Edward D. Sirnko

Edward D. Sirnko

I was born in Ironwood, Michigan on November 26, 1925. I graduated from St. Ambrose High School.

I enlisted on August 10, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois and attended 2 months of Boot Camp at Farragut, Idaho. In San Francisco, California, I boarded the Queen Mary and we went to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

I boarded the U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16) on November 18, 1943. My duty was Plane Pusher. We traveled to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. While I was on a work force, in April 1944, I was injured. I was transferred to Base 8 Hospital in Pearl Harbor, where I spent two months.

I was transferred, with 6 men, to the Argus-15 which was a troop transport. She had been training in Alameda, California for a year, going to Siapan. We spent 40 days, while the Navy bombed the island. We buried all dead men on shore, before moving to higher ground to set up our radar and equipment. We hit the beach with the 2nd Division Marines on Tinian. After 3 months, the Army took over and we went back to Pearl Harbor for re-assignment. Six men from our group were transferred to the U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-IO) on November 1944. We were the flag ship with the 5th Fleet. We carried all war correspondents. Admiral, etc. I served under Captain Combs aboard the U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16) and the U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-IO). He was transferred shortly after my arrival.

The Yorktown was hit in the Philippines. A bomb went through the island structure and exploded, killing 6 men and wounding 14 others. We buried the deceased at sea. The U.S.S. Franklin was with us. She took a bomb through the Hanger Deck and it exploded while the men were preparing for dinner. She lost 1,200 men and listed badly. Somehow, she managed to get back to Pearl Harbor safely.

War correspondent, Ernie Pyle, was aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown when he left her and got killed on the island.

Sedric Foster, Bull Halsey and various other dignitaries were aboard the Yorktown at different times. Rear Admiral Bull Halsey shook hands with us when we got to Japan.

For about six weeks, 100 men trained aboard ship to go with Admiral Chester Nimitz to Japan to ride Rero ETO's White Horse through town. (It was concealed.)

On September 14, 1945, the U.S.S. Yorktown was anchored in Japan, and we could see the signing of the treaty by McArthur, Tojo, and others, from the carrier.

The U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-IO) received the Presidential Unit Citation on September 1945. We went ashore in Japan, on September 16, 1945., and walked through the ruins of Nagasaki where the atomic bomb destroyed the city.

I received eleven Combat Stars, I Philippine Liberation Star, I Asiatic-Pacific, I Overseas medal, and I Presidential Unit Citation. My name is mentioned in the book, "Pacific Carrier" by Rubin Kitchen, Jr. and a book titled, "Into the Wind" which is about the U.S.S. Yorktown.