(WORLD WAR TWO.) Diaries kept by a fireman aboard the destroyer USS Gillis in the Aleutians and South Pacific, including Okinawa. [50], [83] manuscript diary pages. 2 volumes. 8vo, original buckram, minor wear, one titled "Log U.S.S. Gillis" on front board; minimal wear to contents. Various places, 8 November 1943 to 27 July 1945 When these diaries began, our diarist was a fireman third class. He had just transferred to the USS Gillis, an aircraft tender and rescue patrol ship heading north from Seattle to Alaska's Aleutian Islands, when had been recently liberated from the Japanese. This was not the typical naval service. The Gillis was tasked with transporting a boatload of military dogs on 20 November 1943, which caused considerable chaos on board: "40 Airdales came aboard today. We are to take them to Attu." He recorded a mighty storm on the unusual date of 30 February 1944 near Attu ("the westernmost point in the world"): "Had a big one hit us, liked to of taken the stack off, put two holes in it, tore off one gun, knock the guard rail out of line, tore up the flare locker."
The Gillis went in for overhaul in the spring of 1944, and Elliott started a new diary volume on 10 June 1944 as the ship began a new cruise in the South Pacific. Here the ship, accompanying aircraft carriers, was under constant threat from "tin fish" (torpedoes) and kamikaze planes. On 20 August 1944, "had a fire last night on the main discustion panel, burn hell out of everything. Sure was a mess. We--Scratch, Ford & I--had to rig up portable lights all over the ship." On 7 December 1944, "radar shack . . . had picked up a ship which was headed in our direction. . . . It didn't pass us. Instead it ramed us just aft of our No. 1 gun, nearly cutting us in two. We put the collision mat over, but it didn't do any good. . . . One officer got hurt bad." On 11 March, "during movie Jap planes (3) came over. One crashed into the ACV, doing some damage to her aft end. Kill one, wounded 25 others, other planes crashed and missed." In the fleet to capture the Kerama Islands on 27 March 1945, "was attacked this morning by 4 dive bombers and one light bomber. . . . We were about 1 mile off the beach, acting as a screen and also to draw fire from the shore batteries." At the start of the long Battle of Okinawa, 1 April 1945, "Easter Sunday to the folk home, but to us Invasion Day. Went in about 0300 first wave. By noon today we had taken two airstrips." 7 April: "On the number of Jap planes, it was 186 that came over. We got 118 of them. They hit 28 ships, sunk 4, still our losses are slight." 14 April: "Seem to be fighting the Japs up in the hills. Several fires were started." 29 April: "The raid last night was of 200 planes, most of them were Jap human robot bombs."
Inserted in one diary are a few mementos: an insignia (belonging to an electrician, not our fireman diarist); two slips with the names of sailors; a Real Photo postcard of an unidentified sweetheart; and a group portrait of about 20 smiling sailors.
We attribute the authorship to Harold McGee Elliott (1923-2019), who was born in Richmond, VA and enlisted in the Navy from Washington in October 1942. Elliott is not named in these diaries, but is recorded as one of 4 firemen assigned to the Gillis on 8 November 1943, and his promotion to fireman first class is recorded in both the diary and muster rolls on 2 February 1944; he notes his 22nd birthday on 2 February 1945. The man standing farthest to the right in the group photograph bears some resemblance to Elliott's obituary photograph, though they are separated by more than 70 years.