March 14, 2024 • 49 mins
They say the greatest lessons come from those who've lived through the unthinkable. That's why I am honored to share the microphone with Alvin Hayes, a World War II Navy veteran whose youthful enlistment at 17 opens a window to a bygone era of bravery and sacrifice. Together, we trace his father's World War I legacy and the influential tales of Pearl Harbor survivors that steered Al into the Navy's embrace. From the rustic simplicity of farm life to the stringent demands of military training, Alvin's journey is a vibrant homage to the spirit and values of a generation that indelibly shaped our world.
With a good-natured rivalry sparking between servicemen, the intensity of Navy SEAL training is brought to life in our heartfelt conversation. Alvin reminisces about the trials of boat handling and the grueling rigors of training, punctuated with humor that only those who've shared such experiences can truly appreciate. The story takes an intriguing twist as Alvin reveals the secretive transfer to Fort Pierce, Florida, and the makeshift 'barracks' that awaited them. It's a testament to the camaraderie and resilience that defines military life and the unspoken bonds that endure beyond the battlefield.
Imagine the anticipation of setting sail to unfamiliar waters, the discipline of military training, and the unwavering resolve in the face of imminent danger. Alvin's narrative sails us to uncharted territories, recounting the tension and meticulous preparations for deployment while giving us a stark reminder of the sacrifices made by those at sea. From the solemn Sundays aboard the ship to the nerve-wracking operations of armaments during kamikaze threats, Alvin's vivid storytelling captures the essence of a sailor's life during one of history's most pivotal moments. Join us as we honor the courage and dedication of not just Alvin Hayes, but an entire generation of warriors who answered their nation's call.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Connecting the dots, Connecting his guests to the
world, Creating more connections.
Welcome to the Connection.
Meet your host.
Author, coach, Air Forceveteran Jay Morales.
Alvin Hays (00:30):
Moving up and down.
Jay Miralles (00:32):
Okay, all right.
Three, two, one.
Okay.
So, al, I have the privilegeand the honor of interviewing
you today.
Thank you for having us inlovely Red Oak, iowa.
We're going to do a lot oftalking today.
I'm going to ask you a lot ofquestions, but I just want this
(00:52):
to be a conversation betweenfriends, okay, and we don't have
to be formal at all.
The reason I want to share thisstory is I want to honor your
legacy, I want to honor yourvalues in life and I want you to
speak to this generation.
So keep that in mind as we talk.
So, alvin Hayes, motor Macthird class and that's, that's
(01:14):
Navy, correct?
Right?
So tell me, explain to me firstof all, motor Mac third class,
like that's not.
That rank doesn't even existanymore.
I'm sure it doesn't, right?
Right, because now it's, it'sensign and and Siemens, siemens,
basic and things that nature.
So tell me, 1943 is when youjoined.
(01:39):
You needed your mother'sconsent.
Alvin Hays (01:41):
Yes, yes, and my dad's.
Jay Miralles (01:44):
My dad's consent Okay, because you were 17 years
old.
Alvin Hays (01:46):
Yes.
Jay Miralles (01:47):
Then you held up, then they held you and they used
you in 1944, then you enteredin 1944, actual entered till
1946.
So take me back to the day youspoke to mom and dad about,
because you volunteered, youweren't drafted, that's right.
So tell me about that, al.
Alvin Hays (02:05):
Well, I wanted to join the army because my dad had
been the army.
Okay, and we're a war one, oh,okay, and he got knocked out in
the Argonne Forest in France.
Okay, and they left him fordead.
(02:25):
Four days later they've come byand picking up the dead and
they send him move his arm, andthat's when they discovered that
he was alive.
Jay Miralles (02:38):
Did you already get notified that he was KIA or
Well?
Alvin Hays (02:41):
I don't know anymore .
Jay Miralles (02:43):
You don't know more than just what you said.
Yeah, wow, so dad's moving.
Alvin Hays (02:48):
And dad wouldn't let me join the army.
Okay, Because, he said he'dalready been in so many foxholes
with water trying to call it mybedroom at night.
Yeah, that he said I don't wantanybody to have to go through
that again.
So, Well, I had a schoolteacher that had two nephews
(03:13):
that had they were twins andthey had joined the Navy in 1941
.
And they were on the battleshipOklahoma when the Japanese hit
Pearl Harbor on December the 7th.
Jay Miralles (03:33):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (03:34):
And it rolled there in Pearl Harbor.
Jay Miralles (03:38):
Yep Pearl Harbor Put down yeah.
Alvin Hays (03:42):
So they had to jump through the out into the greasy
water, swim Through the fire.
Keep the fire away from them.
Jay Miralles (03:52):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (03:54):
And the school teacher says that they was
coming home for Thanksgivingdinner in 1943.
Jay Miralles (04:05):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (04:07):
And would you like to go and talk to the boys,
would I?
Jay Miralles (04:13):
Yeah, and how old are you?
16, 17.
That's 17, right, yeah, okay,they talked to you.
What do you?
Alvin Hays (04:21):
remember about the conversation.
Well, for one thing is I hadnever met them before.
Okay, and they were in thedress whites.
Jay Miralles (04:30):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (04:31):
Oh, and they looked.
I never seen anybody look sogreat as they did.
Jay Miralles (04:36):
Yeah, and their dress whites.
Alvin Hays (04:38):
And they started telling about what had happened
to them in Pearl Harbor onDecember the 7th.
Well, when I went home thatnight, from then on I start
badgering my dad.
You know, would it make adifference if I would you let me
join the Navy?
I don't want to hear any moreabout it?
(05:00):
He says, wow, well, and I askedhim that up until Christmas.
And finally he says afterChristmas I'll take you to
Council Bluffs and see ifthey'll take you.
So him and mom took me toCouncil Bluffs and I enlisted
(05:23):
Sure, they'd take me.
Well, and so, and now that wasin 43, see, right, I wasn't out
of school yet.
Jay Miralles (05:34):
You were just, yeah, you were 17.
Alvin Hays (05:36):
Yeah, I was a senior in high school.
Jay Miralles (05:38):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (05:40):
And the middle of the about February I got a call
the letter that says report tothe place in Des Moines.
So they kind of decided thatthat would be what was going to
(06:05):
take place.
It was supposed to be in May,see, or the last part of April.
Jay Miralles (06:10):
When?
Was it like?
Towards the middle of summer,but they called you in February.
Were you done with school thenat that time?
Alvin Hays (06:17):
Well, I already had enough credits to graduate.
Jay Miralles (06:19):
Okay, okay.
Alvin Hays (06:21):
And they sent me to from there right on after I got
in Des Moines.
We stayed overnight and fromthere they set us to Great Lakes
, illinois, and started training.
Jay Miralles (06:38):
So you rode the train.
Alvin Hays (06:41):
From Des Moines to Chicago.
Jay Miralles (06:44):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (06:45):
All day long.
Jay Miralles (06:46):
I can only imagine Because you know, I've done
enough interviews that you jumpfrom one little town to the
other and picked up some more,you know.
Yeah and Al, I've done enoughinterviews that I've been
corrected about World War IIthat they said we didn't have no
airports.
Alvin Hays (07:03):
Stood up all the way .
Jay Miralles (07:05):
What.
Alvin Hays (07:06):
Stood up on this train all the way.
Jay Miralles (07:08):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (07:10):
And when we got into Chicago we had to get on that
elevated and take us north.
You know it's about an hourfrom downtown or the railroad
station.
Jay Miralles (07:24):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (07:26):
And so we started training Well to me as a farm
boy and done a lot of heavy work.
It was like a walk in the park.
Jay Miralles (07:39):
Because you're used to the work ethic.
Alvin Hays (07:41):
The city guys are to kill them.
Jay Miralles (07:43):
The city guys.
Alvin Hays (07:45):
Well, I mean, they had done more than a few
calcetics or high schoolbasketball or something you know
.
And so that's when I found outthat I weighed 130 pounds.
Jay Miralles (08:02):
When you joined, at 17 years old.
Alvin Hays (08:04):
And you had to be able to lift twice your weight
260 pounds.
Wow, and be able to carry thatmile on your back.
Jay Miralles (08:18):
One mile.
Double your weight on your back.
What that looked like.
Alvin Hays (08:25):
Damn tough to do.
They couldn't do it, but Icould.
Yeah, because I used ordinarywork.
Yeah, ordinary work, he knows.
Jay Miralles (08:36):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (08:37):
Well, anyway, I thought boot camp.
We was there six weeks.
Jay Miralles (08:44):
Six weeks in boot camp okay.
Alvin Hays (08:47):
And the two mile run .
Well, that was just walking thepark too, and some of the
others, it's totally exhausted.
It was amazing, you know thatwent so quick.
Well, when I got my out of bootcamp.
(09:07):
Why they give me five days off?
Well, it took one day to getback to Reddick.
Jay Miralles (09:14):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (09:15):
Took another day to get back in.
Jay Miralles (09:18):
So I hold three or four days yeah.
Alvin Hays (09:20):
Yeah, too bad.
So we laid around there inoutgoing unit.
You know what that is.
Jay Miralles (09:27):
Well, when you OGU Okay, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Outgoing unit, yes.
Alvin Hays (09:33):
So they divided this up.
They took 24 out of 240.
They sent us to Little Creek,virginia, on train.
Okay, the rest of the 240 wentto the west coast.
Now, I never kept track of themafter that, sure Whether they
(09:57):
went to the fleet or whetherthey took more training.
Jay Miralles (10:00):
Right.
Alvin Hays (10:00):
But we started to take training in Little Creek,
Virginia.
Jay Miralles (10:06):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (10:07):
And it was small boat training like the Higgins
boats.
