On December 27, 1944, Mr. Watson and his crew joined a 50 mile long convoy
of invasion ships headed for Luzon, a rather large island in the Northern Philippines. Again,
there were suicide planes and suicide boats. They shot down a few more planes
and were then struck by a torpedo. Fortunately it failed to detonate. It was
common for the kamikaze to come around sunrise and sunset, and quite often in
between. Thankfully, they were at their battle stations most of the time. The
USS Isherwood participated in two smaller invasion landings near Manilla and
also had a part in the Philippine Sea battle with the Japanese fleet, helping to
sink a Japanese destroyer.
After about two months, they headed north for another invasion in the Ryuku Islands, and, a
week later, took part in the April 1stEaster Sunday invasion of Okinawa. The same
day, Mr. Watson was happily promoted to 2ndclass petty officer. The suicide plane and
boat threats there were worse than before, with fleets of planes headed from
Japan. One day, while firing 5” shells for ground support of the marines
ashore, they received radio information that Ernie Pyle (a famous war
correspondent) had just been killed by sniper fire in Le Shima.
of invasion ships headed for Luzon, a rather large island in the Northern Philippines. Again,
there were suicide planes and suicide boats. They shot down a few more planes
and were then struck by a torpedo. Fortunately it failed to detonate. It was
common for the kamikaze to come around sunrise and sunset, and quite often in
between. Thankfully, they were at their battle stations most of the time. The
USS Isherwood participated in two smaller invasion landings near Manilla and
also had a part in the Philippine Sea battle with the Japanese fleet, helping to
sink a Japanese destroyer.
After about two months, they headed north for another invasion in the Ryuku Islands, and, a
week later, took part in the April 1stEaster Sunday invasion of Okinawa. The same
day, Mr. Watson was happily promoted to 2ndclass petty officer. The suicide plane and
boat threats there were worse than before, with fleets of planes headed from
Japan. One day, while firing 5” shells for ground support of the marines
ashore, they received radio information that Ernie Pyle (a famous war
correspondent) had just been killed by sniper fire in Le Shima.