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  Two Farm Boys

   This is the story of two Farm boys and their experiences during WWII.  Leon Emerson was from Oklahoma and Lyle Peterson from Illinois. They wound up on the same Ship The USS Yuma ATF 94.
  Leon was sent to California for Boot training, then to Quartermaster school Graduating with 95.91 marks.  Made Seaman 1C Out of school. Leon reported on board with Qm3C duties.
  Lyle was sent to Great Lakes for Boot Camp then to sixteen weeks of Sonar school at San Diego and made third class Sonar man out of school. He then applied for electronic training and was accepted, graduating with good marks, getting him a promotion to second class.
    Both men were assigned to the USS Yuma ATF-94. The Yuma was built in Portland Oregon, the best liberty town ever. The whole town was just plain nice to servicemen .We were invited into their homes for dinners, music and just tried to make you feel a home.  Leon arrived on 8/6/43 Lyle did not get to the good liberty for another week. One of Lye’s favorite memories was the Odd Fellows Saturday night dance. He found and danced with Nina the Welder, who had helped put the Yuma together.

   Immediately after the commissioning Lyle was designated Ships mailman. Can you imagine how to find a naval post office? The locals all knew where the recruiting office was but that was it. So I went to the recruiters and they told me where to go. The post office did not have the Yuma listed but had a list of names of new ship crews at the receiving barracks, so I got the ships roster and everyone on it got mail.

   The next entry was our move to Astoria Washington. We loaded supplies, food, Fuel and fresh Water, now off to San Francisco, Ca.
   Most of the crew had not been to sea before and they were sea sick all the way, it was rough and we were sailing just off the shore and were riding the shore swells which put the rock on the pitch not a good situation.
   Arrived In San Francisco Golden Gate at 2100 hours after narrowly missing a big tanker and a Liberty ship, getting lost in the dense fog (visibility 30’) and getting tangled up in anti Sub net.

   The next mail run was to Mare Island near San Francisco, We were tied up at Pier 5 And the mail was at Post office Mare island Almost fifty miles away and no transportation available.  The Captain sent the Wale boat to pick it up a fourteen-hour round trip. I will never forget that ride.  The payoff, the letter that was expected was not there. Per the Captains request the mail for are ship was transferred to San Francisco.

   The next move was to Moore Dry dock in Oakland, California. We received the Radar. The deck crew worked the whole time making fenders and the Welder put cable-restraining pins on the stern.  When this was completed, the ship was sent to Mare Island for Ammunition pyrotechnics and an IFF (Identification friend or foe) unit.
   We had been in Port since September now it was December and we were so in hopes that we could stay until after Christmas, but that was not to be. We picked up our tow the ARD-10 and headed for Australia on the 12th of December.