Those Were the Days
Lou Jirovec

(Excerpt taken from Patriotism)   

For many years during the Second World War I observed warships traveling through the Panama Canal, going out to the Pacific all shiny and bright. The sailors uniforms of white added a bit of pride that would well up inside of me as I saw them standing at attention. I'm sure on occasions I would wave to them, at least that is what is in my heart now as I write this at sixty-two years of age.

Later, after many months of fighting in the South Pacific, they would return with evidences of "war" upon each ship. Holes would pelt the ships making them look as if a gigantic shotgun had used them for target practice. Some of these holes were at the expense of another patriot's life as he volunteered his life to be a Kamikaze pilot, a suicide pilot, by diving into the ship with his plane, causing great damage to the ship and a great loss of human lives.

When we got the news on the Zone that the USS Franklin was transiting the canal we all stood by the canal in our individual towns almost in the same manner that we recently experienced in Princess Diana's funeral entourage when it would pass by each town with thousands of people lined up along the roadside, only we were lined up along the sides of the canal. We viewed this great ship with a  respectful, silence. There were no waves from my hand this time. . .only a  deep, heartfelt reverence. We had been told that some of the men's bodies were still in the bombed parts of the ship.  Apparently after the ship was bombed it was taking in water and starting to list. Some of the airtight chambers were sealed to prevent the ship from sinking. I wondered how on earth  this ship made it back with such a list to it's side. The USS Franklin, named after Benjamin Franklin, was affectionately referred to as "Big Ben" or "the ship that would not die". After going through the war in the South Pacific and limping home, but still intact, it was very appropriately labeled. More Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded to this ship's crew than any other ship during WWII.  

Yes,  I saw many of the big ships transit through the canal.  After the war when the Wasp, an aircraft carrier, went through, I had been given the privilege of boarding it and transiting the canal on it. In a distance ahead of the Wasp I could see  another aircraft carrier,  the Enterprise. Later on the battleship Missouri transited and docked temporarily for some of us 'Zonians' to board it and see the exact spot where the peace treaty was signed between Japan and the United States.

Gas Mask
by
Carolyn Tyssen

Does anyone remember the gas masks? The adults had the regular looking ones but the kids were issued some kind of cloth type. I remember my mother trying to get it on me but she didn't succeed, as I panicked as soon as she tried to get it over my head. My mother said all the adults had to go down town and walk through some gas filled room in their gas masks.

Does anyone remember this???
Baby gas mask

Also, do you remember some air raid wardens? My mother was one.

Also, how about fake blimps? The balloons they blew up to fool any air surveillance. There was one down town if I remember right.

The Heroes Returning
 by
Jim Shobe

After the war was over and our heroes were returning  I was still in high school.  Sometimes some of us would skip school and go to Pedro Miguel Locks and wait for the returning warships at the edge of the lock chambers.  As the ships rose in the chamber, when the deck of the ship was level with the top of the lock chamber we would leap aboard and transit to Gatun where we would reverse the process and wait at  the train station to return to Gamboa.  We would use our school train ticket,. The conductor would punch the ticket and the trip would cost us ten cents.

While aboard the warship we would be treated like younger brothers.  The sailors must have been so hungry for home life after such a long time away from home and family.  I wish I could remember the names of the ships I boarded but time has erased them.  It was an exciting time and the war years in Gamboa will continue to evoke strong memories of those years.

     Ben Franklin     
    by    
Don Connor

Here is some of what I remember of the Benjamin Franklin also known as the Ben Franklin or Fighting Lady. This was an aircraft carrier that was involved in what was called the battle of Midway. (Midway Island) in the Pacific, during the early part of the war. In fact a turning point in the war against Japan. The Franklin transited the canal returning to New York for repairs. The ship was so badly damaged that she listed to one side and the flight deck was a mass of twisted and burned steel. If I remember right they still had not recovered all the bodies from her yet. I remember standing by the lighthouse watching her go by. Sorry no pictures just an old faded memory.

I also remember going aboard the battleship Missouri (The Mighty Mo) when she returned from the Pacific area. She was docked in Balboa.They had a plaque set in the deck on the spot where they signed the end of the war documents with Japan, in the harbor of Japan.

Life on the Zone During
the Second World War
by
      Louise Womack

Told to her daughter...September 2001

At the same time that we heard that Pearl Harbor was bombed we were all put on the alert in the Canal Zone because it was strategically located. The fleet was in Hawaii and that wasn't in the Atlantic Coast. The ships would have had to go around the tip of South America which is why they built the canal in the first place so therefore we were on alert thinking that the canal would be the next thing the Japanese would bomb.

