This time was in the very middle of the great, yet terrible Depression, or the early 1930’s when money was very hard to get, and there were very few things to buy. Work was hard to get, even the farmers found it very difficult. Mother took me on two trips to get some fruit to help stave off hunger. I slept under the heavy wagon with mother, she picked apples on shares and I gathered the apples that fell on the ground. Some of the apples had worms but the orchard man said they would make good apple cider too, so they squeezed into the juice. The only items for me not to pick up for the vat were cow manure, sticks and rocks. Before we went on the apple procurement trip, Rone and I dug a cellar. Father helped put a roof on that was insulated with straw and a good solid door. The apples lasted well into the winter along with potatoes, squash and carrots. There were also some dry beans, peas and corn. The corn and beans were in bottles. The other trip for food was to pick wild plums for jam and jelly; these were down by the Buffalo Park, or to some it was the National Bison Range.
I had been born in Shelley, Idaho and when I was just a little guy, we moved to Charlo, Montana. My grandparents, Grandpa and Grandma Clawson went with us. There was a Mormon community at Charlo and we decided to go there. Aunt Oral Peterson (Ray’s sister) lived there and maybe they had suggested the move.
When my cousins the Petersons moved to Washington, they gave me their big pulling dog. Mother made a harness for old Rex, and he pulled me down the slick roads in the winter. I do not remember where I got my skates, but they were tied on and away we went, just the two of us.
It was my duty to go out the Bingham place for milk when our cow was dry, and one time with my skates and old Rex I had an accident. He wanted to join a dog fight and I wanted to turn. So into the side of Wamsley’s store I crashed, and the milk froze all over me. The rest of the family had a good laugh, and I had to go after more milk.
Mrs. Wamsley gave me her boy’s old bike, and with my new job, I biked to Ronan. I rode to the theater for a free movie, that was the pay for putting up their advertising cards in Charlo’s store windows so everyone in town knew of coming attractions. Old Rex run alongside and was good protection while there and on the road at night. He kept the bike safe, too. Rex lay outside the theater while I watched the show.
One afternoon on my birthday, September 28, I befriended a Washington fruit farmer. I believe I was 13 years old. I invited him home for dinner and he followed me home in his big truck. He gave me a silver dollar for my birthday, and invited me to go back to Yakima with him. Mother said if he comes back the next year I could go, and he did and I went with him for a whole week. I had a great time—we could trust people in those days. We drove all night and the next morning he bought me steak and eggs for breakfast. There was more meat than we had for our whole family at home. I felt guilty for a minute but that didn’t stop me from eating the whole thing.
We extended the truck bed and brought back peaches, apples and watermelons from Wenatchee. We drove into a yard with a big barn, and a group of Japanese men came out to fill the remaining space in the truck. They were all interned later because of the war with Japan. At that time there was war only in Europe. I was still young and not much meat on my bones, and dropping too many they soon got me out of the watermelon loading brigade. We arrived home in good order.
One time Father, Ray Clawson, was shingling a roof in a dense Flathead Valley fog. When he came home it looked like he had been in a terrible fight. Mother asked what happened. Dad said, well the fog was so thick I shingled right over the ridge on the fog and when it melted away I fell 12 feet!
My whole life revolved around the Church in Charlo and District meetings in Missoula. Mother was Primary President in our branch—she had Rone and me singing “A Mormon Boy.” Mother was on a committee to purchase used indoor roller skates for the Branch. Hundreds were brought back and we had some great times. The recreation hall had to be remodeled; heavy pine boards were stood up on the lower walls, and hardwood flooring put down. Friday and Saturday nights they were rented to the public like regular rinks do now.
Writing about the hall, I remember when we built it. Brother McQuinn [pronounced McQue-in] had a truck, and with a shovel, accompanied by his grandson my age from Canada, we went to the Flathead Lake for foundation gravel. On the way home it began to rain hard, and when we got to Pablo it began to rain LIME GREEN FROGS. My family would not believe me so the next day when we went back for another load, and we gathered up buckets full to prove it. Brother McQuinn said he saw it rain fish in Wyoming—great whirlwinds pick up a whole pond, and then drop everything in another place. We put the frogs in some ponds we had by our house.
Mother and Father loved to go to the Cardston Temple. They would stay overnight with the saints in Cardston. One morning we cleaned out the manure from a cattle truck, put the church benches in for our parents and sent them on their way. Restrooms were the side of the road. During the temple trips, Rone and I went to Aunt Oral Petersons (Ray’s sister) at St. Ignatius. One time we were late starting home and Father met us on the gray horse in the dark, and we were scared when we heard him coming. We were supposed to start out at a certain time in order to meet Father on the road.
We children were good friends. We played together—we were each other’s whole lives.
Junior and Senior High at Shelley, Idaho.
I traveled to Shelley with Uncle Odell and Aunt Leah Campbell (Veva’s sister), and lived with them. When mother made her last trip to Idaho, she heard of release time Seminary, and she wanted me to have this great opportunity for Church education. G. Osmund Dunford was my teacher, and I enjoyed classes very much.
The War started with the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941. We were gathering scrap metal and rubber tires for the War effort. We would go to all the farms and wherever they left an old rake or anything like that, we would gather it all and took it to the school or someplace. The men who were helping, they would come and load the stuff onto trucks or the railroad car or whatever. They would then melt it all down and make bullets or ships or whatever they could.
I was having a great time at school, some of us went fishing at Yellowstone Park, caught tons. I was on the High School basketball and football teams and got my letters in the sports.
My Mother
You see my youth was not without many happy times, yet Mother leaving to go to Heaven in 1942 was no happy time. She was sick one day and I stayed with her. Nothing would stay on her stomach. We took her to Shelley, Idaho for a funeral and burial. She loved our Heavenly Father and followed the Savior’s Plan of Happiness and Salvation.
Mother was Primary President for years and always a faithful saint. She was the best mother, a very good lady. I remember her great faith and her desire to serve wherever she was called, and her desire to live her religion. Mother was very sick towards the last. She was in the hospital at the time she died. She was in the St. Ignatius Hospital and they wanted to take her to the Ronan Hospital (it may have been the other way around). She said if she went there, then she’d never come out alive. And she didn’t. [Insert from Margene 7/16/05—Marion (George’s sister) said she has asked what their mother died of, and everyone would always give a different answer. Recently Marion said Viva died of toxic goiter (this is what is on her death certificate), and she said that she and her mother had gone someplace to Utah, I think it was around Memorial Day time and coming home, the bus broke down. And Marion said, I think my mother had a nervous breakdown because she was never right after that. She said when they got home, of course there was no inside bathroom and so they had to get a commode for her to use. One day Marion wanted to use this and she said it was the most awful looking stuff you ever saw, just stringy and terrible, so she thinks it was something else besides the goiter. When we (George and Margene) went to this new doctor, he asked what Veva died of and we described the symptoms and he said it could very likely have been one of several kinds of stomach cancer, and maybe more than one. We also remembered stories of her being on her hands and knees, vomiting. She wasn’t able to keep anything down.]
It was the very end of school and the boys came running in and said, “Hey Clawson, your mother died.” And I went home and got all my brothers and sisters together from the different classes at school and sit and waited for Dad.
I was 16 when Mother died May 13, 1942.
