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On Saturday morning at 9:00 am I interviewed Lloyd Hauk at the
Barge Restaurant in Raymond on October 16, 2010. It was kind of hard to
transcribe the tape because Lloyd Hauk spoke softer than his group of friends
who were just a table away. They were speaking kind of loud because they were
talking about the South Bend high school football team's (Indians) victories.
They currently are one of the top teams in the state of Washington.
Update: They won the state championship, Saturday night Dec. 4 2010, in
the Tacoma Dome.
Lloyd told me that he meets with his coffee friends
quite often at the Barge Restaurant. Lloyd was having toast and oatmeal and I
was having blueberry pancakes.
Lloyd: These are my... coffee friends.
Fred: Oh, O.K.
Lloyd: And they… come down here and drink coffee quite often. Anyway… uh… I joined the navy… in… August of a…41. And then I... made a... trip to Pearl harbor... in uh... 41... on the... on the USS Langley... was the oldest uh… aircraft carrier we had. And... I… got off of there and was then transferred over to the USS Hulbert. Was an old… war stack destroyer converted… to a sea plane tender. And we made... a couple of trips to… the shop Islands. And uh… deposited ammunition gas… for planes. And… we tied up in Pearl Harbor …and uh… then we…filled up with gas and moved to a… ???base to tear down an engine. Then we tore down one of our engines. Had two… we tore one of them down and uh… was repairing that... when the Japanese came in. Then uh...
Fred: Were you on Ford Island or err, I mean?
Lloyd: No, sub base.
Fred: Sub base.
Lloyd: Yeah, it's right... right duh... channel goes… by and then north... north Island is here…and then battleships are here. They came right across our stern.
Fred: Well uh, how old were you when you joined?
Lloyd: 18… 18
Fred: Where were you born...um?
Lloyd: I was born in Seattle.
Fred: Oh in Seattle.
Lloyd: And I was adopted when I was six months old.
Fred: Ah, OK.
Lloyd: My dad lived in Willapa here. That's where I was raised up. Up until 14. 14 we moved to Redmond Oregon. I was in Oregon when I joined.
Fred: Um... I don't know a lot to... ask... but... I guess that must have been something. I guess I know the first. I read a little about it. The first wave was 183 planes that came in on the bombing.
Lloyd: I don't know how many there were.
Fred: Then there was the second wave, was 167. Luckily the aircraft, the aircraft carriers were not... where they usually were.
Lloyd: Yeah.
Fred: They didn't get them but, uh... yeah, it was pretty chaotic. People thought that it was a drill.
Lloyd: Yeah
Fred: You know that was going on and the Ward radioed that they had attacked a submarine. But it took a long time to get up to the navy officials.
Lloyd: Yep. We opened fire; we were one of the first ones to open fire.
Fred: Yeah, and the Ward was the first uh the first ship that... uh... detect the... I guess the... midget
Lloyd: Yeah, submarine.
Fred: Submarine, there were five of them. From five... submarine... mother ships. And there were two guys in each one and they had two torpedoes. They were all...all killed except one... who became... the first... prisoner of war.
Lloyd: um mm
Fred: my statement got drowned out by background conversations.
Fred: ... With all that oil in the water and fire.
Lloyd: Yes, it was supposed to have gotten the first ship.
Fred: What's that?
Lloyd: The Ward I think got the first ship. The first submarine.
Fred: It's amazing that you survived that... I mean that's... neat, you know.
Lloyd: Yeah.
Fred: You know they got most of our planes, a few planes got up into the air and the anti-aircraft fire got a couple of their planes...drowned out by background conversation.
Lloyd: Yep. Yeah, they even shot down our own plane.
Fred: Yeah, some of the neighborhoods were hit...with friendly fire.
Lloyd: Yeah.
Fred: Anti-aircraft fire.
Fred: So that was... Sunday, December 7, 1945
Lloyd: Right.
Fred: So you remember that?
Lloyd: Never will forget it.
Fred: Yeah.
Lloyd: ha
Fred: I read one person said "it's like being reborn", because he lived.
Fred: So, you were in the navy?
Lloyd: Yeah, I was navy seaman first second. I was seaman second…just come into the navy... for three months then turn to seaman then you just turn to seaman second. And then, seaman first and then Cox, I got seaman first… when we went up to Alaska. I was seaman first …and um… We left Alaska and I went down to a... California. I got another ship… and made Cox second (I was suppose to make? background conversation) I never went any higher. It took me... three years.
Fred: So, you did three years in the navy?
Lloyd: No, I did six… three years to make second class (I did not get what Lloyd said - background conversation)
Fred: It's kind of hard to hear (I laugh) their talking kind of loud in the background.
Lloyd: Yeah, I didn't, I didn't go any higher than that... I stayed second class post mate. I had diving...
Fred: You had what?
Lloyd: I had diving credentials. I could dive.
Fred: (drowned out)
Lloyd: You get paid for it; you'd get paid five dollars a dive.
Fred: This is in the navy?
Lloyd: Yeah.
