A Soldier's Words My Dad, My Hero
The Diary of Sgt. Paul E. Smith United States Army 1941-1958
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We left Ft. Mc Dowel Aug. 13, 1941. Every man on the boat was happy, except the ones that were seasick. We had a very nice voyage. The water was like glass all the way. I will never forget the day I first saw the Islands. We put in at the Honolulu Harbor sometime during the night. When we went on deck the next morning, the first thing I saw was the Aloha Tower. By 10:30, Aug. 17 we were all unloaded and ready to go to the places we had been assigned. When I first saw Camp Malakole, I did not like it. All the ? had not been finished and the buildings were very rough. We soon found that we were to live in tents and in Hawaii, a tent is hotter than an oven. After I was turn to duty and could get a pass I began to like the place more each day. Honolulu is just like any other big town, and a few other things. After I was there for some time I began to really see the good side of the Island. We used to go back up in the hills and look down on the place and it did not seem possible that in a few short months it would all change. Well life went as usual in an Army Camp. I made friends with some of the boys. We work hard every day for the camp was near completion. I met some people in Wiaphu. I was going with a China girl over there by the name of Marilyn. We met in a ball park in Ewa. We were having some boring matches with Honolulu. We were fighting for Wiaphu High School. Her folks own a small place and I used to visit them after. She is a lot of fun and a very nice girl.
Well everything was going along fine when one Sunday morning somebody kicked the lid right off hell. I was on KP duty that morning and was lucky enough to be up. I saw a lot of smoke and heard a lot of noise over Pearl. We all thought the Navy was on target practice. Then they hit us. The first thing I saw was a two winged plane with a large red circle on each wing. Then someone said Sgt. Childers had been shot. I run to his quarters and he had took one in his hip and it came out his stomach. Then every-one took off. We started loading our trucks and the dam planes keep interfering. I saw several good dog fights over the water. We moved into position on the edge of the Harbor and then we really saw the damage. Everything seemed to be on fire and there was a great many explosions going on as gas and oil tanks were going up. Well, we didn’t sleep that night or the next couple of nights. Someone was firing constantly. The Japs on the island were giving us a lot of trouble. They would snipe at us when we were on trucks and then take off. After things got settled we were doing a lot of work. We had to build another position. We were stand all the way from 2 to 8 hours guard with hardly no sleep at all. The only places we had to sleep was one we made ourselves. We moved into our new position and the work began all over again. Before the Battery moved, two other fellows and myself was sent out to stand guard. The place had Jap graves all over it. After dark it was the ? place on Earth. While at Tombstone, I made PFC.
We were there only a short time and moved to Ewa. There is where we got the news of us going to the Fiji Islands (May 31, 1942). Stayed at Fiji 16 months. Left Oct. 12th, 1943. Arrived in French Samoa Oct. 19th, 1943.
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About the Book
These are the actual words as written in a Journal and Diary by my father, Sgt. Paul E. Smith during his service in the United States Army during World War II (Pearl) and Korea. He was 18 years old when he left for Hawaii in 1941. I was 7 years old when he died in 1962. These books were given to me 40 years after his death by a cousin who found them in 2003, in my grandparents’ house after their deaths. I don’t remember a lot about my dad, just bits and pieces. My dad spent almost 15 years in the Army. His older brother also served in the Army for a time and his youngest brother served in the Marines. My husband served in the Navy and his father in the Army Air Core during WWII (now the Air Force). My daughter will be following in our family’s Military footsteps upon graduation from college in Dec. 2003. She will report to the US Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Florida in January 2004. I am very proud to be a Daughter, Niece, Wife, and Mother of a member of our US Military.
About the Author
Mrs. Yarmer was born in 1954 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Following her father’s military career, her family moved to Joliet, Illinois in 1958. She married in 1978 and lived on the East Coast during her husband’s service in the US Navy. They returned to Illinois in 1996. They have 2 children, a daughter and a son attending college. She and her husband of 25 years live in Verona, Illinois.