CHAPTER ONE "IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS OKLAHOMA" Oklahoma? Yes, Oklahoma. That is where the story starts. In the Summer of 1943 between Clarence's Junior and Senior year in country school (Irving Community School) near Waurika and Ryan, Oklahoma, he got a job down in Texas. In a meat packing plant in Ft. Worth. They called him "Franklin" in those days. When the summer job was over he had to get back to Waurika. It was cheaper to hitch hike on the last half of the trip. So, he got a truck driver to stop and give him a ride on into Waurika. Only thing, the truck driver was stone drunk, so Franklin had to drive the truck himself. It made an interesting tale and Franklin enjoyed telling it to his brother (Troy), sister (Patsy), sister (Betty), father (Bert), step mother (Lou Ella), and his fellow high school seniors. Little did he know that he would not finish that Senior year. On January 11, 1944 Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the 1944 "State of the Union Address" to Congress ...and... on January 11, 1944 Franklin Sanders was drafted into the US Navy. WWII was in full swing and he was about to join the "party". CHAPTER TWO "WHY IS BASIC TRAINING SO MUCH FUN?" In the Navy, Franklin was just referred to as "Sanders". On the day Sanders was shipped out of Waurika to Oklahoma City for induction, there was a huge snow storm. Everything was white. It was a cold trip to Oklahoma City. From Oklahoma City, Sanders and the other Navy inductees traveled by rail to San Diego. US Navy Basic Training was challenging. At least it was San Diego. It could have been the Navy's "Great Lakes" Boot Camp in the winter. Sanders did well. Nothing an Oklahoma boy could not handle. Only one problem though. He got an attack of appendicitis. Sanders was rushed through the streets of San Diego by a speeding military ambulance to the hospital. He remembers looking up from the stretcher at the ambulance's speedometer because the intersections seemed to be just flying by. It was 108 MPH. Appendix removed. He returned to Basic Training and was housed in some buildings on the San Diego Zoo grounds. There were, of course, many comments about Sanders being in the "Zoo" (Navy). Upon completion of Basic Training on about March 25, 1944 (after a very quick return to Waurika on a ten day leave), he received 40 MM and 20 MM gunnery training. His 40 MM training would prove to be quite valuable in the next year. He was to be assigned to the brand new LCI (G) 396. [Actually, the new ship was originally a "LCI (L)"... LCI (L) 396... that was quickly converted into a "LCI (G)" in San Diego]. The LCI (L) 396 had been built (commissioned - December 20, 1943) on the East Coast, sailed through the Panama Canal, and now was docked in San Diego. The LCI (L) 396 became the LCI (G) 396 on June 15, 1944. After a few months of rigging the ship for battle and training the crew in several shake-down cruises, the LCI (G) 395 was ready to set sail for Hawaii. While in San Diego, Norman R. Fenimore ("Ray"), Elwood A. Kees, and Sanders (three country boys) were once assigned to paint the inside of the 396's water tank and ballast tanks with a substance called "Gilside". It was a liquid epoxy-like material. The Navy did not provide any health & safety equipment. Before long, all three boys were getting pretty "woozy" in those tanks. Sanders decided it was time for all of them to get out of there. The boys stopped work, left the tanks, and it probably prevented any serious injury or death. Elwood was later selected to be the mike-man on the 396, making all the on-board announcements to the crew. Sanders bought a 1939-1940 model Gretch "New Yorker" arch top sunburst guitar in San Diego and took it with him.   CHAPTER THREE "HAWAII HERE I COME" They left San Diego on June 15, 1944. It was not exactly a "Hawaiian Cruise", although the sailors joked about it being one. Sanders had not ventured out of the South Oklahoma/North Texas area before Basic Training. In fact, he had never seen an ocean before he joined the Navy. For the crew of about seventy sailors, the trip to Hawaii was all business. Lots of training. Lots of speculation about what their ultimate mission would be. The 396 could reach Hawaii in five days at full speed, however the LCI took two weeks in order to train the crew along the way. LCIs were commonly referred to as the "Waterbug Navy". About 1300 LCIs were built for use in the war. At least 300 of them were "gunboats" like the LCI (G) 396. Of the 300 gunboats, 115 were in the Pacific in 1944 during the two-ocean war. Quick and highly maneuverable. The Navy's smallest ocean-going craft. With fifty welders working at the same time, an LCI could be built in a New Jersey shipyard in seven hours. Range about 2000 miles. Speed 15.5 knots. About 160 feet long and about 24 feet wide/beam with a flat bottom. The hull was made of 1/4 inch steel plate. They were built as three separate modules and then welded together. Two sets of quad General Motors 6 cylinder diesel engines. Eight engines total. 