Oral History Interview with Joe Fields, October 9, 2003

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Joe Fields. He was born in Benton, Kentucky on 29 June 1926. Upon graduation from high school in May, 1944, he enlisted in the Navy and was sent to basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois. Fields describes several of his experiences while in boot camp. He attended Radio Operator’s School and was assigned as a member of the commissioning crew of USS LSM-96. The vessel sailed to Pearl Harbor, embarked a radar intercept squadron (8th Air Warning Squadron) and landed them on a small island off of Okinawa on 1 April 1945. He describes the efforts made by his crew in assisting several American ships in distress over the ensuing days, including evacuating patients from the hospital ship USS Pinkney (APH-2), which had been hit by a kamikaze. Fields’ ship remained in the area over the ensuing months preparing for the invasion of Japan. In September 1945, his ship was diverted to northern China to deliver two companies of Marines and returned in March 1946 to Portland, Oregon where the vessel was decommissioned. He changed his rating from Radioman Second Class to Radarman Second Class near the end of his enlistment. He did not reenlist. He also tells several anecdotes concerning Ernie Pyle