There was an unidentified airplane sighted so the main switch on the Canal Zone was pulled and we had a complete blackout so we had no electricity. The only thing going was the ham radio operators communication. There was nothing we could do but sit in the dark and use flashlights to walk around. We called our friends the Halls and Engelkes and said, "Let's get together and play music." We had three ukuleles and one guitar. Daddy played the guitar and we played the ukes. It was a string quartet. That was the only sound going out. We heard from the people the next day that it was just wonderful hearing the music while wondering if we were going to be bombed. Of course we only had radios, no television.

The day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the instructions came out that we were to cover all of our windows so that we could have light inside while having them appear dark on the outside. They didn't even want us to go outside with a cigarette because even the tip of one would carry for miles in the darkness. The headlights on the cars were painted three quarters black and shone on the ground only. We were asked to limit our night driving.

That was all we could do as far as protection but then it started in on the things we couldn't get in the commissary. You could imagine, ships were being used to carry troops to destinations and in the states everyone was put on rations. We were in the same condition as the people in the states. We just didn't get frozen strawberries or whipping cream. We got Avoset, a canned whipping cream. It whipped and we didn't even know it tasted like canned. From being used to it we thought it was elegant. When a visitor from the states came down and tasted it she said, "Oh this tastes like canned." We ate canned stuff so much that we didn¹t know the difference. You had to have a prescription to have real milk so we drank powdered milk called Klim...milk spelled backwards.

Gasoline was rationed. We got so little gasoline. It wasn't rationed in Panama so I would drive into Panama and my brother who was living in Panama would drive down to the gas station and fill it up. Other people didn't have that advantage. It seems like it was only four gallons a week. There weren't many people going into Balboa in those days. Panama wasn't in the war so they weren't rationed.

We didn't have anything. My silverware set that we had when we were first married was not complete and I couldn't buy any silverware to complete it. When I walked in the commissary and saw an eight piece set that was silverplated I bought it. Before the war my friends were buying place settings of silver each month. I probably had about six forks, four knives and a few teaspoons. My set before buying the silverplate was so incomplete that I couldn't entertain. Before  the war you could buy anything you wanted. Sears had been   our "Dream Book" and we would look at it for hours. We had ordered things from Sears that we couldn't get in the commissary.

Charlie Connor's
World War 2
Remembrances on the Zone by Don Connor

"I recorded the following narrative by my Dad  when he was visiting me in Panama."
                    Dec. 1980.      
"During this time, while I was at work on a Sunday afternoon, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. I would generally get home at 11:15 at night but we had to travel all the way to Gamboa without lights in a rickety old bus. I don't know how we ever got home but we did. (This was an eighteen mile trip on the old narrow two lane road with jungle on each side most of the way. The old Gamboa Road.) I wasn't the only one, there were eight or nine of us people who had to come home in that bus, we all lived in Gamboa."
      
"The next night they were able to fix up lights on this bus and it was only a small strip of light. They covered the lights with paint and then just left a small strip, one inch wide, so they could see the other vehicles coming toward them. It was up to the driver to stay on the road and out of the ditches. That was quite an experience all during the war until thing's got a little bit better toward the end of the war, when we started licking the Japanese Navy."
    
"We didn't have too many things to worry about during the war, as far as food here, we were much better off than people in the States. We had no problems with sugar, butter or anything like that because this was a very strategic area for the United States."
    
"We could see how the war was progressing by the amount of shipping that was going through the Canal. All the battleships use to lay out off Colon harbor and they use to bring them through at night and they would keep it secret as possible. Due to some of the plants that I was working on, in the Canal, we were able to see everything that went by. We could see what battleship it was. After all the carriers and battleships went through, sometimes they would only be gone two or three weeks and we would hear they were sunk or were in combat or something like that. We use to follow everything very closely. After a while when all the big ship got through, for months and months and months the landing craft would go through here all night long and supply ships and everything, the ships never stopped going through and all for the war effort in the Pacific. It was one of the most interesting places you could be."
    
"After the war was started awhile, I became associated with a man by the name of Henry Grieser.  He had a swimming troop, and he asked my wife to go along and chaperone the girls to the different places we use to put on shows.  In the process of doing this many times, we use to go to all the Naval Bases and the Army Posts. Every time there was a different bunch of troops come in here and we would go and put on a show for them. They use to love that."

A Boy's Recollection of the War
Andy Van Siclen

I must have been about 6 years old when the war began.  I seem to have a memory of playing on old biplanes  at a dump out about Diablo Heights.  These were old Army Air Force war planes that had been scraped as newer war birds  were now available.