Jay Miralles (10:14):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (10:15):
And that's the boat, the plywood boats, with the
steel ramp that lets down infront.
Jay Miralles (10:20):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (10:21):
And we started training on those, okay, and I
didn't know.
I knew what a boat was, butthat just about summed it up.
You got that.
Jay Miralles (10:30):
You seen them.
You seen them around.
Alvin Hays (10:32):
And so we got wet every day or two.
I could swim a little bitenough to save myself.
Jay Miralles (10:42):
I want to stop you there, al.
I want to ask you.
So your job, though, was scoutsand raiders.
Is that correct?
Scouts and raiders, which weknow evolved into Navy SEALs.
Can you explain to what thatmeant?
Will Okay, yes, sir, I willwait for that, but that's how I
got into.
Alvin Hays (10:58):
It was through the boat business, boat business,
okay, and I was.
I kind of knew how to changethe battery and the motors.
Yes, and after they getseawater, you know that cable
rocks or it dissipates quite.
Jay Miralles (11:23):
Yes.
Those will they rode away thecopper, the copper, yeah.
Alvin Hays (11:27):
Yeah, well, and so you have to take them off and
put them on, and I could do thatbecause I'd done it on the farm
On different things, oh, yeah.
I wasn't exactly dumb you werehandy.
Change bolts and things.
Jay Miralles (11:40):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (11:41):
And so they made me an engineer that I could do that
.
Well, I met another young fellathat was from Gulfport,
Mississippi.
Yeah, yeah.
When I was in boot camp and himand I started competing with
one another On a two-mile run,we'd each one see who could be
(12:05):
back first.
Jay Miralles (12:07):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (12:09):
And we just kept doing that.
Jay Miralles (12:11):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (12:11):
Well, he was on this same bunch that was sent to
Virginia, yeah, and so wetrained together and we still
did the calcetics and did a lotof the water characteristics
(12:32):
around the boat.
He'd lived on the Gulf so heknew all about swimming and
boats and what have you.
Well, I learned from him, butwe still competed.
Jay Miralles (12:43):
Yeah, absolutely Every day.
We competed, yes, and friendlycompetition Right.
Alvin Hays (12:49):
Yes, well, it didn't always end up that way.
I'm sure Because from thestandpoint after we got into the
seals I'll skip that until weget back to the seals that we
started out with a littlefour-cylinder gasoline engines
in the boats.
Jay Miralles (13:09):
Mm-hmm.
Alvin Hays (13:10):
And they didn't have enough poop to put the ramp up
on the beach every time.
Jay Miralles (13:21):
Oh yeah.
Alvin Hays (13:22):
Especially with the load on them Right.
So they took grows out andchanged the larger and
everything and put infour-cylinder Buddha deshals.
Okay, they had a lot more, butnot really could use more.
So getting back to our trainingarea lasted about six weeks and
(13:50):
we enjoyed the boat work.
It was kind of fun at times, andyet it wasn't.
And I wasn't quite used tobeing in the boats something
like that over the year, rightUntil I got into the service.
Well, all at once they told usthat your training is finished
(14:18):
here Four o'clock.
Have your seatbags packed andyou'll be taken to the train.
We had no idea where we weregoing.
We couldn't find out anything.
We found this out by—they was acouple of the young gals that
(14:45):
worked for the military.
They were in the Navy Yard inNorfolk, virginia.
Jay Miralles (14:53):
Norfolk Virginia.
Alvin Hays (14:55):
And they told us that it was going to be a
transfer and if we would get onto this real quick like we
get—have a chance to go If youwant to leave this area.
Well, of course you don't knowwhether you do or you don't, but
(15:15):
anyway, we got on the train atfour o'clock and we headed out
and we woke up in the morning.
We had no idea what direction.
We know.
We couldn't go east.
We didn't know that the traincouldn't go east and woke up the
next morning we was inJacksonville, florida, watering
(15:35):
up the old steamer see.
And well, we thought, sure nowwe'll get off here.
Well, we didn't know there wasany Navy bases in Jacksonville.
Jay Miralles (15:48):
Right.
Alvin Hays (15:49):
Well, so we stayed aboard and see, we had a chief
with us and he stayed right withus, just hung to us like we
were good to him.
And so it was long, about themiddle of the afternoon or
little later than maybe threeo'clock, and we talked why the
(16:13):
train stopped and everybodyrushes to the windows or the
door and looks out where we at.
Well, you couldn't see nothingbut the brush in Florida,
undergrowth and all of that kindof a junk.
Yeah, or in the hill, aren't we?
Jay Miralles (16:31):
I would have asked the same thing and he says off,
boys, off, throw your sea bagout.
Alvin Hays (16:36):
And he says about a half a mile down here.
He says there's a road thatgoes crossways here and there'll
be some transportation to pickyou up, take you to where you're
going to go.
Well, it was probably a mileand a half instead of a half.
Jay Miralles (16:56):
With your sea bag.
Alvin Hays (16:57):
With your sea bag on your shoulder and we took about
five minutes.
And then he says let's justdouble time a little bit yeah.
Jay Miralles (17:06):
Double time it huh .
Alvin Hays (17:07):
And carry that too Well.
Of course, myself and RudyHarden, him and I was in
competition, and so Each one seewho could outdo the other whole
mile and a half With that overon her shoulder well.
(17:28):
We got down there and there wasa couple of trucks that looked
like cattle, trucks with a highside, just like Anyplace else.
Yeah it was a cattle truck, sothrow your seat bag in one, then
you get in the other.
Yeah, and we drove through thebrush for 20 minutes.
(17:49):
We come to this little towncalled Fort Pierce, florida.
It was a small town, look kindof like Small as Malvern or
small as Malvern, that's small.
Didn't amount to much then sureand we come to this bridge.
(18:10):
Everybody was looking yeah andthere was a sent.
It looked like a brand newbridge and it was, and there was
a sentry on each end of thebridge.
Jay Miralles (18:23):
Oh yeah.
Alvin Hays (18:24):
They had to stop and get permission to cross.
Jay Miralles (18:28):
Mm-hmm.
Alvin Hays (18:29):
We got on the other end.
They had to stop and getpermission to Go ahead and go
through the gate and unload.
Well, we couldn't see nothingbut this brush.
There was no buildings on it atall.
We did see one big white tent,great large tent, and and what's
(18:57):
the first thing?
That some guy in the backdidn't want to be recognized
says where's the barracks?
He says 15 minutes, you'll beissued one.
Jay Miralles (19:07):
Oh.
Alvin Hays (19:10):
Okay, what that meant.
That means a tent right, right,a tent.
Jay Miralles (19:16):
You're not getting the barracks.
Alvin Hays (19:17):
He said well, where are we going to place them?
He said you'll find out andthey.
Finally we grabbed your C bagand drill, marched up Several
yards and there was a kind of aopen way through the brush there
(19:39):
, and Not a walkway, just kindof a opening so you wouldn't get
scratched.
And we went through that and hesays your tents are laying
there in a pile, your barracksare Put them together right on
the beach.
And we did right on the beachright on the beach, just above
(20:03):
the waterline.
Yeah on high tide, you couldjust with the wind in the east,
you could end up.
You wouldn't have to wash yourfeet that day.
Jay Miralles (20:14):
Well, that was convenient that way.
Alvin Hays (20:17):
That was a little different in the foreign country
, let me tell you.
Well, from there on he got moreinteresting all right and they
told us that very same day.
Uncle Sam owns you night and day, says this you're going to be
(20:38):
down here and he says it's 20hour days every day 20 hour days
and you might get to sleep fourhours and you might not get to
sleep any, but still 20 hour dayand he says Half of the time
(20:59):
you'll be working at nightstudying.
And he says first thing in themorning, at two o'clock in the
morning, he said we're gonna doten miles.
Jay Miralles (21:12):
Right, right in the morning, ten miles mark with
, with, with a pack on.
No, no pack, just just okay.
Just ten miles full grass, okay, oh yeah, whoa and everything.
Alvin Hays (21:24):
And so five up, five back.
See that give me a ten miles.
Yes and he says I'm right now.
He says there's gonna be a.
Your director or teacher isgonna be with you Every minute
(21:47):
of the day and night.
He said you'll think it, he'spart of your life.
And we did.
Every three out of the 24 of us, they had six instructors, wow,
and they was with you.
If that you went ten miles,they went ten miles.
Okay, if you swim a hundredyards, they swim a hundred yards
(22:09):
.
You couldn't goof off.
Jay Miralles (22:12):
No.
Alvin Hays (22:12):
Well, it got so that with that ten miles, I'm one of
those person that that Gulls inthe crotch.
Jay Miralles (22:24):
Yeah, down the legs.
Alvin Hays (22:25):
Yes, yes especially if you got a little sand in.
Jay Miralles (22:28):
Yes, they had right and it would chafe.
It start chafeing right.
Alvin Hays (22:34):
Understatement of the year.
Sometimes, when we get backfrom that ten miles, why my
shoes would be full of bloodbecause it would bleed down
blood just running right downyour clothes, your shoes and
Some of the guys start yelping.
You know well, Rudy and I wasended up first and back again.
(22:58):
Yeah and Old chief says to you.
He says you guys look like youneed some help.
Jay Miralles (23:08):
Go take a swim to wash that off, but that's salt
water.
Alvin Hays (23:15):
So that's what you did yeah and and now that's just
two o'clock in the morning.
Jay Miralles (23:20):
That's two o'clock in the.
That's not during the day.
Alvin Hays (23:23):
No, that's not during the day, that's in the
morning.
You can't hardly see anything,hardly see.
We were up every night most ofthe night, maybe four hours, wow
, we would back even though itwas dark and, by the way, we
were all issued Night nightglasses.
