Hays was Navy Scout in WWII
Eddie Barnett
Special to The Express
Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a two part series about Alvin Hays’ time in the service. The second part will run in the June 8 edition.
Alvin Hays was born on May 23, 1926, on a 160 acre farm on the outskirts of Kirksville Mo., where the farm family had stock cows and raised corn, oats, and some wheat.
When Hays was 6, the family relocated to a farm northwest of Malvern, where he would graduate from high school in May 1944. However, while in his junior year, Hays, at the age of 17, enlisted in the Navy.
The reason for his enlistment in the Navy was somewhat dictated by his father who had been in Army in World War I, and had experienced difficult times, including an occasion where after being wounded, was taken for dead, until they recognized that he was still breathing
For that reason, Alvin’s dad did not want him to enlist in the Army, but was willing to sign the required documents to allow him to join the military at the age of 17.
After high school graduation, Alvin was immediately sent off to Great Lakes, Ill. for Boot Camp for Naval Service Training Command training.
After a strenuous and physical six week training period, Alvin would be one of the 24 students out of the 240 that graduated to be sent to Little Creek, Vir. for “small boat training.”
The remainder of the 240 were sent to California to continue other forms of training. The 24 would soon find out that the “small boat” training was part of what would later be called “Scouts and Raiders.” the forerunner of today’s Navy Seals.
Alvin would find out much later that aside from his educational participation at the Great Lakes Training Center, he was in the select group because of his physical structure – those chosen for Little Creek training were most often “country boys” that weighed less than 130 pounds, and were no more that 5’8” tall – as it was learned later, this was the average and approximate size of Japanese soldiers.
Without knowing their destination, the 24 select volunteers were loaded on to a train that “waddled” along at perhaps 30 miles per hour.
It ran all through the night and in early morning, the train had arrived at Jacksonville Fla., but no one was allowed to depart. The train then moved on through “brushy” country until the termination point – for the train ride. Then the 24 selectees were required to “hike” another half mile to their transportation that would extend their trip.
The means of “transportation” turned out to be what a country boy would call “a cattle truck.”
With the troops in one truck and their seabags in another truck, the trip continued until arrival at a metro area. From here the troops crossed a new bridge where they noted sentries at both ends of the bridge. At this point, the selectees were reunited with their seabags and were directed to “accommodations.”
The fact is that there were no accommodations, not even a barracks. They had to set up tents on the beach, and generally within a few feet of the water’s edge. Often as the tide came up, the water would enter their tents – this meant selectees often awoke in a pool of ocean water. They were on an island that was about a mile off the coast, near Fort Pierce – north of Palm Beach Fla.
Unknown originally, this was the beginning of the training that involved the Higgins Boat. They were informed that this would be a three month training period with one little catch … they had to complete the three month training in six weeks.
This was the beginning a training period that often meant 20 hour days – no, the days were still 24 hours long, but the training required 20 hours of the day’s 24 hours. The routine was to rise at 4 a.m. and go on a 10 mile run.
After the run, it was chow time with not much time allowed for such activity. Then came classroom training that could last up to two hours or more. Following the classroom period came more physical activity – at least 30 minutes of calisthenics. This period was generally followed with First Aid practice – bandaging, tourniquet training, etc. Generally about this time there would be a break for a quick 20 minute lunch, and then back to classroom training.
Classroom training was far ranging, and included the study of planes, boats, weather, clouds, sand, sea, etc. An example of training was to be shown a silhouette of a plane and they were expected to be able to identify that plane, as to country of origin, model number, and any other characteristics involving that plane as to the primary function - armament, carrier capacity, etc. The same procedure was also used for boats and ships. As previously noted, clouds and weather patterns were also a part of the curriculum.
As much as any other facet of all the training that had been gone through, the fact is that the most important element of the all training could be considered an “attitude adjustment”. It was necessary for each and every individual to be in control of his own attitude.
Following this period of training, again, there was no graduation – they were shipped out, and as before, these Selectees did not know their next destination. Once again, the Selectees boarded a train for destination-unknown,
except they were headed north (from where they were, it was the only direction that they could go!). An early stop along the destination was a stop in Washington DC. But after a brief stop, they continued north and eventually to Providence RI. From here they were bused to the coast where they were introduced to the USS Dauphin (APA-97).
Being a new ship, it had to go through a “shake-down”. It would be taken out for an inspection outing and then returned to Norfolk to then repair those things that needed to be repaired or replaced. During the initial encounter with the USS Dauphin, the ship’s Atlantic colors were light blue on top, white in the middle, and dark blue on the bottom. When the ship was ready for duty, over one night, the ship was repainted the Navy’s dark grey.
The USS Dauphin was actually the Mother Ship for the Higgins Boats and carried 33 Higgins Boats. Part of the training while aboard the USS Dauphin included practicing the loading and unloading of those 33 new Higgins Boats. Initially it took 13 hours for this activity, but ultimately that time was reduced to loading within 20 minutes and being able to unload in 15 minutes… incredible! This training campaign was associated with the Higgins Boat.
During all of this training, the Selectees where continually reminded that they were “owned” by the military, but from 10 a.m. until noon on every Sunday, they belong to God, but were NOT required to attend church – but they damn well had better be in their church of choice, otherwise they faced the consequence of missing chow on Monday – and that was the easy part!
Following this brief training period, Alvin’s crew was headed to the Pacific Theatre via the Panama Canal. It took a few days to pass through the Panama Canal. Submarine nets covered the entrance into the canal and were only lower from 8 a.m. til 8 p.m. and then nets were raised again. The nets would then be raised and lowered to accommodate individual ships.
After passing through the Panama Canal, Pearl Harbor was the destination. The USS Dauphin with a crew of 1500 had typical armament that included 3— 5”/38 caliber dual-purpose gun mounts, and quad mount 40 mm guns on turrets. The 40 mm guns had a crew of 30 for operation and ammo supply. Further armament included 2 x twin 20mm gun mounts, 18 x single 20 mm gun mounts. The gun set to which Alvin was assigned was the 5”/38 guns. For this gun, the projectile alone weighed 105 pounds, with 55 pounds of powder, and in a brass casing, and it took a crew of 15 to operate and support. In all cases, all firing orders came from the bridge.
After temporary stop at Pearl Harbor, the next destination stop-over would be to New Guinea, which is just north of Australia… then on to the Marshall Islands, which is a small cluster of islands just north of New Guinea. New Guinea was also partially occupied by the Japanese, so this stop was not without confrontational concerns. From the Marshall Islands to Batangas, which is south and east of Vietnam. Now “The Ride” was over!.. now would come the time to begin using the training that had begun at Fort Pierce FL.