United States NavyThe summer of ‘43 came all too soon—young men were being drafted into the services to fight for their country, especially those that joined up in the CCC’s (Civil Defense Corp.), I think they went automatically. Bryce Stringham was in my High School, class so we decided to join the U.S. Army Air Force. Of course we had to pass the tests for health, well Bryce was taken but not me. I was colorblind. We went to the Air Base in Pocatello to join up. I went back to go into my Senior class at Shelley High School. On September 28 I turned 18 and had to register for the draft even though I was in High School. Not long after, the draft board sent me a notice to report the old Post Office building in Pocatello for a physical examination and induction into one of the three services—Army, Navy, or Marines.
All day long I ran around in my bareness being checked by the doctors, soon I was back to the eye specialist. He immediately determined that I was colorblind just like the Air Force did earlier in July. Well he grabbed his big black stamp that said NO NAVY!!! COLOR BLIND, and proceeded to stamp all the pages with great authority.
Finally the physical was over and the decision was to be made by one of three officers. They were seated behind three desks and there were long lines for the Navy and the Army with not a single recruit for the Marines. They were being killed by the thousands in the Pacific Theater, and I didn’t want to add to their numbers. So I lined up in the NAVY line, knowing full well what the papers said that were clutched in my hand. The old Marine beckoned to me, and the duty took me to his desk. He asked what service branch I wanted, and I said Navy. Well he had a Navy stamp, too, and he stamped me NAVY.
He sent me home to wait for orders, and soon I was on the train to Boise and sworn into the Navy and on to Farragut, Idaho for boot training. I was one sick boy with all my shots, especially Tetanus. That shot about killed me. I had never had a Tetanus shot before. I could hardly move, I hurt bad, but I still had to get up and do things with the rest of them.
I worried all the time that somehow or other I would be stopped because I wasn’t supposed to get into the Navy. I had no idea what was going to happen to me. When we arrived, there were thousands of us in these big barracks and they asked the question, “How many of you guys are colorblind?” And I was one out of thousands who raised my hand. Then he said, you guys, it doesn’t make any difference what you sign up for because you’re going to go in the Seabees. The Seabees were the part of the Navy that went into prepare the beachheads for battle. They were the first ones on the beach, so they were the ones that most likely didn’t come back. It didn’t matter if they were colorblind.
So I went on through boot camp thinking that was my lot when finished of this training phase. My teeth were in bad shape from no brushing in my earlier years. So the dentist has been my helper ever since. I still have the effects right today.
In March of 1944 I had boot leave back to Shelley. Boy was I the talk of the High School, one of the first in uniform. Aunt Leah got my Seminary and High School diploma for me, they said I was finishing up in the service school and that would qualify me. There weren’t actually any high school classes in the service, but they graduated me anyway.
When I returned to Farragut, I was put in a buffer company to wait for the Navy since they had to finish my teeth reconstruction, so I waited for my assignment and special fitting for my teeth. They pulled several teeth and made me a partial. This probably saved me from being in the Seabees. So bad teeth actually turned out to be a blessing. While I was waiting for my teeth, I was put to work addressing envelopes. Many letters had been received for boys who had already been sent out to sea, so I got to put forwarding addresses on the letters. There were hundreds each day, day after day. They said there were soft drinks over there, and it was all Coca Cola. I had never had Coca Cola before in my life, but I sat there drinking this Coca Cola, it was only about a nickel for a bottle. And then they said well, George, you can go on leave before your assignment. So I went home to Shelley for a few days before leaving and I got so sick I couldn’t hold my head up, from drinking all this Coca Cola.
It finally happened, and it was not the Seabees, but Basic Engineering School in the Ford Motor Company training station in Dearborn, Michigan for diesel training school. Then it was off to more schooling at San Diego, California. This was for specialized marine diesel engines used in amphibious boats used in beach landing and loading all kinds of supplies from the supply ships to the fighting and personnel ships. This included many loads of ammunition for the Marines on the islands that we took right to the beaches at Iwo Jima and in the Philippines. We practiced landing on the beaches at the great Navy training station at Coronado, by San Diego, California.
Our ship was a large cargo attack ship. We had landing craft boats on the ship. We tied ‘em down with great steel straps so that in heavy seas they would not move. We had LCVPs (Landing Craft Personnel) and LCMs (Landing Craft Mechanized). LCMs, we’d sit them down first and then sit LCVPs inside of them and then tied them down so in the heavy seas they would not bounce around or anything but be secure. Then when we were ready for the invasion to go in, why of course they were sitting right on top. Our ship was a cargo attack ship and had heavy booms, great heavy cables. They would pick up this whole boat of those landing craft barges and lower them over the side. And then as soon as it hit the water, we were trained to be in the water or in the landing craft and we’d head for the beaches with whatever was put into our boat, whether it was men, or something else. LCVPs were for personnel and LCMs were for mechanized equipment; the tanks and big trucks and so on.
Repair and maintenance classes were from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. We were then free to eat, sleep and swim in the ocean. We would take our mattress covers that were only enormous pillow cases, fill them with air and head out to the biggest waves, and lay on them like big wings or as surf boards on the waves and let the waves bring us into the beaches.
On several occasions I hitch-hiked to Whittier to be with my father’s sister Marjorie (original name was Maude—Ray’s sister). Uncle Frank, Aunt Marjorie, and her two boys were very good to me. They bought me a watch. I remembered the fruit baskets she sent to our family during the depression in Montana. They took me to see Aunt Marie (Ray’s sister) and Uncle Earl Simmons that lived in Los Angeles. They were working with the Wigi Board, a thing of magic to answer questions, but it would not work when I had my hands on because I had the Priesthood of God.
One day while several of us sailors were swimming, there came the opportunity for me to be of help to a young boy. He was swimming where it was too deep for him; his friends called for help and out I went wearing my Navy suit and new black shoes. I found him down in the salty ocean, and with his head down, pumping the water out of his lungs and stomach. I brought him up and put him under my arms, he was small enough that I could get him up out of the water, even though I was standing in the water in the ocean. I started pumping the water and had enough sense that I could start pumping the water out of him with my arms as I was carrying him back.
[Note from Margene 7/16/05—Another thing I thought was interesting was he had his Navy uniform on and was afraid of being court marshaled because the clothes were not proper. So the other men tried to hide George and sneak him in to get his clothes changed so he would not get into trouble.]
That night at school they reported me as a hero, and the officer sent us to the commanding officer to report it for the record. While out at sea aboard ship some weeks later, the ship’s Captain called me to give me a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy, which became a permanent part of my record.
About September 1944 my 19th birthday, almost a year after I had signed up, I was sent to Oakland, California to go aboard a ship that was being refitted, and repaired for sea (USS Alhena). It had been torpedoed at Guam back in 1942 and then towed by a Tug to the San Francisco Bay. It was not quite ready, so several of us lived on a houseboat. I don’t remember the food, only that a truck came one night and gave us all the pies we could eat. He just backed up with a load of pies for us.
