Howard V. Paakkonen
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Navy
Howard V. Paakkonen
Mr. Paakkonen entered the Navy on October 7, 1942, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Home at entry: Nashwauk, Minnesota.
He served as a Machinist Mate 2nd Class and stevedore with 1st and 2nd Special Seabees in New Caledonia, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, and Guam.
Mr. Paakkonen shared the following story:
"On October 7, 1942, I took the train from Minneapolis to Camp Allen, Virginia, for two weeks of boot camp. We then transferred to Camp Bradford for basic training for about a month. Then we went to Port Hueneme, California, for another month. We then departed for New Caledonia. I traveled with Special Battalion #2 - the first stevedore outfit to go into action.
"When we reached Noumea in March 1943, there were many ships to unload. Some had been sitting for months waiting to be unloaded. We worked hard to unload about one ship per day. We worked twelve-hour shifts at Noumea, and in one year, the 2nd Special unloaded 481 ships and handled 782,814 weight-tons of cargo. Meals were served on the dock each day. Our meals included a lot of mutton (New Zealand 'goat'). The cooks fixed it with many different recipes, but no one liked it. To this day, I cannot eat this type of meat! Occasionally, we had chicken that was so tough we thought it had flown from the United States."
"On November 1, 1943, an explosion occurred on the docks. The docks were loaded with ammunition for the invasion forces. It was felt the explosion was due to Japanese sabotage. One hundred men were killed. Our battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander C.T. Barrett was knocked unconscious in his office on the dock and one of our Seabees entered the burning building to save his life. Our only time off during this period was two hours at Christmas 1943."
"We then moved to Guadalcanal and spent another six months unloading 150,886 tons of cargo from ships. We left Guadalcanal and participated in the invasion of Guam on July 21, 1944. We worked with the Third Marines, delivering the ammunition to within 100 yards of the front and formed the 'second line' to protect ourselves. I was in the harbor aboard a ship running the winches to unload cargo and ammunition. By this time, we had spent 27 months overseas and counting."
"The 2nd Special Battalion returned to the United States and was inactivated in July 1945. Our service over a 31-month period entailed monotony and hard work and exceeded anything I know of in the war in either the Army or Navy."
Mr. Paakkonen was honorably discharged on October 7, 1945, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 363.
