"We had four doctors and one dentist on board during invasions; we had three operating theatres and would usually take on board about 400 of the worst casualties. Needles to say, we had to bury some at sea - those who didn't make it.
At first my GQ station was in Damage Control, but I tried as a gunner on the 20 mm and I did quite well. They sent me to Gunnery School at Espiritu Santo in New Hebrides. After that, my GQ station was gunner on the 20 mm on top of Carpenter Shop near the fantail. I really liked the gun. It was the largest one-man gun, although I had a sightsetter and a loader. The gunner was strapped in and could fire in any direction, even directly overhead. When we would run through a drum of shells, the loader would quickly change drums. The sightsetter would be given the range from fire control and would set it on the gunsight. The gunsight was electronic and would show the target in the middle of a lighted reticule. The site would actually compute the lead by figuring the travel and range together. However, when planes were too close, we would fire by instinct. There wouldn't be any point in using the sight.
The whole mount would be raised or lowered, like a barber chair, to fit the height of the gunner. Since I was tall, I'd have it up pretty high, which enabled me to fire down at the water. That was handy when the torpedo planes came in.
If the gun got too hot, it could jam. We had an extra barrel in the tube welded to the side of the gun tube. It was the job of the loader and sightsetter to put on asbestos gloves and twist out the six-foot-long barrel and replace it.
Things got difficult when the Japanese started using Kamikaze tactics. Sometimes there were as many as 300 planes attacking the fleet at once. During the invasion of Leyte, in the Philippines, we got to do some mine clearing. We were one of the lead APQ's and we streamed paravanes. They looked like underwater kites from the bow. We had to maintain a steady speeds to have them run properly. If the
We made quite a few landings in the Philippines. In one of them, we were involved in a night battle with a Japanese Destroyer off Manila Bay. During the Leyte Invasion, we were almost caught by the Japanese. The home fleet came down from the north and the East Indies fleet came from the southwest. They were after the transports off Leyre. That is the famous episode where they baited Halsey out with a flint in the north. He bit and rushed away, leaving the invasion fleet with just some escort carriers and a couple of cruisers a destroyer flotilla and some torpedo boats (JFK comes to mind).
The Japanese were throwing the book at us: Battleships, cruisers, anything. It apparently was touch and go for a while. We did lose several key ships, but the Japanese where turned back.
Stay tuned for more on the life of a true friend, mentor, artist and role model: Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer.
Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer Memoirs (click links below to view/hear):
Celebration of Life: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of life: early childhood: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: sports in the early years: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: early years: Boy Scouts: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part one: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part two: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part three: Joseph N. Ermer
Celebration of Life: WWII part four: Joseph N. Ermer
