Marvin Featherston recalls the complete darkness.
‘No lights of any kind,? said Featherston, 89. ‘The war was supposed to be over’they just did not want anyone to know we were coming. It was a dreadfully slow 30 day trip across the Pacific in a zigzag pattern. I was so sick of being on that ship all those days.?
Featherston, a Brandon Township resident, was among the first troops to land on mainland Japan following the end of World War II in August 1945. Last month marked the 70th anniversary of the event that was officially announced by Imperial Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. The surrender was formally signed on Sept. 2, 1945 aboard USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Featherston was on the Hawaiian island of Maui when the war ended. The 18-year-old Ortonville High School graduate was serving as a Seabee’a member of the United States Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The word ‘Seabee? is derived from the initials ‘CB? coming from the term construction battalions. He had arrived in Hawaii after joining the Navy in March 1944 and had been assigned to the Naval Construction Training Center, known as Camp Endicott in Davisville, Rhode Island. The camp trained more than 100,000 Seabees during the World War II.
‘I was just 17-years-old when I graduated high school in 1943 and my folks would not sign for me to join the service,? he said. ‘So I had to wait until I turned 18 in December (1943). My class of 1943 included 28 students with 17 boys, of which eight served in the military. We lost two in the war.?
‘I thought what in hell was a Seabee when I heard they were sending me to Camp Endicott,? he continued. ‘When I got there camp officers found out I could blow a trumpet. So each day I did that for chow, flag calls, ‘Reveille,? ‘Tattoo? and ‘Taps?. That was pretty much my job while in camp.?
Featherston’s musical abilities started as a second grade student in Ortonville. He later played in the high school band.
After five weeks of training Featherston traveled by train to San Francisco then on a troop ship to the Hawaiian Islands.
‘In Hawaii we replaced a battalion of Seabees that was wiped out at the Battle of Tarawa,? he said.
Seabees were often assigned as support to Marines. During the three-day Battle of Tarawa in November 1943 more than 1,000 Marines were killed that came ashore on the small south Pacific Island about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. Seabees were also killed in that battle.
‘In Hawaii we built quonset huts and I spent a lot of time bugling. I did some surfing, too. It was the Battle of Hawaii? talk about tough duty,? he laughed. ‘I was on the islands Oahu and Maui until August 1945 when we dropped the bomb in Japan and the war ended. Then in late August they told us we were shipping somewhere, but that’s all they told us.?
Featherston said a convoy of about 30 ships including destroyers, mine sweepers and LSTs (landing ship, tanks) sailed west for about a month.
‘We found out our destination was Japan’a port city called Sasebo,? he said. ‘The big concern was the uncertainty of just how the Japanese people were going to treat us when we arrived. If you think about it, four long years of war had just ended and we had to go ashore in their country.?
Featherston recalls seeing the mainland from his ship and recalling the destruction.
‘You could see factories and buildings still standing,? he said. ‘On land everything was bombed out? it was a real mess. The stores had nothing to sell and many homes were just burned out shells. But the Japanese people were really good to us. We could not communicate very well? only through some translation book, but they were really glad the war was over. They were all done fighting and were ready to get their lives back.?
‘Some of the guys were going farther inland to check out the rest of the country,? he said. ‘I stayed in camp. The roads were really bombed bad and were rough to drive on’it was tough bumpy ride in the back of an Army truck.?
Through letters mailed home to his family, Featherston determined that a classmate who also graduated from Ortonville High School in 1943, Merton Jacobs, was in the same convoy that arrived in Sasebo from Hawaii. The information about active military was difficult to share due to tight security, but Featherston recognized Jacobs? ship.
‘So I talked a sailor into taking me out in an old boat to Jacobs? ship that was anchored in the harbor,? he said. ‘We talked on his ship for awhile and even had a few pictures taken. He made it home safe like I did. Anyway, the boat driver said he would come back and get me, but never did. I was out of uniform and stranded on the ship. So I had to get a ride back with a group of officers going ashore, but I made it.?
Featherston was in Sasebo for five months working as a Seabee and returned home in May 1946 and attended Michigan State University in September to study hotel administration. That same year Marvin, along with his father, Harry, purchased DeLano Hardware located on Mill Street in downtown Ortonville.
‘I knew the hardware business from working there as a high school student growing up,? he said.
Marvin married Marilyn Potter in 1948 and the couple ran the Featherston Hardware until 1992 when they retired. The couple has three children, Marva Lee, Marlene and Mark.