Dad (E.H. Buchanan, TM-2 PT-235 ) was talking some at supper. On December 15, 1944, the invasion of Mindoro took place, which turned into a two week campaign. Dad said he lived to see another day. The main fleet landed the troops and then promptly departed. They left behind only two PT Boat Ron’s to cover the landing from the sea. On December 18, 1944, PT-300 was hit by a Kamikaze caring a 250lb bomb. That combined with the two torpedoes with 900 lbs. of TNT onboard, all that was left after the explosion was just a few pieces of wood as Dad put it. There was no other fleet around so PT boats were the only targets of opportunity. On December 26, 1944, the Japanese Fleet showed up. There were 3 heavy cruisers and 6 destroyers. They started shelling the beach during night action. The PT boats engaged them, and as Dad put it tonight, there is one destroyer still there. The others turned and left the area after the one destroyer was sunk. Initially, the thought was that the ammo that was left behind for re-arming would last two weeks. It did not. The Ron’s went through that in very short order. An LST was sent with more ammo. It was on the beach with its bow doors open unloading the ammo. Not all the ammo been unloaded when two Kamikaze aircraft showed up. One of them come over the tree tops and flew straight into the bowels of the LST through the open doors. There was nothing left after the explosion except a hole in the water. The LST vaporized. Then Dad stopped. I sit amazed at the stories. Edgar Johnson had a long talk with Dad a couple of months ago as we sat at a McD’s. His Dad was on a PT as well. But, he did not get to talk to his Dad about it, so he wanted to talk to my Dad. He now knows what these guys did.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 20:54:28 +0000
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