When we left for the Pacific Theater of the War, we were by ourselves. I learned later that we were the first to go without an escort for protection. We zigzagged clear across the Pacific. This was done to avoid Japanese subs. My assigned battle station was one of three on a small anti-aircraft gun. My job was to receive a large canister of shells, put them into the gun and then the third man aimed and fired the gun. We never fired in combat, but while practicing on the ocean before leaving the States something happened that could have been really bad for me. The gun misfired, the shell was burning in the canister, an officer called to me to remove the shells from the gun and throw it over, the whole unused canister over the side. Well I did and it blew up like a bomb as it dropped to the sea. I learned that day to obey an officer—he had to tell me twice as I hesitated thinking it would right itself. If I had not thrown it over, it would have gone off in my hands.
After about 40 days at sea, we finally reached our destination—a large bay surrounded by islands almost on the equator. We were probably not quite to the Philippines. There was only one entrance and it was protected by a large sub net. We soon set anchor, some of our landing craft were lowered to the water and we dove in for a swim. Soon another boat came up and told us there were thousands of barracuda fish in the water, so we got out faster than we went in.
Every day on the ship we had duties we had to do. We were not running the ship, but we were being transported to go to an invasion. There were boats on that big transport ship, AKA 9, cargo attack ship; we were big enough to carry a lot of cargo, but it was made specifically for an attack, because we had the landing craft boats on there for unloading purposes. We would not only unload our own ship, but go to the personnel ships and take men into the invasion. We would also take all kinds of supplies in for them. And then they would take them from off of our boats and take them in on invasions. I was a Motor Machinist Mate and in charge of the engines on the small boats when we were loading and unloading.
A few days later a large ammunition ship blew up, and I was nearly hit with a large piece of steel. It came straight across the water, hit a man right in front of me, as he was passing a bucket to me. We were tied up and on a little boat and there were big sheets of plywood on the bottom of the boat. When the ship blew up, there was all this shrapnel flying, so I covered my head with one of the plywood boards. Debris was landing everywhere and then a shell rained down and hit the board right over my head. I was taken to another ship for the night, given some medicine to make me sleep. I was not cut, just hit hard. The next day there were several dead on my ship, and I was asked to find my dead buddy on the island. It was a gruesome task amongst hundreds of dead from other ships.
The ammunition ship was at anchor out in the middle of many ships, and there were boats alongside relieving ammo for their own ships and delivering to others that had no small boats available. I was working in one of those small boats and could have easily been alongside the exploding ship, but I was blessed again. I took a man’s thumb out of the sea water strainer that was cooling the engine of my boat. That night the water was boiling with those same barracuda fish devouring the men we could not pick up and save for burial.
It was a real frightening experience to go out in the small boats looking for survivors and bodies. I don’t know how many men were killed, but I saw many, and all died on the ammo ship the Mt. Hood (the ship that blew up), and all working on the ship and around it. Some were killed miles away, as the debris was falling back down, just like the shell piece that hit the board over my head.
When we were going north from the equator up into the islands, we were assigned to help unload boxes and boxes of beer and alcohol. I said I didn’t want to load it, I don’t drink that stuff and I’m not going to carry it for somebody else. They said yes you are or you’re going to be in big trouble. So I had to help them carry their beer and whiskey. I asked to go to a higher-up and got to the captain. He said carry it this time and then I’ll put on your orders that you won’t have to do it any more. So it was written right in my records that I didn’t have to carry the alcohol.
One time when we were stationed somewhere on the islands, nobody was supposed to leave the ship. I asked if I could leave to go to church, so I was allowed to do that. I was the only one.
Before you went across the Equator, you were called a Pollywog, and after you’ve been across the Equator you became a Shellback. They initiate the Pollywogs. They put the ship’s garbage in big barrels to throw it overboard. For the initiation, they put the garbage in big tubes made of canvas and made us crawl through the garbage after it had been out in the hot sun and rotted. We were in our skivvies to do this. You had to crawl through because they were beating us with a line, or a big old rope. When we came out they made an enormous tub of water they would hold our heads under and ask, are you a Pollywog or a Shellback? They’d hold your head back under the water until you came up with the right answer. I can still see the big old tank of water.
I went to many different places during the War—they are all listed on the large picture of my ship and our travels. After the War we went to Japan, and I saw the terrible destruction of Tokyo. Two of us hitched a ride in an army supply truck. The great city was leveled from U.S. bombs. We went down to the great city without permission, and on the way back the truck was stopped by the Army Military Police; one army outfit stole the truck from another outfit. The truck was confiscated but we were allowed to return to our ship. I also went aboard a Japanese sub at Yokohama. I just realized that I am writing this history just 60 years from the day I went into the Navy and had to leave High School and all those pretty girls in Shelley, Idaho.
Finally I arrived at Bremerton, Washington for discharge. I was there from my birthday for several more months, and was finally allowed to return home. I had really gained weight. Aunt Leah hardly recognized her thin little 18 year-old child.
New Zealand—It was named by the Maori “Ao te Aroa,” or the “Long White Cloud”
It was now the summer of 1946, and I had $200 tithing to pay. Bishop Anderson called me on a mission. Just as I was leaving his home after the interview, he said keep this money for your mission. Then thinking about it again, he said “I will ask the Church leaders what to do with the money.” They immediately wrote back, “Let him pay his tithing and if he has anything left he can go on a mission.” I was one of the first to go from Shelley, and the building was packed at my farewell. I believe friends and relatives gave me over $600. On my application form I was asked where I would like to go. I asked for Australia or New Zealand. I was thinking of war-torn Europe and the Pacific where I had been in the war, and I had seen enough of that. I understood that Australia and New Zealand had not been part of the War.
I was swimming in the canal that ran by the Harker farm house, this was now Aunt Leah’s house, but had been the home of my grandparents. The call came from Salt Lake City, and Aunt Leah called to tell me it arrived. I ran in dripping wet and we opened up the envelope. New Zealand!!! Holy cow, where is this place and what are the people like, and what language do they speak? We ran for the encyclopedia and it said they were natives and were cannibals. Remember this was 1946, and this was an old book. But it was still scary, because I had seen some pretty rough characters in the Pacific Islands above the Equator.
I left Shelley on a bus for Salt Lake City. My group in the old mission home was the first large group of over 400 right after the War. There was no effort to teach anything about the people or the language. It was here that I first went to the temple. I was to be set apart by Apostle Cowley. The only thing I knew about him was that he was very new.
Before I leave Shelley, I must tell you about my interview and my introduction to the Shelley Stake High Council. The Stake President was J. Berkley Larson. He remembered my parents well, even though they had moved to Montana 16 years earlier. His wife and my mother were in the Stake Primary Presidency together. Well he told the High Council that my mother knew the words and interpretation of a speech given in tongues in one of the Primary leadership meetings.
[The rest of the story comes from Margene: The person who spoke in tongues was Margene’s grandmother, Helma Winger. This was a story that Pearl Andersen told to Margene before George and Margene met—that this lady had said she knew what had been said. At a Primary meeting, Helma Winger spoke in tongues, and then George’s mother, Veva Clawson knew what was said. Somebody turned to Veva and said, “Isn’t that strange, that lady getting up and talking like that? Couldn’t understand anything she said.” And Veva said she understood it all and couldn’t believe that it was in a foreign tongue.]
The train took us across the Great Salt Lake to San Francisco. I was allowed to take a bus down to Whittier to see Aunt Marjorie, Uncle Frank and the boys, as we had a few days before the ship sailed for New Zealand. They bought me a new rain coat. I was to be back for sailing time. The passenger ship went under the Golden Gate Bridge on my birthday, September 28, 1946. The name of the ship was Aorangi—it was a New Zealand vessel. I was now just 21 years old, and headed out for another new experience in a foreign land.