I remember the black out curtains and the blacked out headlights on cars.  As I recall the blacked out headlights were done by putting a band aid on the center of the light and then painting the rest of it black after which you removed the band aid and you had a blackout headlight.

I remember the gas rationing and I remember Uncle Shobe had a Hudson and he used to try to extend his ration by mixing kerosene with the gas and how it would smoke something fierce.  Jimmy, is this a for real memory or just a figment of my imagination??  I also seem to have a memory of Dick and I trying to be helpful and while playing gas station under the house one Sunday filled Uncle Shobe's Hudson full to the brim with the water hose.  I remember that every building had those old  soda acid fire extinguishers and along side of these were a bucket of sand just in case they dropped incendiary bombs.  

Of great importance to a youngster I remember that you could not get bubble gum any more in the commy because it contained latex rubber and that was a high priority item.  Licorice was also something that you could no longer get, I don't know why that was.

I too remember the ships going through the canal.  I was very interested in submarines and I remember that my Dad was able to arrange a tour of one of the subs that was tied up at a dock.  I remember this tour because for some reason my dad did not have a vehicle at his disposal and how disappointed I was that we were not going to be able to go.  All of a sudden somebody said, " Don't disappoint the kid, I'll let you use my motorcycle".  I don't think my Dad had ever ridden a motorcycle but this one had a sidecar.  I think it was an old Harley.  Anyway I got into the sidecar and away we went.  The tour of the sub was great, but what really makes this event stand out so clearly in my memory was the trip back home.  Somewhere along the way.  I think it was about where the turn off was to go to Far Fan Beach, Dad's hat blew off and he grabbed for it and of course let go of the handle bars and Dad, the motorcycle, the sidecar and me went off the road.  I was thrown clear but my Dad's leg  was pinned under the bike, or so I thought.  I was panicked and was able to lift the bike off of him.  He of course was not hurt  and we got a ride back to our base.

I too remember the Missouri transiting the canal both ways.  I seem to remember that it was the widest ship ever to transit the canal that they had to repaint the sides after each transit.  I remember General McArthur after the surrender leading a sort of victory parade that ended up at the Admin Building.

I remember after the war how they started scraping out all of these great airplanes at Kobe Air Force Base.  Me and a couple of other kids whose names I do not remember used to sneak into this place and play on these old planes.  I remember  that one day I found an old oxygen cylinder and thinking how maybe I could use this to make my own scuba outfit.  While lugging it back home someone spotted me and thought I had a bomb and called the MP's.  They responded and from a very safe distance made us put it down and promise never to come back.

So many memories from so long ago.

Jim Shobe
P.S. in regards to Andy's story of playing gas attendant with my brother  with my father's Hudson yes you did and as usual my father took  it right in stride.
Dick Shobe
Andy is right. I did fill my Dad's car with the garden hose, and I got a spanking which was not as bad as being called Gasoline Alley for the next six months.

Wartime Ocean Travel
by
Bill Campbell

During the war they took all of our three ships and turned them into troop carriers so......when we had opportunities to go stateside we all had to use whatever army troop carriers were available. And they didn't take you to New York, they went to New Orleans....My family and I were unlucky enough to make one of these transits on the Huddleston , a nasty old troop carrier. All of the women and children were herded into quarters in the bow and all the men and older sons into quarters in the stern. It was as hot as (you know what) and from my view in my top berth all I could see was a sea of posteriors as  everyone was trying to keep cool. The seas were enormous and the ship rocked and rolled all the way to New Orleans. There was no escaping ,everyone was very sick. I'm sure that most of the travelers arrived in the U.S. skinnier than when they boarded in Panama. But.....at least we all made it to the U.S. safely. New Orleans was around 110 degrees so we were all ready to head back to Panama...by plane..We were headed for Nova Scotia and so knew there was COOL ahead....relief....was in our future.....

Also , we were in transit from New York to Panama when Pearl Harbor was bombed and WW2 was declared... The ship stopped in Haiti and they painted the whole ship black. This included the portholes too. No one was allowed on deck and no lights of any kind were allowed as there was a sickening threat of being torpedoed by a submarine. Cool eh !!!!! ANYWAY...We made it back to Panama safely and the war went on.  In the middle of the night some man jumped overboard and we (the ship) stopped and searched for him for an hour or so. He was seen a couple of times but the rough seas prevented his rescue so....he is still out there somewhere...
As those of us that were on the zone during the war know , it was an exciting time in an exciting place.