thedrifter
08-14-08, 07:41 AM
August 14, 2008
WWII vet fears many have forgotten Victory Over Japan Day
"GUYS ARE STILL SUFFERING"
By HARTRIONO B.
SASTROWARDOYO
Albert Perdeck remembers the 32 months he served on board the USS Bunker Hill during World War II as though it were yesterday.
Perdeck, 83, served in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted plane captain for two years and eight months, from June 1943 to February 1946, helping to maintain the carrier's aircraft. During that time, he saw some of the war's fiercest fighting.
Today, Aug. 14, marks the 63rd anniversary of V-J Day, more formally known as Victory Over Japan Day, the day initial word of Japan's surrender was received.
Perdeck will mark the day by remembering those with whom he served. But he fears too many have forgotten, not only the importance of that day, but also of the importance of all those who serve in the armed forces.
"Everybody has forgotten. It is important (to remember), because guys are still suffering because of it (the war)," Perdeck said.
"Why must it be that way?"
A typed manifest of a period from November 1943 to April 1945, folded and taped many times, lists actions taken by the Bunker Hill. Some of the names are familiar ones — Tinian, where the plane carrying the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima took off; Iwo Jima, for its iconic photograph of Marines raising the American flag.
"Sometimes, we'd battle for two days, then two days later be involved in another one," said Perdeck, a resident of the township's Leisure Village West development.
He was 18 and living in Newark, working as a wood-pattern apprentice, when he got drafted in 1943.
"They asked me where I wanted to go," Perdeck said. "I told them I heard I could finish my learning a trade in the Navy. They stamped my papers with a big "N.' I never saw any kind of wood training aboard ship."
Days that ordinarily would be special occasions are memorable in other ways. On Feb. 16, 1944, Perdeck's birthday, the aircraft carrier was supporting strikes against Truk, part of the Caroline Islands. On his next birthday, the Bunker Hill assisted with attacks against Iwo Jima.
And on May 11, 1945, just before Mother's Day, the aircraft carrier was hit by two Japanese kamikaze attacks. Of the ship's complement of 3,448 crewmembers, 346 men were killed, 43 went missing and 264 were wounded, according to the Navy.
Perdeck can't forget those experiences. Perdeck, who is Jewish, says he constantly asks for forgiveness from God, for slapping a hysterical sailor who kept repeating, "We've been hit, we've been hit" during one attack, as well as for stepping on the stomach of a dead sailor during that same battle, on his way to finding an oxygen mask, his vision impaired by thick, black smoke.
"I said to him, "What are you doing sleeping? Get up, get up,' " Perdeck said. "It never crossed my mind that he was dead."
In time, the war ended. Perdeck married, and together he and his wife, Elaine, now 81, raised a son and daughter. But his wife admits, "He had trouble making the adjustment to civilian life."
Sixty-three years later, the war's impact still lingers. Every other Thursday, Perdeck and 17 other World War II veterans, as well as two veterans from the Korean War, meet at a Lakewood psychologist's office to talk about their experiences.
"I can still smell the battle," Perdeck said.
Ellie
WWII vet fears many have forgotten Victory Over Japan Day
"GUYS ARE STILL SUFFERING"
By HARTRIONO B.
SASTROWARDOYO
Albert Perdeck remembers the 32 months he served on board the USS Bunker Hill during World War II as though it were yesterday.
Perdeck, 83, served in the U.S. Navy as an enlisted plane captain for two years and eight months, from June 1943 to February 1946, helping to maintain the carrier's aircraft. During that time, he saw some of the war's fiercest fighting.
Today, Aug. 14, marks the 63rd anniversary of V-J Day, more formally known as Victory Over Japan Day, the day initial word of Japan's surrender was received.
Perdeck will mark the day by remembering those with whom he served. But he fears too many have forgotten, not only the importance of that day, but also of the importance of all those who serve in the armed forces.
"Everybody has forgotten. It is important (to remember), because guys are still suffering because of it (the war)," Perdeck said.
"Why must it be that way?"
A typed manifest of a period from November 1943 to April 1945, folded and taped many times, lists actions taken by the Bunker Hill. Some of the names are familiar ones — Tinian, where the plane carrying the atomic bomb used against Hiroshima took off; Iwo Jima, for its iconic photograph of Marines raising the American flag.
"Sometimes, we'd battle for two days, then two days later be involved in another one," said Perdeck, a resident of the township's Leisure Village West development.
He was 18 and living in Newark, working as a wood-pattern apprentice, when he got drafted in 1943.
"They asked me where I wanted to go," Perdeck said. "I told them I heard I could finish my learning a trade in the Navy. They stamped my papers with a big "N.' I never saw any kind of wood training aboard ship."
Days that ordinarily would be special occasions are memorable in other ways. On Feb. 16, 1944, Perdeck's birthday, the aircraft carrier was supporting strikes against Truk, part of the Caroline Islands. On his next birthday, the Bunker Hill assisted with attacks against Iwo Jima.
And on May 11, 1945, just before Mother's Day, the aircraft carrier was hit by two Japanese kamikaze attacks. Of the ship's complement of 3,448 crewmembers, 346 men were killed, 43 went missing and 264 were wounded, according to the Navy.
Perdeck can't forget those experiences. Perdeck, who is Jewish, says he constantly asks for forgiveness from God, for slapping a hysterical sailor who kept repeating, "We've been hit, we've been hit" during one attack, as well as for stepping on the stomach of a dead sailor during that same battle, on his way to finding an oxygen mask, his vision impaired by thick, black smoke.
"I said to him, "What are you doing sleeping? Get up, get up,' " Perdeck said. "It never crossed my mind that he was dead."
In time, the war ended. Perdeck married, and together he and his wife, Elaine, now 81, raised a son and daughter. But his wife admits, "He had trouble making the adjustment to civilian life."
Sixty-three years later, the war's impact still lingers. Every other Thursday, Perdeck and 17 other World War II veterans, as well as two veterans from the Korean War, meet at a Lakewood psychologist's office to talk about their experiences.
"I can still smell the battle," Perdeck said.
Ellie