-And I watched it as he came in and hit us right behind number one stack. And next thing I knew, I was laying on the deck. And my foot, was up here. When war broke out in Europe in 1939, only two decades after the conclusion of the First World War, the people of the United States were adamant to stay out of the fight. They were satisfied to send military supplies to the British allies, but beyond that, the war was none of their concern. So when Milton Mapou joined the US military in 1940, His motivation was a little more than teenage boredom. And having grown up with the Atlantic Ocean in his backyard, the Navy was an easy choice. I was born in a place called Rockaway Beach, New York. So, along the Atlantic Ocean. I had the ocean on one side, and the bay on the other, and I was always down there, At the fishing pier and on the boats that- no, I knew people had boats. I was always messing around, and I liked it. I liked being out on the water. My mother showed me pictures of me when I was a kid, and she had me dressed up in a sailor's uniform. So she says, "That's what did it." If Milt was looking for a change of scenery, he got it. In little more than a year, his service in the Navy had taken him from New York to Rhode Island and Massachusetts, through the Panama Canal, and all the way around to San Diego, California. There, Milt's ship would be restocked and refueled before heading to Oahu, Hawaii, to a US Naval base called Pearl Harbor. And after being in Pearl Harbor for about a week, they transferred me to USS Detroit. A week or so after I was transferred, the attack came. December 7th, I was 'board the Detroit, I was below decks, and my buddy and I, we had a tray in our hands, we were just gettin' our breakfast, when we heard loud explosions. We went topside and as we come topside, I looked. My buddy said, "What is it?" and he looked. "Meatball! Meatball! Chaps! Chaps!" "Meatball" is how the men referred to the emblem of the Rising Sun on the Japanese flag. It was then Milt realized that the American fleet at Pearl Harbor was under attack. I looked, and there's a plane coming in. And he was coming like this, lower and lower, and he was so low, I could see his face like I see you. And he was sittin' there smiling. About that time, he dropped his torpedo. Fortunately for the crew of the USS Detroit, the Japanese pilot had dropped his torpedo a fraction of a second too late. Milt watched as the shell sailed through the air, just missing the bow of the ship, and detonated on a small nearby island. Now that the reality of the situation had set in, the men did what they could to fight back. And that's when we took off. Just try to get to, someplace to shoot back at these planes. Push the- All you can see, look up in the sky and it's all you can see were planes. Then, we couldn't shoot our big guns because they're too big on a light cruiser. If you shoot them, you kill everybody around. We got small arms, and it's the only thing we could do. Fly it back for the rifleman, and that was about it. We couldn't do too much. In the meantime, we were tied up opposite Battleship Row, and I seen the Arizona when it got hit with that bomb, that blew up. The bombing of the USS Arizona resulted in nearly half of the American deaths that occurred in the Pearl Harbor attack (1,177 dead). The ship exploded so violently and sank so quickly, that over 900 men (1,102 total) were forever entombed in the wreckage. We did what we could, and until uh, the second attack was over. And they got the ship underway. The USS Detroit headed out to sea in an effort to run down the Japanese fleet, but it was too late. The attackers had vanished as quickly as they appeared. Justice would have to wait. For now, Milt and the Detroit were called upon to escort hundreds of wounded men back to the States, where the news from Pearl Harbor had pulled the American public from a mood of apathy to a state of action. "I ask- that the Congress declare- that since the unprovoked- and dastardly attack- by Japan- on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war- has existed- between the United States- and the Japanese Empire." - The Infamy Speech of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (December 8, 1941) Before long, Milt would be transferred to the USS Pringle, and sent to bombard the Japanese-occupied islands in the South Pacific. Japan had spent the first years of the war expanding their empire, by aggressively invading and taking lands throughout the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Once the United States was in a position to fight back, they quickly realized that extracting their enemy from these lands would be a long, meticulous process. Island by island, the Navy fleet shelled the Japanese positions, often for weeks at a time. Decimating the land and softening the enemy defenses, before sending in the Marines. The Destroyers (a type of warship) are coming first, and uh, landing craft be out, maneuverin' out, waitin', and we come in, we're by the beach. Y'know, just in case uh- They have a gun trap Monsier and they're- while we're firing we've got the battleships