First Hostile Fire on February 17, 1945
Submitted by Noah Joyner SM3C

8-12 watch, signal bridge, 2/17/45, Iwo Jima. Starboard duty station. First hostile fire received by the Estes since her arrival into the Pacific.

0850 hrs Fire from Iwo Jima falling short 400 yds broad on port bow.

0916 hrs drew fire from shore close under bow and stern.

0918 hrs Traylor, Robert R S1c (337-79-27) USN and Clampitt, Howard H, S2c (581-08-96) USN sustained shrapnel wounds.

0924 hrs. commenced firing main battery at enemy "pillbox" fortification, southeast side of Iwo.

0930 hrs ceased firing having expended (9) rounds 5"38 cal AAC,

1050 hrs drew fire from beach, receiving shrapnel hits on starboard quarter.

1056 hrs. observed underwater demo teams approach the shore to carry out assigned mission.

1100 hrs USS Pensacola observed afire from shore bombardment off east end of Iwo.

During the above action I was covered by steel helmet and hunkered down behind bridge protective plating (all 1/2").

Submitted by Donald R. Johnson

1944

2006

Donald R. Johnson (Roger) and his wife Lorraine live in Bemidji. MN. They were married in the chapel on Treasure Island on 8 July 1944. Their first of three children, Rebecca, was born on April 6, 1945 while Roger was embarked in USS Estes in the Western Pacific. They have had two other children since that time; Vicki Lynn Johnson of Duluth, MN and Bud Johnson of Sedona, AZ.

Dear Shipmates:

My uncle is Donald R. (Bud) Johnson. His picture appears on the 1945 page of your web site. He passed away in his home in Bemidji, MN yesterday afternoon (Nov. 6, 2008).  He was 87.  He talked often of his service in USS Estes and displayed the Radio Tech Gang – May 26, 1945 photo with great pride in his home. 

(He is crouching on the work bench forth from the right.)  Thought you should know so you can update the site with that information.

John Njaa
USN (Airedale) ret
1956 - 1976

Submitted by Norman Lindenberg

Norman Lindenberg  ETC  Communications & Electronics 1944-1946 - - Submitted 4/28/06

I guess there is just so much that can be done with the ship itself, though I see from the pictures that there were a lot of changes in the original radar. We had an SG-1 surface search radar on the forward, starboard kingpost and another on the center patform, along with an SK, bedspring, air search radar, and a height finder antenna on the aft, starboard kingpost. I climbed all of them many times. Our SK air search radar went down the night before we went into Iwo Jima and I spent all night getting it back up. Fortunately everything was operational when we closed on the island that morning..

Something else that you may already have considered. The Estes is mentioned in a number of books about WW II. One that comes to mind is "Iwo Jima" by Richard Newcomb. They are just brief references but should be of interest to anyone who was there.

If you can find a description of the action when the frogmen went in to clear the underwater obstructions off the landing beaches and the shore batteries opened up on them, it would make interesting reading. The Navy lost sailors there. The Estes took casualties aboard and the corridor outside the hospital area literally ran red with blood. There were stretchers in the passageways of officers' country with bodies waiting for burial at sea.

Oddly enough, after the war, I discovered that a fellow college student was one of those frogmen who survived.

The same book describes the night the Bismark Sea went down. We could see one glow on the horizon, where she was burning, and another glow where the Saratoga was burning. The Saratoga had planes up with nowhere to land but eventually got her fires under control and sent out a spine chilling message that the Saratoga was ready to land her aircraft. In spite of the fact that it made her a target for any Jap planes that were still in the area, the Saratoga lit up and landed her aircraft. There were a a number of pilots up there who breathed easier when they realized that they would not have to ditch in the sea after all.

These incidents did not involve the Estes directly but everyone was in the soup together and there was a lot of shared empathy at the time.

Norm

Norman Lindenberg  ETC  Communications & Electronics 1944-1946 - - Submitted 4/27/06

Refering to the 2 photos:

It probably was the same "ET Shop". At that time, the ET rating was relatively new to the Navy. Most of the ET's aboard were involved with maintaining the radio transmitters, receivers, teletype, multiplexing and other communications equipment of the ship. Bruce Lawrence and I were responsible for maintaining all the radar equipment, except for the fire control radar that was maintained by the gunnery department. However, administratively, all the ET's were in the same department. I may be misremembering but all I recall it being called among the ET's was "the shop". I quess other crew members thought of it as the ET (or radio) shop.

