Ezra Mullins during the Occupation of Japan

Discussion in 'Veteran Accounts' started by Slipdigit, May 19, 2007.

  1. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    >>The following article was originally intended to be a part of a genelogical record for my maternal grandfather, Ezra Mullins of Greenville, AL. He fortunately did not see combat, but he saw first hand the results of the firebombing of Tokyo and nuclear blast at Nagasaki. As a child I was disappointed that he didn't see combat. As an adult, I am thankful that he didn't and I understand that those who gave time out our their lives, still gave so much.<<

    Ezra Max Mullins reported for duty at 5:00pm on the 16th day of May 1945 at Fort McClellan, AL for induction into the United States Army. He traveled to Camp Shelby, MS for a week, where he was issued uniforms, then on to Camp Livingston, MS, near Alexandria for basic training.

    He trained for 17 weeks on infantry heavy weapons. He learned to operate the .50 caliber heavy machine gun, 81mm mortar and the Garand rifle, with which he scored two points shy of perfect on the target range, earning the Expert Marksmanship Badge. On marches, because of his large size, he carried the 40lb. mortar base plate in addition to the rest of soldier’s normal equipment. When firing the mortar, his job was the aimer. During boot camp, the trainees were required to crawl under machine gun fire across an obstacle course and not get any dirt or mud in the barrel of their weapon. Private Mullins accomplished this by sticking his thumb down the barrel of his empty weapon while he crawled though the mud and thus avoided the ire of the drill sergeants. The war ended while he was in basic training. During his training, his wife, Olean, and daughters, Maxine and Nana, visited him several times, traveling great distances over poor roads. After training, he was granted 10 days leave and he spent those days in Greenville, AL.

    In early Oct, he was transported by train to Fort Ord, CA via a southern U.S. route and stayed there one week. The train was not a sleeper, so he had to sleep sitting up during the three night trip. His destination was Camp Lawton, where he stayed 2 weeks.

    He embarked the SS General Mann on Nov 1945 for a two week voyage across the Pacific Ocean. The ship was 620 ft long. He had to sleep with all his belongings in the hammock with him and shared the hammock with another soldier, who slept during the day. Soldiers had to carry their bag with them everywhere they went as a result. He avoided KP duty, since the assignments were made by choosing surnames at both ends of the alphabet and working toward the middle. The ship got to Japan before duty roster made it to the letter M.

    Pvt. Mullins landed at Nagasaki, Japan and he celebrated Thanksgiving 1945 on the transport ship in the harbor. Kermit Weaver, brother of Lonnie Weaver, came out to the ship for dinner. He had known both of these men as a child, as they had lived near him in rural Butler Co, AL. Private Weaver was already stationed at Nagasaki.

    After disembarking the ship, Ezra with the rest of the battalion traveled by truck through the city, where he saw the atomic bomb damage. He did not remember the number of his battalion (he was well in his late 70s’ when I talked to him and recorded his service) as it changed a couple of times while traveling. Ruins on the edge of Nagasaki stopped the train. The station was destroyed and they had to load another train there after walking across the damaged area to the other side of the station. They traveled two days and one night just to go 80 miles. There were lots of tunnels and there orange groves on sides of the mountains on terraces.

    Pvt. Mullins crossed the island to Fukioki with his company and unloaded there. Then they were carried, by truck, to a Japanese air base on a peninsula. He was billeted with about a hundred others in a large hanger that was heated by one small oil heater, and consequently it was very cold. While there, they slept on canvas cots and he requested blankets to put on bottom of the cot to help stay warm, as he was well away from the little heater and near the door. During the night, the bar-hounds kept a steady stream in and out of the door. His requests were denied by the Army and the Red Cross, but he received two wool blankets from the Salvation Army. He never forgot who took care of him and later in his life he gave monetary donations to the Salvation Army, but not to the Red Cross. He stayed there from the last of November, 1945 until January, 1946 waiting on an assignment. While there, he and several other soldiers spent their time building small crates to sell to other soldiers, who then used the crates to send items home.

    Ezra went by train two days and two nights to Tokyo, during which he went through a tunnel that was eight miles long. This train had wooden seats and no beds and was not very roomy for the 6ft, 2in soldier, as it had been designed for the smaller Japanese people. At Tokyo, he then traveled by truck to an army camp 30 miles outside Tokyo. There, about 30 men were separated from the group to form a separate company to be trained for engineer surveying.