(23:44):
Oh, okay, yeah, night visionyes and so that was one of the
things he kept us in shape withrunning and we had classes in
between and this big white tentit had everything you could
(24:04):
imagine.
That was the child hall, thatwas the Commissary, commissary,
that was Didn't make anydifference, what you wanted.
Jay Miralles (24:15):
How big was this tent?
It was as big as a footballfield, half a football field,
probably half half a footballfield, and had everything in it.
Yeah, oh gosh.
Alvin Hays (24:24):
How many people were in the area at that time, you
think well, that was the All thecommissary, the pharmacy,
everything was there, wow, andwe had lessons there too.
Yes and we had a place that wasblocked off and they showed an
(24:46):
awful lot of shows by, Forinstance, you had to learn every
plane that was made in the USAyeah, Japan and in Germany yeah.
England.
You had to be able to identifythat in one second from the
ground, from the groundsometimes right on these, on
(25:09):
these slides.
Yes, and you.
You got to where it was shipsfirst, or one thing probably
planes, first in ships and thenIn patrol boats.
Wow, and they started showingus then About what the seals was
(25:31):
up to okay so you got an ideaof what you were doing.
Right, you thought you did, and, of course, each one of us.
They give you exactly onesecond On that slide and they
click again, see yeah and thenyou had to record it.
Jay Miralles (25:51):
You start to write it down and you didn't write it
down.
Alvin Hays (25:54):
You Put a dot on.
Jay Miralles (25:56):
I'll put a dot on, okay, okay.
Alvin Hays (25:58):
And what it was.
And you had to be a before weleft there.
We had to be a hundred percentperfect of what you seen, wow.
But that may be what you willsee in one second, right where
you're going right.
And so we studied, you theocean, we studied the skies, we
(26:18):
studied the wind, everything youcan possibly imagine.
We studied Right and you got sogood at it that you could
almost tell the next one wascoming up, whether what sort of
a plane.
Then, after we got pretty goodat that, I told him.
(26:45):
I said you know I can swim, butto save myself maybe.
Jay Miralles (26:50):
Maybe yeah.
Alvin Hays (26:52):
And he says good, he says you'll be able to swim 100
yards to start with footballfield.
Jay Miralles (27:02):
to start with, I said I think maybe you will In
the ocean yeah, right in theocean, out, yeah and back.
Alvin Hays (27:12):
Well, you got fresh water all the time there.
Jay Miralles (27:14):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (27:18):
And it may be in the daytime, maybe at night, sure,
and so, of course, rudy, he kindof protected me then because he
knew how, see, living on theGulf, yeah, and, but we still
competed.
Jay Miralles (27:34):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (27:35):
And so it wasn't very long until we'd learned one
thing and then another, andit'd come to be on Saturday, I
believe one Saturday, and thechief says you guys are doing
(27:55):
pretty good, we own you, youunderstand, we own you, period.
Yeah.
Jay Miralles (28:00):
And what did you think when they said that?
Alvin Hays (28:04):
Well, we signed up for it, I guess Right.
And then he says I should haveput this in before that.
He says out of the 24 hours, hesays we own you every day for
that 24 hours, but you might getfour hours of sleep, you might.
Jay Miralles (28:26):
You might.
Alvin Hays (28:27):
And he says on Sunday.
He says from 10 to 12, that'syour free time.
You can write letters.
You can't call because thereare no phones.
Jay Miralles (28:40):
Right, right, there are no phones.
Alvin Hays (28:42):
Yes, and he says or you can take a nap, whatever you
want to do, but he says, thenthere's church services on
Sunday from 10 to 12.
Jay Miralles (29:00):
Did you go to a church services?
Alvin Hays (29:04):
And he says it's not required.
Jay Miralles (29:07):
OK.
Alvin Hays (29:08):
But let me tell you, son, you better be there.
While you're going, you'regoing to need all the help you
can get, wow.
Jay Miralles (29:17):
Wow, so that answers my question.
Alvin Hays (29:19):
And he says after he said that it's not compulsory
but you kind of insist.
He said you'll find out, and sofrom that day on every Sunday
we look forward to Sunday wecould sit down and listen to
(29:44):
something besides yoursupervisor.
Trying to fill our heads full,see, and then, oh, we took
memory lessons too.
Jay Miralles (29:55):
OK.
Alvin Hays (29:55):
Completely memory lessons.
Everything After they wouldteach us and tell us what
different things were.
You had to repeat it right backto him.
Just this quick from you to him.
Jay Miralles (30:10):
That.
Alvin Hays (30:11):
Word for word.
Wow, and you got good enoughthat you could do it.
Jay Miralles (30:16):
Word for word or nothing.
Right Word for word, exactverbatim.
Alvin Hays (30:20):
You stayed with it till you got it.
The next day would be the samething.
Jay Miralles (30:25):
Wow, I can imagine how much training you got.
Alvin Hays (30:31):
And oh, it was absolutely out of this world you
can't imagine.
Anybody that's never beenthrough it don't really realize.
And then we got far enoughalong that they said today is
the day that we're going tolearn to swim underwater.
Ok, I told him.
(30:53):
I said.
He said you'll learn or you'lldrown.
Now, just one and the other tomake up your mind.
Jay Miralles (30:58):
Well, here you are .
Alvin Hays (30:59):
We could do 100 yards underwater, you know, as a
football field.
Jay Miralles (31:03):
Yes, that's different than being on top of
the water right, it's quite abit.
Alvin Hays (31:08):
And it's in the ocean.
Jay Miralles (31:10):
Yes, and you can't see much.
I mean, did you have thesnorkel or the mask and all that
?
Yeah, and they're not like themasks we have today.
Oh, no, no, those are probablythe first ones ever invented.
So tell me how that was.
Alvin Hays (31:26):
For one thing is you had to learn to run to get the
mask wet.
Jay Miralles (31:33):
Yes, so that it wouldn't fog up.
Alvin Hays (31:35):
That's true.
Jay Miralles (31:36):
You had to spin in it, right.
Alvin Hays (31:38):
And then you had to learn to swim underwater.
Jay Miralles (31:42):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (31:43):
You take a breath underneath your arm.
Oh, the air that when you comeup like that, you get through.
Jay Miralles (31:49):
Yes, and then you'd have to really.
Alvin Hays (31:53):
That's where we got our air to learn to swim
underwater.
You didn't snorkel.
Jay Miralles (31:58):
Wow, you didn't snorkel?
No, they're even snorkeling Wow.
Alvin Hays (32:03):
So we were prepared for health.
What came?
Jay Miralles (32:07):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (32:08):
And one day after we had had all of this training,
you could almost tell that theywere getting tired of us or
something.
And they told us one afternoonabout 2 o'clock make sure you
see bags packed.
You're leaving tonight.
Jay Miralles (32:30):
And you didn't know where.
Alvin Hays (32:31):
No, we went on the train and we woke up at midnight
and we was in Washington DC andthe guy says oh my god, you
mean to tell me we're going tobe attache-save to some high up.
Jay Miralles (32:47):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (32:49):
Airborne or something.
And so, nope, the train stoppedand I think they took on
something else.
And anyhow, we went there verylong and we kept going north,
kept going north, and about themiddle of the afternoon we got
(33:13):
up to Providence, rhode Island,and they said everybody off.
Well, there's a lot of shipbuilding and stuff up in that
area.
Well, they said, you will bebussed over to the island.
Fall over Massachusetts.
Jay Miralles (33:36):
OK.
Alvin Hays (33:37):
And the ship will be in.
It's at sea now, but it'll beback in when it comes in.
Jay Miralles (33:46):
Whatever it shows up.
Alvin Hays (33:47):
And so they put us up in the hotel About two days
later when the ship come in, andthey come over in one of the
boats and took us back to theship.
And that's the first we'd seenit A brand new ship out on Shake
(34:07):
Down.
Jay Miralles (34:08):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (34:09):
And it fired the guns and broke all of the glass
mirrors and restrooms andeverything and the big compasses
that float in.
Jay Miralles (34:26):
Yes, in the globes almost.
Alvin Hays (34:27):
Like yeah, yeah, yes , ok, yes, it broke both of
those.
Jay Miralles (34:31):
Wow, that's how powerful they were.
Alvin Hays (34:34):
That's how powerful.
The guns shook stuff up so much, and so we spent about two or
three more days learning to putthose boats on the ship.
Jay Miralles (34:49):
The Higgins boats, higgins boats, yeah.
Alvin Hays (34:54):
Took us 13 hours to put them all on.
We had 32 of them.
Jay Miralles (34:58):
Wow, how many of you were loading.
That's fast.
Alvin Hays (35:01):
They was, let's see two, four, about eight places.
They could load them.
Jay Miralles (35:08):
Right Wow.
Alvin Hays (35:10):
They had davits on the side.
Jay Miralles (35:13):
Yes, each side on a rail Right, and that would
lift them up.
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (35:18):
And then they had the booms that would swing over
and pick them up, bring them inand set them down in their
sockets.
Jay Miralles (35:26):
Ok, so we're talking about loading the boats
and you have 32 boats and 13hours.
Keep going from there.
Alvin Hays (35:36):
We worked on that before we went overseas enough
times that we could load them in13, 14 minutes all of them, and
ready to tie them down.
Jay Miralles (35:49):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (35:50):
Couldn't tie them down.
The ones on the davits youcould, on each side, but the
ones the boom would bring themup over the top you had to tie
them down.
Then they put another frameacross and put another one on
top of that.
But it was all mechanical.
Jay Miralles (36:11):
Yeah, it's a lot of work.
Still, though oh yes, dangeroustoo had to know what you were
doing, right, because it'sdangerous you could lose a
finger, a hand, or those thingscan fall on you.
Alvin Hays (36:20):
And the cables do snap After especially this.
