Andy Zahn Remembers the War Years (Part 3)

Admiral Nimitz’s stripes went up to his elbows.

By ANDY ZAHN

September 22, 2014

PART THREE

At home we got the Newark Evening News and every day they told how the war was going. They daily had a map showing how far General Patton had gone that day. One day he advanced 65 miles and had to stop because his tanks needed gasoline. He saved our bacon in the Battle of the Bulge by having his Third Army cut across all the supply lines and racing to reinforce our forces. He was my hero and I wanted to be a “tanker” and wear two pearl handled .38s but it wasn’t to be. Ernie Pyle had war stories that were great and I believe he got killed by enemy fire.

General Marshall had more brains than any 20 other generals. He put so many things together that all came together at the same time and same place. Training an army while making their M-1 rifles, 6×6 trucks, cargo ships, troop transports, training pilots before their planes were built, managing the rails, coal, and steel plus everything else an army and navy needs.

Eisenhower was a low key, quartermaster issue army officer. D-Day and the European campaign were sheer brilliance. We had an elderly corporal in the 4th MPs and he was waiting to retire. He just came in and talked and then went back home. He should have retired but they had him down for six months bad conduct time which he had to make up. His mother wrote Ike, and a letter came back from the White House. He had served with Ike at Fort Lewis long ago when Ike was a major. The letter said “THIS MAN HAS NO BAD CONDUCT TIME. REPEAT NO BAD CONDUCT TIME.” The corporal got his pension!

In the Pacific, Admiral Nimitz was my hero and I have his autograph. I saw him after the war and he was the most handsome naval officer there ever was, bright SILVER hair. Medium height, about 5’6″, in his blues his stripes went to his elbow or above. He was a five star as were Ike and Marshal along with Halsey, MacArthur, and Bradley, and he had a wide gold stripe with four regular gold stripes. He was the Fleet Admiral of Task Force 57 and they went through hell with Jap aircraft and Kamikazes. He defeated the Jap fleet at the Battle of Midway and that was the turning point in the Pacific. There was a Navy Lt. Commander who worked with codes and he cracked the Jap code. Because of that Nimitz knew where and when the Jap fleet would be and that was a large part of our victory. Nimitz, a FIVE STAR WAR HERO, put the Lt. Commander in for a medal and the Pentagon rejected the request. It is hard to believe — and also hard to believe that Patton would be humiliated for slapping a malingerer.

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Some of my family went to a lake and my Uncle John who was a Newark fire chief was sitting on a narrow pier and told me to go around him. I was maybe 5, couldn’t swim, and fell in. I went under. John just sat there. He was a fire hero but perhaps he didn’t swim. Pete Kelly who was a fire captain dove in and pulled me out. Now I had a fear of water. Dad was tough and he was into tough love. A few years later to teach me to swim he threw me into Barnegat Bay at Seaside Heights. Again I nearly drowned and was even more scared. He was with the Red Cross and arranged with the Newark Sunday Call and the Olympic Park Pool for a “Sunshine Club” where kids who joined would be taught to swim. I signed up and the instructor was a life guard and college football player, a bronzed god named Buddy Rich, and he went to work. We were in shallow water, held our breath and put our heads under. No problem. Now hold your breath, lie on your belly, and doggie paddle. We were all swiming within an hour.

Dad was working on the roof and had a 40-foot ladder along side the house. He went somewhere and I climbed the ladder and went on the roof. I was terrified. Our house was on a hill and from my second floor bedroom I could see the Empire State Building. When Dad returned I was crying and asked how I would get down. As a firefighter he could have easily carried me down the ladder but he answered my question by saying “same way you got up there.” Lesson was learned. I never did that again!

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