Oral History Interview with Lloyd Winkler, July 30, 2011

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Lloyd Winkler. Winkler joined the Navy in 1943 and received basic training at Farragut, Idaho. He was treated for meningitis during boot camp and upon recovery was assigned to the USS Enterprise (CV-6). Winkler’s battle station was a 40-millimeter antiaircraft gun. As a pointer, he turned two cranks to aim the gun and fired the gun with a foot pedal trigger. It quickly became evident in battle that dive bombers were proving too difficult to target, so the position of gun director was added and given to Winkler. Planes would strafe the deck, sending fragments everywhere, while Winkler had to stay focused on targeting dive bombers and torpedo bombers. His most unsettling experience in the war was when a bomb was dropped so low over the deck that rather than detonating, it rolled down the deck and landed beside him. He also recalls that friendly fire was a concern for everyone, and that his crew shot into the wing of one of their own planes. Kamikazes proved unpredictable, and at Okinawa, Winkler was sure his crew was about to hit one that looked like it would fly over the ship. At the last minute, the pilot flipped the plane upside-down and crashed into the number one elevator, putting the Enterprise out of commission. Winkler returned home and was discharged in the fall of 1945