They were all new because theship was new, but then we sailed
for Norfolk.
Jay Miralles (36:36):
OK, into Norfolk, Virginia.
Ok, because I'm excited tolearn where you went here.
So that's where we're at rightnow.
We're on the boat.
Alvin Hays (36:46):
We stayed there about three to four days to a
week and they refittedeverything that was broke,
worked day and night on it.
It was originally the Atlanticcolors.
(37:07):
The ship was, you know, lightblue at the top, white in the
middle.
The lower half was dark blue.
One night we went to bed.
The next morning we woke up itwas dark gray.
The whole ship had been paintedthat night Dark gray.
(37:30):
You got to remember inChesapeake Bay there is
submarines put up, everysubmarine, nets put up every day
.
Only from eight o'clock to eighto'clock is the submarines nets
down that ships can go in andout of Chesapeake Bay.
Otherwise the German submarineswould be in there the next day.
(37:59):
We put all new boats on brandnew boats.
They were 600 GM 760s.
They had the stuff.
You could put it up on the sand.
(38:20):
So far you couldn't get backhome.
So anyway, we pulled out of theNavy Yard and had to wait there
until the submarine nets hadbeen dropped.
So we crossed and then weheaded south.
(38:41):
We knew we were going throughthe Panama Canal and the same
thing there the nets were up anddown.
You had to wait a certain timebefore you could.
Jay Miralles (38:51):
For the channel to fill up.
So these were only places thatyou either studied or read about
, right?
All this is discovery.
This is all new to you.
Alvin Hays (39:00):
Nobody knew a thing.
No, I didn't know a thing aboutthat.
Jay Miralles (39:03):
Until then, yeah, really yeah, not even in school,
wow.
Alvin Hays (39:09):
Oh yeah, they told us in school, right?
Jay Miralles (39:11):
but then that was your first time to see it.
First time to see it, yeah,it's different, right, like
everyone's learned about it, butyou've seen it first hand, so
keep going from there and whenour turn came up to go through
the locks, they uh, you take off.
Alvin Hays (39:30):
we had to take off a certain amount of the Higgins
boats.
Because of the weight Becausethe was too wide.
There's only about this much.
On each side they got the mules, you know, on each side and, uh
, and they're chained or notchained, but tied tight so that,
(39:51):
uh you, they just keep youabout that far from each side,
and we had eight or eight of thepower boats falling behind the
ship and every time she raised.
Jay Miralles (40:07):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (40:08):
Why then we could go into the next lock?
Jay Miralles (40:11):
To the next lock.
Yeah, and that took forever.
Alvin Hays (40:15):
Took all day to get through the back of the volcano,
oh my god.
And then when we come out onthe uh uh Pacific side, yeah.
Why?
It was the same thing.
We had to wait till the lordsub-marine nets put the boats
back on, and then we were readyto sail.
(40:38):
We went from there to Pearl.
Jay Miralles (40:41):
To Pearl Harbor.
Alvin Hays (40:42):
Yeah 14 days.
Jay Miralles (40:44):
Wow.
So that's your first time on aship that long without stepping
foot off.
What's going through your mind,sharing all those bunks and
living on a ship, and tell uswhat it's like.
Explain to these people who arelistening what is being on a
ship like in 19.
That was 1944.
(41:07):
1944.
Do you remember the name of theship or you don't remember?
Alvin Hays (41:11):
Oh yes.
Jay Miralles (41:12):
Oh, what's the name of?
Alvin Hays (41:13):
the ship USS Dolphin , ap 97.
Jay Miralles (41:16):
Wow, you the.
Alvin Hays (41:17):
A-U-P-H-I-N.
Jay Miralles (41:20):
What was the number at the end?
Alvin Hays (41:21):
97.
Apa 97.
Wow.
Apa means attack, personnelassault or assault personnel
attack.
Yes, wow so that kind of tellsyou something, even though dumb,
as we were trained andeverything but no, what I love
(41:45):
your sense of humor.
Jay Miralles (41:47):
I love it.
Alvin Hays (41:48):
Well, it took me out of my environment.
Jay Miralles (41:52):
Sure.
Alvin Hays (41:52):
I had no idea because I hadn't been around the
sea.
I'd never seen one of them bigiron things, and they can
imagine.
You can imagine trying to makeme believe they could float
Right.
Jay Miralles (42:06):
I mean, in theory it should right.
But again, these are thingsthat you've either seen in books
or things that as a kid, youprobably just read about some
things you know.
But now you are on this bigship, on this big, I mean on
this assault personnel attack.
You know boat and you're you'reheaded to Pearl Harbor.
(42:28):
Okay, tell me about that.
Alvin Hays (42:32):
The first three or four days out, the sea was just
like smooth glass, you're likethis is great and boring as a
dickens.
Yeah, you get no roll at all.
Jay Miralles (42:46):
Yes, yes, nothing Huh yeah.
Alvin Hays (42:49):
And then the wind picks up, you know, and you're
starting to get some moremovement of the ocean.
Yeah, and so your time passesfaster.
Jay Miralles (42:59):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (43:00):
We are in a little rougher water.
Jay Miralles (43:02):
Yeah, were you seasick.
Alvin Hays (43:04):
No, never got seasick once.
Jay Miralles (43:05):
Really, have you ever gotten like dizzy from
motion sickness later on in life?
No, nothing Good for you.
Good for you, no.
Okay, so no motion sickness.
Where are we now, are we?
Alvin Hays (43:18):
at Finally got to Pearl Harbor.
Jay Miralles (43:20):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (43:22):
And so our first impression was all those
battleships upside down,battleship roll, and that we
were right in beside them, youknow, and the carriers that left
on Saturday before the Sundaybombing, how you, how unlucky,
(43:48):
can you get so lucky?
I?
Jay Miralles (43:50):
mean these are three years later.
This is just literally.
It's that fresh.
Alvin Hays (43:54):
Yeah.
Jay Miralles (43:54):
And you're telling me these boats are upside down.
All people know today of thatowl is just the museum.
You said it when it was fresh.
Alvin Hays (44:06):
And you see it wasn't deep enough.
Jay Miralles (44:10):
Right.
Alvin Hays (44:11):
But once you could see half of the ship laid over
like that.
Jay Miralles (44:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (44:17):
And the reason the Arizona never.
They put it right down thestack.
The jeps dropped them rightdown the stack and blew the
engine room apart.
Inside out it blew up and themagazine and all of them were
loaded with 16-inch powder cases.
(44:39):
It was a sight to make you cryeven if you didn't know a damn
thing about it, and to think howmany sailors lost their lives.
So we stayed there about oh,I'm going to say five or six
days and refueled, took on foodand filled all of our ammunition
(45:06):
storage completely full.
We had three five-inch guns,five 38s and we had about 10
dual quad mount 40 millimeters.
40 millimeters, you know, theycome up in cans.
(45:28):
All of this is coming from thebottom of the ship From the hull
.
Jay Miralles (45:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (45:35):
And there's four clips to a can and there's five,
six shells in each clip.
Jay Miralles (45:45):
Every fifth shell is a tracer, a tracer so you can
see where it's going.
Al your memory is so vividlysharp.
Alvin Hays (45:56):
And the five-inch guns.
I was on a five-inch gun, bythe way, too, and the five-inch
guns were.
Each shell come up different, Imean separate.
Jay Miralles (46:11):
Yep.
Alvin Hays (46:11):
You had to go on a elevator and the shell weighed
105 pounds.
You had to pick them up.
Jay Miralles (46:21):
Put them in.
Alvin Hays (46:23):
And set them up on the fuse setter, and they would
call you from the bridge andtell you how far to set the
fuses on them.
You turn the crank and that setthe fuses.
And so then the powder case.
It was about 40, maybe not 40inches, but it was longer than
(46:45):
36.
Solid brass, yeah, and itweighed 56 pounds.
Jay Miralles (46:53):
So the reason why you set the fuses you would
charge it, it would shootprojectile and then the fuse
timed out to where, based onwhat the bridge was telling you.
Alvin Hays (47:06):
And that was they.
Had it figured out how far thekamikazis were at 25,000 yards
and they would bring it rightdown and you would set it for
that, and then you'd keepsetting them closer, closer, as
the kamikazis come in.
Yeah 30, 35 or 40 at a bunch.
Jay Miralles (47:31):
And you would have to fix the trajectory of your
five inch right Based on.
You know what measurements werethey using Latitude, longitude,
what was that what they'reusing?
And they were telling youhere's what the numbers are, and
you waited for orders to firethat.
How long would it take to cycleone shot?
Alvin Hays (47:49):
You mean from one shot to the other.
Jay Miralles (47:51):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (47:52):
On a five inch gun it would take about three
minutes.
Jay Miralles (47:55):
Three minutes because you have to put it 25
people working.
Yeah, that's incredible Wow.
Alvin Hays (48:05):
And oh yeah, I've seen there's powder cases so
thick on the deck that they haveto kick them over out in the
water.
Jay Miralles (48:15):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (48:17):
And the turret wouldn't hardly turn.
Jay Miralles (48:19):
Because, yeah, that's, I can't imagine.
Alvin Hays (48:23):
And oh yeah, it would just melt the paint right
off of the barrel of the gun,you know.
Jay Miralles (48:28):
Yeah, yeah, so this was no longer training,
this is a real thing, this is areal thing.
These kamikazes are coming inattacking Pearl Harbor,
attacking your ships and youguys are firing back.
Alvin Hays (48:43):
Yeah, and you don't fire directly at them.
Jay Miralles (48:47):
Right.
Alvin Hays (48:47):
Because it's the shell burst Right and the flak
is what kills the plane.
Jay Miralles (48:58):
Right so, and they were coming out of nowhere.
