates are
on there. They're in this house somewhere. We
can show them to Kevin. As soon as I find
out where they are. His records got burned up
in that fire in St. Louis. The ones that
that he didn't have on hand.
Yeah, there's still places to get some of those.
Other places have them, but most of them
were destroyed there at St. Louis.
I've got my honorable discharge, and who knows
where it is.
But I think it's in the safe at the back.
Now, on August the 14th of 1945, when Japan surrendered,
did you have any kind of celebration then?
I don't have it anymore.
He's not remembering that exactly.
If you remember, they had all these big parties.
You remember the picture of the guy on Times Square
kissing this girl?
I remember seeing that, but I don't know where
I was.
Well, I've interviewed that guy.
Oh, OK. Yeah.
And I'm like trash trucks around.
OK, so I interviewed him, right.
Now, have you had any reunions of the people
you were in the service with?
I used to go to the First Division.
I didn't see anybody that I knew. OK.
I guess I was talking to you, Kevin.
No, I haven't been back to any reunions of the
First Division.
Not anymore.
Have you kept up with anybody you were in the
service with? No.
Only one, and he's dead.
When you got out, did you have any trouble
adjusting to civilian life?
No, I don't think so. Did I have any trouble
adjusting to civilian life?
I'll go ask.
What was the highest rank you got to? Corporal.
The first time I got out, my history shows I
was a corporal, a line corporal.
Atencio Did you use your GI Bill for anything?
Schwerin No, Sir.
Atencio Did you send back to your house or go
to school
or anything?
Schwerin No, Sir.
I haven't asked them for anything.
Atencio Did you join the 5220 Club when you got out?
Schwerin No.
Atencio Okay.
Schwerin Don't touch the screen.
Atencio Okay.
A lot of them did, but I can understand why a
lot of them didn't either.
Was there anything else you recall from your
time in the service?
No, I haven't thought much about it to tell you
the truth up to now until I found out
that you were going to be around.
I don't mind that, it's just I didn't mean that
the way it sounded, but it's good.
You're doing well today, you're doing good.
Now what ribbons and medals did you get?
There they are, right there. That's all I got.
I didn't do anything outstanding. Kevin's
looking up the medals. He's got them inside a
picture frame here. He's going to probably
read it off to you.
A. That will be fine. Good.
A. Here we go.
A. Here is one for Honorable Service, Good
Conduct Medal, Combat Action Badge, American
Campaign Ribbon, Asiatic Pacific with four, oh
who is this, four bronze stars.
A. Okay, that is Battlestars.
Q. Okay, Battlestars. Okay, I thought, well,
that does not look right. And World War II Victory.
A. Okay, that is good.
Q. And presidential unit citation.
A. Okay. That is a pretty good set of medals.
Q. And rifle sharpshooter.
Any others? A.?
A. We got the Marksman with a stinking .45 pistol.
A. Okay. Good.
B. Iíd say Thatís quite a bit.
They werenít made to be accurate.
A. Anything else you were called into service?
B. Army will service.
No, I have just-I guess I haven't spent any
time trying to remember anything that happened.
I'm sorry about that.
No, I'm not sorry about it.
I would do it again.
But if I had a choice, or had to go back into
the service right now at my age, I would take
the Marine Corps if I had a choice.
they teach you how to stay alive. Like Patton
said, you kill the other S.B. and you stay
alive. That's the way you're supposed to win it.
Atencio Did you ever see any naval action?
that you-I think you said-
EFKINS You had this off of Savo, yeah, when Navy-not
naval action, but I was within range of some of
it in the Pacific where you could see the
flashes of the guns from both sides. But the
only exciting thing was that one day out of
the Fiji Islands at Torpedo Junction.
We were stranded for 12 hours.
Something happened to the ship.
It quit operating for 12 hours.
The dryers were circling the whole time.
And we had probably almost 5,000 people on that boat.
That make you feel naked? Yeah.
did on that ship he shipped out on was however
they said it and I would say it Beetlejuice.
I think it was an attack transport, I'm not sure.
It was a French liner at one time.
Oh, there you go.
That's what they told us.
That's what they told us, and it must have been
because it was nice looking inside.
Too bad you didn't make it here, we could have
had a cup of coffee.
Have you been on the honor flight to
Washington, D.C.?
No, Sir. I want no part of it.
Okay, no part of it, huh? No, why is that I?
Guess when I've traveled
When I go my wife goes
She couldn't go and I I didn't care to go. I
think we have seen most of it
And they tell me now
that the really good one must be around Memphis
or Nashville, that it s better than in D.C.
Do you know anything about that? There s a war
memorial, I think. Do you know, Kevin,
whether it's at Memphis or maybe at New Orleans.
Oh, New Orleans probably is what you're
thinking of,
the World War II Museum.
Yeah, they tell me the real place to go
is the one at New Orleans, the World War II Museum.
It's supposed to be the best going.
No, it's pretty good, I've been there, right.
Is that true?
Yes, it's good, very good museum, right.
Well, that would probably-if I've got enough
time on my birthdays left, I may hit
that thing before I go.
Now, were you all at the Nimitz Museum in
Fredericksburg recently?
No, Sir.
Was some of your family there or somebody there?
Not that I know of.
We've been to the-my wife and I have been to
the Normandy Cemetery in France where my
brother's buried.
But that's been a few years ago already.
Well, the reason I ask about the Nimitz Museum,
that's where I got your name from them.
Apparently someone had been there and
registered your name there.
Oh, I contacted them.
I've got a, her dad has, a document, a Japanese
document that we're going to, Dad's going
to donate to him.
Oh, okay.
I knew there was some contact there, yes, okay.
And so I, they said they'd have you contact
dad, and, let's see, I was thinking of something else.
law actually has been there, and he really
bragged on it, and he really doesn't follow
history all that much, but him and his wife
thought it was just pretty fine.
I hope we didn't waste-
Oh, no.
This has been good.
If you ever get this waste, stop and see me.
We'll do, right?
I'll get down there sometime.
Who knows?
This has been good.
If you ever get this way, stop and see me.
Will do, right?
I'll get down there sometime.
Who knows?
My home's in Texas, but I spend the summers
here in Indiana.
Well, my wife has a father buried in Texas.
Oh, OK.
You remember who that is?
Might have been.
Well, Jerry, thank you for your time today,
and thank you for service to our country.
You're welcome and thank you.
Anything else you've thought of?
His third wife.
If we could think of something else,
I'd be glad to tell Kevin so he could get a
hold of you.
OK, good, do that.
I got one.
Did you get that?
I texted you Uncle Wayne's headstone.
Did you get that?
I'm sorry, what was this now?
I texted you a picture of Uncle Wayne's headstone.
dad's brother. Okay, hold on a minute. I think
I didn't know
what that was. Hold on a second. Jerry, Kevin,
both of you. Thank
you for your time today and for information
you're giving me
here. Okay, if we can be of any help, you're
welcome to call
back. I don't I don't know. I'm like that. I
don't know what
else. You know, but I thought it was something
like I told him
they made history. Oh, yes, they did.