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Vet shares stories of South Pacific

T-R PHOTO BY CHUCK FRIEND Clyde Evers 92, of Marshalltown has interesting stories to tell of his years spent in the South Pacific during World War II.

Editor’s note: This is the latest in an ongoing series of articles profiling those who have ever served in the U.S. military, be it overseas or stateside. Every Thursday, a new profile will be published in the T-R.

Clyde Ever of Marshalltown knows exactly how much time he spent in the Army during World War II and his time in the South Pacific. According to the 92-year-old Pella native, it was, “two years, nine months, 27 days, five hours and 15 minutes” from the time he was sworn in to the time of his discharge.

“I have $1 million of experience, but I would not do it again for another $1 million,” Evers said. “But I can say the Good Lord was looking after me all the time I was in the service, because I had plenty of chances of being wounded or killed and He just kept telling me he was not ready for me to come home.”

Evers joined the Army on March 10, 1943 and trained at Camp Beal in California. He was assigned to the artillery battalion, and much to his surprise landed a position in the fire direction center. During his time in the service, Evers directed Naval gunfire artillery- basically in practice situations.

“I thought this was surprising because I only have one good eye, and I always thought it took two good eyes to direct gunfire through binoculars,” Evers laughed.

His first duty at Redding, California was not typical of an Army unit — fighting a forest fire. He said that his unit’s duty was to watch the area in front of them to prevent sparks from jumping over and starting new fires.

Following a short time in San Diego in Silver Strand where he trained in more gunfire direction, Evers was transferred to Hawaii. There he suffered a broken clavicle diving into a bunker when an Air Force Bomber saw their campfire and dropped a practice bomb in their area. While in the hospital he witnesses the aftermath of two air force planes crashing over Oahu — one just missing the hospital he was recovering in.

From there it was 42 days spent aboard a ship in the South Pacific near New Guinea and nearby islands. His stories from that region included swimming during the day off the gangplank and then seeing sharks in the area at night — ending the swimming for good. He also said that a Japanese diesel submarine dove under their ship, but never surfaced or was heard from again.

In Okinawa, Evers said he had several encounters with the Japanese. From the Kamikaze planes to snipers — Evers experienced it all. During one such attack Evers said he hit the ground, with bullets missing him on both sides. When he got up he found out his head had been laying on a flat thistle. “I never knew a thistle could feel that good,” Evers said.

One night one of the men in his unit thought he saw a Japanese sniper and began firing. “The next morning we went to investigate and all that we saw in the area at which he was shooting was a large head of cabbage and not a mark on it.

After living through war, an earthquake and a typhoon, Evers said that when he arrived back in Pella, a friend asked him if he wanted a ride home. “I made it this far — now I want a safe ride home,” Evers concluded.

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Do you know a military veteran who should be profiled? Send your suggestions to Editor Jeff Hutton at: jhutton@timesrepublican.com or contact American Legion Post 46 Commander Randy Kessler at: iapost46commander@gmail.com

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