Yeah 35 to 40 of them at thesame time?
How many people were battlingor how many guns were at those
kamikaze airplanes?
Alvin Hays (49:09):
Depend on how many ships were on the in the
flotilla.
Jay Miralles (49:13):
Right.
Alvin Hays (49:13):
If there was 10 or 12 of them in the flotilla, the
sky would be black with it.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Thanks for tuning in to the Connection.
It's been a fantastic journey,exploring stories, insights and
inspirations that bridge ourlives.
Remember every connection hasthe power to transform.
Please subscribe, rate andreview.
Your feedback keeps us going Inthis connected world.
(49:41):
Let's make meaningfulconnections that enrich lives.
Now signing off until next time, the Connection, keep
connecting and let's go.
Connecting the dots, Connecting his guests to the
world, Creating more connections.
Welcome to the Connection.
Meet your host.
Author, coach, Air Forceveteran Jay Morales.
Alvin Hays (00:30):
Moving up and down.
Jay Miralles (00:32):
Okay, all right.
Three, two, one.
Okay.
So, al, I have the privilegeand the honor of interviewing
you today.
Thank you for having us inlovely Red Oak, iowa.
We're going to do a lot oftalking today.
I'm going to ask you a lot ofquestions, but I just want this
(00:52):
to be a conversation betweenfriends, okay, and we don't have
to be formal at all.
The reason I want to share thisstory is I want to honor your
legacy, I want to honor yourvalues in life and I want you to
speak to this generation.
So keep that in mind as we talk.
So, alvin Hayes, motor Macthird class and that's, that's
(01:14):
Navy, correct?
Right?
So tell me, explain to me firstof all, motor Mac third class,
like that's not.
That rank doesn't even existanymore.
I'm sure it doesn't, right?
Right, because now it's, it'sensign and and Siemens, siemens,
basic and things that nature.
So tell me, 1943 is when youjoined.
(01:39):
You needed your mother'sconsent.
Alvin Hays (01:41):
Yes, yes, and my dad's.
Jay Miralles (01:44):
My dad's consent Okay, because you were 17 years
old.
Alvin Hays (01:46):
Yes.
Jay Miralles (01:47):
Then you held up, then they held you and they used
you in 1944, then you enteredin 1944, actual entered till
1946.
So take me back to the day youspoke to mom and dad about,
because you volunteered, youweren't drafted, that's right.
So tell me about that, al.
Alvin Hays (02:05):
Well, I wanted to join the army because my dad had
been the army.
Okay, and we're a war one, oh,okay, and he got knocked out in
the Argonne Forest in France.
Okay, and they left him fordead.
(02:25):
Four days later they've come byand picking up the dead and
they send him move his arm, andthat's when they discovered that
he was alive.
Jay Miralles (02:38):
Did you already get notified that he was KIA or
Well?
Alvin Hays (02:41):
I don't know anymore .
Jay Miralles (02:43):
You don't know more than just what you said.
Yeah, wow, so dad's moving.
Alvin Hays (02:48):
And dad wouldn't let me join the army.
Okay, Because, he said he'dalready been in so many foxholes
with water trying to call it mybedroom at night.
Yeah, that he said I don't wantanybody to have to go through
that again.
So, Well, I had a schoolteacher that had two nephews
(03:13):
that had they were twins andthey had joined the Navy in 1941
.
And they were on the battleshipOklahoma when the Japanese hit
Pearl Harbor on December the 7th.
Jay Miralles (03:33):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (03:34):
And it rolled there in Pearl Harbor.
Jay Miralles (03:38):
Yep Pearl Harbor Put down yeah.
Alvin Hays (03:42):
So they had to jump through the out into the greasy
water, swim Through the fire.
Keep the fire away from them.
Jay Miralles (03:52):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (03:54):
And the school teacher says that they was
coming home for Thanksgivingdinner in 1943.
Jay Miralles (04:05):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (04:07):
And would you like to go and talk to the boys,
would I?
Jay Miralles (04:13):
Yeah, and how old are you?
16, 17.
That's 17, right, yeah, okay,they talked to you.
What do you?
Alvin Hays (04:21):
remember about the conversation.
Well, for one thing is I hadnever met them before.
Okay, and they were in thedress whites.
Jay Miralles (04:30):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (04:31):
Oh, and they looked.
I never seen anybody look sogreat as they did.
Jay Miralles (04:36):
Yeah, and their dress whites.
Alvin Hays (04:38):
And they started telling about what had happened
to them in Pearl Harbor onDecember the 7th.
Well, when I went home thatnight, from then on I start
badgering my dad.
You know, would it make adifference if I would you let me
join the Navy?
I don't want to hear any moreabout it?
(05:00):
He says, wow, well, and I askedhim that up until Christmas.
And finally he says afterChristmas I'll take you to
Council Bluffs and see ifthey'll take you.
So him and mom took me toCouncil Bluffs and I enlisted
(05:23):
Sure, they'd take me.
Well, and so, and now that wasin 43, see, right, I wasn't out
of school yet.
Jay Miralles (05:34):
You were just, yeah, you were 17.
Alvin Hays (05:36):
Yeah, I was a senior in high school.
Jay Miralles (05:38):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (05:40):
And the middle of the about February I got a call
the letter that says report tothe place in Des Moines.
So they kind of decided thatthat would be what was going to
(06:05):
take place.
It was supposed to be in May,see, or the last part of April.
Jay Miralles (06:10):
When?
Was it like?
Towards the middle of summer,but they called you in February.
Were you done with school thenat that time?
Alvin Hays (06:17):
Well, I already had enough credits to graduate.
Jay Miralles (06:19):
Okay, okay.
Alvin Hays (06:21):
And they sent me to from there right on after I got
in Des Moines.
We stayed overnight and fromthere they set us to Great Lakes
, illinois, and started training.
Jay Miralles (06:38):
So you rode the train.
Alvin Hays (06:41):
From Des Moines to Chicago.
Jay Miralles (06:44):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (06:45):
All day long.
Jay Miralles (06:46):
I can only imagine Because you know, I've done
enough interviews that you jumpfrom one little town to the
other and picked up some more,you know.
Yeah and Al, I've done enoughinterviews that I've been
corrected about World War IIthat they said we didn't have no
airports.
Alvin Hays (07:03):
Stood up all the way .
Jay Miralles (07:05):
What.
Alvin Hays (07:06):
Stood up on this train all the way.
Jay Miralles (07:08):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (07:10):
And when we got into Chicago we had to get on that
elevated and take us north.
You know it's about an hourfrom downtown or the railroad
station.
Jay Miralles (07:24):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (07:26):
And so we started training Well to me as a farm
boy and done a lot of heavy work.
It was like a walk in the park.
Jay Miralles (07:39):
Because you're used to the work ethic.
Alvin Hays (07:41):
The city guys are to kill them.
Jay Miralles (07:43):
The city guys.
Alvin Hays (07:45):
Well, I mean, they had done more than a few
calcetics or high schoolbasketball or something you know
.
And so that's when I found outthat I weighed 130 pounds.
Jay Miralles (08:02):
When you joined, at 17 years old.
Alvin Hays (08:04):
And you had to be able to lift twice your weight
260 pounds.
Wow, and be able to carry thatmile on your back.
Jay Miralles (08:18):
One mile.
Double your weight on your back.
What that looked like.
Alvin Hays (08:25):
Damn tough to do.
They couldn't do it, but Icould.
Yeah, because I used ordinarywork.
Yeah, ordinary work, he knows.
Jay Miralles (08:36):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (08:37):
Well, anyway, I thought boot camp.
We was there six weeks.
Jay Miralles (08:44):
Six weeks in boot camp okay.
Alvin Hays (08:47):
And the two mile run .
Well, that was just walking thepark too, and some of the
others, it's totally exhausted.
It was amazing, you know thatwent so quick.
Well, when I got my out of bootcamp.
(09:07):
Why they give me five days off?
Well, it took one day to getback to Reddick.
Jay Miralles (09:14):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (09:15):
Took another day to get back in.
Jay Miralles (09:18):
So I hold three or four days yeah.
Alvin Hays (09:20):
Yeah, too bad.
So we laid around there inoutgoing unit.
You know what that is.
Jay Miralles (09:27):
Well, when you OGU Okay, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Outgoing unit, yes.
Alvin Hays (09:33):
So they divided this up.
They took 24 out of 240.
They sent us to Little Creek,virginia, on train.
Okay, the rest of the 240 wentto the west coast.
Now, I never kept track of themafter that, sure Whether they
(09:57):
went to the fleet or whetherthey took more training.
Jay Miralles (10:00):
Right.
Alvin Hays (10:00):
But we started to take training in Little Creek,
Virginia.
Jay Miralles (10:06):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (10:07):
And it was small boat training like the Higgins
boats.
Jay Miralles (10:14):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (10:15):
And that's the boat, the plywood boats, with the
steel ramp that lets down infront.
Jay Miralles (10:20):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (10:21):
And we started training on those, okay, and I
didn't know.
I knew what a boat was, butthat just about summed it up.
You got that.
Jay Miralles (10:30):
You seen them.
You seen them around.
Alvin Hays (10:32):
And so we got wet every day or two.
I could swim a little bitenough to save myself.
Jay Miralles (10:42):
I want to stop you there, al.
I want to ask you.
So your job, though, was scoutsand raiders.
Is that correct?
Scouts and raiders, which weknow evolved into Navy SEALs.
Can you explain to what thatmeant?
Will Okay, yes, sir, I willwait for that, but that's how I
got into.
Alvin Hays (10:58):
It was through the boat business, boat business,
okay, and I was.
I kind of knew how to changethe battery and the motors.
Yes, and after they getseawater, you know that cable
rocks or it dissipates quite.
