May 7th 1945 the Germans threw in the towel and the cleanup was beginning.  By August 15th, thanks to President Harry Truman, who had the courage to use the bomb, the Jap's followed suit.  The official signing would be later right in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri, September 2nd 1945.  In the meantime we were ordered to the West Indies.

All merchant ships including the one I was on were ordered to jettison all the large caliber live ammunition, and as soon as we tied up to the pier all Naval personnel left the ship and we were taken to a temporary US Navy Transfer Unit.

Orders continued to come in regarding the selective destruction of most of the military equipment in the area, such as jeeps, tractors etc. That was quite a sight seeing the workers using a cutting torch to cut up a brand new jeeps and other things. Ah yes, more of the idiocy of war.

The idea behind this useless destruction was to prevent the use of this equipment by anyone and force them to buy  new, and therefore  create work for the returning work force to America, brilliant right? 

About a month after the two bombs had been dropped, a group of us Armed Guards were placed on a LST and sent to Nagasaki Japan.  We were allowed limited shore leave in Nagasaki.  It was messed up a bit, but there was still a lot of the town still standing unscathed, I don't ever recall having a problem with radiation sickness.  Although later I did lose my hair, and I cannot seem to handle more than three Martinis without getting dizzy. I have  considered filing a lawsuit against the government, but what the hey.

We transferred to another merchant ship the SS Dolly Madison and returned to San Francisco and Treasure Island.  As Naval Reserve I was entitled to be discharged and I was assigned to a transfer unit.
For some reason my love for the Navy seemed unfulfilled so after a brief leave I re-enlisted in the regular Navy. I remained on Treasure Island and was appointed Master At Arms at a transfer barracks and remained on shore duty there at Treasure Island for a short time. 

I met a gal named Doris, and we saw a heck of a lot San Francisco together, and had a lot of fun.  I took a short leave to come home, and  brother Vic offered to loan me his car so I could bring back some things from 'Frisco, it was a '41 Chevy just like the one I had when I left, mom had to sell mine.

I drove on back to Treasure Island and loaded all my loot, which included a little contraband such as a few Navy blankets and other Navy trivia, as well as some Japanese souvenir items like Jap Rifles, which of course were all illegal, the trunk was full. 

Feeling a bit like a smuggler, I drove over to pick up Doris.  She lived on a hill, in an upstairs apartment, and no sooner did I get in the doorway, I heard the car take off.  Somebody had stolen my brothers car, loaded with my loot.

Well, I was scared to death my "War Souvenirs" would be found and I would be in a heap of trouble, not to mention the fact that  Vic might just be just  a little upset about his car too. However my fears about the loot were unfounded.  It was all missing. when the car was found about a month later in Oakland.  The only things found in the car were some chicken bones, fried chicken bones. 

I had the car washed and detailed, luckily it wasn't hurt at all physically or mechanically, but you know how it is when you bought a car new.  Vic didn't say too much, but I don't remember his offering to loan me the car again.  After that I bought myself a '39 convertible Mercury and continued on in San Francisco as Master At Arms for awhile, then I heard some very good news.

Construction on a brand new heavy cruiser the USS Los Angeles CA 135 had been completed, She had recently been commissioned, and I was assigned. I could hardly believe it, Bill Henrietta GM 1/c on a heavy cruiser, I was a one very happy swabie.

I boarded the LA in Long Beach California on July 2, 1946.  Heavy cruisers are baby battleships and carry as many as two thousand or more men, Navy and Marines.  Three turrets of triple eight inch guns each  and six mounts of twin 5"38's. I was in charge  of  mounts # 4-5-6 of  5"38's.  And there they were, those famous wooden teak decks and the gleaming bright work.  At last I was about to see first hand the pomp and circumstance aboard a US Naval Dreadnought.

There was a serious personnel  problem and there were no Bosun Mates available so I was placed in charge of the 5th division.  I had my own gun shack on the main deck and I was in charge of a sixty man division, as well as the three aft twin mounts of 5"38's, I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Later a Bosun Mate first named Willie Wilkerson took over the division.  Willie was my idea of a real leader, very tough and very Navy.  He taught me how to "Holy Stone", and told me stories about the "Short stick" which you would have to be familiar with Holy Stone operation to understand.

Soon we were ordered to Shanghai. China.  I remember on the way over during target practice the sounds and my physical reaction to the concussion of those eight inch guns.  The staccato blasts of the rapid fire of my five incher's was also pretty exciting, even though the war was over.  A shipmate and good friend named Joe Husted, also a gunners mate first, was in charge of the forward 5"38's and we both anxiously awaited to go ashore in China.

