A Sailor's Journey Across Two War Fronts

In August 1944, Michael Milochik sailed home from England on the luxury liner Queen Elizabeth. He described the living conditions as "tight" with 12 bunks to a room. Once back home, he and his girlfriend were married.

They spent their honeymoon in a house on loan from one of his shipmates. Mike described how people laughed at him when he bought several comic books to take on his honeymoon.

After his honeymoon, Mike got on a Liberty Ship, the USS Baham and sailed through the Panama Canal, destination Ulithi Atoll in the Caroline Islands, now part of Micronesia. Upon arrival, he reported in to his new duty station, the gun sight shop.

Mike described Ulithi as one mile wide and 10 miles long with no sandy beaches except next to the island stockade. This beach was known as "Bare ***Beach". Mike said the Navy gave them a choice of two beers or two chocolate bars a day. He took the chocolate bars for "trading material".

On a more serious note, Mike said that Ulithi had a large natural harbor that became a major "secret" staging area for the U.S. Navy. He said, "it was 'so secret' that at night the Japanese flew kamikaze aircraft from Yap Island 90 miles away to attack our ships in the harbor."

He watched one night as a kamikaze crashed into a ship, inflicting major battle damage. Another targeted a building on the island's airstrip killing nine men. Mike described how after the kamikaze hit the building, the aircraft's engine broke off and almost hit him. He said that later, a Japanese mini sub entered the harbor and sank an oil tanker.

In his spare time, Mike made a ring out of a piece of aluminum that came off the kamikaze aircraft engine and a necklace of sea shells for his wife back home.

When the Japanese surrendered, Mike was shipped back to San Francisco where he boarded a train to Seneca, N.Y. On one stop, the engine crew unhooked the passenger cars and left. Thinking they had enough time, a couple of the men went into town for "booze" but the engine came back early and the train left them.

Mike said the Navy chartered a small airplane so the men could catch up with the train at the next stop. After Seneca, Mike hurried home to his wife. Their marriage lasted almost 70 years until her death in 2014.

As a returning veteran, Mike worked for the Technicolor Corporation in Hollywood, Calif. where he worked in negative control and special effects. Later, he worked at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, also in California. There he became involved with underground nuclear test explosions.

On site, he measured explosions with film he processed. His next job, for 29 years, was working for the University of Utah at Salt Lake City as a photographic engineer. He set up their first photo lab and did some contract work for other companies.

Mike returned to Ulithi for the 50th Anniversary of WWII. He remembered eating coconut crab without butter during the war so this time he brought his own butter.

Two years later, he returned with his grandson to explore the island. He smiled when he said that it didn't take long for his grandson to notice that the island women still dressed topless.

At the close of the interview, I asked him if he had any thoughts on military service today. He replied, "We still need our young men and women to serve." He also said he is worried about a veteran in Swan Valley who is not getting proper medical treatment from the Veterans Administration. He is worried that the young man might have been exposed to asbestos while serving on an older aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War.

With his sharp memory and wit, 90-year-old Mike still worries about others while living at home in Swan Valley.

Mike has the following World War II service medals: European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, WWII Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. Additionally, he received a medal and a letter of appreciation from the Russian Government for his service delivering the USS Milwaukee and training the Russian crew.

Mike Milochik is one of two World War II veterans still living in the Swan Valley. Jim Johnson is the second. Johnson served in the Merchant Marine during WWII at the age of 16 and served in the U.S. Army Occupation Forces in Germany after the Japanese surrendered.