WWII U.S. Naval veteran John Manning tells stories from the Pacific

On Monday morning, war veterans and members of the community gathered at Green Acres Baptist Church to hear the wartime stories and accounts of John Manning, a WWII Navy veteran. Commissioned on the USS Heermann DD 532 from 1944-1947 during the Pacific Campaign, Manning proudly served alongside others as a fire patrolman third class.

Just before turning 18 years old, Manning’s parents signed off on his registration to sign up for the Navy. As a fire patrolman, Manning and others operated and maintained the fire patrol systems which was an electro-mechanical system used to operate the guns.

Upon first boarding the USS Heermann, Manning recalls boarding it first in an area known as Treasure Island, a place located near San Francisco Bay. The Navy had taken over this area for the purpose of the input and output of sailors.

“After I went aboard that destroyer, they assigned me a battle station which was down in the lowest part of the ship you can get. The ammunition was stored there” Manning said. “My job was to move five-inch powder cans and projectiles and put them in a hoist and move them up to the gunnery. I stayed in that battle station the whole time that we were in the Pacific.”

Manning related how his ship and crew headed off bombardment missions for Iwo Jima and Okinawa. However, Manning says the bombarding of Okinawa was more difficult than it was in Iwo Jima.

“I can remember that our job was not as difficult as it was in Okinawa. In Okinawa, we had to get under these suicide bombers,” Manning said. “All of our ships were hit while we were in Okinawa, but somehow we escaped.”

A smaller and lesser-known fact of the war is that the USS Heermann participated in bombardment in Japan; a mission not widely reported. It took place shortly before the Japanese surrendered in summer of 1945.

“We also participated in actual bombardment on the main island of Japan, but that is not well-known. In fact, we did that on two different occasions. These happened in July of 1945, just prior to the Japanese surrender” Manning said.

The most joyous memory of Manning’s was the day that the Japanese surrendered. While normally it was not allowed for military vessels to carry alcohol for “recreational” drinking, there was a store of beer below deck that aided the celebration of the surrender.

“The Japanese surrendered on the 14th of August in 1945. It was a real joyous day!” Manning said. “It was a great celebration! Alcohol was never served aboard Navy vessels, but we did carry beer in the storage areas below. They broke out the beer to celebrate the Japanese surrendering” said Manning.

The day after, though the war itself was over, the ship came under attack by a small Japanese bomber operated by what Manning referred to as “die-hearts” unwilling to give up the fight. The crew was given permission to shoot it down, but in a “friendly manner” Manning said.

“On the 15th of August, while we were on duty, we picked up an unidentified aircraft on our radar but could get no response” related Manning. “We were being attacked by a Japanese bomber. We had to get permission from the commander of the task force we were operating with to shoot that airplane down. He said we could shoot it down in a friendly manner.”

After the end of the war, Manning stayed with the USS Heermann, serving as part of the ship’s maintenance crew when she went to port. Manning did not leave until it was decommissioned in August of 1947; marking 3 years of dedicated service aboard the ship and to the US Navy during WWII.