William Day DeWitt

Birth date	August 2, 1922
Age they entered the service	20 years old
Hometown	Charlotte, North Carolina
Branch of the service	Navy (V12 and transferred to V7)
Rank	Lieutenant Junior Grade
Name of their unit	LCI 758 (Landing Craft Infantry) and LST 560 ( Landing Ship Transport)
When they served	June 1, 1943 – July 1946
Where did you serve?	Philippines, Borneo, Japan- Took troops up to Japan for invasions
Did you enlist or were you drafted?	Enlist
How did you feel about going to war?	I felt as if I was just doing my duty.
Did you have any family members that went to war. If so, did they survive?	I had a brother in the navy on a destroyer in the North Atlantic in convoy and my father, who was in the army and assisted with the air corp. They both survived.
Were you ever wounded? How and where?	No
Did you receive any medals? Which ones?	I received the ones that everyone else received, five total: occupation medals, one with three stars, and I was awarded the expert pistol in Hawaii.

Do you have a war story you would like to tell?	During an invasion in the Philippines, I saw 68 kamikazes come over the mountain while on the LCI. They would come over, down, and then nose dived into the stern of ships. During this attack one of the kamikazes hit the Nashville. Because of the kamikazes, we would never tie up next to another ship nor would we anchor near one. These “Jap” suicide pilots would most often aim for larger targets and two boats right up next to each other would be their first target. The kamikazes came either early in the morning or at dusk. You could hear them as they came over the mountain as well. Everyone knew what was going on when you heard them.
What was your reaction when you found out the war was over?	I was very happy. I was on the LST, anchored at Negros Island in the Philippines. We were the first wave preparing for an invasion on Japan. We were so very happy because our invasion was not far from the time they dropped the bomb on Japan.
What was the most frightening event of the war for you?	My most frightening event was when I saw a kamikaze plane nose dive and hit the LCI that was a couple hundred yards away from our craft, as it exploded. We had no idea whether it was hitting our ship or the other. We were very scared, but very lucky as well. Also, we beached and docked off of the island of Corigador, an island where the Japanese used to march prisoners, the Bataan Death March. On the island were many caves where Japanese had left suicide boats that were still armed, but never used. I yanked off one of the name plates from the boat, hoping that it would not explode.
What was the most cherished memory of the war for you?	Hearing about the bomb in Japan was my most cherished memory. Our craft was ready and serious about leaving for the invasion on Japan. We had recently taken troops to Yokahoma so that their chief engineering officer could check the local installations with his captain. We were ready to go back and were so happy to hear that the war was over because of the bombing.
Do you have regrets about your service in World War II?	No
How do you feel about America today?	Just like everyone else, proud of it.
How do you feel about the war with Iraq?	No comment
Is there anything else you would like to add?	A lot of guys were fighting and everyone had the same attitudes, they enlisted because they were all willing to fight because we as a nation were attacked. It was a very patriotic war.