Into the Fray

Edward Peer Barrett

When I first mentioned to my sister that I was starting off this blog with our grandfather’s story her understandable response was, “Who?” 

Dying from colon cancer at the age of 46, my grandfather, Lt. Edward Peer Barrett, left behind a complicated legacy for his wife and four sons. My father, the youngest of the children, was only 12 at the time of his dad’s death.

Undoubtedly an alcoholic — which oftentimes led to violent outcomes — Edward was in the process of getting a divorce from my grandmother when he received his terminal diagnosis.

Born on June 28, 1920, in Port Huron, Michigan, the then 23-year-old Edward enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1943 as an intelligence officer. Serving on the USS Mount McKinley, USS Appalachian, and the USS Nashville for the duration of the war, Edward survived two kamikaze attacks and saw major action during the Battle of Peleliu, the Battle of the Philippines, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf, among others.

The excerpt below is not to excuse his later actions, but perhaps glean a multifaceted perspective of the man and the war that ultimately shaped his life.

*The passage has been edited for clarity, but the rest, particularly the detached style in which he wrote, remains untouched.  

The voyage north from New Guinea to Leyte was uneventful other than a few “routine” air raids and we arrived at Leyte on “A” Day, October 20th, 1944. The troups [sic] were put ashore on schedule at 1000. The initial forces met little opposition and our beachheads were firmly established by late afternoon. However, the light cruiser, Honolulu, received an aerial torpedo at approximately 1600 the afternoon of the 20th of October and was severely damaged. This cruiser was standing approximately 1,000 yards off our starboard bow. General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Philippine invasion Forces was quartered aboard the light cruiser, Nashville, which traveled directly in our convoy from New Guinea. General MacArthur, affectionately referred to as “Back Track Mac” went ashore on “A” Day long enough to make his “I have returned speech and to be photographed with his troops and then returned aboard the light cruiser, Nashville.

On December 6th, this staff was detached from the USS Spencer and we reported aboard the USS Hughes (DD 4-10) and made last minute preparations for the invasion of Ormoc Bay. We departed from Leyte Gulf on this Hari Kiri run on 6 December and arrived at Ormoc Bay on the morning of 7 December 1944 (Pearl Harbor Day). Troups of the 77th Division, under the command of Major General Bruce, were put ashore at approximately 0707 and our beachheads were firmly established after light resistance. It is interesting to note that a Japanese troup convoy had departed, we presume from the Manila area, on the night of December 6th and was scheduled to reinforce the Japanese garrison at Ormoc Bay on the night of December 7th.

The Air Craft that had been scheduled to support our troups going ashore at Ormoc were vectored north to meet this Japanese convoy and approximately 30,000 Japanese troups were killed as a result of the bombings. The largest portion of these troups were drowned as the American airmen dropped torpedoes and bombs on the thin-skinned Japanese troup ships. This invasion at Ormoc Bay, which was the brainchild of General Kruger, the ranking general under General MacArthur, proved to be well worth the hazardous nature of such an invasion and resulted in the routing of the Japanese garrisons on the western side of Leyte.

We departed from Ormoc Bay around noon of December 7th for our return trip to Leyte Gulf.

On the return voyage, we saw the Japanese suicide squadrons at full swing. The Destroyer Mayhan and the APD Ward were hit by suicide bombers in Ormoc Bay and it was necessary to sink both ships by our own naval gun fire after personnel was evacuated. The Destroyer Mayhan was hit by three suicide planes but loss in personnel was very light; however, the APD Ward, which was hit by only one suicide plane, suffered high casualties. The suicide plane hit the bridge, killing 10 of the 12 officers aboard that ship.

Shortly after we were out of Ormoc Bay, a suicide run was made on the Destroyer Hughes (which I was aboard) but was unsuccessful, we believe because the plane was hit by 20 and 40 mm and 511 guns and the plane crashed just off of our starboard bow.

