Oral History Interview with Robert de Jong, April 15, 2007

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Robert de Jong. De Jong was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1922 and enlisted in the Navy in 1942. After boot training at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois he was sent to school in Boston for training as a yeoman. Upon completion of the training he was assigned to the executive officer aboard the USS Lexington (CV-16). Soon after he went aboard, it proceeded to Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal. His battle station was as a loader on a 20mm gun. On 4 December 1943 the Lexington was hit by a Japanese torpedo and returned to Bremerton, Washington for repairs. Remembering various actions in which the Lexington was involved, he tells of the momentous decision by Admiral Mitscher to turn on the carrier’s lights to act as a guide for returning aircraft during the Battle of the Philippine Sea. He also recalls a kamikaze hitting the Lexington, which killed every man on the gun on which he had previously been assigned. The ship put into Ulithi for repairs. During February 1945 the Lexington returned to Pearl Harbor at which time de Jong was transferred to yeoman’s school for additional training. He was then sent to Corvallis, Oregon. Soon after the surrender of Japan, he was sent to St Louis and discharged