Jack Leaming was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1919. When he was three months old, his mother moved to Wildwood, New Jersey. They stayed with his step-grandparents there. His mother met Leaming's stepfather during this time. Leaming's stepfather was a plumber who also served as a Councilman. His mother married his stepfather in 1920. Leaming grew up in Wildwood. He attended schools there and graduated from Wildwood High School in June 1937. With the Depression still ongoing, Leaming had difficulty finding work. This was particularly true during the winter months when the Wildwood boardwalk shut down. As a result of this difficulty, Leaming left Wildwood in September 1937 to stay with his uncle who had spent eight years in the Navy. Leaming continued to have difficulty finding work so his uncle enlisted him in the Navy. Leaming entered the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia and completed training on 4 March 1938. Following boot camp and a subsequent leave, Leaming returned to Norfolk Naval Station and was placed on duty aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6). The Navy was very strange for the Leaming. He had graduated as an honor student in high school and wanted to go to the Naval Academy, but his preparation for the entry examination was not sufficient and he was not successful in gaining an appointment. He boarded the Enterprise on 8 May [Annotator's Note: 8 May 1938], and she was christened a few days later. Leaming is a plank owner on the vessel as a result. He had never seen a ship before until he went into training. He went aboard as a mess cook. He was peeling potatoes on the day of her christening. After the christening, the ship pulled up to the Naval Station and crew boarded her. Trial runs in the North Atlantic followed during May and June. After the trial runs, the vessel returned to Norfolk and then made its shakedown cruise to Rio de Janeiro. While in transit to Rio, the ship tied up at Puerto Rico. Leaming had moved out of the galley crew and was then in the Second Division. As a result, he spent his time in Puerto Rico chipping paint on the side of the Enterprise. The ship's cooks had dumped trash in the water under the painter scaffolding which was only eight feet off the water. Sharks were under the painters, and they were scared. The bosun's mate allowed the men to halt their work while the sharks were nearby. While in Puerto Rico, there was a parade. Some of the sailors joined the parade. There was a shooting during that time so the parade broke up. [Annotator's Note: Leaming later clarifies that the shooting was at Haiti.] The Enterprise then sailed to Rio de Janeiro. Rio was a beautiful city. The Enterprise served in the Atlantic Fleet until 1940, when she transferred to the Pacific. [Annotator's Note: Leaming later clarifies that the Enterprise left Hampton Roads for San Diego in April 1939.] During this time, Leaming was with Scouting 6 [Annotator's Note: Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6)]. While Leaming was in the Second Division, a call went out for radiomen. Since he did not like being in the deck force, and he did not care for bosun's mates, he volunteered and was accepted for the new assignment with K Division. He came across some good shipmates in that new position. He learned Morse code and how to transmit messages. It took three months to learn the requirements. During the training time, Leaming had to perform menial tasks to assist the radio shack as he could. Leaming approved of his divisional officer at that time. On the way to Rio, Leaming became a Shellback. [Annotator's Note: When a new man on a ship crosses the equator for the first time, he wins the distinction of being a Shellback after a ceremony.]

Jack Leaming graduated from radio school on the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] as part of K Division. There was a call for volunteers to go into the air squadrons. He was assigned to Scouting 6 [Annotator's Note: Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6)]. He had an interest in flying that dated back to his childhood. When he had originally attempted to enter flying school in Pensacola, he failed the vision test. By the time of Pearl Harbor, he would have been accepted. When Leaming entered Scouting 6, the squadron was flying SBC-3s [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SBC Helldiver dive bomber] which were the old Helldiver biplanes. During this time, the Enterprise rotated back and forth from San Diego and Honolulu. There were about two rotations before the raid on Pearl Harbor. Training for the aircrews involved dive bombing runs on targets towed behind a battleship or a cruiser. Gunnery practice would be against a three to four foot diameter by 20 feet long target towed by another aircraft. The machine gun bullets were coated with different colors. There were six shots allowed for each plane on each firing run. Different firing runs against the targets would be used to practice gunnery variations. Leaming flew with a good pilot named Trummel who was just out of flight school. Trummel kept them in the air when the floatation devices on the aircraft were inadvertently inflated after takeoff. Trummel told Leaming to assist with the stick Leaming had in his compartment. The aircraft just barely stayed above stall speed. The pilot wanted to ditch but was ordered to land aboard. He did so successfully. The plane was taken to the hanger deck and examined. The chief mechanic said the crew was lucky. After a few hours of flying time, Leaming started flying with J.N. West who was also a good pilot. During one of the practice firing runs, Leaming accidentally fired live rounds into the tail of his aircraft. West was exasperated with Leaming. The aircraft was flown to Ford Island Naval Air Station and landed. The pattern location of the shots was lucky for the airmen. During a dive bombing run, the tail of the SBC-3 would shake. The aircrew was lucky that the tail did not just carry away after being hit. Leaming had to write a letter to the commanding officer to acknowledge what he had done and how he managed to do it. The gunner suffered peer harassment as a result of this accident. A few days later, pilots were put in the rear seat of the aircraft to better understand what the gunners had to put up with in firing at targets. One of the pilots, who was hung over, leaned his head back in the gunner seat and hit the trigger of a stowed machine gun. The gun was not set on safety as it should have been. The six rounds were fired through the bottom of the aircraft before it stopped. Later, several other gunners fired on their aircraft tails so Leaming was vindicated. The Enterprise went back to North Island [Annotator's Note: North Island was also called Naval Air Station San Diego] for three months overhaul and then returned to Honolulu.