The Destroyer Lamson was hit by suicide planes on the voyage back, as was the LST 737 and APD Little. Numerous suicide runs were attempted on other ships in our convoy but due to the excellent gunnery of our airmen and the entire aircraft batteries, no other ships received damage. The Army and Marine pilots, which furnished our air cover, shot down 34 of these Japanese planes without loss to any of our aircraft.

We arrived at Leyte Gulf the morning of 8 December and we were detached from the USS Hughes and reported back aboard the USS Spencer. While we were in Ormoc Bay, the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer suffered the misfortune of going afoul on a reef in Leyte Gulf, which made her of no further use for our next operation.

13 December found us well on our way toward Mindora and at approximately 1500, we were at the tip of the Island of Negros when a Japanese plane crashed into the superstructure of the Nashville, just aft of the bridge.

This plane (a Zeek) was carrying two bombs and hit the Nashville at her 511 batteries, detonating our own 5mm ammunition. The Japanese plane came from the island of Mindanao (South of Leyte) and came in undetected due to the fact that our radar was land locked due to these land masses. Neither the cruiser, Nashville, nor the many destroyers on our port and starboard flank fired a shot at this intruder so we are positive that the plane was one of the Japanese suicide squadrons and had not been previously hit. Within an hour after the fires aboard the Nashville were well under control, the larger portion of Admiral Struble' s staff, still alive, were transferred to the Destroyer Dashiel and continued on their way for the invasion of Mindora.

I remained aboard the cruiser and as our radio and radar gear were all knocked out, my battle station served no useful purpose. For this reason, I worked as an assistant to the Doctor in the Officers' ward room, which became our First Aid Station. There were some 382 injured men to be cared for and 132 dead.

Among the dead was Admiral Struble' s Chief of Staff, Captain Abdille, our top ranking communications officers, Lt. Commander Beech, Colonel Hill, Chief of Staff of General W. C. Dunchell, who was in charge of the troups to be put ashore at Mindora. General Dunchell suffered minor cuts and bruises but continued with Admiral Struble' s staff on the Dashiel for Mindora. The Nashville continued out into the Sulu Sea with the convoy until dark, when we left the convoy and began our return trip to Leyte Gulf. From the time that we were hit on the afternoon of December 13th until the following morning, we worked in the ward room on the injured men. Although facilities did not allow complete hospitalization, Dr. Ballenger, the ship's doctor, administered temporary first aid, such as closing wounds, setting bones and treating severe burns. I assisted Dr. Ballenger in his work, setting some bones and whatever else I could.

We arrived at Leyte Gulf on the morning of the 14th and my portion of the staff was detached and reported aboard the USS Stagg (A.W.1).

While aboard the Stagg, a suicide bomb made a run on us, crashing into the sea some twenty yards off of our starboard amidships.

We were detached from the Stagg on 21 December and reported back aboard the USS Mt. McKinley. The McKinley departed from Leyte on the 23rd of December for Manus in the Admiralty Islands. We arrived at Manus on 28 December and I was detached on 30 December with Lt. J. G. Whalen and ten men. We reported to the Receiving Station at Manus on the 30th, awaiting transportation back to Pearl Harbor. While at Manus, we found the graves of some of the men we had treated aboard the Nashville and whom we had presumed would live.

On December 31st, we were detached from Receiving Station at Manus and reported to Acorn 24 at Monte where we had procured an air priority to fly back to Pearl Harbor. New Year's Eve was spent seeing a motion picture, "Hitler Gang”, plus a few beers and we were detached and we departed from Acorn 24 (PB2Y) from Lumbrum Pointe, Los Negros on 1 January, 1945 - 1800. We arrived at Pearl Harbor at 0230 on 2 January 1945. It should be noted that we spent two New Year's Days as we crossed the International date line on the night of January 1st, and the following day again was January 1st.

At Pearl Harbor, I was assigned as Assistant Ordnance Officer of the Commander Support Air Craft Staff and worked in that capacity until February 4th, when I was detached from this central command and reported to the USS Appalachian (AGC 1) which was headed for the San Francisco Navy Yards for overhaul. We arrived in San Francisco on 13 February and I reported home on 14 February.