50
Years
Ago the area, we spent the day protecting the USS Wichita (CA-45) as her eight-inch guns freed up the US Marines who had been
I HEAD-RTERS OF THE
C0~1MANDER 4 CHJE.F
U:o-;IT£0 STATES FLEET MEMORANDUM
rGP-SECRET ~
SECRET
From: ________l'- ~!--------------------------,-----
To:
__________________ ..,. _____________
------~.:2_8
Subject:
Tactical Cover an4 Deception Plan tor OLYllPIC.
1. The dlversioLery tLreet against SLlk:ku, x-:s to X f 2, ~ppe~rs well ti~ed and r.sy drew out the Kssek~s1 boys in force • ?or tt.!s reason I thirJc 1 t highly edviseble tte;t tte ri?ks ~nd e~conp~ny1ng exped1t1onery vesse~s carry no troops, be ca~outleged to represent e troo'P!'oed, end be protecte~ by the heaviest poss!ble cor:c~.::tri::t1on of csrrit:r stre!'lt:th.
18
C. D. GLO'V'T.R.
The top-secret memo which was the long-sought verification for Walker.
I learned of my involvement in this deceptive scheme in June 1945. At the ti~e, I was commanding officer ofUSS _SC1272, a submarine chaser attached to the 5th Fleet. We were to protect hospital ships, supply ships and cripples with a smoke cover to protect them during air attack. This duty was every night, following an all-clay presence at radar picket sta~on #9, one of 13 stations ringing Okinawa to give early warning of approaching enemy planes to the forces inside the picket line. We also were called upon for special assignments, such as the penetration ofNakagusuku Wan (later called Buckner Bay) . We were the first American ship to enter this bay, the reported base of midget submarines and suicide motor boats. Mter a sweep of
pinned down at Shuri Castle. For a small ship, we had many interesting assignments, apparently to the satisfaction of Captain B.B. Adell, USN, who was commander control group for Admiral Turner. Captain Adell summoned me in early June 1945. He informed me under sworn secrecy, that I was to return to Pearl Harbor and take command ofUSS PCS-1379, a larger ship, and then return to him at Okinawa. He told me of the deception plan being formulated, and that my job would be to command the central wntrol ship. By the time I assumed command of the 1379, in late August 1945, Japan had surrendered, making the return to Okinawa unnecessary. I shortly thereafter left active duty and returned to civilian life. Forty years went by, and I had not disclosed the plans for the "Olympic" deception to anyone. Then in 1985, I met George McMillan, a well known author who was commissioned by Random House to write a book to be titled The Invasion ofjapan. It would describe the planned two-part invasion, code-named "Olympic" and "Coronet," assuming the atomic bomb had not been available, and the war would be carried to completion by the all-out assault on Japan itself George interviewed m:: a number of times, and prevailed upon me to write various recollections for him. I continued this writing during 1986 and 1987, consisting of various chapters which I eventually put into chronological order and published under the title, "Ninety Day Wonder." One of the things I had disclosed to George was the planned deceptive attack on Kyushu. George was surprised that he had never heard of this, which suggested that it had indeed been carefully guarded. Unfortunately, George McMillan acquired Lou Gehrig's Disease and died in 1987, his work unfinished and unpublished. Some of the incidents I had written about needed clarification, and others I wanted to verify with official records. I wanted to track down the historical proof supporting my recollection of the proposed decoy invasion, and the part PCS1379 was to play in it. I went to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, but found ·no records or historian who could shed any light on it. Then I journeyed to the National Archives in Washington, where I spent several days poring through all the records relating to operation "Olympic." There was no reference to any planned decoy invasion or feint intended to draw out the kamikazes. However, in the voluminous records of the planning for "Olympic" entitled ''Arrangements for Preparation, Initiation and Coordination of 'Operation Olympic"' was one curious