James "Jim" Corols

James "Jim" Coroles

I was born in Ogden, Utah on May 12, 1925. I attended Ogden City schools, and completed high school after serving in the Navy. My father started the Utah Bottling Works in Ogden, in 1919, where we bottled our own brand of soft drinks under the name "Purity Beverages". We operated nine trucks, at one time, which covered northern Utah and also going into Idaho and Wyoming. We also distributed many different beers.

I spent four months working at the Defense Depot in Ogden before entering the service. At the time I had not reached 17 years old. Since I knew the head of the motor pool, I was hired on to drive all types of trucks which hauled supplies to the Navy base and to Hill Field.

I entered the Navy on August 24, 1942, and went through Boot Camp in San Diego, California. After completing training, I was sent to Moscow, Idaho to attend Radio School. After a few months, I requested a transfer since I did not take to being a radioman. From there I went to Bremerton, Washington and worked in the shipyards doing all kinds of work. The hardest was shipping paint and tar down in the bottoms of some of the battle wagons which were in for repair.

My next assignment was to the U.S.S. Block Island. After being commissioned, we left Bremerton for San Diego to pick up some planes and pilots, and to do some trial runs to break in the ship and the crew. We took about twenty-two planes out and when we returned to port, we had one plane that was still good. All the others were wrecked and we lost two in the drink. The worst of it all was that we lost three men on our trial run. When we returned to port, I felt that the ship was a jinx and I got a transfer to Squadron 35. If you remember, the Block Island was sunk in the Atlantic.

After Squadron 35, I was assigned to VC Squadron 16. Then I was transferred to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit 5. From there I came aboard the U.S.S. Nassau where I was attached to the Ordnance Division.

The time I spend on the Nassau was my happiest time. I was In Ordnance Division, and I cannot remember the Division Number. We were taking on planes In Pearl. The ordnance guy, ahead of the plane I was checking on as they came aboard, hit the trigger and fired all the guns, as someone on the dock had not checked the switches. The wings were folded and the shells went through the Hanger Deck, hitting some men in the mess hall. One of our shipmates was standing near the plane and the shrapnel from the deck completely covered him. He bled to death quickly, as he couldn't be saved.

We spent time in the South Pacific on a couple of the island invasions, such as Tarawa and the other islands. I think the best trip we had was when we took on some Army SBO's 46F's aircraft to Samoa. I think we were the only ship to launch planes off our deck while sitting in the harbor. When I was transferred to Kauai, I was in charge of handling the two targets. We had some of these pilots show up at our base that we had launched off at Samoa.

When the ship returned to the mainland, a few of our group were sent to Kauai with Carrier Aircraft Service Unit # 1. My next duty was with CASU #45, and then CASU #54. This was in Fallen, Nevada. While there I joined a flying club called "The Sage Hoppers', where I learned to fly. My last station was permanent Shore Patrol in Oakland, California where I lived in town with a couple of buddies from Fallen, and we had a nise apartment to stay in. I was discharged in February 1946, and returned to our family business in Ogden, Utah.

I only have one regret, which is when I was attached to CASU #21 and completed my training for my Second Class Ordnance man, I never received my other stripe before I was transferred. However, I still have my certificate. I met my wife and married in June 28, 1946. We had three children: two girls and one boy. My youngest daughter had problems delivering her fourth child, went into cardiac arrest, and we lost her in 1986. We have fourteen grand kids and ten great-grandkids with one on the way. I spent twenty years running our business where we also had a store in front of the bottling department. It catered to the public, serving beer, all kinds of fountain drinks, and also short order sandwiches. After we sold out our business, I went to work at the Defense Depot for ten years, and then spent ten years at Hill Air Force. I retired in 1987, and at the present time am being lazy and playing a lot of golf. We have a Condo in Mesquite, Nevada where we spend time in the winter, and it also gives our family a place to go with the kids. Mesquite is only about seventy miles from Las Vegas,so we can always run over for a day to see any shows.