As I remember, there were doors on the opposite ends of the shop. As you entered one of these doors, to the right there was a small, closed off room in which the morely highly classified equipment was worked on.

Regards,
Norm

May 26, 1945
Submitted by Norman Lindenberg ETC

Radio Tech Gang - May 26, 1945 Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean

Estes Radio Tech Gang Names - May 26, 1945 Bruce "Larry" Lawrence * Thomas "Red" Mc Cormack * Albert H. Falk, Jr. Robert C. Pierce David G. Williams Harry M. Wenner * Roy S. Dimond D. J. Le Brown Louis Schweitzer * Walace E. Nelson Robert S. Naramore Dave R. Lockhart * D. R. Johnson "Bud" M. K. Johnsen "Keith" W. M. Timm R. L. Norquist "Rod" * Ed Simpson "Simp" Wink Winkler * R. E. Trobridge * Mike Dudas * Bill Wise * J. K. Nielsen * * Denotes Commissioning Crew

October 9, 1945
Submitted by Norman Lindenberg ETC

In celebration of the 1st anniversary of the Commissioning of the USS Estes, the following menu was issued. The ship is believed to have been in the Philippines at the time.

October 9, 1945 San Fernando, Luzon Lingayengulf Philippine Islands D.R. Johnson Bob Pierce M.F.L. Stewart, Jr. R.S. Dimond E.O.Simpson R.K. Swanson Dick Preall "MK" Johnsen W.R. House R.S. Naramore T.L. Mc Cormack "Red" Dave Williams "Cadge" Al Falk

Estes at Shanghai - November 6, 1945
Submitted by Norman Lindenberg ETC

Estes at Shanghai - 1945 The ship beside the Estes is the USS Rocky Mount (AGC-3), On 2 November ESTES took leave of Manila and set course for Shanghai to become the flagship of ADM Thomas C. Kincaid, USN, Commander Seventh Fleet, breaking his flag 7 November. At the same time, RADM Davis transfered his staff to USS ROCKY MOUNT (AGC-3). On 19 November ADM Kincaid left the ship and VADM D.E. Barbey, USN, shifted his flag to ESTES.

Submitted by Richard Long for Robert G. Long

Long Robert G, Lt JG - Map Reproduction - 1944-1946 - - Submitted 3/15/07

Please add my Dad to your roster of USS Estes crew.  He has great memories of service aboard her from late 1944 until early in 1946.

Thanks
Richard Long


Name:  Robert G. Long
Rank: Lt. j.g.
Division: Map reproduction
Years of service:  1944-1946
Lives in Knoxville, TN (2007)
Contact: Son  - richard.long@wmich.edu

Frank Baillie 1948-52 - Lt - Submitted 6/8/07

1945 Weather Crew

I was stationed with the pictured Neil Opstad in 1958-59 Japan. He was near retirement as a CPO & I was an E-8 (Senior CPO) at Fleet Weather Central Yokosuka Japan. He was on my shift & it felt funny who was a Navy weatherman when I was a Junior in HS. After retirement he lived in various places in Europe with his Swedish wife Inga. He was in Southern Spain when I was assigned to Fleet Weather central Rota Spain & we playerd golf together a few times. When I got out we corresponded a bit, sent him a pkg of paper back books he wanted & after a month or so Inga wrote saying that he had passed away. Strange coincidence JR Cutter (62 ZLDO LT, Met Officer on Estes just called (interrupting me on this msg) & he commented that Opstad had been commissioned (prob the 18 1/2 yr EMs (1st & Chief) to Jg program) but reverted to Chief when passed over for Lcdr. Att picture Neil in middle me to his right at Inspection.

Frank Baillie

Frank Baillie 1948-52 - Lt - Submitted 9/11/08

PhibGru-5 Weather Unit 15 May 1945

Frank

Send any photos of the Estes, or life and times while aboard.

We prefer digital images, but can accept original photographs or documents. Originals will be returned unless you indicate otherwise. We will make our best efforts in returning things safely, since we use public carriers to return items, i.e. US Postal Service, we cannot guarantee safe returns. We would feel more comfortable if you had items scanned into digital images.

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