As I continue writing this history, I must say what day this is, it is January 1, 2004. Mother Margene will catch up one year this March as she will reach 75 years, and then in September I will jump ahead again to reach 79.
Now back to New Zealand. Elders Green, Greenland, Walch, Charles Bytheway, Chapman, and Hurlin, were on the train out of Salt Lake City, along with several others to go to Australia. Elder Walch had two years of University experience so we all said to each other, “I don’t want to go with him, for he is too smart for me.” We stopped at American Samoa on the way, and I saw my first Polynesian. I was an old salt, so the trip was just right, lounging and good food and no more battle stations to run to all the time.
President Halverson met us at the dock in Auckland. We all bought BSA bicycles with generator lights, carrier on the back, three speeds for the hills, and an extra supply of tire patching and an air pump for repairs. President Halverson interviewed us separately. He asked me if I had feelings against the dark skinned people, I said no. After prayer he assigned me to go to the Whangarei district with headquarters right out in the middle at Awarua, where the District President lived. He asked me to go with Oscar Walsh the dreaded one, but he turned out to be the best because he knew how to read and study and helped me learn. He was very serious, too, and we got along well. The next day Chapman and Hurlin were going further north to the Bay of Islands, and me and Walsh north to Whangarei.
Dr. Paiwai met us with his car at the Whangarei Railroad Station. He said hurry, leave your trunks, you must catch the bus to Awarua, I will send your trunks up tomorrow. Well I was still worried about these cannibals when we sat down on the back seat of the bus. I mentioned to Elder Walsh, I wonder where we are going to stay tonight. A nice lady sitting in front of us said you are gong to stay with the Branch President; I am his wife Sister Wihongi. My worries were immediately gone.
I soon had another fine companion, she was a great teacher and Mother. Her name was Kate Tari, set apart by President Cowley before he was released in 1945. She immediately started teaching me the language, and found a female companion so she could go with Oscar and me. Around Awarua we walked from home to home, but from village to village the sisters took the bus and we took our bikes. She knew all the members and many nonmembers. She would call out to them in her own reo, and they always let us in and we would sing in Maori and preach and testify and encourage, and invite the people to Branch meetings. Many had become inactive during the War, and it was our duty to baptize and build up the several branches. We were also blessed with the only European (Pakeha) branch on the North Island. They were all in one little valley called Maromaku, mainly made up of two families—the Mason family, and the Goings. Sister Mason soon became another fine Mother, even though she was white, she loved the dark native along with her husband and family of three.
Apostle Cowley was a great joker and a great man. The Maoris loved him. Members and non-members would come to hear him because he spoke good Maori. He learned Maori earlier and he would cuss ‘em out in Maori. He would try to get them to straighten up and do the right things. He was a great man. He came to see us whenever he came to New Zealand.
We had many happy times at the Branch meetings and at the Mason and Going homes. We drank so much milk Brother Mason threatened to pipe it in directly from the dairy barn. Later on we moved our trunks with extra clothing to the Masons. One day we were some distance from a store, it was Waikari. We left our bikes on one side of a big swamp. My old Navy black shoes had large holes in the soles. I called Sister Mason asking her to bring my extra pair to Waiomio, and we would take bus in to meet her. Well the family heard us discussing our plans, so they spread the word, and the next morning I was given enough for the bus and new shoes and a meal, with money left over. The bus driver wouldn’t accept bus fare, and when we arrived at Waiomio, Sister Tari bought some new boots for me, and Sister Mason took my extra pair back to Maromaku.
I soon began to memorize considerable Maori scripture, including many proverbs that I remember after all these years from 1946 to 2004. I have quoted them many times, this is probably why they are quite fresh in my memory. I taught my sons and daughters, nieces and nephews the Maori action songs, and war dances. There were many programs of Maori entertainment in the LDS wards all over the Salt Lake Valley and Magic Valley.
About Christmas day 1946, Elder Barney and Elder Ronald Skeen Peterson came up to Whangarei to split us up. I was building a good reputation for my Maori speaking ability, and something else was happening, too—I seemed to be allergic to nearly everything, and started sneezing over anything; dust, pollens. etc.
Elder Peterson and I became companions. We had many happy days together. I rubbed noses with the dead, taught the gospel at their funerals, and testified of the Savior in their own language, which they loved and many old-timers told me so. My Maori name was Kaumatua Korohana, they called me Koro.
[Insert from Mother 7/16/05—To be called an Old Man was an honor. When we were in New Zealand, Bunny Ngakoru invited us to dinner when we were transferred from Kaikohe to Coromandel. And the Leavitts went with us. We got to talking about missionary work and George being on a mission when he was younger. Bunny asked George if he had been given a Maori name. George said, yes and told him, and Bunny said, that means Old Man. He said, I guess you know that that was a very special name to be given and an honor to be given that name. Bunny was the branch president where the Leavitts were. When Bunny asked Daddy about his name, Brother Leavitt said I was given a Maori name, too, but Bunny just ignored him.]
It was thought that I might have to go home as bronchitis settled in my lungs. In March I went to Auckland where the doctor gave me some terrible medicine. He could hear me wheezing from the door of my room in the Mission Home. After a few days I was much better, but it didn’t cure the allergies and the sneezing. President Reed Halverson said maybe a change in territory will help, so I went to the Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Thanes, Waihi, Tauranga, and inland to Rotorua.
Judea was known by its Maori name Huria. Later on while I was the District Leader, I stood with Apostle Cowley to bless the babies. One time he said you are in charge Elder, as I was waiting for him to take the lead. At Katikati, I went wild pig hunting with the young men, dug for pipi when the tide was out, and rolled up pant legs to wade with Ngawai Kohu, another Mother, to step on Takahi Patiki, the little flounders as they looked like the mud left by the river as the tide went out. They would tickle my feet and I would jump off them and they would swim to another spot. Sister Kohu would say “kawaka koe e pena,” or don’t do that, and would get hoha or disturbed with my weakness. The Maori loved the shell fish, the eel and the shark. While at Waihi I swam out with Maori men and boys with nets in the rivers for all kinds of fish, including some 2-foot long sharks, and 4-foot eels.
We didn’t baptize a lot of people. One time I baptized 12 little Maoris and gave them all the wrong names. Elder Walsh said Elder Korohana you go ahead and baptize them. We were wrong in doing it because he stayed in on the shore and I went way out to sea with these 12 little Maori kids and I baptized them. When I got back he said, what names did you give them? And I said I gave them the names they gave me—every one of them was wrong. They used their Maori nicknames.
People had stopped going to church because of the War and really there was hardly a branch. There wasn’t a functioning branch in all of New Zealand. Just a few years later they had a stake. So we helped organize branches and bring people back to the gospel.
George Watene was the District clerk and record keeper. He helped me write a speech in Maori to be given at the hui tau at Korongata in April. He was the man who gave me the large tapa cloth. Elder Anderson from Shelley, my Bishop’s son, came from a neighboring district, brought a car and the four of us drove to conference. It was a great conference, choir, action songs, and competition between Branches from all over the Islands. The missionaries had softball games, and meetings with President and Sister Halverson. All the Elders thought my Maori tongue was great. It was the Maori people who were saying I was doing pretty good.