Jay Miralles (11:23):
Yes.
Those will they rode away thecopper, the copper, yeah.
Alvin Hays (11:27):
Yeah, well, and so you have to take them off and
put them on, and I could do thatbecause I'd done it on the farm
On different things, oh, yeah.
I wasn't exactly dumb you werehandy.
Change bolts and things.
Jay Miralles (11:40):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (11:41):
And so they made me an engineer that I could do that
.
Well, I met another young fellathat was from Gulfport,
Mississippi.
Yeah, yeah.
When I was in boot camp and himand I started competing with
one another On a two-mile run,we'd each one see who could be
(12:05):
back first.
Jay Miralles (12:07):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (12:09):
And we just kept doing that.
Jay Miralles (12:11):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (12:11):
Well, he was on this same bunch that was sent to
Virginia, yeah, and so wetrained together and we still
did the calcetics and did a lotof the water characteristics
(12:32):
around the boat.
He'd lived on the Gulf so heknew all about swimming and
boats and what have you.
Well, I learned from him, butwe still competed.
Jay Miralles (12:43):
Yeah, absolutely Every day.
We competed, yes, and friendlycompetition Right.
Alvin Hays (12:49):
Yes, well, it didn't always end up that way.
I'm sure Because from thestandpoint after we got into the
seals I'll skip that until weget back to the seals that we
started out with a littlefour-cylinder gasoline engines
in the boats.
Jay Miralles (13:09):
Mm-hmm.
Alvin Hays (13:10):
And they didn't have enough poop to put the ramp up
on the beach every time.
Jay Miralles (13:21):
Oh yeah.
Alvin Hays (13:22):
Especially with the load on them Right.
So they took grows out andchanged the larger and
everything and put infour-cylinder Buddha deshals.
Okay, they had a lot more, butnot really could use more.
So getting back to our trainingarea lasted about six weeks and
(13:50):
we enjoyed the boat work.
It was kind of fun at times, andyet it wasn't.
And I wasn't quite used tobeing in the boats something
like that over the year, rightUntil I got into the service.
Well, all at once they told usthat your training is finished
(14:18):
here Four o'clock.
Have your seatbags packed andyou'll be taken to the train.
We had no idea where we weregoing.
We couldn't find out anything.
We found this out by—they was acouple of the young gals that
(14:45):
worked for the military.
They were in the Navy Yard inNorfolk, virginia.
Jay Miralles (14:53):
Norfolk Virginia.
Alvin Hays (14:55):
And they told us that it was going to be a
transfer and if we would get onto this real quick like we
get—have a chance to go If youwant to leave this area.
Well, of course you don't knowwhether you do or you don't, but
(15:15):
anyway, we got on the train atfour o'clock and we headed out
and we woke up in the morning.
We had no idea what direction.
We know.
We couldn't go east.
We didn't know that the traincouldn't go east and woke up the
next morning we was inJacksonville, florida, watering
(15:35):
up the old steamer see.
And well, we thought, sure nowwe'll get off here.
Well, we didn't know there wasany Navy bases in Jacksonville.
Jay Miralles (15:48):
Right.
Alvin Hays (15:49):
Well, so we stayed aboard and see, we had a chief
with us and he stayed right withus, just hung to us like we
were good to him.
And so it was long, about themiddle of the afternoon or
little later than maybe threeo'clock, and we talked why the
(16:13):
train stopped and everybodyrushes to the windows or the
door and looks out where we at.
Well, you couldn't see nothingbut the brush in Florida,
undergrowth and all of that kindof a junk.
Yeah, or in the hill, aren't we?
Jay Miralles (16:31):
I would have asked the same thing and he says off,
boys, off, throw your sea bagout.
Alvin Hays (16:36):
And he says about a half a mile down here.
He says there's a road thatgoes crossways here and there'll
be some transportation to pickyou up, take you to where you're
going to go.
Well, it was probably a mileand a half instead of a half.
Jay Miralles (16:56):
With your sea bag.
Alvin Hays (16:57):
With your sea bag on your shoulder and we took about
five minutes.
And then he says let's justdouble time a little bit yeah.
Jay Miralles (17:06):
Double time it huh .
Alvin Hays (17:07):
And carry that too Well.
Of course, myself and RudyHarden, him and I was in
competition, and so Each one seewho could outdo the other whole
mile and a half With that overon her shoulder well.
(17:28):
We got down there and there wasa couple of trucks that looked
like cattle, trucks with a highside, just like Anyplace else.
Yeah it was a cattle truck, sothrow your seat bag in one, then
you get in the other.
Yeah, and we drove through thebrush for 20 minutes.
(17:49):
We come to this little towncalled Fort Pierce, florida.
It was a small town, look kindof like Small as Malvern or
small as Malvern, that's small.
Didn't amount to much then sureand we come to this bridge.
(18:10):
Everybody was looking yeah andthere was a sent.
It looked like a brand newbridge and it was, and there was
a sentry on each end of thebridge.
Jay Miralles (18:23):
Oh yeah.
Alvin Hays (18:24):
They had to stop and get permission to cross.
Jay Miralles (18:28):
Mm-hmm.
Alvin Hays (18:29):
We got on the other end.
They had to stop and getpermission to Go ahead and go
through the gate and unload.
Well, we couldn't see nothingbut this brush.
There was no buildings on it atall.
We did see one big white tent,great large tent, and and what's
(18:57):
the first thing?
That some guy in the backdidn't want to be recognized
says where's the barracks?
He says 15 minutes, you'll beissued one.
Jay Miralles (19:07):
Oh.
Alvin Hays (19:10):
Okay, what that meant.
That means a tent right, right,a tent.
Jay Miralles (19:16):
You're not getting the barracks.
Alvin Hays (19:17):
He said well, where are we going to place them?
He said you'll find out andthey.
Finally we grabbed your C bagand drill, marched up Several
yards and there was a kind of aopen way through the brush there
(19:39):
, and Not a walkway, just kindof a opening so you wouldn't get
scratched.
And we went through that and hesays your tents are laying
there in a pile, your barracksare Put them together right on
the beach.
And we did right on the beachright on the beach, just above
(20:03):
the waterline.
Yeah on high tide, you couldjust with the wind in the east,
you could end up.
You wouldn't have to wash yourfeet that day.
Jay Miralles (20:14):
Well, that was convenient that way.
Alvin Hays (20:17):
That was a little different in the foreign country
, let me tell you.
Well, from there on he got moreinteresting all right and they
told us that very same day.
Uncle Sam owns you night and day, says this you're going to be
(20:38):
down here and he says it's 20hour days every day 20 hour days
and you might get to sleep fourhours and you might not get to
sleep any, but still 20 hour dayand he says Half of the time
(20:59):
you'll be working at nightstudying.
And he says first thing in themorning, at two o'clock in the
morning, he said we're gonna doten miles.
Jay Miralles (21:12):
Right, right in the morning, ten miles mark with
, with, with a pack on.
No, no pack, just just okay.
Just ten miles full grass, okay, oh yeah, whoa and everything.
Alvin Hays (21:24):
And so five up, five back.
See that give me a ten miles.
Yes and he says I'm right now.
He says there's gonna be a.
Your director or teacher isgonna be with you Every minute
(21:47):
of the day and night.
He said you'll think it, he'spart of your life.
And we did.
Every three out of the 24 of us, they had six instructors, wow,
and they was with you.
If that you went ten miles,they went ten miles.
Okay, if you swim a hundredyards, they swim a hundred yards
(22:09):
.
You couldn't goof off.
Jay Miralles (22:12):
No.
Alvin Hays (22:12):
Well, it got so that with that ten miles, I'm one of
those person that that Gulls inthe crotch.
Jay Miralles (22:24):
Yeah, down the legs.
Alvin Hays (22:25):
Yes, yes especially if you got a little sand in.
Jay Miralles (22:28):
Yes, they had right and it would chafe.
It start chafeing right.
Alvin Hays (22:34):
Understatement of the year.
Sometimes, when we get backfrom that ten miles, why my
shoes would be full of bloodbecause it would bleed down
blood just running right downyour clothes, your shoes and
Some of the guys start yelping.
You know well, Rudy and I wasended up first and back again.
(22:58):
Yeah and Old chief says to you.
He says you guys look like youneed some help.
Jay Miralles (23:08):
Go take a swim to wash that off, but that's salt
water.
Alvin Hays (23:15):
So that's what you did yeah and and now that's just
two o'clock in the morning.
Jay Miralles (23:20):
That's two o'clock in the.
That's not during the day.
Alvin Hays (23:23):
No, that's not during the day, that's in the
morning.
You can't hardly see anything,hardly see.
We were up every night most ofthe night, maybe four hours, wow
, we would back even though itwas dark and, by the way, we
were all issued Night nightglasses.
(23:44):
Oh, okay, yeah, night visionyes and so that was one of the
things he kept us in shape withrunning and we had classes in
between and this big white tentit had everything you could
(24:04):
imagine.
That was the child hall, thatwas the Commissary, commissary,
that was Didn't make anydifference, what you wanted.
Jay Miralles (24:15):
How big was this tent?
It was as big as a footballfield, half a football field,
probably half half a footballfield, and had everything in it.
Yeah, oh gosh.
Alvin Hays (24:24):
How many people were in the area at that time, you
think well, that was the All thecommissary, the pharmacy,
everything was there, wow, andwe had lessons there too.
Yes and we had a place that wasblocked off and they showed an
(24:46):
awful lot of shows by, Forinstance, you had to learn every
plane that was made in the USAyeah, Japan and in Germany yeah.
England.
You had to be able to identifythat in one second from the
ground, from the groundsometimes right on these, on
(25:09):
these slides.
Yes, and you.
