Some Memories of Subic Bay and Olongapo, PI
By: Dave Taylor... .... Time Period of 1944 - 1945

....My experience in and of Subic Bay and Olongapo / Luzon Philippines, begins I suppose with my arrival at the Naval Advance Base ship repair facility at San Bruno California about October of 1944 where I was attached to a unit designated as E6-15.  Here we were housed and trained in what had been a horse racing track and our quarters were in the horse stalls vacated by the horses. Our Navy blues, white hats, white and blue uniforms, shiny black shoes all were sent home, they were replaced with drab green clothing similar to that worn by the Navy CB's; helmets, packs, carbines, pith helmets, (few ever wore them) knives and every sixth man or so got a machete. I often wished I'd gotten a machete as they traded well in the Philippines      Their were many many of these regular Naval Advance Base units sent to the Pacific Islands, all had peculiar names or designations such as E6-15. Lion-8, Cub-6 etc. etc. I'm sure that these units were all thought by others to be CB units, much to the chagrin I think of the CB's themselves; I believe all of these units were disbanded after the war and most unknown and long forgotten.

....About Dec. 29, 1944, One last hurrah was held by several men, after we were loaded aboard trucks and while traveling to San Francisco, several fellows began shooting out of the rear of the truck as we passed through the countryside, this alarmed the woman driver, who threatened to report the wild behavior, nothing came of it of course.

....We went aboard the S.S. Exeria, a United Fruit ship converted to carry troops, the bunks were constructed in the ships holds, 8 bunks high, made of canvas and the rows of them only about 2 feet apart; in order to climb to the higher bunks one had to alternately step on a bunk on each side as you ascended, many was the unfortunate man who fell from the upper bunks, happy campers they were not.  We left San Francisco on December 30, 1944 without a convoy as this ship traveled better than 21 knots and it was thought to be able to outrun any submarine, (so they said). We arrived at Pearl Harbor on January 5th 1945 and left Pearl Harbor on January 10, 1945  en route to Eniwetock in the Marshal Islands with only one destroyer as escort; arriving off Enewetock about January 17, 1945.

....We left the Marshal Islands on January 19, 1945 in the company of at least six destroyers and a relatively large convoy which traveled at a much slower rate than we had earlier. It was rumored at this time that we were heading for Lingayen Gulf, which meant nothing to us as up to this time we had no idea of our ultimate destination, much less where Lingayen Gulf was.  We arrived in Leyte on January 25, 1945 and left under cover of darkness the next evening; it has always been my feeling that we were still heading for Lingayen Gulf at that time but was diverted to Subic Bay when the Lingayen Gulf landings were determined to be not as difficult as had been anticipated.  We traveled at a very slow pace and converged with an American A.P.D. while at sea, which passed lines to us with a large canister while we continued under way. Since we left Leyte on Jan 26, and didn't arrive at Subic Bay until February 2, I presume we must have been left in limbo while it was decided what to do with us, surely it does not normally take seven days to travel from Leyte to Subic Bay?

....We arrived at Subic Bay On Feb. 2, 1945 just three weeks short of my 18th birthday.  As we approached the left side of Grande Island a small tug boat dragged what I presumed to be a submarine net into the clear so that we could pass, I've always wondered how the American forces were able to either install or capture intact the Japanese net or cable equipment in order to protect the channel as  Olongapo did not fall until Jan. 30th just two or three days before our arrival. 

....Grande Island stands at the entrance to the Bay with a deep water channel on the left as you enter, and to the right a very wide channel, but so shallow that (as I remember it) only small boats could pass through, over the next ten months I was to travel over the shallow side many times while operating landing craft of one kind or another.  The Navy could not teach me to swim, and I frequently operated boats out of Subic on the shallow side, (didn't want to bottom out too far from shore and sink) so I would run the boat as close to Grande Island as possible and frequently the struts protecting the propellers would bounce along the bottom, the water so clear at that time it was difficult to tell the depth.