3600 HP per quad. Sanders got to know those engines very well before his tour on the 396 ended. He was assigned to the engine room. Oliver E. Cole was assigned to be the mentor for Sanders in the engine room. This was tough duty. Hard work. Heat often reached 150 degrees in the engine room. The noise in the engine room was so loud that after a shift in the engine room Sanders could not hear much for three or four hours. Sanders worked in the engine room with his friend Daniel T. Murphy ("Murph"), an engine mechanic. He even bunked in an area near the engine room so that he would be readily accessible. This LCI was outfitted as a "gun boat". His LCI had three sets of 40MM guns, two sets of 20MM guns, six .50 caliber gun placements, ten Mark 7 rocket launchers, two Mark 22 launchers, and, of course, a LCI belly full of rockets and ammo. Sanders got to know the 40MM guns quite well since he was assigned to man the port 40MM guns (on the aft part of the ship) during General Quarters (battle conditions). The LCI was a small but powerful ship. It is not the size of the dog in a fight that is important, it is the fight in the dog that matters. Cruised into Pearl on July 1, 1944. Sanders went with Leonard E. Livingston once on liberty in Hawaii and Livingston (a natural born musician) bought a $125 fiddle. Now that's an expensive fiddle...but it was worth it. Livingston could really play the fiddle. Livingston and his fiddle were the key components of the 396 string band. When he got a chance, Sanders also went on liberty with his friends M.D. Abbott and Bobby Ozbirn. While at Pearl, Sanders stood at attention for two hours on July 26, 1944 in a Naval ceremony for the famous Pacific meeting of Roosevelt, McArthur, and Nimitz. Roosevelt was there to settle the difference of opinion between McArthur and Nimitz on the future course of the war with Japan. After three more shake-down cruises in and out of Hawaii, the 396 was off to Guadalcanal on August 10, 1944. After about six weeks in Hawaii, the "Hawaiian vacation" was over. You know..."join the Navy and see the world"! CHAPTER FOUR "WHAT IS A GUADALCANAL"? It took twenty five days to get to Guadalcanal. During the trip, the 396 survived two typhoons. They arrived on September 4, 1944 and would only stay at Guadalcanal for about a week. Guadalcanal was previously occupied by Japan until the US pushed them out earlier in the war. After they left Guadalcanal, they were told their mission (as part of the famous Rear Admiral John H. Morrill's "Black Cat" Floatilla "13"). Nobody could "spill the beans" now with secure communications and nobody getting off the ship. The invasion of Peleliu Island (code name - operation "Stalemate") was scheduled for September 15, 1944. The 396 (along with several other LCIs) would provide the extremely important close-in (700 yards from shore) rocket fire support for the 1st ("Old Breed") , 5th, and 7th Marine Divisions before the Marines crossed the 675-yard reef and stormed the Peleliu's western beaches and tried to secure the island (including the vital inland air field). Peleliu is a 6 mile long and 2 mile wide coral islet with fringing reef. Peleliu Island is located in the Palau Island chain. The Palau Island chain is located in the far western end of the Caroline Islands. Peleliu had been in the control of the Japanese since the end of World War I. On the next day (September 16th), after receiving a fresh batch of rockets and ammo, the 396 would provide similar close-in rocket fire support for the US Army's 321st and 322nd Regimental Combat Team of the 81st Infantry Division ("Wildcat Division") as the Army charged the beaches of neighboring Angaur Island (5 miles south of Peleliu) on September 17th. The 396's close-in rocket fire support was vital to the Marines (at Peleliu) and Army (at Anguar) just before they stormed the beaches. Many times this close-in rocket support would clear the way and save many American lives as the beaches were initially stormed. Here's the deal. A "one-two" punch would be delivered against the Japanese on September 15, 1944. At the same time, on September 15th, as the Marines invade Peleliu (450 miles east of Mindanao, Philippines), the Army's 31st Division would invade Morotai (an island 350 miles southeast of Mindanao, Philippines). Control of Peleliu Island and its strategic air field would the give General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz the ability to: (1) support an eventual invasion of the Philippines; and (2) concurrently prevent the Japanese from controlling Peleliu and threatening US forces as they approached the Philippines. When the guys learned the importance and seriousness of their Peleliu mission (and the Navy's overall mission), the sailors on board the 396 trained intently. Nothing like reality for a teacher.   