You got to where it was shipsfirst, or one thing probably
planes, first in ships and thenIn patrol boats.
Wow, and they started showingus then About what the seals was
(25:31):
up to okay so you got an ideaof what you were doing.
Right, you thought you did, and, of course, each one of us.
They give you exactly onesecond On that slide and they
click again, see yeah and thenyou had to record it.
Jay Miralles (25:51):
You start to write it down and you didn't write it
down.
Alvin Hays (25:54):
You Put a dot on.
Jay Miralles (25:56):
I'll put a dot on, okay, okay.
Alvin Hays (25:58):
And what it was.
And you had to be a before weleft there.
We had to be a hundred percentperfect of what you seen, wow.
But that may be what you willsee in one second, right where
you're going right.
And so we studied, you theocean, we studied the skies, we
(26:18):
studied the wind, everything youcan possibly imagine.
We studied Right and you got sogood at it that you could
almost tell the next one wascoming up, whether what sort of
a plane.
Then, after we got pretty goodat that, I told him.
(26:45):
I said you know I can swim, butto save myself maybe.
Jay Miralles (26:50):
Maybe yeah.
Alvin Hays (26:52):
And he says good, he says you'll be able to swim 100
yards to start with footballfield.
Jay Miralles (27:02):
to start with, I said I think maybe you will In
the ocean yeah, right in theocean, out, yeah and back.
Alvin Hays (27:12):
Well, you got fresh water all the time there.
Jay Miralles (27:14):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (27:18):
And it may be in the daytime, maybe at night, sure,
and so, of course, rudy, he kindof protected me then because he
knew how, see, living on theGulf, yeah, and, but we still
competed.
Jay Miralles (27:34):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (27:35):
And so it wasn't very long until we'd learned one
thing and then another, andit'd come to be on Saturday, I
believe one Saturday, and thechief says you guys are doing
(27:55):
pretty good, we own you, youunderstand, we own you, period.
Yeah.
Jay Miralles (28:00):
And what did you think when they said that?
Alvin Hays (28:04):
Well, we signed up for it, I guess Right.
And then he says I should haveput this in before that.
He says out of the 24 hours, hesays we own you every day for
that 24 hours, but you might getfour hours of sleep, you might.
Jay Miralles (28:26):
You might.
Alvin Hays (28:27):
And he says on Sunday.
He says from 10 to 12, that'syour free time.
You can write letters.
You can't call because thereare no phones.
Jay Miralles (28:40):
Right, right, there are no phones.
Alvin Hays (28:42):
Yes, and he says or you can take a nap, whatever you
want to do, but he says, thenthere's church services on
Sunday from 10 to 12.
Jay Miralles (29:00):
Did you go to a church services?
Alvin Hays (29:04):
And he says it's not required.
Jay Miralles (29:07):
OK.
Alvin Hays (29:08):
But let me tell you, son, you better be there.
While you're going, you'regoing to need all the help you
can get, wow.
Jay Miralles (29:17):
Wow, so that answers my question.
Alvin Hays (29:19):
And he says after he said that it's not compulsory
but you kind of insist.
He said you'll find out, and sofrom that day on every Sunday
we look forward to Sunday wecould sit down and listen to
(29:44):
something besides yoursupervisor.
Trying to fill our heads full,see, and then, oh, we took
memory lessons too.
Jay Miralles (29:55):
OK.
Alvin Hays (29:55):
Completely memory lessons.
Everything After they wouldteach us and tell us what
different things were.
You had to repeat it right backto him.
Just this quick from you to him.
Jay Miralles (30:10):
That.
Alvin Hays (30:11):
Word for word.
Wow, and you got good enoughthat you could do it.
Jay Miralles (30:16):
Word for word or nothing.
Right Word for word, exactverbatim.
Alvin Hays (30:20):
You stayed with it till you got it.
The next day would be the samething.
Jay Miralles (30:25):
Wow, I can imagine how much training you got.
Alvin Hays (30:31):
And oh, it was absolutely out of this world you
can't imagine.
Anybody that's never beenthrough it don't really realize.
And then we got far enoughalong that they said today is
the day that we're going tolearn to swim underwater.
Ok, I told him.
(30:53):
I said.
He said you'll learn or you'lldrown.
Now, just one and the other tomake up your mind.
Jay Miralles (30:58):
Well, here you are .
Alvin Hays (30:59):
We could do 100 yards underwater, you know, as a
football field.
Jay Miralles (31:03):
Yes, that's different than being on top of
the water right, it's quite abit.
Alvin Hays (31:08):
And it's in the ocean.
Jay Miralles (31:10):
Yes, and you can't see much.
I mean, did you have thesnorkel or the mask and all that
?
Yeah, and they're not like themasks we have today.
Oh, no, no, those are probablythe first ones ever invented.
So tell me how that was.
Alvin Hays (31:26):
For one thing is you had to learn to run to get the
mask wet.
Jay Miralles (31:33):
Yes, so that it wouldn't fog up.
Alvin Hays (31:35):
That's true.
Jay Miralles (31:36):
You had to spin in it, right.
Alvin Hays (31:38):
And then you had to learn to swim underwater.
Jay Miralles (31:42):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (31:43):
You take a breath underneath your arm.
Oh, the air that when you comeup like that, you get through.
Jay Miralles (31:49):
Yes, and then you'd have to really.
Alvin Hays (31:53):
That's where we got our air to learn to swim
underwater.
You didn't snorkel.
Jay Miralles (31:58):
Wow, you didn't snorkel?
No, they're even snorkeling Wow.
Alvin Hays (32:03):
So we were prepared for health.
What came?
Jay Miralles (32:07):
Yes.
Alvin Hays (32:08):
And one day after we had had all of this training,
you could almost tell that theywere getting tired of us or
something.
And they told us one afternoonabout 2 o'clock make sure you
see bags packed.
You're leaving tonight.
Jay Miralles (32:30):
And you didn't know where.
Alvin Hays (32:31):
No, we went on the train and we woke up at midnight
and we was in Washington DC andthe guy says oh my god, you
mean to tell me we're going tobe attache-save to some high up.
Jay Miralles (32:47):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (32:49):
Airborne or something.
And so, nope, the train stoppedand I think they took on
something else.
And anyhow, we went there verylong and we kept going north,
kept going north, and about themiddle of the afternoon we got
(33:13):
up to Providence, rhode Island,and they said everybody off.
Well, there's a lot of shipbuilding and stuff up in that
area.
Well, they said, you will bebussed over to the island.
Fall over Massachusetts.
Jay Miralles (33:36):
OK.
Alvin Hays (33:37):
And the ship will be in.
It's at sea now, but it'll beback in when it comes in.
Jay Miralles (33:46):
Whatever it shows up.
Alvin Hays (33:47):
And so they put us up in the hotel About two days
later when the ship come in, andthey come over in one of the
boats and took us back to theship.
And that's the first we'd seenit A brand new ship out on Shake
(34:07):
Down.
Jay Miralles (34:08):
Wow.
Alvin Hays (34:09):
And it fired the guns and broke all of the glass
mirrors and restrooms andeverything and the big compasses
that float in.
Jay Miralles (34:26):
Yes, in the globes almost.
Alvin Hays (34:27):
Like yeah, yeah, yes , ok, yes, it broke both of
those.
Jay Miralles (34:31):
Wow, that's how powerful they were.
Alvin Hays (34:34):
That's how powerful.
The guns shook stuff up so much, and so we spent about two or
three more days learning to putthose boats on the ship.
Jay Miralles (34:49):
The Higgins boats, higgins boats, yeah.
Alvin Hays (34:54):
Took us 13 hours to put them all on.
We had 32 of them.
Jay Miralles (34:58):
Wow, how many of you were loading.
That's fast.
Alvin Hays (35:01):
They was, let's see two, four, about eight places.
They could load them.
Jay Miralles (35:08):
Right Wow.
Alvin Hays (35:10):
They had davits on the side.
Jay Miralles (35:13):
Yes, each side on a rail Right, and that would
lift them up.
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (35:18):
And then they had the booms that would swing over
and pick them up, bring them inand set them down in their
sockets.
Jay Miralles (35:26):
Ok, so we're talking about loading the boats
and you have 32 boats and 13hours.
Keep going from there.
Alvin Hays (35:36):
We worked on that before we went overseas enough
times that we could load them in13, 14 minutes all of them, and
ready to tie them down.
Jay Miralles (35:49):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (35:50):
Couldn't tie them down.
The ones on the davits youcould, on each side, but the
ones the boom would bring themup over the top you had to tie
them down.
Then they put another frameacross and put another one on
top of that.
But it was all mechanical.
Jay Miralles (36:11):
Yeah, it's a lot of work.
Still, though oh yes, dangeroustoo had to know what you were
doing, right, because it'sdangerous you could lose a
finger, a hand, or those thingscan fall on you.
Alvin Hays (36:20):
And the cables do snap After especially this.
They were all new because theship was new, but then we sailed
for Norfolk.
Jay Miralles (36:36):
OK, into Norfolk, Virginia.
Ok, because I'm excited tolearn where you went here.
So that's where we're at rightnow.
We're on the boat.
Alvin Hays (36:46):
We stayed there about three to four days to a
week and they refittedeverything that was broke,
worked day and night on it.
It was originally the Atlanticcolors.
(37:07):
The ship was, you know, lightblue at the top, white in the
middle.
The lower half was dark blue.
One night we went to bed.
The next morning we woke up itwas dark gray.
The whole ship had been paintedthat night Dark gray.
(37:30):
You got to remember inChesapeake Bay there is
submarines put up, everysubmarine, nets put up every day
.
Only from eight o'clock to eighto'clock is the submarines nets
down that ships can go in andout of Chesapeake Bay.
