JUST HOW IT WAS

By Jim Blagg

My son Jeff was looking for anything pertaining to my ship, USS Polaris, on the Internet. He came across Korean War Veterans. Then, he picked out “Navy”, and then “Ship reunions.” I didn’t know until 1999 that the Polaris held a reunion each year. It’s not a large group, but we’ve bonded like family. We look forward to meeting for the reunion held each year in a different U.S. city. In this group, I want to give special thanks to “Bill” Scott and Lee Nunez for the hours they put into keeping these reunions running smoothly. Anyone who served aboard the Polaris, World War II through its 1957 when it was decommissioned, is welcomed to our reunion.

http://usspolarisaf11.us

Sayonara to all the little farms with their neat, little vegetable gardens and rice patties, the familiar “chug-chug” of the fishing boats, the tunes of “China Night” and “Kum-Kum Monsume,” and the shy, little children who don’t know what to make of Americans. Sayonara to the beautiful scenery created by trees with their lacy leaves in different shades of green, and the light, drifting snow flurries in winter.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 23, 2007
• ISBN: 9781462835669

Jim Blagg

I grew up through the depression years in a tiny town in Marin County near Fairfax, California. In 1941, my family moved to San Rafael where I attended San Rafael High School. The Korean War began, and I enlisted in the Navy on January 15, 1951. After discharge, I worked the balance of my life in the wholesale produce business. I married and had three children, settling down in the peninsula area south of San Francisco. No longer married, I live in Menlo Park, California. Aboard ship, we often said, "We should write a book about all this!" After over 50 years, I have done just that! Author, Jim Blagg

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Copyright © 2007, 2015 by Jim Blagg.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 01/29/2025

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Contents

About the Author

1951—In the Beginning

1952—Really into it, now!

1953—Things are Picking Up

1954—Operations are Shifting South

Notes

1963-2010 Improvements

About the Author

Experiences encountered during Korean War, early 1950s, aboard a U.S. Navy food supply ship.

My name is Jim Blagg. I served aboard the USS Polaris AF-11, and I wrote many letters to my mother. Recently, after 50 years have passed, I began reading the letters, one by one! She had packed them into a 500-envelope box. It was amazing how much I had written, and in so much detail!

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The author, Jim Blagg (top center).

R.L. Erickson and Ray South, Jr. (below).

1951

In the Beginning

Fresh out of Boot Camp, from San Diego, we boarded a ferry at Treasure Island, San Francisco and docked at a pier near the Presidio where we were given coffee and doughnuts by the Red Cross. Then, promptly went aboard the USNS A.W. Brewster (a troop ship). As soon as all the sailors were aboard, the soldiers romped up the gangway with backpacks, rifles, helmets, and all. I watched the everlasting parade of soldiers go aboard, one by one, finding out that most of them came from camps in Missouri and Illinois. It was rather a bleak day on San Francisco Bay, a bank of fog laying out beyond the Golden Gate. We left the California coastline behind us. The Pacific Ocean had a grayish, dark green color with white caps, all over the place.

For me, quite an experience! We’ve departed for Yokohama, Japan. I got a good glimpse of the Farallon Islands located about 27 miles off the coast of California, west of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a group of rocky islands inhabited by sea gulls and other birds. A few houses are home to men who pilot ships into the San Francisco Bay. The water was a little choppy and had rolling swells. I took it in stride. I was told that this area was called the Potato Patch. Two days out from San Francisco, the date was April 25. Distance from departure: 687 miles Distance to destination: 4050 miles Average speed: 16.08 knots

Air was pumped below deck to the sleeping compartments. It was foul! It was like breathing air that was used twice already. 292 men bunked in one compartment. You took in the smell of feet, shoes, and dirty clothes. The ventilating system couldn’t handle it. I knew I was only on here until I got to Japan, so I just had to accept the conditions. We didn’t do much each day as we were simply being transported. Every morning, you look out and see a vast expanse of water. Some days, you might see a ship off on the horizon, and sometimes, a rain squall. I came from Company 106, Boot Camp, San Diego. Roughly, there were about 100 men in each company. There was a list on the wall, in San Diego, that determined where we were assigned. Seventeen of us from 106 were to go to the USS Polaris AF-11. All from California:

Craig

Grado

Blagg

Rash

Wilcox

McCready

Laverone

Burns

Estrabrook

Schreiner

Stryker

Kennedy

Brown, A.D.

Antuna

Ness

Rodriguez

Diamond

The last few days, before arriving in Japan, the ocean has been as smooth as can be! It reminded me of looking at a field of grain. The wind blowing over the grain, causing gentle rolling swells. We have been doing 17.4 knots (a knot is like 1 1/8 mph). I am told that we may arrive around 8:00 a.m., 7 May 1951.

Arrived May 7, as expected, and I looked down at the water in Tokyo Bay. Jellyfish were descending to depths that turned into a dark green. Then, they would rise up to the surface (which was clear) to maybe 15 or 20 feet. The Polaris wasn’t up here. So, our group was transported by Japanese train to Sasebo. Sasebo is a seaport at the bottom of Japan, across from Pusan, Korea. Actually, this was great, as I got to see Japan!

My impression of Japan was completely different than I had expected. I was simply fascinated by the trees on the hills, the light green, lace leaf trees, the little vegetable farms and rice patties. I picked a good time of year. It was spring! The scenery was beautiful with expanses arranged into little farms. On each farm were a small vegetable garden and a broken down shack (ready to collapse with the next big wind). Then, maybe, sometimes you would see a field of grain, barley or rice. The fields were about the size of a baseball field. No fences separating the farms, but just small embankments of earth. Each place has a shed stacked with chopped wood. The train went through numerous tunnels where it went black for a while until you could see the light at the end of the tunnel. There were bridges over little rivers and rice patties.

Very, very few roads. Instead, paths and small winding roads which curve in and out, around and about the countryside. No cars (very, very few), some trucks (mostly army trucks—some theirs, some ours), and as I see it, the bicycle is it!

You see many men, and women, too, pulling a cart loaded down to the rims! Really behind the times. Nothing modern like in the States. The train seems to be their main method of travel. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola signs displayed in train stations. City streets are not paved; they are hard and dusty in the summer, and puddles and sloppy goin’ in the winter. The railroad station’s sign designates the town on the left (which you have just passed), the present town’s name in enlarged print in the middle, and the town coming next (on the right side of the sign). Currently, the money ratio is 360 yen = one dollar.

10 May 1951: Aboard the USS Polaris AF-11 (a refrigerated cargo ship). All of us were assigned to the deck force.