Fred: Oh, OK. In Pearl Harbor or California? Oh, in California somewhere or what?
Lloyd: huh?
Fred: Where were you doing this?
Lloyd: On the ship.
Fred: Oh, so you were in Hawaii.
Lloyd: Yeah
Fred: OK.
Lloyd: We went to a... the plane went down in Hawaii, One of our planes. We went out to rescue it, and sent divers down. There were 60...67...68 feet and uh... we'd go down and crips it up and bring it up on the ship. There was a secret weapon we didn't know. There was a B25... with a nose canon... a three inch gun... and... they didn't... when we got back to shore we couldn't go ashore. We were restricted because we knew that...canon was on that plane... and was used being used for use. Yeah, and then I went to uh ... Everett. They got a floating dry dock, and took it to South America... for use.
Fred: When was this?
Lloyd: In 43.
Fred: 43
Lloyd: And...
Fred: What uh what did you think of when... well you know when you guys were being attacked. What did you think that um?
Lloyd: I was scared.
Fred: Did you think that it was a drill err?
Lloyd: We didn't know what it was.
Fred: OK
Lloyd: We knew that it was Japanese
Fred: Ah uh
Lloyd: But we didn't know what it was... that they were doing.
Fred: Were you on the, on the, on the deck err?
Lloyd: huh?
Fred: Were you on the deck of the ship?
Lloyd: To start. To start to start.
Fred: ah uh
Lloyd: To start I was on the deck and then I went down below deck. And uh... and uh, passed out ammunition to go up on uh upper deck to a machine gun and 50 caliber machine guns. Water water...cooled. And old machine guns.
Fred: So they got pretty hot?
Lloyd: They were water cooled
Fred: Yeah.
Lloyd: So they'd get hot but then ...they got they got water.
Fred: And your eye um can I ask you about that how that happened?
Lloyd: huh
Fred: Was your eye injured during the war.
Lloyd: No.
Fred: Oh, OK
Lloyd: No, a car wreck.
Fred: So most of the... most of the people on the ship were young like you, 18.
Lloyd: Oh Yeah, yeah, around... anywhere from 18 to 25 and officers and seats were all older and then uh ... our captain was... probably in his in his uh... early 40's. And he was an atlas man. He came from Annapolis. And aboard that ship was a... captain.
Fred: Do you have family? Your family was in Seattle?
Lloyd: No
Fred: You were born in Seattle and then you grew up out here?
Lloyd: My family lived… in Redmond, Oregon.
Fred: Oh
Lloyd: Not the ones...
Fred: So your father was in... was around this area, right?
Lloyd: Well that's when yeah they were raised around here.
Fred: Oh, that's where he was raised.
Lloyd: I was raised... in Seattle brought up down here.
Fred: When you were 14?
Lloyd: Oh no, I was four months old.
Fred: Oh, OK
Lloyd: And I was adopted.
I was born... illegitimate... in Seattle.
Fred: You don't know who your father was?
Lloyd: No.
Fred: Same with me (I laugh).
Lloyd: My dad, my foster… parents… both of them are dead. Everybody in our family is dead. My two sisters and brother… are dead. I'm the last one.
Fred: Oh
Lloyd: I got...three, four...five...nine grandchildren.
Fred: Oh
Lloyd: And uh...
Fred: That's nice.
Lloyd: And I got...twelve great grandchildren.
Fred: Wow!
Lloyd: But I've never seen them.
Fred: You haven't seen them?
Lloyd: No.
Fred: Where are they at?
Lloyd: Oh, they’re all over.
Fred: Oh, all over the United States?
Lloyd: Yeah, but uh my great grand children are all over. My grandchildren are all over except I got two boys here.
Fred: Uh-huh
Lloyd: And they got uh my one grand I got three grandchildren... here
Fred: Uh-huh that's good
Lloyd: Their young... their…11 and... 11 and uh… 15... and about 6 months
Fred: (I overheard someone asking someone’s birth date) Yeah, when's your birthday?
Lloyd: 1-29-23...87
Fred: Did you have training before um… you joined in August?
Lloyd: Six weeks
Fred: Six weeks, and that was?
Lloyd: Down in San Diego... now I joined the navy In Portland Oregon. And then I went to San Diego for training. I got out of training and I had a week’s vacation I came home... to Redmond Oregon and I was home in Redmond for probably five days.
Fred: For five days?
Lloyd: Yeah, then I went back to a... San Diego and I didn't live down in San Diego I'd go to a Los Angeles. I had an aunt two aunts who lived there. I had two aunts who lived down there... and they... showed me around Los Angeles... went to the movies I watched them make a movie and...
Fred: Do you know the name of the movie they were making?
Lloyd: I think it was... it was a ...oh what do you call it... silent movie
Fred: Oh, yeah.
Lloyd: He was in silent movies.
Fred: Silent movies?
Lloyd: Ted Blog
Fred: Who?
Lloyd: It was Ted Blog
Fred: I don't know?
Lloyd: I know. I never heard of him either.
Fred: I know a... that oh Italian guy... heart throb guy Valentino. (I laugh)