Oral History Interview with James E. Leavelle, September 15, 2007
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Oral History Interview with James E. Leavelle, September 15, 2007 (Text)
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with James Leavelle. Leavelle graduated from high school in May 1944 and on July 8, 1944 he was sworn into the US Navy in Amarillo, Texas. His high school had offered a special course in radio operating, so he enrolled in the course and learned basic radio theory as well as how to copy Morse code. On 18 July, he reported to the Navy Recruiting and Processing Station at Lubbock, Texas where he was officially sworn into the Navy for a second time and enlisted under the Navy Reserve V-6 program. After boot camp at the San Diego Naval Training Station, Leavelle went to Navy Radio Operator School, graduating in May 1945 as a Seaman First Class Radioman. From there, he went to Camp Shoemaker (outside Oakland, California) for ship assignment - the USS Tamalpais (AO-96), reporting on May 23, 1945. The Tamalpais was new construction, just built in Sausalito, California at the Marin Ship Yards. After shakedown exercises off San Diego and loading five million gallons of potable water in San Pedro, the Tamalpais sailed for Eniwetok Island in the Marshall Islands on June 23, 1945. The Tamalpais sailed between Eniwetok, Manus (Admiralty Islands), Ulithi (Caroline Islands) and Leyte Gulf loading and unloading fresh water. They were enroute to the Philippines when they heard that the atomic bomb had been dropped. The Tamalpais left Leyte Gulf on August 14th as part of a convoy which when joined the Third Fleet. On August 30, the Tamalpais entered Tokyo Bay along with several other ships. They were there on September 2 and anchored near the USS Missouri at the time of the surrender ceremony. The Tamalpais sailed for Sasebo Ko, Japan on November 19, arriving on November 22. They supplied LSTs with water and lube oil while there. The LSTs were making shuttle runs back and forth between Korea and Japan, bringing back Japanese soldiers to their homeland and taking the people that Japan had more or less enslaved back to Korea. The Tamalpais sailed for Hong Kong on March 5, 1946 serving as a water station there until April 25, 1946 when they received orders to sail for home. They arrived in Mobile, Alabama on May 28, 1946 where the crew commenced preparations for decommissioning the ship which occurred on June 21, 1946. Leavelle left the ship on June 13, 1946 and was processed out of the Navy at Camp Walters south of Houston, Texas. Leavelle's folder contains three appendages - USS Tamalpais (AO-96) ship's history 1945-1946, an abbreviated daily log (same time frame), and a list of naval commands the ship served under.
Oral History Interview with James E. Leavelle, September 15, 2007, [transcript] ark:/67531/metapth1605264
Oral History Interview with James E. Leavelle, September 15, 2007, audio recording, September 15, 2007; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1609074/: accessed June 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.