    Ezra and the other 29 men traveled back to Tokyo to a school in the Isatan Building. It had been a department store and was very nice, compared to the other places he had stayed. The school lasted 8 weeks. The building he was in was the only building for blocks around to survive the bombing and fire storm, since it was made of stone and not wood. While there, he saw vehicles powered by coal or manure, which was burned in a little boiler attached to back of the vehicle to produced steam. The manure-powered vehicles were not pleasant to encounter.
    When he was finished with the school, Ezra was sent back to the camp 30 miles away, and was assigned to a surveying crew as the head of a chaining party. Pvt. Mullins observed that the damage to Tokyo was worse than what he saw at Nagasaki. He did this job until sent home in April, 1946. He had read in Stars and Stripes that the Army was sending soldiers home early that had children. He forwarded his request through the Red Cross and about two weeks later he received orders to go home.

    PFC Mullins departed Tokyo Bay on the SS General Bliss, which was 580 ft long. On the crossing back to the U.S., the ship encountered a terrible storm. Waves broke across the bow and crashed into the bridge. The propellers would rise out of the water and would rattle the ship as they revolved. Even the crew was getting seasick during the storm. The ship’s crew estimated that the waves were 40-50 feet high. Ezra weathered the storm by staying as high mid-ship as he could. He went below decks only to eat or to go to the toilet, which was flooded out into the hall and filled with sea-sick soldiers and crew. He once again avoided KP because his last name was in the middle of the alphabet. He landed in the United States at Seattle early May, 1946. He sent a telegram to his family to tell them that he would be home in about a week. The blankets given to him by Salvation Army during the previous November were confiscated as being “army issue.”

    Ezra traveled by train across the U.S., through the Plains states. This train had sleeping accommodations and the trip was better than any he had endured while headed west the previous year.

    PFC Mullins was discharged and walked out of the base personnel office a civilian at 5:30pm on the 16th day of May, 1946 at Camp Shelby, MS having served in the United States Army for a year, a day and thirty minutes.

    Citizen Mullins traveled by bus from Camp Shelby to Greenville, AL, arriving around 11 p.m. at the bus station on Bolling Street, near the train station. He walked down to Commerce Street, turned west under the railroad overpass and then headed up the hill toward College Street, to the home of his father-in-law, Cleve Cone, where his wife and children had been staying in his absence. His sister-in-law, Edna Cone Pouncey, saw him walking up the hill through the open window and met him at the door before he could knock. She quietly let him in and directed him to the room where Olean was sleeping and he awakened her for a joyous reunion. He commented later, with a tear in his eye, that even though it was a happy time for him, it also was a sad time, because he came home to children who didn’t know who he was and were afraid of him.

    Granddaddy never had to use his training to take the lives of others and he waited until he was drafted to render service to his country. He was 28 years old when called and, except for a 30 year old man from Georgia who had 6 children, he was the oldest man in his training company, being older than the officers, battalion commander included. He boxed some and played baseball throughout his time when the opportunity arrived, as he was always involved in athletic pursuits until he got too old. He told me that he did want to fight and possibly kill others, but he knew that he would have to kill or be killed. I don’t doubt Granddaddy would have done what was necessary, but knowing what a gentle soul he was, it would not have come easy for him.
     
  2. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Jeff,
    How come he was not called up until late in the war?
    Was it due to being married with kids or reserved occupation or purely luck of the draw?

    Lovely little story anyway.

    served in the United States Army for a year, a day and thirty minutes

    That made me smile.

    he came home to children who didn’t know who he was and were afraid of him

    Exactly the same for my Father-in-law, when his Dad came home.
     
  3. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    He was older, had children and was in a protected occupation, at least until early 1945. He was a cotton mill worker. I would not have thought that it was critical to the war effort, but I guess it was.

    Everyone of his wife's brothers (6) who were old enough went, although one never left the states during his entire 4 years. He was stationed at Pensacola NAS, about 150 miles from home. My other grandmother had most of her brothers gone, one for 5 1/2 years. He had 3 children and did not see them for 4 years. He was in the 117th Field Artillery, 167th Infantry Regiment, 31st Infantry "Dixie" Division. I don't know what he did, he would not talk about it.

    My other grandfather did not serve because he was a farmer and had 4 children by 1942.

    Granddaddy Ezra never could understand how the man with 6 children was called up. He thought maybe someone on the draft board disliked him. The other man was detached when they sailed from California and discharged, since the war was over.
     

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