CHAPTER FIVE "THE INVASION OF PELELIU" On the way to Peleliu from Guadalcanal, the 396 played "cat and mouse" with a Japanese sub. In the end, both the sub and the 396 decided to go different directions. Sanders and some other sailors had initially put together a string band between San Diego and Hawaii (guitars, banjo, etc) and held periodic jam sessions on board. Now they had Livingston's new $125 fiddle. Sanders' friend Cecil E. Cone was their banjo player. This little string band played when they could on the way to Guadalcanal and Peleliu. Sanders played the rhythm guitar in the band. He was working on how to play the fiddle. They had about 50 -75 songs that they could play and sing, including a rousing rendition of Ernest Tubb's "Waltz Across Texas". Willie Nelson would have been proud of this little 396 band. Seaman Livingston could play any string instrument and any song after just hearing it played one time all the way through. The 396 arrived at Peleliu and got ready for battle. [ On September 12, 13, and 14, 1944: the battleships Pennsylvania, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Idaho; the heavy cruisers Columbus, Indianapolis, Louisville, Minneapolis, and Portland; the light cruisers Cleveland, Denver and Honolulu; three large carriers; and five light carriers conducted the pre-assault "softening up" of Peleliu. These large pre-assault ships were part of the "Third Fleet" under the command of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. It has been estimated that the Navy fired 519 rounds of 16-inch shells, 1,845 rounds of 14-inch shells, and 73,412 .50 caliber machine-gun bullets in this pre-assault softening-up activity. Navy aircraft dropped 1,793 500-pound bombs in the pre-assault. ] All of the pre-assault firing by the big ships was going right over the heads of the crew on the 396. On the evening of September 14, 1944 the 396 string band played music all night long and none of the band members slept before the Peleliu invasion started the next morning on September 15, 1944. Who can sleep at a time like this? The Peleliu Invasion is arguably one of the bloodiest, most difficult battles of the WWII. The US captured the island from the Japanese but the US Marines lost 1336 men (and 6032 were wounded). The Navy lost 195 men (and 505 men were wounded). The Army lost 110 men (and 717 were wounded) at Peleliu; and the Army lost 264 men (and 1335 were wounded) at Angaur. There were eight US Congressional Medal of Honor awardees resulting from this battle. One awardee, "Arthur J. Jackson", was a Marine PFC who single-handedly, armed with only rifle and grenades, overcame and destroyed twelve Japanese pill boxes with gun placements killing about 50 Japanese soldiers. He is still alive today. About 10,650 Japanese were killed. Only 301 Japanese prisoners were taken. The battle lasted from September 15th to November 24th of 1944. The Japanese commander (Col. Kunio Nakagawa) knew from the beginning of the battle that he would lose. He knew that almost all of his men would die. He knew that he would be required by Japanese ritual to commit ritual suicide in his command post at the very end. His strategy was to inflict as much damage as possible on the US forces and to delay the taking of the island as long as possible. The Japanese called it..."delay and bleed". [ Here is a strange side note of information that I discovered on the battle at Peleliu Island: In late March/early April 1947 (about 18 months after WWII was finally over) a tenacious holdout band of 33 Japanese soldiers (not knowing that the war was over) renewed fighting on the Peleliu Island by attacking a US Marine patrol with hand grenades. At that time, only 150 US Marines were stationed on the island, with 35 dependents. Reinforcements were called in to hunt down the Japanese holdouts who did not know that WWII was over. American patrols, with a Japanese Admiral, were sent to the scene to convince these 33 holdout Japanese troops that WWII was indeed over. Finally convinced, the holdouts came out of the jungle peacefully. The band emerged from the Peleliu's now-dense jungle in two groups in late April 1947, led by Ei Yamaguchi, a Japanese Officer, who turned over his sword and unit's battle flags.] [ Read Chapters 6 - 11 on the "Chapters 6 - 11 Page" of this web site.] "Link To Chapters 6 - 11"