Letter to President Harry S. Truman from J. C. Truman

U.S.S. MISSOURI c/o FLEET POST OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO. CALIF. AT SEA 22 April 1945 Dear With all the communiques and correspondents and radio commentators out here you pro- bably know more about the Pacific war than a man aboard ship but since the Missouri is a new battleship and the Navy wants to keep the Nips guessing about us, you probably won't see us mentioned in print. But we have been in the midst, of things for some time now. For example, I can tell you that we were part of the fast carrier task force that dropped in on February 17 at Tokyo's front door like a delayed Valentine. The aviators were the boys who got the front seat there, but we as part of the supporting force were mighty close. The newspaper accounts said we were less than 250 miles from Tokyo, but actually the Missouri was only about 100 miles from Hirohito's palace at one time. We could almost smell the smoke rising from the burning targets that our planes had hit with bombs and rockets, and I really believe we could have seen the smoke if the weather had been better. Then our force went south and our planes hit in the Nagoya area, and we returned to Tokyo, as you have read, for another strike the following week. Meantime our carrier planes also were operating in support of the Iwo Jima invasion. Some of our ships got a chance at shore bombardment, but we weren't lucky enough to get in on that. It was during this period that the Mo made her first kill. It was pretty sensation- al, too, and it made the rest of the force sit up and take notice that our shooting was right on the beam. This first target was a Jap two-engined bomber that came over the formation at night. It was probably a "snooper," as they are called. Nobody waited to see what it was, how- ever. It was some distance off on a fairly dark night when it was picked up. Well, as I said, we didn't waste any time. The five-inch batteries opened up and BANGO- they hit that Jap right on the nose. Remember, this was in the dark, too. Nobody could see the plane until our shots hit him, and then he came down in flames. Everybody topside could see the blazing plane fall and hit the water. It burned for over half an hour after it hit. That is what the big "battleships are out here for when they operate as part of the so-called fast carrier task forces. We pack a big wallop in our anti-aircraft guns and are here to protect the carriers, which usually are the first ships to be attacked by enemy planes. Also, of oourse, if what's left of the Jap fleet should venture out we can take care of anything they've got, which isn't much anyway now that the Yamato has been sunk. It gives a fellow quite a thrill to be part of one of these forces. They're the last word in sea warfare and it's amazing to see how much power we possess out here now. The task force is divided into several groups, each under a rear admiral, and each group consists of several carriers, along with battleships, cruisers and destroyers. The fellows that deserve most of the credit -- and get it -- are the aviators. They risk their lives everytime they make an attack. But the ones who take the worst beating are the destroyer sailors. It gets mighty rough out here in the Pacific, you know, and those cans are constantly rolling and pitching, tossing the crew around like a roller coaster. They need strong stomachs to stand it. It's just the opposite on the Mo. You hardly know you're at sea a good deal of the time. Meals are served right on the dot, we have movies frequently at sea, and all ships even get mail occasionally during an operation. When the Japs get near us it's rugged, however, since we have to stay at our stations waiting for action, and it gets (NOT FOR PUBLICATION) (over)