....We had to disembark down the side of the ship on cargo nets into landing craft, (never did that before), the boats were riding up and down in the sea swells so I decided to jump the last 5 feet loaded with all my equipment, hit the deck and thought I had broken my back, gad did that hurt.  When we arrived ashore at Olongapo, the area had been cleared and a Navy CB unit had preceded us and had set up a field kitchen and refused to feed us, (said we could eat C-rations). It was noted that the field kitchen was designated as ours (E6-15), a civil war was avoided and they fed us. The Philipino's gave us the Winston Churchill victory sign with the two fingers and the children wearing only a T shirt yelling victory Joe.

....I thought that Olongapo had little of value left as a usable Naval base and the only remnant of the Japanese was the machine gun emplacements dug into the earth and bordered with coconut logs, all facing the shoreline.  We lived in tents and had the usual camp cots familiar to most service people of the era, can't remember a mattress while living in the tent though.

....Most of the later occupants of Subic Bay and Olongapo probably are unaware of the very fierce and terrible battle losses that the American forces took only a few miles beyond on Zig Zag Pass, (Route #7)? the only direct access to Manila 80 miles away.

....According to some historical sources, " General Charles P. Hall's troops captured Olongapo and at Zig Zag Pass ran into heavy Japanese opposition, the Americans suffered a severe loss of men, Officers and NCO's with little gain and was withdrawn, it's commander relieved and replaced with General Chase. At first he also had difficulty in clearing the pass but with additional forces and air support Zig Zag was finally cleared;" there is probably little doubt that the battle for Zig Zag pass should  rank among those of the most bloody that took place in the recapture of Luzon. From my own observation small groups of American soldiers continued to be encountered on the Pass for some time thereafter.  Only three or four miles up Zig Zag pass from Olongapo, months after it was cleared; Japanese tanks, morter detonators and ammunition and body parts were still to be found laying about, off what was then just a dirt road, and the smell still very offensive.

....I was attached to the Advanced Base Unit E6-15 while at Subic and operated LCVP and LCM landing craft for a boat pool supplying equipment and transporting people to and from ships in the Bay as well as other ground locations within the Bay and down the coast of Luzon.  On one such trip, several miles down the coast under the direction of a Navy Lieutenant with half a dozen armed men, whom all went ashore to what appeared to be a relatively large town which I remember as being referred to as Baton or Moron??, they were not gone long as they came back in a hurry having been told there were Japanese still there.  I rarely went ashore on these occasional excursions as the landing craft had a habit of broaching if left unattended, so I generally stayed with the boat.

....I remember being coerced on one occasion to run a LCVP load of several fellows across the inner Bay at Olongapo in the dead of night with one man hanging on the ramp at the bow with a battle lantern and the LCVP just put putting along in the hope we wouldn't hit anything. We all finally disembarked to a small inland village consisting of a half dozen thatch, bamboo huts, all occupied by a female; while all my passengers were busy in the huts I sat on a tree stump outside and a young girl approached me saying "What bout you, what bout you" I said I was saving it for my girl at home, she broke into high pitched laughter, and seemed to think that was the biggest joke she ever heard; in the meantime heads kept popping up in the windows of all the huts wondering what was going on outside. I never provided that taxi service again.

....While at Subic City one time, a buddy and I heard some local gunfire and upon investigation we found an older Philipino man who was firing an old springfield rifle into a pond, he was shooting at small fish and the shock of the bullets impact would stun the fish and he would pick them out, we decided to help him out but he didn't anticipate all the gunfire and asked us to stop.   He did climb a coconut tree and toss a couple of coconuts down to us, watching a Philipino climb a coconut tree barefooted and without a rope is a sight to see.

....Another method of bum boat fishing by the locals was to toss a hand grenade into the water whereby the fish would be either killed or stunned and they would then collect them.