and cruisers beyond us, firing right over us. Then the troops came in. And if they needed us, we come in, and- they direct us with their aim of fire. As the Allies continued their campaign through the South Pacific, casualties on both sides continued to mount, and progress was slow and brutal. For the Japanese, surrender was not an option. Glory could only be found in victory or death. But as their situation became more desperate, They soon unleashed a strategy unlike anything Milt, or the rest of the United States Navy, had ever seen. We went to the Philippines, and on the way to the Philippines, we got hit with a kamikaze (a suicidal missile plane). It hit us back after a 5"/38 and a 40 mm. Wiped out that whole crew, but one man. You can't figure out how these men- would give their life to- kill themselves just to sink, kill people. (Approximately 3,800 kamikaze pilots died, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by the attacks) They believed in the Emperor and that was it. We weren't brought up that way. They were. The remaining crew of the Pringle, and the ship itself, survived the attack, but it wouldn't be the last time they experienced the terror of a kamikaze. In April of 1945, the USS Pringle's luck would run out. This one day he comes in. They intercepted. They saved at least 200 planes up in the air, and- The all peeled off different- went different ways. And this one plane, it just came in at us- in the sun. And we were fir- I was firing, I was up over the bridge on a 40 mm Director, and- I had that gun going right at that plane, but, it seemed I couldn't knock it down. And I watched it as he came in and hit us right behind number one stack. And next thing I knew, I was laying on the deck. And my foot, was up here. The explosion had thrown Milt across the deck, and snapped his leg in half. He lay there in agony, helpless, as the ship began to sink. One man come down at the fi- and for once, just- reached out, and ejected my life belt and he says, "Mapou, that's all I can do for you." And over the side he went. And I looked up and I'm seeing it. Stern of the ship up here, and where I was was like this. I just looked up at the sky and just said, "Dear God, get me off this damn thing!" And the next thing I knew, I was in the water. Got over to a life raft, and I just held onto the rope that was on the other side of it, and I held onto that, for two and a half hours until they picked us up. Over the next five months, he would be transferred to and from hospitals at Okinawa, Saipan, and Hawaii until finally arriving in California. There, he was promptly taken off the plane and put directly into an ambulance. No uh- "Welcome home!" or anything and that was it. In the ambulance, right into the hospital. And that was my "welcome home" from the war. And I stayed there almost two years in the Naval Hospital. Until- they finally came 'round said to me, "Mapou, you're gonna be discharged." I said, "What do you mean, 'discharged'? I'm in the Navy." "Unfit for sea duty." I couldn't fight 'em. So that was it. I was out after six and a half years. For the next four decades, Milt would struggle to maintain a steady job due to his injured leg. In 1983, he finally retired, feeling spent and forgotten, as so many returning veterans do. In 2016, Milt's family and friends would rally their community and raise funds to send him to Pearl Harbor, for the 75th Anniversary of the Japanese attack. For the first time in seven decades, Milt would set foot in the very place where his story began. Then, in September of 2017, Milt finally got the "welcome home" he deserved. I didn't get my good "welcome home" until I went on- on a flight. And that was one of the best things I ever went on. They really had a "welcome home" in the Baltimore Airport. The Naval Academy, I went to the cadets where they'd welcome me. And when I got back here down in Columbus, I was welcomed by a lot of people, and that felt real nice. Today, Milton Mapou volunteers twice a week at the Motts Military Museum in Groveport, Ohio. The museum's impressive display is accentuated by Milt's willingness to share his story with anyone who walks through the door. There's something it's- lettin' people know the history of our country, and what went on. Milton Mapou passed away on January 17, 2019. Rest in peace, Milton. Thank you for your service, and your story. Hey everyone, I'm Josh from Memoirs of WWII, and I just want to say thank you so much for watching. Now, currently we're releasing one episode a month, but if you'd like to help us get to the place where we can release more content, more frequently, Please consider supporting us through Patreon. Now, if you're unfamiliar with Patreon, it's a subscription-based service that helps support creators like us. You can check out more in the link below. Another great way you can support us is to share these stories. Share 'em on social media, share 'em with your family and friends. It's a great way to honor these veterans. One final way you can support us is to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss a single video. Thanks again for watching.
