Fergus Van Wart was born in August 1926 in Dallas, Texas. He was an only child. He went to high school in Dallas and after that, three of his best friends and he decided to join the Navy. Their parents signed for them. He did not know what he would face. Every article was about the war. It was big news and he knew he had to go. He was 16 when he joined and turned 17 on the train to San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] to boot camp. Boot camp was physical. He got a lot of shots. Two of his buddies went on aircraft carriers. His best friend went on the USS Nevada (BB-36). Van Wart went back to San Diego and learned to drive a Higgins boat [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP]. He was assigned to the USS Bergen (APA-150). He learned to participate in landings. He was part of the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. On the Bergen, he slept in hammock. They had good food. They were in the Philippines and all over the place.

[Annotator's Note: Fergus Van Wart served in the Navy as a coxswain aboard the USS Bergen (APA-150).] Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] was the main event. It smelled like the Fourth of July, gunpowder in the air. He took a wave of LCVPs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] into the beach. The beach was coral, his boat hit it and began to take on water. He tried to get back to the ship before it sank. It was like bumper cars at the fair. They were bailing out water all the way back. They were almost full. They were hoisted out. He went to get rest, thinking he was done. The boat was patched, and he went off again. They took Marines into the beach and that was the last he saw of them. The war was over in another few months. He was the pilot of the LCVP. It was an unbelievable boat. It was made of plywood and steel. It did the job all over the world. It could carry jeeps and small arms and just about anything. At that age, you do what you are told to do without thinking much about it. He was scared, but he do not know any better. His group was selected to bring back men to be discharged. They had a big Hollywood field day with movie stars and officers and bands playing to greet the veterans. Most of them had come right out of foxholes. The second group was met by a tugboat with records playing. They did not get the fun part.

When Fergus Van Wart was aboard ship [Annotator's Note: USS Bergen (APA-150)], the thing that frightened him more than anything was when the LCVP [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel or LCVP] would encounter swells. If they topped off as waves, it would drown them. They were in a berth where they anchor and get repairs then when they pulled out, the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) came and caught several kamikazes. He heard it. They had just left. He continued to supply Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. He was fired upon making the landings, but never hit. The only bad thing was hitting the coral. He was there when the typhoon came in [Annotator's Note: 9 October 1945]. It was bigger than a hurricane. Their ship was all alone because they were told to disperse. They were in the middle of it. The bow of the ship would come completely out of the water. They could not eat. They could only sit on the deck. When the bow would come up and then crash down, the stern would come up and you could hear the propellors in the air. Van Wart's cousin was on a small ship and that mast dipped into the water. Somehow you survive these things.

[Annotator's Note: Fergus Van Wart served in the Navy as coxswain aboard the USS Bergen (APA-150).] Van Wart brought back the very first men returning home. The war was still on. Van Wart got out then as well. The war was just about over. He was sent to Camp Wallace [Annotator's Note: Camp Wallace, Galveston County, Texas] for separation. He went to the University of Houston [Annotator's Note: in Houston, Texas] on the G.I. Bill. He was there with friends and buddies. That is what got him through. He was out of the Navy when the atomic bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945] were dropped. A ship is all steel and has a tendency to rust. When underway, they did not know what to do with the amphibious drivers so they told them to go chip paint. A guy painted "Orange Crush, five cents a glass" on the side of the ship. That was the last they saw of him. They had wooden kegs of water aboard ship. One guy was pouring shaving lotion and raisins in the kegs, making a drink he called "Raisin Jack". Van Wart never saw him again either. It was quite an experience. He went ashore in Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands]. He was told the caves were not secured yet. They were allowed to walk on the beach. He stepped on something and it blew up the side of his leg. He thought he was getting a Purple Heart [Annotator's Note: the Purple Heart Medal is award bestowed upon a United States service member who has been wounded as a result of combat actions against an armed enemy]. It was a rotten can of succotash and he smelled like hell. The Bergen transported Marines. He was only involved in the invasion of Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan]. They were firing their five inch gun and they set the fuse prematurely. The concussion blew him down and made him completely deaf for two weeks. He had to go to sick bay. It still affects him today. He was glad to serve his country. He just happened to be the right age at the right time. He came close to not surviving, but he did.