Warren Curtis enlisted the day after his 17th
birthday. After boot camp he was sent to San
Diego where he boarded the USS Hancock an aircraft carrier.
After departing San Diego the Hancock made
stops in Pearl Harbor, Ulithi, Leyte Gulf and Tokyo Bay.
The major strikes of the Hancock were against Formosa, the Phillipines,
French Indo-China, Kyreshu, Iwo Jima,Okinawa, Amame O'Shina, Wake Island, Honshu, Shikuko,
Hokkaido and Tokyo.
In all 733 enemy aircraft were destroyed, 14
enemy warships and 32 merchants ships were sunk.
The Hancock was hit by a Kamikaze plane off Iwo
Jima, "I lost several of my friends," Curtis remembers.
"We were anchored alongside the USS
Missouri in Tokyo Bay when the emperor of Japan officially surrendered to Gen. Douglas
McArthur. I was standing on the flight deck of
the Hancock and got to see this memorable event," Curtis said. |
