Evan Tjaden
U.S. History
Per. 4
World War II Veteran Essay
Lee O. Tjaden was born on February 19, 1925 in White, South Dakota. He was the youngest of six children.
He grew up during the depression and his father was a farmer. He spent his youth helping his father and his older brothers with the farm. When he was about 15 he dropped out of high school and moved out of his parent’s house.
He worked at a service station to make a living at $1.00 a day. There he learned a lot about cars and how to be an auto mechanic. He was there when he heard that Pearl Harbor had been attacked. He wondered about his future, knowing that when he turned eighteen he would be drafted.
While he was still seventeen he first tried to get in the Air Force, but did not pass the entrance test. So, being afraid that if he were drafted he would have to go into the Army, he had his mother sign for him and joined the Navy.
After he joined, he was sent to Omaha Nebraska, Naval Receiving Center, where they gave him a physical examination. From there he went to Farragut, Idaho, with other recruits on a Pullman train for boot camp training. After completion of that he was sent to the Los Angeles Naval Training Center to be trained as a Signalman for a ship. He was then assigned to the USS Chester as a first class seaman.
The USS Chester was the flagship of Cruiser Division Five, consisting of the Chester, the Pensacola, and the Salt Lake City.
The Chester left Pearl Harbor on November 7, 1943 headed for the South Pacific where they rendezvoused with the aircraft carriers Essex and Bunker Hill and the anti-aircraft cruiser, Oakland. Some destroyers for the invasion of Apemorma and Tarawa also joined them.
The main job of the Chester in Cruiser Division Five was bombardment of various Japanese held islands, prior to land invasions.
Seaman Tjaden’s role during battle was on a five-inch gun crew. He handed shells between the shell elevator and the gun loader. This was a very busy job in the middle of a battle. On November 20, at 6:02 p.m., during Operation Galvanic: the invasions of Tarawa, three Japanese torpedo bombers were sighted coming in low across the water. The Chester put out a barrage of fire and two of the planes were splashed just off the starboard side.
A few of the other islands that he visited or took part in a battle were Apemomoma, Funafuti, Toroa, Wotje, Majura, Kwajalein, Pelilian, Wake Islands, Saipan, Marcus Island, Euewetak, and Iwo Jima, where he spent his twentieth birthday. He took part in the shelling of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945.
One of the scariest memories of his wartime service was when the Chester was on it’s way to a bombardment assignment when a large unknown task force was picked up on radar and they didn’t know if they were friend or enemy. Finally it was determined to be a United States Navy task force. Everyone felt relieved since they wouldn’t have stood very good against a large enemy force.
The Chester was in Ktouluk Bay when the Captain announced the news, “The War Is Over!” and he could feel the ship vibrate with all the cheers. They were soon after anchored in the harbor of Ominata, Japan. This was the site of a major Japanese Naval Base. At noon on September 9th, the Japanese surrendered at the base to Rear Admiral Denebrink. He gave a work party permission to strip the armory at the base of all it’s firearms. Tjaden was allowed to keep two Japanese rifles, which he still has with him.
After the war was over he received the following Awards and medals:
-World War II Victory Medal
-American Area Medal
-Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Six Stars
-Philippine Island Liberation Ribbon
After the war was over, he left the service. He went home to South Dakota for a while to work in the field of automobile repair. In 1947 he attended the national auto-diesel-electric training school in Los Angeles under the GI training bill for 12 months. In 1950 he married Virginia Gibbons and they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. There he worked for the U.S. Postal Service as manager of fleet operations, overseeing all of the postal cars. He did that until he retired.
Overall he felt good about his experience in the Navy. In his service he learned about the cultures of the people of the Pacific Islands and how they live. He felt that he had done his small part in winning the war. He has no regrets and is glad he served, as he says, “It made men out of a lot of kids.”