After arriving back in Tauranga, Arapata Whaanga became my new companion. He was only 16 years old, and helped me with the language that much more. Then Rulon Craven became my companion—he became a General Authority in the Seventy’s Quorum, and became the Area President in two of the missions Mother and I had in the 1980’s; South Dakota and the New Zealand mission. He gave the Maori language a big slant of American. I felt that I had a big hand in training him for his great work in the Seventies Quorum. He built a clothesline on his bike handle bars to hang cards in Maori scripture, to memorize and learn all of the time. He would say the words out loud, and I would say and correct the pronunciation. I would read the scriptures in Maori to them and they would correct me, the Maoris that is.
In 1948 a new Mission President was appointed: Gordon C. Young. He immediately bought a new modern mission home for the Church and his wife. It was a large and fancy home, more like he was used to. Also a new 1948 fancy Mercury car came on the ship. The natives flocked around to see the new car. He had been a Bishop in Salt Lake City, and soon one of his youth Bill Gibbs was called on a mission to New Zealand. I was given Elder Gibbs to teach; I felt it was an honor to have this assignment. We even received some special perks because of it, like an assignment with President Young and Apostle Cowley out of our district to Nuhaka in the new car.
It is now 2004 and many of my thoughts come to me in the Maori tongue, or I find that I am rehearsing Maori phrases and translating back into Maori from Idaho English. So you see this wonderful people had a great affect on me and remains a great influence on my life and that of my family. Just the other day Dante jumped out of their van doing a Maori war dance, and at the Clawson reunion in West Valley City the Allred and Mortensen cousins wanted to hear some Maori and do some war dances before leaving. They all enjoyed some of my mission with me, and of course at this time it was the mission of both Mother’s and mine as we were together there in 1993-1994.
Now I must get back to 1948. President George Albert Smith who called me had now been followed by President David O. McKay. We thought that our mission was for three years, but President McKay said we servicemen and women had been away long enough and released us in two years. I had been away from home long enough and was ready to go home.
So I sailed home on the Aorangi. Our first stop was Figi. I took some presents home to a Samoan family, they fed me fried bananas, sang some LDS hymns, and I jumped up when I saw their large lizard fly catcher come out from behind a large picture on the wall. Their father was on another ship and wouldn’t get home for some time.
Elder Bytheway and I painted our bodies and faces with ink, the passengers didn’t think a shy boy like me would do such a thing, but the Maoris had really changed me. The whole ship was invited to come to dinner in costume. In one lounge the windows were about 1 foot off the deck and wide open, so I took the opportunity to scare about 30 people out of their wits. The Pacific breeze was replaced by a wild Maori; the people were more than impressed.
The shipped docked in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Aunt Oral and Uncle Wilford Peterson picked me up and sent me on to Shelley. What a change as the roads were only one way because of the deep, deep snow.
The whole Mountain West had a record snow fall; I don’t know just how far it extended, but Utah and Idaho had a record amount. I was soon asked to speak in Shelley Stake Conference and everyone wanted to hear my report and my Maori testimony. I was a returned serviceman and a returned missionary.
When I went to Charlo, there was a Conference at St. Ignatius, our first Branch in Montana. As a youth, the general authority asked me to speak and report. It was great—I was treated like a king. My father and little sisters were so proud of me.
Back in Shelley I attended the Stake dances, and one night a pretty, slim blonde was sitting between Ladell Anderson and me. It was Helma Margene Andersen. She was Ladell’s date. He was going to the University at Logan, Utah. He invited me to go down and look into a new Tech 4-year course in refrigeration, heating and air conditioning. I said, I’ll just meet some gal and get married, as I had made up my mind to go down to Whittier, California and go to Wiggins Trade School. Aunt Marjorie invited me to live with them, and I thought I wanted a trade. I didn’t think I could hack University classes.
[Explanation from Margene 7/16/05—Before George went to New Zealand, my girlfriend Helen Fielding and I, after church, walked downtown to get the mail out of the post office. Everybody had a box because it wasn’t delivered at the homes. So we went to get the mail. Helen knew all of these fellows who were coming home from the service. I didn’t know any of them because I had lived out on the farm and had just recently moved into town—I was a junior in High School. So I didn’t know any of these fellows, I was too young in the first place to know them. Anyway, George and another fellow were sitting in a car at the curb. Helen knew them and said hello and we walked over and started talking to them. We ended up getting in the car and going to Helen’s place. We were sitting on the lawn talking and laughing, and all I remember is this fellow laughing and rolling on the grass. When George came home from New Zealand, I was in Salt Lake going to school and I remember my mother writing a letter and saying all these fellows were coming home from the service, you need to come home. And then I got word that she and Daddy had gotten me a job in a bank in Shelley, so I went home. I didn’t really like secretarial school. Anyway, I was working and met George and a lot of the others who were coming home. I had a date for a dance at the stake house in Shelley, and the three of us were sitting there talking. Mostly the two fellows were talking to each other and my date was trying to get George to go to Logan to school. He said oh I’ll just meet a girl and get married and have to quit. So that was kind of our introduction. George had asked me to go the dance, but I already had a date.]
Well I went down to Logan in December 1948, I received credit for Navy classes and did well on a refrigeration test, so I was caught up with the group of about 20 men that started in August. I chased the girls that were in Lamba Delta Sigma, went to classes and had lots of fun at the Institute of Religion.
The GI Bill paid for all my schooling, but it was hard to live on the few dollars that I received from the government. During the summer of 1949, I worked for Uncle Ed Phillips (married to Aunt Ida, Ray’s sister); I ran the camp and cooked while the sheep were on the summer range east of Island Park. We shot bears and fished.
In the summer of 1950 I worked around Shelley, and stayed at Oliver Koonz’s home. I started seeing Margene some more, bought an old black Chrysler 4-door. I took Margene up to Montana to meet my family. That winter when Marion was married I proposed to Margene. She had plans to go on a mission so I had to move fast. She made some caramels and sent them to me at Logan, and came down on the bus to go to the Sweetheart Ball. Then we set the date for the 15th of March for our wedding at the Idaho Falls Temple. This was during the spring break. There was not much time for the temple, reception, honeymoon, and moving into an apartment in Logan. We moved into an upstairs apartment by a dance hall. We had free music every Friday night. My missionary buds all brought canned food for us, but they took off all the labels so we had a surprise every time we opened a can. Not long before we moved into the pre fabs, but while in the old 1st Ward, we were Ward Temple representatives and went to the temple as many evenings as we could. It was a great experience.
So we started our great family together March 15, 1951. We both came from deeply religious parents full of faith. It looked like I might be drafted again into the service as some men were going back to war, so I decided to join the Air Force in the ROTC, or reserve officer training that we had on campus. I had a nice blue uniform, and soon became a Lt. Colonel in the student leadership. I marched with the men on campus, and got a job with Jack Whitlock, a general contractor, and could walk to work anytime I was not in class. I worked hard, and the owner later said I was his hardest worker. Margene got a job and soon we were looking for our first child in June 1952.
