B. J. ROBERTSON

B.J. Robertson of Farmington was a storekeeper second class in the U.S. Navy's supply department.  He served from 1944-48 and 1950-54. 

"When we arrived in Manila, P.I., Aug 9, 1945, we were overjoyed to hear the war was over.  Our captain gave each crew member permission to send a radio/telegram to our loved ones." 

"My mother received the telegram at home on a farm in Arkansas.  She put the telegram in her pocket.  She thought it was from the War Department about my death in action. Later that evening she opened it and it said "Hello Mom. We are in the P.I.  We are all well. Hope to be home soon." 

"Mom just sat on the floor crying.  She told me later if I had been around she would have used a razor strap on me because she worried so much." 

"We left the P.I. and headed for Tokyo Bay to unload the war material.  My ship was the USS Sirona.  At Yohabama we unloaded our material and returned to mid harbor.  We were overjoyed to learn we would be close to the USS Missouri on Sept 2, 1945.  We would be there for treaty signing." 

"On Aug. 30, we were ordered to Hong Kong to pick up troops of the nationalistic Chinese and bring them north to fight the forces of Communism.  We made two trips to Hong Kong to pick up the troops." 

"After we had unloaded our last bunch of Chinese, we were ordered to Shanghai to pick up American troops stationed there and to bring them back to the good old USA." 

Mr. Robertson would like to know if anyone in the area observed the two A-Bombs go off in mid-Pacific during the summer of 1946 called Operation Crossroads.  He now lives in Farmington.