thedrifter
09-25-07, 07:45 AM
`THE WAR' IN THEIR WORDS
Posted on Tue, Sep. 25, 2007
Raymond Worsley
Charlotte Observer, NC -
Raymond Worsley, 82, retired minister from First United Presbyterian Church in uptown Charlotte, was a member of the First Marine Division in World War II. Off Guam, as part of the task force invading the Pacific islands, he fought kamikaze pilots. He was drafted in 1943 at age 18 while a student at Johnson C. Smith University.
The recruiter said I'd be inducted into the Army. I said, "No sir, I want to go into the Marines." I'd seen the movies about the Marines. That's what I wanted to be. So he stamped some papers and said, "OK. Welcome to Hell."
We were on a troop ship getting ready for the invasions. The kamikazes would come at dawn and dusk, when the sun was low. I was on a gun with two black boys -- they were called mess boys, because they worked in the kitchen. One was the shooter, one was the loader and I was their wheel man.
The Japanese were determined to come through any fire to ram us. These planes would just be coming head on and we'd be trying to shoot them down before they hit the ship. They just kept coming. They didn't give a doggone.
One time one was coming right at the gun. We just kept firing, trying to kill him. It went down at the last second. It hit the water right in front of us, as close as I am to the kitchen.
After the invasions, when we were going back, we stopped at some of those islands. There were graveyards there, United States cemeteries. As far as you could see were rows of crosses, rows that just went on and on, more than you could count. I'll never forget that.
Watch video
www.charlotte.com/local/v-print/story/291664.html
Ellie
Posted on Tue, Sep. 25, 2007
Raymond Worsley
Charlotte Observer, NC -
Raymond Worsley, 82, retired minister from First United Presbyterian Church in uptown Charlotte, was a member of the First Marine Division in World War II. Off Guam, as part of the task force invading the Pacific islands, he fought kamikaze pilots. He was drafted in 1943 at age 18 while a student at Johnson C. Smith University.
The recruiter said I'd be inducted into the Army. I said, "No sir, I want to go into the Marines." I'd seen the movies about the Marines. That's what I wanted to be. So he stamped some papers and said, "OK. Welcome to Hell."
We were on a troop ship getting ready for the invasions. The kamikazes would come at dawn and dusk, when the sun was low. I was on a gun with two black boys -- they were called mess boys, because they worked in the kitchen. One was the shooter, one was the loader and I was their wheel man.
The Japanese were determined to come through any fire to ram us. These planes would just be coming head on and we'd be trying to shoot them down before they hit the ship. They just kept coming. They didn't give a doggone.
One time one was coming right at the gun. We just kept firing, trying to kill him. It went down at the last second. It hit the water right in front of us, as close as I am to the kitchen.
After the invasions, when we were going back, we stopped at some of those islands. There were graveyards there, United States cemeteries. As far as you could see were rows of crosses, rows that just went on and on, more than you could count. I'll never forget that.
Watch video
www.charlotte.com/local/v-print/story/291664.html
Ellie