Arrived at Boston and went into the yard for some repairs, then steamed South to the Panama Canal. Had to drop the boats that were in the outboard davits, because the Dickman could not pass through sections of the canal, with them in place. The boats had to follow the ship through the 51 miles ,till we reached Balboa, then taken back aboard, while the crews reported to Sick Bay, most were pretty well toasted from the sun. We then steamed to San Francisco, arriving Jan.14,1945. where we picked up troops , then were on our way to the Island of Espiritu Santos in the New Hebridies Group.

On Feb.5 ,the ship  passed the 180th Meridian and His Majesty Neptunus Rex came aboard.

According to Wikipedia; Crossing The Line, is an initiation rite that commemorates a Sailors first crossing of the Equator. Sailors who have already crossed the Equator are nicknamed Shellbacks, often referred as Sons of Neptune, those who have not, are nicknamed ( Slimy) Pollywogs. The  event is a ritual, in which previously indoctrinated crew members are organized into a Court of Neptune, to introduce the Slimy Pollywogs into the Mysteries of the Deep. After crossing the line, Pollywogs receive subpoenas, to appear before King Neptune and his court, to receive their sentence, which includes all members of the crew and passengers, no matter their rank.

Since I had never Crossed the Line, I was ordered to appear before King Neptune and there were two hefty members of his court with me, to make sure I didn’t get lost. I was sentenced to report to the Royal Barber and receive a haircut and a shampoo. Was seated in the Barbers Chair and he proceeded to run his clippers through the center of my hair. Then came the shampoo, which was with a large glob of Axel Grease. The barbers chair was hinged at the bottom and he gave me a push , so that I landed in a large tank of salt water. Those in the tank held me under  for what seemed to be hours, then I had to Run the Gauntlet, between a group of ten Sadists armed with paddles and they showed no mercy. I was found worthy and issued a Shellback card.

There were many Innovative sentences handed out that day. one pollywog had to stand watch in the crows nest with a pair of soda bottles for binoculars, the Ships Band had to perform in the Fire Room, Mess attendants had to serve with their clothes inside out,  while others had to crawl through a canvas tunnel filled with rotten garbage. Was a Fun Day but I must Give Thanks that I wasn’t a sailor back in the Old Sailing Days, when they would Keel Haul you for initiation.

After debarking troops at Espiritu Santos we steamed to Guadalcanal. I was assigned to an LCM. The Dickman carried 4 LCM barges  They were 56 ft. long, with a 14 ft beam and powered by two 250 HP Gray Marine diesel engines. While at Guadalcanal had to do a lot of running to an Island named  Tulagi, hauling Seabees, vehicles and stores. The water is much different than most areas we worked. In the S. Pacific the water is crystal clear and as you ride around, you can see to the bottom, the beautiful white coral and the sea life swimming around. One evening I had the Midnight watch at the gangway. We were anchored out and the ship was dark, except for one light at the gangway and we had one LCVP tied up alongside. While leaning at the rail, about half asleep, I saw swimming by,  an enormous eel or maybe it was a snake but was nearly as long as the 36 ft. LCVP. I called the Officer of the Deck to come over and look,  who agreed that was the biggest Creature he ever saw. The following morning had to haul some Seabees to Tulagi and after dropping them off, had to wait till they finished and return them to Guadalcanal. We ran the boat off shore and dropped the ramp, so the crew could swim. I usually was one of the first in the water but not that day. One of the crew called and asked why I didn’t join in. My answer was, after what I saw last night, I was not about to go in the water

A large Amphibious Force was assembled and our next landing was to be at the South West corner of Okinawa. It was decided to land at Okinawa because it was only 340 miles from the Japanese mainland and it was planned to use it for a Base of Operation, for the planned Invasion of Japan. Carrier aircraft and surface ships pounded the island for nine days, prior to the landing.

On April 1,1945 our Amphibious Group arrived off Okinawa and at 0540 we were headed to the beaches. To every ones surprise, there was only sporatic mortar and shell fire, as the troops landed. Seems the Japanese decided to do their fighting inland and that they did. Four Divisions of the U.S. Tenth Army, fought on the island and the fighting was fierce. The battle for the island resulted in the highest number of casualties, of the Pacific Theater. Japanese lost over 100000 soldiers, who were either killed, captured or committed suicide and the allies suffered more than 65000 casualties. Similarly, the number of civilians that died, was staggering.

We encountered problems with with our landings on the beaches. Had to time our arrivals to make landings at high water, because at low tide the coral was exposed and could damage the boat bottoms. We had additional planks bolted to the bottoms of our barges,  to protect them. The fleet took a beating from the Kamikaze and suicide boat attacks. During this operation, 6 ships were sunk, 7 were heavily damaged and 4 slightly damaged. We would work during the day, then at dusk the ships would move out to sea , then return at daylight. The Kamikaze attacks usually came at dusk, while the suicide boats were active during the night. While the ships were out to sea, the barges had to find a place to hole up. There was a stream alongside the beaches and during our first evening we followed it up to a town named Naha. Wasn’t much left of it, but we strolled the area. Learned that the Okinawans place their dead in caves, then after the body decays, the bones are stored in urns, that occupy a place of honor, in the home. Seems were a few from Boat crews, that entered the caves and brought out the skulls, which they mounted on boat hooks and paraded them around the harbor. On the following Sunday , during his sermon,  Chaplain Day ( An Episcopalian Priest ) was not very kind, to those that participated. Fortunately none were from the Dickman.  On our second evening we rode up the stream again and found a place to tie up, then settled back hoping to get some sleep. As we looked up, we saw an American Hellcat Fighter Plane. He was flying low and slow, following the stream, apparently lost. He tipped his wings to show his markings but to no avail., Those trigger happy guys in those anti-aircraft gun emplacements, blew him out of the sky and he crashed about a mile from us. Was a sad thing to see.

The Dickman worked in the area for 6 days. landed 1368 troops, 79 vehicles and over 83000 cu. ft. of cargo.and without a casualty.. After a successful operation the Dickman left the area and steamed to Saipan, then on to Pearl Harbor. before returning to San Fancisco. I was transferred when we arrived to Frisco, while the Dickman went into the yard to have some conversion , in preparation for landing on the Japanese Mainland.