Otherwise the German submarineswould be in there the next day.
(37:59):
We put all new boats on brandnew boats.
They were 600 GM 760s.
They had the stuff.
You could put it up on the sand.
(38:20):
So far you couldn't get backhome.
So anyway, we pulled out of theNavy Yard and had to wait there
until the submarine nets hadbeen dropped.
So we crossed and then weheaded south.
(38:41):
We knew we were going throughthe Panama Canal and the same
thing there the nets were up anddown.
You had to wait a certain timebefore you could.
Jay Miralles (38:51):
For the channel to fill up.
So these were only places thatyou either studied or read about
, right?
All this is discovery.
This is all new to you.
Alvin Hays (39:00):
Nobody knew a thing.
No, I didn't know a thing aboutthat.
Jay Miralles (39:03):
Until then, yeah, really yeah, not even in school,
wow.
Alvin Hays (39:09):
Oh yeah, they told us in school, right?
Jay Miralles (39:11):
but then that was your first time to see it.
First time to see it, yeah,it's different, right, like
everyone's learned about it, butyou've seen it first hand, so
keep going from there and whenour turn came up to go through
the locks, they uh, you take off.
Alvin Hays (39:30):
we had to take off a certain amount of the Higgins
boats.
Because of the weight Becausethe was too wide.
There's only about this much.
On each side they got the mules, you know, on each side and, uh
, and they're chained or notchained, but tied tight so that,
(39:51):
uh you, they just keep youabout that far from each side,
and we had eight or eight of thepower boats falling behind the
ship and every time she raised.
Jay Miralles (40:07):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (40:08):
Why then we could go into the next lock?
Jay Miralles (40:11):
To the next lock.
Yeah, and that took forever.
Alvin Hays (40:15):
Took all day to get through the back of the volcano,
oh my god.
And then when we come out onthe uh uh Pacific side, yeah.
Why?
It was the same thing.
We had to wait till the lordsub-marine nets put the boats
back on, and then we were readyto sail.
(40:38):
We went from there to Pearl.
Jay Miralles (40:41):
To Pearl Harbor.
Alvin Hays (40:42):
Yeah 14 days.
Jay Miralles (40:44):
Wow.
So that's your first time on aship that long without stepping
foot off.
What's going through your mind,sharing all those bunks and
living on a ship, and tell uswhat it's like.
Explain to these people who arelistening what is being on a
ship like in 19.
That was 1944.
(41:07):
1944.
Do you remember the name of theship or you don't remember?
Alvin Hays (41:11):
Oh yes.
Jay Miralles (41:12):
Oh, what's the name of?
Alvin Hays (41:13):
the ship USS Dolphin , ap 97.
Jay Miralles (41:16):
Wow, you the.
Alvin Hays (41:17):
A-U-P-H-I-N.
Jay Miralles (41:20):
What was the number at the end?
Alvin Hays (41:21):
97.
Apa 97.
Wow.
Apa means attack, personnelassault or assault personnel
attack.
Yes, wow so that kind of tellsyou something, even though dumb,
as we were trained andeverything but no, what I love
(41:45):
your sense of humor.
Jay Miralles (41:47):
I love it.
Alvin Hays (41:48):
Well, it took me out of my environment.
Jay Miralles (41:52):
Sure.
Alvin Hays (41:52):
I had no idea because I hadn't been around the
sea.
I'd never seen one of them bigiron things, and they can
imagine.
You can imagine trying to makeme believe they could float
Right.
Jay Miralles (42:06):
I mean, in theory it should right.
But again, these are thingsthat you've either seen in books
or things that as a kid, youprobably just read about some
things you know.
But now you are on this bigship, on this big, I mean on
this assault personnel attack.
You know boat and you're you'reheaded to Pearl Harbor.
(42:28):
Okay, tell me about that.
Alvin Hays (42:32):
The first three or four days out, the sea was just
like smooth glass, you're likethis is great and boring as a
dickens.
Yeah, you get no roll at all.
Jay Miralles (42:46):
Yes, yes, nothing Huh yeah.
Alvin Hays (42:49):
And then the wind picks up, you know, and you're
starting to get some moremovement of the ocean.
Yeah, and so your time passesfaster.
Jay Miralles (42:59):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (43:00):
We are in a little rougher water.
Jay Miralles (43:02):
Yeah, were you seasick.
Alvin Hays (43:04):
No, never got seasick once.
Jay Miralles (43:05):
Really, have you ever gotten like dizzy from
motion sickness later on in life?
No, nothing Good for you.
Good for you, no.
Okay, so no motion sickness.
Where are we now, are we?
Alvin Hays (43:18):
at Finally got to Pearl Harbor.
Jay Miralles (43:20):
Okay.
Alvin Hays (43:22):
And so our first impression was all those
battleships upside down,battleship roll, and that we
were right in beside them, youknow, and the carriers that left
on Saturday before the Sundaybombing, how you, how unlucky,
(43:48):
can you get so lucky?
I?
Jay Miralles (43:50):
mean these are three years later.
This is just literally.
It's that fresh.
Alvin Hays (43:54):
Yeah.
Jay Miralles (43:54):
And you're telling me these boats are upside down.
All people know today of thatowl is just the museum.
You said it when it was fresh.
Alvin Hays (44:06):
And you see it wasn't deep enough.
Jay Miralles (44:10):
Right.
Alvin Hays (44:11):
But once you could see half of the ship laid over
like that.
Jay Miralles (44:16):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (44:17):
And the reason the Arizona never.
They put it right down thestack.
The jeps dropped them rightdown the stack and blew the
engine room apart.
Inside out it blew up and themagazine and all of them were
loaded with 16-inch powder cases.
(44:39):
It was a sight to make you cryeven if you didn't know a damn
thing about it, and to think howmany sailors lost their lives.
So we stayed there about oh,I'm going to say five or six
days and refueled, took on foodand filled all of our ammunition
(45:06):
storage completely full.
We had three five-inch guns,five 38s and we had about 10
dual quad mount 40 millimeters.
40 millimeters, you know, theycome up in cans.
(45:28):
All of this is coming from thebottom of the ship From the hull
.
Jay Miralles (45:33):
Yeah, yeah.
Alvin Hays (45:35):
And there's four clips to a can and there's five,
six shells in each clip.
Jay Miralles (45:45):
Every fifth shell is a tracer, a tracer so you can
see where it's going.
Al your memory is so vividlysharp.
Alvin Hays (45:56):
And the five-inch guns.
I was on a five-inch gun, bythe way, too, and the five-inch
guns were.
Each shell come up different, Imean separate.
Jay Miralles (46:11):
Yep.
Alvin Hays (46:11):
You had to go on a elevator and the shell weighed
105 pounds.
You had to pick them up.
Jay Miralles (46:21):
Put them in.
Alvin Hays (46:23):
And set them up on the fuse setter, and they would
call you from the bridge andtell you how far to set the
fuses on them.
You turn the crank and that setthe fuses.
And so then the powder case.
It was about 40, maybe not 40inches, but it was longer than
(46:45):
36.
Solid brass, yeah, and itweighed 56 pounds.
Jay Miralles (46:53):
So the reason why you set the fuses you would
charge it, it would shootprojectile and then the fuse
timed out to where, based onwhat the bridge was telling you.
Alvin Hays (47:06):
And that was they.
Had it figured out how far thekamikazis were at 25,000 yards
and they would bring it rightdown and you would set it for
that, and then you'd keepsetting them closer, closer, as
the kamikazis come in.
Yeah 30, 35 or 40 at a bunch.
Jay Miralles (47:31):
And you would have to fix the trajectory of your
five inch right Based on.
You know what measurements werethey using Latitude, longitude,
what was that what they'reusing?
And they were telling youhere's what the numbers are, and
you waited for orders to firethat.
How long would it take to cycleone shot?
Alvin Hays (47:49):
You mean from one shot to the other.
Jay Miralles (47:51):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (47:52):
On a five inch gun it would take about three
minutes.
Jay Miralles (47:55):
Three minutes because you have to put it 25
people working.
Yeah, that's incredible Wow.
Alvin Hays (48:05):
And oh yeah, I've seen there's powder cases so
thick on the deck that they haveto kick them over out in the
water.
Jay Miralles (48:15):
Yeah.
Alvin Hays (48:17):
And the turret wouldn't hardly turn.
Jay Miralles (48:19):
Because, yeah, that's, I can't imagine.
Alvin Hays (48:23):
And oh yeah, it would just melt the paint right
off of the barrel of the gun,you know.
Jay Miralles (48:28):
Yeah, yeah, so this was no longer training,
this is a real thing, this is areal thing.
These kamikazes are coming inattacking Pearl Harbor,
attacking your ships and youguys are firing back.
Alvin Hays (48:43):
Yeah, and you don't fire directly at them.
Jay Miralles (48:47):
Right.
Alvin Hays (48:47):
Because it's the shell burst Right and the flak
is what kills the plane.
Jay Miralles (48:58):
Right so, and they were coming out of nowhere.
Yeah 35 to 40 of them at thesame time?
How many people were battlingor how many guns were at those
kamikaze airplanes?
Alvin Hays (49:09):
Depend on how many ships were on the in the
flotilla.
Jay Miralles (49:13):
Right.
Alvin Hays (49:13):
If there was 10 or 12 of them in the flotilla, the
sky would be black with it.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
Thanks for tuning in to the Connection.
It's been a fantastic journey,exploring stories, insights and
inspirations that bridge ourlives.
Remember every connection hasthe power to transform.
Please subscribe, rate andreview.
Your feedback keeps us going Inthis connected world.
(49:41):
Let's make meaningfulconnections that enrich lives.
Now signing off until next time, the Connection, keep
connecting and let's go.
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