....My older brother was a gunners mate aboard the USS Cleveland (55) which was attached to the 7th fleet as were we, and had just arrived from an area around Borneo. I had not seen him in over a year so I had a buddy take me out to the ship, as I came up the gangway and approached the O.D. and boatswain mate I asked where I might find my brother and was directed forward, I became the focus of curious attention and it finally occurred to me that I was completely out of place dressed as I was; no tee shirt, boots, green rumpled shirt tied at the waist, green shorts and socks that probably were a fugitive from soap & water and of course the green baseball cap. My brother brought me below to the ships canteen,  I couldn't believe what I was seeing, ice cream, and ice cream dishes of all kinds, candy, gum and miracle of miracles mountains of cigarettes  I actually got an ice cream and 5 or 6 cartons of cigarettes, (ashore we could only get three packs per week) at 5 cents a pack or 50 cents per carton. I was a wealthy guy when I returned to Olongapo.

....Another time when I was about to go out to see my brother, a guerrilla acquaintance of mine (Elie) showed up and wanted to go along, he carried his carbine with a broken hand guard, 45 automatic, knife and a string of cartridges over his chest like Poncho Villa of Mexico fame.   I told him he wouldn't be allowed on board with all that hardware, he went somewhere to get rid of it and in the meantime I left in the boat, I didn't have the heart to tell him that there was no way they would let him aboard, armed or not.

....On another occasion I reluctantly was supposed to take a Navy Lieutenant up the Kalaklan River which entered Subic Bay at Kalaklan point & light, the water there was relatively shallow and the ground swells could be dangerous and I knew we had lost a couple of boats there already, but the Lieutenant was adamant. As we approached the entrance to the river we were caught in one swell after another and the LCVP rode them like a surf board until they rolled under us. Closer to shore they got worse and I had my line man take the wheel while I climbed the ramp on the next swell, what I saw was the front of the ramp riding about a foot from the bottom and the rear of the boat pointing skyward, I began yelling at the line man to back the boat and not to try turning, we managed to return to base without any conversation whatever from the Lieutenant, I think he turned pure white.

....Another time while two of us were asleep at 2AM in our base of operations (a tent) we were awakened by Two  Lieutenants who demanded we take them out to their ship somewhere out in Subic Bay.  It's was still wartime, no lights visible anywhere and they wanted us to find a particular ship in the dark, if we were lucky we would ram a ship before we ever saw one. We refused and got away with it.  If I learned anything of Naval Officers it was that Navy Lieutenants know everything, (or so they thought).

....Most if not all of us who were operating boats, mostly landing craft of one kind or another, were only seaman 1st or even 2nd class, none were actually coxswains, our Lieutenant decided that we should be coxswains and set up an appointment in which all of his men would take the written test to be promoted to coxswain. At the appropriate time we gathered in a tent, sat down and took the test, if any of us actually passed it legitimately it was a miracle; at any rate we all became coxswains and we  began a pay increase of  $120.00 per month.

....I was attached to the "Small Boat Repair Pool" operating LCVP & LCM's, almost the entire time at Olongapo and by October of 1945 most of the occupants of Subic & Olongapo were counting points in order to be shipped home for discharge and I knew I too would soon be leaving.  For some reason or other I did not want to leave and inquired about staying at Subic if I reenlisted, I was assured that if I did so I could spend my two year enlistment at Subic.  I signed the papers and on the appointed day I went before a Naval Commander, who's first remark to me was  "IS THAT THE UNIFORM OF THE DAY" I answered! I didn't know their was a uniform of the day, (I presume he must have just shipped in??) at that moment I should have known that drastic changes were about to take place, but I raised my hand, said I do and he told me to go pack my gear, say's I! no, I'm supposed to stay here, says he! no! you have to return home for a 90 day reenlistment leave.

....I said goodbye to Subic in October of 1945 just as the first contingents of Marines began to arrive, sailed via Sasabo Japan to Seattle Washington, got a new white hat etc. and was assigned to a destroyer tender occupied by a Commodores flag.  What a shocking environmental change, now I counted days until discharge.

....I can perhaps understand the affection that so many Naval & Marine service people felt for Subic & Olongapo that obviously developed as the facilities grew, but none of that was true in 1945;  Even so,  I remember looking back at the mountains of Luzon as the ship cleared Subic Bay and thinking  I would some day come back. I never did of course but Subic obviously has a nostalgic beckoning call for some of us.