Robert Hatfield, relates in an interview with KIDD historian Fred Benton how the KIDD provided shore bombardment to the Marines fighting to retake the island of Guam during World War II. In many instances, gunfire support from vessels like the KIDD lying offshore enabled the Marines to overcome opposition with a minimal loss of life to American forces.
"Shore Bombardment at Guam" — July, 1944
Robert Hatfield: We had a
call for fire, where they . . . go in close ashore, pick out a
target that had so many Marines bogged down [that] they couldn't
move. And it was a tank that was up under the side of a
mountainous cliff right on the edge of the ocean. And they [the
Marines] were coming up this roadway going up around the back to
try to clean up whatever was left [of an enemy position], and they
couldn't go back because they had Japanese [troops] in back of 'em
that had come up behind 'em. They couldn't make it around this
turn 'cause they had a Japanese tank up there shooting at 'em
every time they shoved their nose out.
And they had us come in there and pick him out and we blasted him
right off the cliff. We knocked the whole side of the cliff away
and they couldn't get through then. I mean the road went and
everything with it. We had another time like that, I think it
might have been Guam or one of the islands [that] had a mountain
to it, where the Marines had called for fire. They were sorta like
trying to advance over an area that they couldn't get through
without somebody giving 'em a hand at cleaning it out and it meant
shooting over a mountain, which is what they call enfilade
fire. That means taking a shell, like say you're gonna fire say 15
degrees and hit a target? You'd put it at 75 [degrees] and she'll
go up in the air and reach her orbit [apex] and come back down the
other side like a depth charge.
Fred Benton: Like field artillery.
Robert Hatfield: Yeah. Howitzer stuff. And so we put that
bugger up. We figured it all out on our range tables and all that
and put it up there and we were missing like so much. We'd get a
spot, you know, here, front or back, and so many yards. We'd go to
the table and we'd--this was actually done without the computer,
you know, the rangekeeper. You'd just crank this in off your range
tables, which was something they don't--never do now. In them
days, you had to have real good knowledge of how to do it in case
your equipment went down, . . . completely out.
We kept spotting it up 300 yards and the Marines say "You
got a hit. Beautiful. USS KIDD, you're all right!" We
wiped out this certain thing they had that was holding 'em from
getting through.
Gunfire support was not the sole duty assigned to the KIDD while in the vicinity of Guam, nor the only close encounters with the enemy that she experienced. Records show that on July 13, 1944, while operating independently away from the fleet, an enemy aircraft missed hitting the KIDD and crashed in the waters alongside her. Just five days later on July 18, the KIDD proceeded independently to Fadian Point, Guam, to rescue an American pilot who had crashed in the sea just off the shore line. No enemy opposition was encountered.
Donald P. Starks, turret gunner for a Grumman Avenger which flew off of the escort carrier CHENANGO (CVE-28) tells of a similar incident in the waters off of Guam.
"Rescue at Guam" — July, 1944
Having just recently discovered that the USS KIDD is part of your naval war memorial, it occurred to me that the enclosed picture could be of interest. It was taken on July 27, 1944, off the island of Guam during the period of the invasion and retaking of that island. Our Grumman Avenger had been ditched that day while returning from a support mission over the island. The pilot, radioman, and myself (turret gunner) were picked up by the KIDD and returned to our ship, USS CHENANGO (CVE-28). The lucky transferee in the picture is me, with by now, my favorite destroyer, the KIDD, and crew members in the background.
Aviator Donald B. Starks (at bottom) is transferred
back to his carrier on July 27, 1944, after being
pulled from the water by USS KIDD. Photo
courtesy of Donald B. Starks (CVE-28).