Local man recalls end of World War II By Julie M. Fidler, Assistant Managing Editor

A family reunion just before the 54th anniversary of the end of World War II brought back some memories and propaganda for a Batesville veteran.

Robert Ford, 73, a native of Batesville, was visiting with his children and grandchildren at his home while they were here for the Gray family reunion recently. Ford's daughter, Becky Doster, and his son-in-law, Dan Doster, of Atlanta had come with their children, Robert Paul, Amanda Lou and Meredith Abigail. At his grandchildren's request, Ford dug out a box of old pictures. Among them, he came across some old Army pictures, newsletters, clippings and a leaflet from the time her served in World War II. Ford was a corporal in the 23rd replacement depot on Saipan.

Ford was drafted 1945 at age 18 and trained as infantry replacement. He says that means, "When casualties happened, we took their place."
He underwent six weeks of training at Camp Walters in Texas, near Fort Worth. As fate would have it, he came down with scarlet fever, and the whole Army camp was quarantined. "I went into the service healthy as a bear," he said. While Ford spent six weeks in the hospital, the rest of his battalion was sent overseas and he had to start his training all over.

Although he had left with two busloads of Independence County area boys, he ended up with a bunch of East Coast boys. Those he had originally left Batesville with went on to the Battle of the Bulge and the invasion of Okinawa.
Before Ford ended up in Saipan, there was some confusion among him and his peers as to where they were actually headed. First they were put on a troop train and wound up in Fort Mead, Md. From there, the soldiers thought they would go to Europe. Instead, said Ford, the train crossed the whole country and wound up in Seattle after they were issued winter gear. "We thought we were going to Alaska then," he said.

After that, the troops got on board the U.S.S. Matsonia and spent 23 days on the ocean. They were told to throw their winter gear overboard and were issued tropical equipment. "We knew we were headed to the Pacific then," said Ford.
The ship was a former luxury liner, although there was nothing luxurious about it any more, he said. On board were 5,000 soldiers and 500 Army officers and nurses.
Ford ended up in the Mariana Islands on Saipan, near Tinian and Guam, and the troops were told the island was secured. Part of the soldiers were sent to the 23rd replacement depot where they would stay until needed and others went immediately to Okinawa.

While on Saipan awaiting his assignment, Ford worked with eight to 10 Japanese prisoners of war at a time, assigning them jobs working with portable generators. In working with the POWs, every day he would see B-29 bombers go over. "Things were hot and heavy in Japan," he said. "(The B-29s) would be gone several hours. Then they'd come back with their tails and motors shot off."
This went on for several days in late July 1945 when Ford decided he'd like to see some B-29s up close. He had buddies on Tinian where they were flying out from, and the Enola Gay was stationed there.

The "Little Boy" atomic bomb was released from the Enola Gay over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and the "Fat Man" atomic bomb was released over Nagasaki by the B-29 Bockscar on Aug. 9, 1945. The Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender five days later, and Victory over Japan Day was declared Sept. 2, 1945, when Japan signed the surrender agreement.

Ford wasn't able to see the planes on Tinian because entry was restricted, but he was able to talk with GIs who "knew something was going on." So, he went to an airfield in Saipan where an airman gave him two or three copies of a flier. It was this flier that he found while looking through pictures with his grandchildren.
The flier pictures several B-29s dropping what appears to be a lot of bombs. There is Japanese writing on the front, and the back is covered with Japanese writing.
Ford said the airman told him, "Here's what we're dropping now." The airman said the propaganda leaflet asked the Japanese citizens to convince their leaders to surrender and they would be provided food and medical attention.
This was later confirmed by Ford's sister-in-law. Ford said his wife's brother was in the Navy at Okinawa and married a Japanese woman. The woman later translated the leaflet and told Ford it said, "Encourage your leaders to give up, and we wouldn't mistreat them."

Among his memorabilia, Ford also found some newsletters published by fellow soldiers on Saipan, called The Saipan Daily Target. The newsletters, dated Dec. 5, 1945, and April 3, 1946, tell how Japanese holding out on Saipan surrendered there, months after the battle ended. The April issue tells about a giant tidal wave that swept the Pacific. Ford recalled staying in caves for three days and nights during the tidal wave. He was able to come home shortly after that.

PROPAGANDA LEAFLET Above is a leaflet dropped by the U.S. military over Japan days before atomic bombs were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The leaflet surfaced recently in a collection of old pictures owned by Robert Ford of Batesville.