Margene was a real hoot; her doctor was a member of the High Council. He leaned on her knee while delivery was in progress, and she told him that knees were for praying on and asked him if he ever prayed. Then when in the room with all the other new mothers, she said out loud to me, “Kiss me quick I’m thirsty!” That was a saying of one of my missionary buddies, Doyle Perkins. She said I’ve got you a little Maori. If she wasn’t so pretty and cute about it all I might have left the room, but she and Ronald George were so beautiful I couldn’t. She threw her arms out as they brought her down the hall, just like she was flying and then when she was put in bed, she called out “Where are you going with my ironing board,” as the nurses took the gurney away.
Margene cooked on a hot plate and a roaster oven that Grandpa and Grandmother Anderson bought for us. I did get a draft notice from the Bingham County Board, but the Logan Board wrote them and told them of my Air Force assignment so I didn’t hear from them again, and I stayed in the Reserves as a 1st Lieutenant. Finally after eight years I was out free again. The summer Luan was born I received my Master of Industrial Education degree, and we moved to Salt Lake City to work for General Electric fixing appliances and refrigeration. We first lived on R Street in the Avenues, then out to Bountiful in the basement apartment, where we brought Luan A home in October 1954. I received prizes for selling All, a new laundry detergent. We got an 8mm movie camera and projector with a screen. The next spring, I planted a big garden around the house.
The winter of 1955 I really changed things as I went with IHC to run refrigeration service with a new company. This meant a lot of travel away from home. They soon sent me to train as an assistant Zone Manager. We brought Lynn Christian to a new brick home not far from the Val Verda Jensen apartment, and it was harvest time 1956. I was working in Idaho Falls, and I hurried home that night as Mother was ready for Lynn to arrive any time as the doctor was going to induce labor, and I would be home for at least 3 days. Friday morning I got up really early to drive to Delta and back, and be there for the big event. Well I did, Margene did, the doctor did, but Lynn didn’t. He was born two weeks later when he was ready. We put in a big fruit room and finished a nice bedroom downstairs.
We loved the Church; it was a great blessing to us. Ronald wanted to sing NO TAR, which meant no toil nor labor fear (“Come, Come Ye Saints”).
An older couple who lived nearby, Afton Nisson and Howard, got a little boy the same age as Luan. Howard drove Greyhound bus and was gone a lot, and I soon got a job with IHC which took me away. Afton and Margene became the best of friends, so guess how Sally got her middle name in 1960. The Frost Top root beer stand became their 3rd home, if we could have ask Lynn what he was getting from his mother, he would have said root beer flavored milk.
The summer of 1957 found us in another new brick home up on the windy bench of Spanish Fork. I was promoted to Southern Utah Sales Manager. Then I was gone that much more, and Mother had three beautiful children to raise almost by herself. A missionary companion of Grandpa Andersen moved a couple doors west of us, we surprised Grandpa when he came to see us on his first trip south to our new home. We had mountains all around us, Mt. Timpanogos to the north, Nebo to the south, the Timp Range East, and the canyon wind made the curtains stand straight out every night.
There were homes being built close by. Lynn was just 1-1/2 years old and got into mud being settled around a foundation when the contractor found him just before he was going under. How close we came to losing our baby and never would have known whatever happened.
One night Ronald came into our bedroom and shook me asking for a drink of water, I suggested that at he get Mother to get some for him, for she was up with Lynn. Soon he shook me again with the same request, but this time he said, aren’t you my friend?
Grandpa Andersen bought cowboy boots for all three kids, I remember so well their noise running out to the truck to meet me when I came home.
That fall I received a letter from President McKay to come to the Salt Lake Temple on a special assignment. Elder Gordon B. Hinckley was an assistant to the Council of Twelve Apostles and met me on the fifth floor with my old Mission President, Reed Halverson. With some of my missionary companions we were to prepare the temple ceremony in Maori for the New Zealand temple to be dedicated in 1958. There were many languages there, as the Swiss Temple was being dedicated at the same time. It was a great honor and blessing for me. We went back many nights to learn the ceremony and finally decided we knew it well enough to record it—it was a movie.
The bishop asked me to teach the Priest’s Quorum. Mother worked in the Ward also—she was beautiful, kept a great home, and raised her first three all by herself. We planted another new lawn. Not long into 1958 when Margene knew she was carrying another gift from God, Arlene was born June 28. The doctor wanted her to go to the Payson Hospital. Not long after that or about the same time I got another transfer. This time it was to the greatest zone of the Mountain West, Magic Valley, Twin Falls Idaho. Ronald was 6 years old, school was starting and we had to sell our home before moving, so he started the first grade in Spanish Fork. I had to start work in Idaho, I was writing orders for the next year with all my dealers. I had to help set up a machinery display in Filer for the fair.
Sister Ellis in Bountiful became our constant supply for the best peaches ever, and Mother put up tons. They were still out in the garage where we processed them when we showed our home and the big moving van came to move us. They packed fruit for one whole day. We moved to Wilmore Street, to another nice new brick home, in the Twin Falls 5th Ward. I was ask to be a councilor to Nolan Victor in the Elder’s Quorum. We had a hamburger booth at the fair which was a constant challenge.
For work I traveled to Rupert, Burley, Oakley, Buhl, Gooding, Carey, Fairfield, Jerome, and Twin Falls dealerships. I was always called to Salt Lake City for District sales meetings, and hours on the phone with my Manager, Lynn Smith.
Ronald started school again at Lincoln Elementary. Mother made drapes for the new home, she had to keep Arlene home as she would get sick every time we took her to Church. We were in a new subdivision so the wind-driven loose soil was always in the house.
International Harvester Company presented a new line of tractors and machinery the spring of 1959. They invited all the dealers to go back as a trainload. They wanted me to have the whiskey in my room as I was the only one who wouldn’t drink it. The meeting was in Chicago. I was busy writing orders so they could get their shipments in.
I was sick in bed with flu, Mother was sick too, but that didn’t stop Sally from wanting to come into our family on February 9, 1960. The doctors quarantined Mother. Sally had jaundice so she had to stay an extra day. I took the oldest four over to Aunt Laree’s. Grandmother Andersen wanted mother to have the upright piano, so we brought it over in a trailer. All the children took lessons, and practiced on the old instrument, this included Chad who came 11 years later.
Luan turned 6 in October 1960, started school with Ronald, and soon after starting had a ruptured appendix. She was a sick young lady. During her recovery, the doctor came to the house to dress her incision and make it drain properly.
Margene had three great girls and two fine boys. She kept her sewing machine humming for them and for herself, and kept working in the Church. I must go back to 1959 and Ronald’s birthday. He got a new Schwinn bicycle and we took the two oldest to Disneyland. We had a stylish car, a 1955 yellow Chevy, that followed a 1948 Olds that mother liked to drive. And it really looked good too. We took Arlene and Lynn over to stay with Aunt Laree while we went to California. Aunt Marjorie and Uncle Frank treated us great, as we stayed with them.
In 1961, I went into IHC retail business over in Hazelton. My partner was McVeys, Inc. in Twin Falls. Myrt McVey owned everything and put up all the money. We took an inventory of the parts and used machines and tractors. I was to draw a salary and as fast as I could sell and as good as I could be as a manager, I could have half of all the profit. Well maybe it was wrong, but I thought it was a good opportunity. It made Mother sad again to sell our new home and leave our friends for a country town, and everyone new. We moved into a nice home on Alturas in Twin Falls. I traveled back and forth until we could buy or build in Hazelton.
