Veteran recalls service during World War II
Posted on Wednesday, November 19, 2008
DECATUR ó Local veteran Ivan Duncan, recounted his adventures serving as an army cook during World War II in honor of Veterans Day last week.
Duncan was inducted into the Army in Little Rock on Dec. 28, 1941, just three weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. He grew up in Hiwasse and was 21 years old when he joined the military.
Since Duncan had 13 months of experience cooking for the civilian conservation corps, he was chosen to be a cook for the army. He went to Camp Roberts, Calif., where he attended short-order cooking school for 13 weeks. He went on to San Luis Obispo, Calif., where he continued his training with a field artillery unit.
In preparation for the North African campaign, Duncan trained in the Mojave Dessert and Death Valley, cooking over a 3-foot square stove in the back of a truck as it went down the road and serving the food upon arrival at his destination.
Duncan said 30 percent of the cooks couldnít handle the heat, and on one occasion it got so hot most of the soldiers, including Duncanís assistant, had to go back to camp.
ì It didnít bother me very much, î he said. He still remembers serving roast beef, mashed potatoes and vegetables that day.
Back at Fort Ord, near Monterey Bay, Calif., Duncan went back to cooking in a regular army kitchen.
ì The word got out that I could cook and they put me in the headquarters of an amphibious training unit, cooking for generals and high-up officers. My artillery buddies went to Attu. A lot of them were killed, but I didnít go ó it was a bloody mess; the Japs didnít take any prisoners, î Duncan said.
Instead, Duncan set sail on a ship with 5, 000 other soldiers destined for Adak Island, a part of the Aleutian Island chain that arcs 1, 000 miles west of Alaska into the Bering Sea.
ì They couldnít have made the ocean any more beautiful than it was, î he said.
At Adak Island, the soldiers set up field tents, and despite the fact that it rained every day for two weeks, Duncan described the island as beautiful.
ì We got on the same ship and traveled on the roughest waters you ever saw. Boy, I got sick, î he said.
The ship was headed for Kiska Island where Duncan had heard the fighting was bad. The ship stopped off shore from Kiska Island, and letters to home were censored.
ì When it came time to go into battle, we could hear gunfire, î he said.
The soldiers got off the ship with ducks, or amphibious vehicles, that held about 50 people, but when they reached the shore the troops found the island abandoned.
Duncan explained that the air force had been bombing Kiska, and the Japanese knew the troops were coming.
The Japanese had lived in caves on the island, but the soldiers lived outside in pup tents. The first kitchen Duncan set up on the island was an outdoor kitchen, he said.
Five soldiers lived in each tent with a coal stove in the middle, although they werenít allowed to use much coal because it was in short supply. The weather was bitterly cold.
ì It didnít bother me much. I was 23 years old by then, î Duncan recalled.
Duncan described Kiska as mountainous and windy, with 80-mile-an-hour gales to be expected. Army engineers built level places where the wind didnít hit the buildings and set up a dining tent to hold 400 to 500 people. Duncan cooked there.
Duncan stayed in Kiska for 18 months and advanced to the rank of mess sergeant. He was also in charge of the bakery and making bread for the whole post.
ì I never did quit cooking because I liked to do it, î he said.
When the snow and ice melted in May, everything flooded and salmon ran up the little stream that ran between Duncanís hut and the kitchen. Duncanís friends brought him freshcaught salmon, and he cooked enormous salmon steaks that were four or five inches long, pink and beautiful, he said.
The Japanese had built a big lake on the island, and Duncan traveled with four or five of his friends on a Cat ó a vehicle with tracks instead of wheels ó to go fishing, he said.
ì I thought I was really catching fish, î Duncan said, ì I caught 24 fish, 24-inches long. When we got done, the guy sitting next to me had caught 124 ó sometimes there were happy moments. î
After 18 months, Duncan was sent back to Anchorage Alaska.
ì I had a beautiful time in Alaska. It was June and I even went swimming. I still had a lot of kid in me, î he said.
In Anchorage, Duncan worked in the high officersí mess and also got a job in an officersí club where he cooked with a chef from a big hotel in Chicago.
While there, Duncan was given a 45 day furlough in the states. He returned to Decatur and, during that time, started dating his future wife, Betty.
The couple married in March and bought their farm west of Decatur in June.
Before he left for the war, Duncan was one of Lloyd Petersonís first five employees. After returning, he continued to work for the company for more than 50 years while expanding his own farm, where he still raises cattle and grows awardwinning Bermuda hay.
Duncan continues to enjoy cooking and has recently started baking pies again, with the help of his grand-daughter-in-law, Audrey Duncan.
Duncan is also a renown gardener in the community and grows all of his own produce. This year, he grew a 5-pound sweet potato, the biggest heís ever grown.
Background Information: In May of 1942 the Japanese were planning simultaneous attacks on the Midway Islands and the Aleutian Islands with intentions of destroying the remnants of the U. S. Pacific Fleet at the Midway Islands and to divert American naval forces with the attack on the Aleutian Islands. American forces were victorious at the Battle of Midway, sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers and destroying or damaging some 300 planes, but Japanese forces were successful in the Aleutians, occupying the islands of Attu, Agattu and Kiska June 7. The United States feared the enemy would use Attu and the other Aleutian Islands, which stretch some 1, 000 miles west from Alaska towards Russia, as a staging area for attacks on the North American mainland. During October 1942, American forces bombed Kiska and that spring Attu was liberated. Casualties were heavy. Of the 2, 500 Japanese on the island, only 29 survived. Of the 15, 000 U. S. troops, 550 died and 1, 500 were wounded. Another 1, 200 were casualties of Attuís harsh climate.
During the two months following Attuís liberation, the 11 th Army Air Force and Navy Patrol Wing Four dropped seven million pounds of bombs on the Japanese in Kiska. On August 15, 1943, 34, 426 Allied troops landed on Kiska. The force included elements of the Seventh Infantry Division, Fourth Infantry Regiment, 87 th Mountain Combat Team, 5, 300 Canadians, 95 ships ó including three battleships and a heavy cruiser ó and 168 aircraft. When Allied forces arrived, they found Kiska completely abandoned. The Japanese had successfully removed their troops without notice on July 28 under the cover of fog. Admiral Ernest King reported that the only thing remaining on the island after Allied troops reclaimed it were dogs and fresh brewed coffee. The removal of Japanese forces from the Aleutians ended any threat the Japanese could invade the United States from the North. It also gave Allied troops a base from which they could successfully bomb Japanese Islands. On July 10, 1943 eight B-25 bombers flew from Attu to strike the Japanese Island of Paramushiro. It was the first air attack on Japan since the famous Doolittle raid of April, 1942. Information for this article was obtained from The Invasion of Kiska; The Aleutian Campaign, a brochure produced by the National Park Service, Teaching With Historic Places. Attu: North American Battleground of World War II, a publication available on the National Park Service Web site nps. gov, and from pacificwrecks. com.
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