WWII Interview

Stanley James Babcock Life in the War By: Tristan Swartout

LAS Hour 5

My Great Grandfather, Stanley James Babcock, is a World War II Veteran. He was born on May 10th 1916 and has lived in Jackson his whole life. He was part of the Pacific Theater during WWII and was in the United States Army Engineers. Before America joined the war he worked in a drug store, and he was also a bread delivery man and he was already happily married. But on December 7th 1941 he was driving his bread truck when he heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had being attacked by the Japanese. Before the war he did sign up for the Draft and soon as the war started he was drafted into the military. On January 1st 1942 he entered service and was drafted and was sent to Camp Grant in Rockford Illinois where he got his basic training. He was given his uniform, and weapons while there, during training he had to do swinging on a rope over water, climbing over 6ft fences, and the hardest thing for him was when you had to crawl under barb wire fences with all your gear on while live machine gun rounds were being fired above you. The weapon he qualified best for in Basic Training was the M1 Rifle, he began as a Marksman and then he made it to the level of Sharpshooter. While at Camp Grant he took 13 weeks of Infantry Training and then he went into engineering training. After he finished basic training at Camp Grant he was sent to Camp Biel in San Francisco California, where he finished the rest of his training.

When he was finished with all his training he was assigned in to the United States Army Engineers and put into the Pacific Theater. In the summer of 1942 he was assigned to be deployed overseas and soon after that he was shipped off to Guadalcanal. He was shipped over on an Old Russian Cruise Liner; it took him 25 days to get to Guadalcanal. He wasnt part of the actual invasion, since he was an engineer he would be sent in after the troops landed. When his division landed at Guadalcanal he was about 50 feet from shore when he stepped into an underwater bomb crater that was over 10 feet deep, and since he had all of his gear on and didnt know how to swim very well he sunk fast and was drowning, but luckily one of his buddies in his company grabbed his pack and dragged him out and took him to shore, this was his nearest time of dying. Once all of his divisions were on shore, his company was in charge of building roads, trails, and building or re-building structures. The New Zealand Army had sent some of their troops to Guadalcanal to help the engineers, they were mainly meant for cheap labor and would carry around latrines to different spots, and they also would make stockades. My Great Grandpa was in charge of 5 New Zealand men and was their supervisor while they worked. He also was in charge of 5 army trucks, and he and his company would drive the trucks around Guadalcanal transporting supplies from one part of the island to the other. He and his company were also in charge of re-building Henderson Airfield which was destroyed when its stockade went off. After it was done being re-built, it would still be under attack though, one day 24 American Fighter Planes were destroyed when 2 Kamikaze crashed into them, my Great Grandpa was heading to the airfield when it happened. He usually didnt do the work himself, usually his job was to be a supervisor and supervise the engineers doing the work. He was also usually the one driving the 5 trucks. One day he had to go with his captain to a medical hospital,

when they got to the hospital Bob Hope, and 2 other famous comedians were walking out of the hospital, they then walked over to my great grandpa and his captain and shook hands with them, he told me he will never forget that moment. Another time he was in charge of driving a bomb squad to go detonate a 500 pound bomb that didnt detonate when it hit the ground, he watched them setup the charge, and also watched them detonate the bomb. His company was never under serious fire, usually only Japanese Snipers would shoot at them and occasionally a Japanese jeep would drive by and fire at them. Only 3 men in his company were seriously injured they were all hit by snipers while working, but both lived. The only time he ever fired his gun at something was on one night in Guadalcanal, he was on guard duty for the camp when he heard noises down in the swamp, he said he was pretty scared so he called out to the noise to make sure it wasnt a friendly, no one answered so he got his M1 Rifle and fired 3 rounds down into the swamp, the next morning he and his buddies found a dead water buffalo with rifle bullet wounds in it, in the area where the noises were heard , every one declared that my great grandpa was the one who killed it, and then they gave the buffalo to the natives. He enjoyed the people he served with, and liked his commanding officer, he was close friends with most people in his company, and he got to know a lot of them well because he had to share his tent with 6 other guys. The food they got was pork, fruits that grew on the islands, and on thanksgiving they got turkey. The geography of the island was all jungles, and hills, when he first got to the island, local natives had caught a 20 ft long Boa Constrictor. On his free time he enjoyed watching shows that had magicians, and comedians. He also watched the dog fights

going on up in the air. He said he did usually sleep well, one time he had to sleep in a hammock for 5 days. When the Guadalcanal Campaign was over my great grandpa was shipped to a few other islands in the Philippines. His last island he was on was the island of Cebu, which was a Japanese fortified island at the time; he was on Cebu until the end of his service. In the spring of 1945 while on Cebu he heard the news of Germanys surrender. In the early summer of 1945 he was discharged from the army because his term was up, by August 1945 he was back home in Michigan , he had served in the army overseas exactly 3 years and 1 day, the highest rank he made was Sergeant. While he was at home the atomic bombs were dropped and then Japan surrendered. While he was in war, he did have a son born; Thomas Babcock (my grandfather) was born in 1942 while my Great Grandfather was heading for Guadalcanal, so it was a loving reunion when he got to see his son for the first time when he returned home in 1945. He did bring home souvenirs, he brought home a Japanese Bayonet, a Japanese Gas Mask, his duffel bag, his dress uniform, his dress pants, he also almost brought home a Japanese Officers Samurai Sword but the army required all weaponry be turned into them, so like the good man he was he turned it into them. He did tell me some of his most haunting memories which were the sight of dead bodies, men dying around him, and the sight and smell of Japanese bodies that had being torched by flamethrowers. One of his most memorable experiences is when he saw Douglas MacArthur, he and his company were on Guadalcanal on a large hill, and MacArthur was on the island at the time, they were right by the road and Douglas MacArthur rode right past them in a jeep.

There would have being plenty more stuff I could of learned from him if I couldve interviewed him longer hopefully someday I will learn more from him. He is a hero to me and always will be.