We sailed very slowly at high tide up the Huangpu River and anchored out in the filthiest water I had ever seen.  There were dead bodies floating in that river as well as new born babies it was awful.  However my first glimpses of China were as I expected, an uncountable number of small boats and so much commerce along the waters edge.  I was unable to see any beaches such as America's with people swimming and having fun. 

"Teeming crowds"  is an oft used term where China is involved and of course it is because of the enormous human populace.  I saw that well known teeming mass and it's very different from anyplace I've ever seen, China is overwhelming and unique.  The economy in China was troubled at the time and communism was growing rapidly.

I remember the first time we went ashore we stopped by the Servicemen's Club to have dinner.  We had a pretty nice meal, talked a little then decided to take a look at the town.  As we started to leave I noticed some little kids about four or five years old huddled by the door.  They appeared to be begging us for food, however, one of our group that had been there before advised us to ignore them.

I could not understand that so I went back in a checked it out.  One of the Chinese managers came out and drove them away.  I had never seen anything like that, I was shown the back alley garbage container, it was completely clean and empty and there were a bunch of kids nearby  just waiting.  The manager of the center warned me that giving them money or food would be like adopting them and they would never leave me alone, that was my first taste of China, and I didn't like it.

I had never been exposed to such blatant disregard for life, which provided fertile ground for the communist organizers.  A liitle later I was part of a Landing Party that was setup to handle an expected communist riot but we were never called out.

But we all got used to it and had some fun in China. One time after my limit of three Martinis, I fell off the gangplank and into the river.  I was given a series of  twenty shots which were mandatory when exposed to that river water. 

Joe and I had a lot of fun on the pedicabs which are rickshaws with a bicycle.  At times there might be four or five of us in the seat and often we would all lean back and the weight shift would cause the driver to rise helplessly in the air, bike and all.  I'm not real proud of that kind of behavior, it was the birth of the ugly American, I blame it on my youth.

The party girls in downtown Shanghai were confined to one large fenced complex in town.  It was two or three stories high with exposed railed balconies decorated with drying laundry.  It was a rectangular affair with a large compound and a guarded gate.  A lot of guys went there but I can't remember if I did or not.

There were always a small group of children ranging from about three to ten years around the boat landing.  They actually lived under the docks where our liberty boats landed, and every time we'd go ashore they'd be there begging.  I never managed to completely ignore their obviously terrible plight.

We were in China about a year, and I think I learned a little about the oriental psyche.  They have almost unlimited patience and view life much differently than Americans.  I also began to re-assess or at least question, what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.  We were relieved by another heavy cruiser, our sister ship the USS Helena, then we were ordered to Hawaii.

Joe and I went a little crazy in Hawaii, we paid old Sailor Jerry the tattoo artist quite a few  bucks to put pictures all over us.  Joe even had a rooster and a pig tattooed on his feet in keeping with the old sailing ship story of long ago, that such a tattoo would prevent drowning, I passed on that. 

There is a small bridge on Hotel Street in Hawaii and a friend took our  picture.  I still have that little snapshot.  The bridge is still there, I seen it not too long ago, I really don't think the little bars and tattoo joints have changed all that much either.  Some of the girls looked vaguely familiar.

Pearl Harbor was still a mess then, even at that late date, they were still recovering bodies from the bombing.  Of course rebuilding was in high gear and people were getting on with their lives.  The war was over and now regarded as an unpleasant memory.  A warning that the moral price of war is very high. 

Somehow my love affair with the Navy had begun to wane a little and I felt the need to see if the grass was really a little greener on the civilian side, so when the Navy began offering early outs, I accepted, I had been in the Navy about five and a half years.  Joe however was a 20 year man right from the start, but I never seen him again.

Navy pay had left a lot to be desired for me, I was thinking millionaire, and I realized I would have to be very lucky  and remain in the Navy for a couple of hundred years to attain that rather lofty goal on Navy pay. I had complete confidence however, I would become a millionaire, I just thought I might be able to speed up the process as a civilian.

At twenty four years of age I had learned to drink a little. dance a little, cuss pretty good, and  wink at a pretty girl.  I could lie a little, steal if I had to, field strip a forty five blindfolded, and do a bar on the worst skid row in the world and survive. I also learned that a man five foot ten can not only survive in a six foot mans world, but maybe in some cases, even excel.

With those less than enviable attributes, and experiences, I set out to attain my lofty goals.  I was absolutely certain that one day I would be a rich man.  I had then and still have a crazy notion,  Life would be sweeter and a hell of lot more fun with a bunch of money.

Several of us from the USS Los Angeles were discharged at Terminal Island in San Pedro California on October 8, 1947.  I invited them all to come over to my mothers house for a farewell party.  We all had a good time and said our final good-bye's.