It was not long before a home became available just across the city park west of the new LDS church. I went to work finishing some rooms downstairs. I was soon ordained a Seventy in the Jerome Stake, a wonderful man came to our Stake Conference, and I received my new appointment under the hands of Gordon Bitner Hinckley. It was the second blessing I received under his hands. This time he was an apostle was I asked to be one of the Seven Presidents of the Seventy from our stake group. Brother Mac McCullough and I traveled to Jerome to meet with our other brethren. We planned activities for our Quorum, and tried to encourage missionary endeavors in the whole Stake.
Grandpa Andersen needed special doctors in Salt Lake, they drove over to Hazelton and I took him down to the doctors. Grandmother stayed with Mother and the children. They found that he had cancer in the bones. He couldn’t make blood as needed, and had many transfusions until his demise (December 1970). After Grandma Andersen passed away in March of 1970, Grandpa stayed with Aunt Laree and Uncle Wendell over in Shelley and Goshen. A few times he came and stayed with us as well.
President Ross Lee asked me to be Bishop, and it was after Arlene was baptized in 66 before Elder Harold B. Lee came to conference and ordained me a Bishop and a High Priest. Grandma and Grandpa Andersen came to Hazleton to be with us, and Grandpa Clawson came. That was the first time Grandpa Clawson was able to come to something for his children like this, so that was special.
President Ross Lee asked me to do two major tasks; one was to call missionaries and the other was to pay off the debt on the new meeting house. Back in those days the Ward organization was required to donate a considerable amount. I don’t know what the original amount was, but we still owed the Church nearly $90,000. For our little community that was a formidable sum. We had wild game dinners, salmon sent in directly from the Northwest and broiled out on the church sidewalk in special broilers brought in for charcoal broiling in butter. We had auctions at the church, and families took turns cleaning the building so the salary could be turned back for the building fund. The farmers, feed lot owners, and cattlemen took our purchased young animals into their own herds for feeding with no cost to the Church. Brother Mel Harmon and I had a special bank account, with this check Mel could buy, sell and pick up and deliver. I’m sure the Church would not have approved as there was no audit.
Then I also broke the rules with a land deed given to the ward by Brother Paul Okleberry. It had been in pasture for 25 years and was covered with trees that he had cut down and were dry for burning, but they had to be removed before plowing and planting. Well I had the clearing and burning job since I could use the company tractor. The potatoes got planted, Paul watered them and they really produced, both the summers of ‘65 and ‘66. Bishop John Okleberry did the harvesting and replaced me when we moved to Hankins Road (only then our address was Route 3) in Twin Falls, where we still live now in 2004. He told me he gave the deed back, and they finished paying off the chapel.
During the summer of 1965 my partner asked me to quit being the Bishop. He felt it was taking time from my selling. So I went to my Stake President and he said wait—something will happen. Well it did just as he predicted. Twin Falls was able to get one of the five junior colleges of Idaho established right there. So the College of Southern Idaho (CSI) was born, and Dr. James Taylor was selected as President and brought in from Oklahoma. I heard he was looking for teachers, so I went over to ask for a job. I was one of the originals hired as I had two degrees: Bachelor of Science in Technology and Master of Science in Human Relations with experience in farm machinery and refrigeration repair. I told McVey I was leaving. We took an inventory to see what was my part in the breakup. We made a few dollars and prepared to sell our home. I was to start the farm equipment repair class. My last day with McVey’s Valley Equipment in Hazelton, McVey died from too much alcohol. Johnnie Davis the new owner wanted me to stay, but it was too late, I had already signed the school contract. The school soon hired one of my mechanics Ross Randle to help me. I was then assigned to teach related subjects to all the vocational classes. I stayed as Bishop all winter, and the summer of 1966 we moved to our present home 499 Hankins Road North, Twin Falls, Idaho.
President Hamilton of my new Stake asked me to be Stake Mission President. Lewis Arrington and Jimmy Mikesell became my counselors. We were one big Twin Falls Stake covering south of the river from Murtaugh on the east to Castle Ford on the west. Baptism, leadership meetings, and going with my missionaries to teach took many nights. Mother was in the Ward Primary Presidency with Arlene Thompson.
CSI leased another building on Eastland Road and I started the Refrigeration, Heating, and Air Conditioning class. Hal Ross from Shoshone took over controls, wiring, motors, and electricity in general. I soon started teaching night classes for some extra money. After three years, the Seventy in the Stake were put over the mission, and I was asked to be on the High Council. Both Lewis and Jimmy were soon to be Bishops in their own wards, so I guess I didn’t hurt them too much.
USS ALHENA
AK-26 / AKA-9
On October 13, after the overhaul was completed, Alhena departed San Francisco carrying cargo for the Admiralty Islands and to take on supplies and prepare for the invasion of Okinawa. Alhena arrived at Manus on October 29, 1944. At 0855 on November 10, while at anchor in Seeadler Harbor waiting to off load cargo, Alhena was damaged by the explosion of the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood AE-11. Several cases of 50-caliber ammunition were blown from the Mount Hood, landing on the main deck of Alhena. The impact of the ammunition on the deck caused the ammunition to explode causing many injuries. Alhena was extensively damaged above decks and unable to participate in the invasion of Okinawa as planned. Three crewmen were killed and seventy injured, twenty-five critically. One of the wounded crew was Alhena's doctor, who sustained a broken leg when a part of the Mount Hood's boiler was blown through three bulkheads, ending up in the doctor's stateroom and breaking his leg. The doctor refused treatment for his own wounds until he had assisted the other casualties. The wounded were transferred ashore where several died over the next few days. Further operations were delayed for six weeks while repairs were made. The other ships anchored in Seeadler Harbor that day, damaged by the blast, flying ammunition and shrapnel were the USS Mindanao ARG-3, seven YMS motor minesweepers nested alongside the Mindanao, the USS Argonne AG-31 and the USS Oberrender DE-344.
While awaiting the proposed invasion of Japan, Alhena departed Manus Island for Hollandia to take on cargo, then departed Hollandia in a convoy to support the landings at Lingayen, Leyte and Mindoro. From there Alhena sailed to Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands to take on cargo then departed for Guam to embark units of the 3rd Marine Division. Alhena then departed Guam on February 9, 1945 and charted a course for Iwo Jima where the 3rd Marine Division went ashore as part of the invasion force on February 19.
At 0200 on the morning of February 19, battleship guns signaled the commencement of D-Day. Soon after, 100 bombers attacked the island, followed by another volley from the naval guns. At 0830, Marines disembarked the transports for the beaches of Iwo Jima. The objective, Mount Suribachi at the southern tip of the island, on which the Japanese were able to defend the beaches.
Three of Alhena's crew were killed when their assault boat with Marines was struck by Japanese shore fire at the beach. After landing the 3rd Marine Division and their equipment, Alhena departed Iwo Jima and proceeded to Noumea. Alhena remained there in port at Noumea in reserve for nearly two months for the impending Okinawa invasion, but did not participate in that invasion. Instead, Alhena made re-supply runs between New Guinea and the Philippines.
