Recalling Leland V. Emlaw's 'Duty & Devotion'

Nov. 11—Editor's note: This "Duty & Devotion" Q&A feature was originally published in January of 2011. Mr. Emlaw died in 2017 at the age of 95.

WHO: Leland V. Emlaw, 88, of 17 Crabb St., Norfolk.

He grew up in Norfolk. In 1941, he left Norfolk High School to work at St. Regis Paper Mill before joining the Navy in World War II. He was a gunner and a cook on a cargo ship and a destroyer.

When did you join the service?

"There were three of us from Norfolk. We decided we wanted the Navy. We were going to be drafted into the Army. We were a step ahead. We didn't want the Army. That was in 1942, 11 months after Pearl Harbor."

Where were you sent for training?

"Sampson (Naval Training Center, Seneca County). It's on the Geneva River. We were the third company in there. It just opened up. From there, I went to gunnery school in Little Creek, Va. I was down there for five weeks."

Any particular gun you were trained on?

"Yes, 20-millimeter and 40s (millimeter)."

After being trained on the guns, where did you go?

"The Armed Guard. They were gunners on merchant ships. I went through that training. They had a station on Long Island. I was assigned to the Yemassee. It was a cargo ship. It belonged to Panama before the war."

Where did you go first on that ship?

"We went to Iceland. We had a B-17 air base up there. We brought parts up to it.

"On the Yemassee, we were under attack by a submarine. It was 500 miles off the coast of England. We were going over to Iceland. The Coast Guard cutter Spencer brought that big ship up with depth charges, not far from us. We were told to commence firing. I just started firing and someone said 'Stop!' The ship was sinking. I saw bodies falling.

"The funny part of it is, when I come back, there was orders for me. They were going to come and pick me up and take me to Pier 92. That was a receiving station in New York. There was a ship from the West Coast. I was waiting for it, probably for four or five weeks. This was 1943."

What was the name of your new ship?

"The USS Endicott, a destroyer. You've heard of John D. Bulkeley? He was my skipper."

(Vice Adm. Bulkeley, who died in 1996, was a World War II Medal of Honor winner and one of the most decorated men in U.S. history. He is probably best known as the naval officer who effected the escape of Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Corregidor in the Philippines in 1942. Vice Adm. Bulkeley served as captain of the Endicott from July 1944 to June 1945.)

Where did you sail with the Endicott?

"We was all over the world. You name it, I've been there. We took ships all over. We were rammed once in the English Channel. We had to go to Cardiff, Wales, to get repaired. Then we went to Normandy. We picked Bulkeley up there. That was about two weeks after the invasion. We were going to Naples, Italy. We were going to invade southern France. We brought some ships over there.

In southern France, we sank three German ships. We picked up 147 prisoners. I got pictures with Bulkeley's autograph on all of them. When general quarters sounded, us cooks would go in the galley. If they needed an extra man on the 20s or 40-millimeters, they'd call us and we'd go."

What happened to the German prisoners?

"They called me to duty to search them. We had to take their clothes off. Then they put them on an LST ship (landing ship, tank). We dropped them off, but there was four who were killed. We buried them at sea. I can remember that, because their captain was out there in back when they were throwing them overboard. Every time one went over, he'd say, 'Heil Hitler.' If I had a gun I would have shot him."

After France, where did you go?

"We come back to New York, and then we played around Cuba. But when we got back to New York, Bulkeley rented a hotel, the Savoy. He had half the ship there one night and the other half of the ship the next night. He paid for the drinks and the band and all that."

Why was your ship assigned to Cuba?

"Searching for submarines. We dropped two depth charges. While we were there, we got a call saying President Roosevelt was going to the Yalta Conference. We escorted him over. He was on the cruiser USS Quincy. I remember three or four of us — it was a beautiful day — we went upsides. Our ship was kind of close to the Quincy. Roosevelt was sitting on a lawn chair on deck. We waved, and he waved back. I'll never forget it."

After Roosevelt was dropped off, what did you do?

"We brought troop ships over to the Mediterranean. We protected them. We went to a couple of islands off of Naples and we picked up some ships there."

All of your service was in the European theater?

"All of it, except near the end. We got over to Okinawa, and the war was over for a week-and-a-half- when we got there. When I left and got off the ship, Bulkeley was right down there to shake our hands. He thought more of his men then he did the officers.

I was home on leave once, it was 1944 or 1945. There was something in the Watertown paper about Cox. (George E. Cox, class of 1933 at Watertown High School, was a highly decorated war hero of national renown. In 1943, he was chosen by Gen. MacArthur to transport the general and his family by PT boat to safety in the Philippines ) I clipped it. I didn't know Cox was with Bulkeley until I saw it in the paper.

Bulkeley used to come to the galley once or twice a week to see how things were going. I asked if he had a minute. He said, 'Yea, what's the matter?' I said, 'I Want to show you something.' I reached in my pocket and brought the clip out. I watched him while he read to himself. He had a grin on his face. I wished you could have seen it. After that, he never called me sailor. He called me Emlaw. He'd then visit and chat like you and I are talking now."

If you were trained as a gunner, how did you become a cook?

"The first day I was on the Endicott I had liberty. I went into this barroom and I saw a sailor and I stepped beside him. We got talking. He said he ran the galley and he needed a man. I said, 'You won't get me because I'm a gunner. He said, 'If you want to come in the galley I will see to it because I run that.'

"I said, 'Sure,' and he said I'd work with a fella who knew the business. That's how I got it. They spent all that money to train me on guns, but that was it. That was good duty. It was one day on and one day off. You couldn't beat it."

What was your rank when you left the service?

"I was seaman first class, but I should have been probably second class cook. I was pretty wild. I was up in front of the captain a couple of times. Not Bulkeley, but the first captain (Wilton S. Heald). He gave me extra duty, that's all. I'll admit it. But I wasn't alone. We had a boat full of them. You didn't know if you were going to be there tomorrow.

But I do have five Bronze Stars. One on the Yemassee and four on the Endicott."

When did you leave the service?

"I got out on December 7, 1945."

What did you do after the war?

"I went back to the paper mill here in Norfolk. Then I got a job at Alcoa. I worked there nine years. Then I got laid off. Then, General Motors was just starting and found out I worked around hot metal at Alcoa. I worked there 31 years."

Mr. Emlaw's wife, Joyce, died in 1999. They were married in 1943 and had three children.