The following is a story that Dante wrote about his time on the Jason. My sincere gratitude goes to Robert (Bob ) Talmadge, Master Gunnery Sergeant USMC (RET), a friend of Dante's, for providing it for us to read.

Memories of............

Dante Viotti

Ulithi........
Beer.......
Frogmen........

In October, 1944, I was aboard the USS Jason, a repair ship assigned to the repair of aircraft carriers, destroyers and any other emergency that would come up. We were anchored in the tremendously large lagoon of illithi Atoll (Western Carolines in the Pacific Ocean). This stretch of water could hold 700 naval ships. I recall vividly when the United States began the liberation of the Philippine Islands from the Japanese because almost the entire atoll emptied. I watched an armada of ships leaving hour after hour for two days straight!

ULITHI -- its existence was kept secret throughout the war. The U.S. Navy arrived in September 1944 and within a month a whole floating base was in operation. It was for a time the biggest and most active naval base in the world. It was indeed tremendous but it was unknown. Few civilians had heard of it at all. By the time security released the name, the remarkable base of Ulithi was a ghost. The war had moved on to the Japanese homeland, and the press was not printing ancient history about Ulithi.

Of course, it was very real to me. The Jason eventually published a logbook detailing all the events at Ulithi. Quoting from this "Work was on a seven-day basis. Except for Church, Jason personnel worked each Sunday the same as any other day. Three-shift work was necessary most of the time, and when the work was particularly heavy two twelve- hour shifts were necessary. During such times liberty was curtailed or stopped altogether. "

Mogmog Islet, Ulithi Atoll

A "Beer Garden" on Mogmog

Ulithi Atoll contained many small islands and one of these was called Mogmog. This became a fleet recreation area. A portion was cleared and a swamp area filled with coral to eliminate mosquitoes and insects.

It was here that we were given 2 cans of beer (warm) and sent ashore for a 3 hour recreational period or "liberty" in Navy lingo. I never did enjoy it at all because some of the sailors somehow managed to get more beer and in the small space of time got really drunk and abusive. I preferred to take a fishing pole and try my luck at hooking some of the strangest fish I ever did see in my life. Here in Hawaii I see odd-looking fish at Tamashiro Fish Market and it always reminds me of those strange catches I made in the waters of Mogmog Islet. The Jason had a remarkable record of repairs since we were in at the start of Japan’s desperate attempt to win their war. They began a series of suicide bombing called Kamikaze flights in which the pilot carries a bomb on his plane and crashes into the enemy ship. This caused great damage and kept us busy repairing those same ships at Ulithi. It was sad work because along with the structural damage many lives were lost.

One of the very interesting repair jobs was the one in which I was involved. At the time I was not aware of what our forces were doing secretly. You see, the tragic Marine Corps landing at Tarawa in 1943 spawned the UDT (Underwater Demolition Team). I learned of them as "frogmen,".

They were used for reconnaissance on the beaches of Normandy, Kwajalein, Okinawa, and Korea. Later in 1960 they were formed into the U.S. Navy SEALs. These men swim through mines and anti-invasion obstacles_ treacherous reefs, and enemy machine-gun fire, scouting beaches and clearing invasion approaches before an assault.

All of this was unknown to me on the Jason until the day I and two other shipfitters were assigned to repair a problem aboard a destroyer anchored in Ulithi. My division officer was told of my civilian experience with stopping leaking rivets in a ship’s hull. This had a typical US Navy term.....”Watertight Integrity”.

We gathered what tools we thought might be appropriate to do the job, boarded a motor launch to where the destroyer was located. As we approached I noticed that it was an old type ship. This meant that the steel plates were all riveted and little welding was done in the original construction. I remembered the number 51 on the bow of the destroyer. Recently on the Internet I typed in "Ulithi" in the search feature and to my utter amazement there she was! The accompanying story related that she was the mother ship for the "frogmen" and later was damaged.

USS Hopping APD51 UDT7's Hotel until it got hit (This was the caption used in the article on the Internet)

When we got aboard the ship we were greeted by an officer in faded and unpressed khakis. Aboard the Jason officers were all spit and polish so this surprised us. We identified ourselves and asked to see the captain.

"I'm the captain," he said and with that he asked us to look over the starboard side. In the clear waters of Ulithi you could see the leaking rivets because droplets of oil would bubble up to the top. I asked myself why this was such a concern when ships all around had much greater damage. The young captain could sense our questioning minds and proceeded to explain his concern. As I quote his words I am not exactly accurate but this in essence is what he said....

"Look," he began, "everyone aboard this ship is a volunteer. We have army, marines and navy. Our mission is to get as close as possible to the next island we plan to take and go ashore and snoop around to see what these Japs have. We have to do this at night time. So we get near the island, cut our engines and lower a boat. We then row nearer and then a couple of guys stay on the boat to keep paddling near the shore. The rest go quietly overboard and swim ashore as quietly as possible. They scout the place and see what the enemy has and where he keeps it. After a few hours the guys return to the boat and we hurry back to the ship.

"It's very important we do this undetected and these bastards don’t know anything about it.

If our ship leaks oil it's a dead give-away to any submarine or to people on shore if the floating oil reaches shore. This is all secret, but I'm telling you because I want to emphasize the importance of stopping leaks."

I suggested that if he could list the ship towards the port side until the leaking rivets came above water they would be that much simpler to fix. He thought that was a good idea. He ordered oil from the starboard tanks to be pumped to the port tanks. This caused the ship to lean way over and sure enough all the leaks became about a foot above water. It was a simple matter to pound the edges of the rivets with a blunt chisel and hammer. There were several scattered ones that needed attention. We asked to have the ship straightened to test the rivets with the oil at natural level. All of them seemed tight and the captain considered us heroes.

He took us into his own quarters, a first for all of us. "Officers Country" was taboo aboard the Jason. "What'll you have fellas?" he asked. "I have all kinds of booze. "

"I'll have Johnny Walker Black," I replied with a laugh and expecting just a beer.

To our amazement he replied "Sorry, don't have that but I have some good bourbon. "

Oh my! Did we ever have a Ulithi blast!!!