In late May 1945, Alhena steamed to Leyte to replenish her own supplies. In June 1945, while in the Philippines, the ship began preparations for Operation Olympic, the planned invasion of Japan. From June until the end of the war in September 1945, On August 26, Alhena arrived in Subic Bay, Philippines to take on troops for Operation Olympic. Alhena made logistics trips carrying troops, supplies and equipment between Manila, Philippines, Ulithi Atoll, Caroline Islands and various ports in New Guinea including Finschafen, Hollandia and Oro Bay, Papua New Guinea. While underway for the invasion of Japan between August 26 and September 2, a notice was posted on the ship's bulletin board informing Alhena's crew that hostilities had ceased and that World War II was over.
On September 2, 1945, Alhena anchored at Sagami Wan just outside of Tokyo Bay and was present during the historic Japanese surrender on board the battleship USS Missouri BB-63, thus ending World War II. On September 13, eleven days after the Instrument of Surrender was signed, Alhena anchored in Tokyo Bay. Alhena's crew was given four hour liberty passes to Tokyo.
Immediately following the end of hostilities, Alhena participated in the United States occupation of Japan. On October 13, 1945, Alhena entered Tokyo Bay to help transport liberated American prisoners of war to the Philippines for medical attention and convalescence and to transition them for their final trip home. By this time, most of Alhena's wartime crew was detailed home and replaced. The ship operated in Japanese waters supporting American occupation forces through November 19, 1945. On that same day, Alhena departed Yokosuka, Japan bound for the United States and made a port call at Seattle for repairs before sailing for San Francisco. After remaining in port in San Francisco through the Christmas holidays, she got underway on January 6, 1946 for the Far East. Alhena was carrying a cargo of beer and whiskey for the occupation force in China. Alhena made a port call at Okinawa on January 22 and soon after, continued on to Tsingtao, China. After discharging her cargo of spirits at Tsingtao, she left China on March 2, 1946, bound once again for San Francisco. Alhena arrived in San Francisco on March 18 and underwent a period of voyage repairs. The ship set sail on April 12, 1946 for the East Coast. After transiting the Panama Canal once again, Alhena arrived at Norfolk, Virginia on May 1. One week later she arrived at Bayonne, New Jersey and was decommissioned there on May 22, 1946.
Alhena's name was stricken from Navy records on August 15, 1946, transferred to the Maritime Administration for disposal on September 12, 1946 then placed in the Upper Hudson River Reserve Fleet. In 1960, the shipping company Isbrantsen Lines acquired a controlling interest in American Export Lines and acquired four of the old Robin Lines ships, "Cadillac C-2's" as they were referred to, including Alhena, formerly the Robin Kettering. Captain Carl Shivers the director of Marine Operations for American Export Isbrantsen Lines inspected the four newly purchased ships and chose Alhena as the best ship of the four ships and assigned himself as the new captain. Alhena's name was changed to SS Flying Hawk. The four newly acquired sister ships comprised American Export Isbrantsen Lines "Around the World" service, carrying 12 passengers and general cargo. The SS Flying Hawk was retired from service and scrapped in 1971. USS Alhena received five Battle Stars for World War ll service.
Awards
Battle Star for the Capture and Defense of Guadalcanal Aug 7, 1942
Battle Star for the invasion of Bougainville November 1, 1943
Battle Star for the Saipan Landings June 15, 1944
Battle Star for the Lingayen Gulf Landings January 9, 1945
Battle Star for the Iwo Jima Landings February 19, 1945
American Campaign Ribbon
European Campaign Ribbon
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon
World War II Victory Ribbon
Navy Occupation Ribbon - Japan
Liberation of the Philippines Ribbon
George Ray Clawson passed away peacefully in his sleep on January 12, 2009. He was born on September 28, 1925 to Ray Clawson and Veva Harker in Shelley, Idaho. He was raised in Charlo, Montana with his siblings Veva, Orilla, Marion, Rone, Jack, Myrtle and Beth. When he was 16 years old, his mother passed away so he lived with relatives in Shelley until his Aunt Leah invited him to be a part of her family. He called her his “second mother.” George’s father Ray later married Margaret Lieshman, combining his family with her six children. George left high school in order to serve his country in the United States Navy during World War II; Aunt Leah walked through the high school graduation line in his place. He was in the Pacific Theater on the USS Alhena (AKA 9) as a Motor Machinist Mate II. After the War in 1946, George was called on an LDS mission to New Zealand where he was greatly loved and was given the honored Maori name of “Korohana,” which means “Old Man” or a tribal leader. He learned to speak the Maori language and was later privileged to participate in the Maori LDS temple film. For many years he entertained audiences by doing Maori war dances (haka) and telling of his love of New Zealand and its people. Our family gatherings still include a haka. George met a beautiful blonde from Shelley, Idaho and pledged his love to her for all eternity. George married Helma “Margene” Andersen in the Idaho Falls Temple in 1951. He graduated from Utah State University with a Bachelor’s degree in refrigeration and air conditioning. During college, George became a commissioned officer in the Air Force Reserves. The Clawsons lived in Salt Lake City, Bountiful and Spanish Fork, Utah before moving to Idaho, where they resided in Twin Falls and Hazelton, and then settled in Twin Falls. George was one of the first teachers hired by the new College of Southern Idaho. He taught refrigeration and air conditioning until he retired in 1991. He subsequently earned two Master’s degrees. Six children were born to George and Margene: Ron (Sharalee), Luan Zenk (Stan), Lynn (Connie), Arlene Madsen (Duff), Sally Richardson (Corky), Chad (Penny Buckland). He has 21 grandchildren and 4-1/2 great-grandchildren. George left a legacy of love for his posterity; he never doubted his testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and his children knew that. George served in many capacities in the LDS Church including Scoutmaster, Bishop, Counselor, Stake Mission President, Sunday School teacher, High Councilor and Priest’s teacher. George encouraged his children and grandchildren to gain an education and to serve missions. He was always a missionary and loved teaching the gospel; he would strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere, and it always led back to the Church. George and Margene served four missions together: Rapid City, South Dakota; Auckland, New Zealand; Cove Fort, Utah; and Palmyra, New York. George was a great advocate of the Boy Scouts. As Scoutmaster he helped several boys earn their Eagle rank. He was also advancement chairman and was awarded the Silver Beaver for his many years of scouting service. George loved being outdoors. He camped and fished whenever he had a chance. He loved watching his garden grow; on summer evenings you could always find him outside with his pants rolled up, pulling weeds and checking on his vegetables. He grew a huge garden and was eager to share his bounty with neighbors. George had twinkling eyes and an infectious smile. Four years ago he suffered a stroke during knee surgery and since that time has been cared for by his loving wife, Margene, who rarely left his side. Many thanks to all who have helped during these past few years with meals and rides and “grandpa-sitting services.” George is preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Veva and Beth and brother Jack. Funeral services will be held Saturday, January 17 at 10:00 a.m. at the LDS chapel on Hankins Road North, Twin Falls, Idaho, with a viewing beginning one hour prior to the services. On Friday from 7:00-8:00 p.m. friends and family will be welcome at Parke’s Funeral Home. Interment will be in Goshen, Idaho following services. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Boy Scouts of America, the Church Missionary Fund, or the Perpetual Education Fund. We love you Dad.