Jack Leaming and the USS Enterprise (CV-6)'s Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) received SBDs [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber] while at Naval Air Station San Diego before rotation back to Honolulu. The SBD turned out to be a fine airplane. It was stronger, faster and more comfortable than the Helldiver [Annotator's Note: Curtiss SBC Helldiver dive bombers]. During this time, Leaming was flying with J.N. West. It was April 1941 and the last time Enterprise would moor at North Island [Annotator's Note: North Island was also called Naval Air Station San Diego] prior to the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. There were five standard gunnery runs for target practice for the Scouting 6 machine gunners.

Jack Leaming was aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6) in November 1941. [Annotator's Note: Leaming served in the Navy as a rear seat gunner on Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) flying from the USS Enterprise (CV-6).] The ship was on wartime alert in November. On 28 November, there was a scheduled exercise with the fleet. The Enterprise left Pearl Harbor to join the fleet but was alerted that Marine squadron VMF-211 [Annotator's Note: Marine Fighter Squadron 211 (VMF-211)] would meet them for in a series of landings so that they would be carrier qualified. After completing a portion of the qualification landings for the Marine pilots, orders came to secure from flight orders. Admiral Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] came on the public address system to announce that VMF-211 would be transported for transfer to Wake Island. The Marine pilots had not packed for the transfer to Wake. The announcement came as a surprise. The ship provided the Marines with clothing additional to their flight suits. While in transit to Wake, the Enterprise was ordered to maintain radio silence. Leaming participated in the escorting flight to bring VMF-211 to Wake Island. The orders were to establish visual contact with Wake for the Marine squadron and then return to Enterprise. The escort did so and Enterprise turned for Pearl Harbor. The arrival date at the harbor was planned for 6 December. That date was Leaming's birthday. He planned to celebrate with Joe Couples who was a good friend in his squadron. The carrier experienced rough seas and two destroyers had to be fueled so progress was hindered. Arrival was delayed until 7 December. [Annotator's Note: The Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor started in the morning of 7 December 1941.]

Jack Leaming was launched off the deck of the Enterprise on the morning of 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941] to scout 200 miles ahead of the ship then land on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. [Annotator's Note: Leaming served in the Navy as a rear seat gunner on Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) flying from the USS Enterprise (CV-6).] The mission was to identify any obstacles or shipping that would prevent safe passage of Enterprise into Pearl Harbor that day. There were two planes every ten degrees to scout a 90 degree sector with a 45 degree angle on the course of the ship. Leaming had loaded his SBD gunner cockpit position storage spaces with live .50 caliber ammunition. The XY navigation device and dual coil communication equipment were all operational. Communication manuals defining what frequencies to use for emergency situations were stored in the rear cockpit position that Leaming manned. The manuals were removed and extra ammunition for his gun was stored there. Orders were to maintain radio silence and not communicate. As the flight neared Pearl Harbor, Leaming overheard an American over the radio saying don't shoot and telling his crewmate to get out the rubber boat in preparation for their aircraft going into the water. Leaming first thought was that the pilot would be court-martialed for broadcasting against orders. The pilot was Ensign Gonzales and his gunner. They were the first losses of the morning and would never be found. As Leaming closed on Pearl Harbor, he observed the smoke coming up from the harbor. He wondered why the Army was holding maneuvers on a Sunday morning. The smell of the expended ammunition became stronger as they approached the harbor. The Enterprise flight did not know what was happening. They had just broken out of their 200 mile search pattern and were near the island of Hawaii. The carrier aircraft flew north to form up for Oahu. Leaming's pilot, Hilton, flew to a rendezvous off Barber's Point with three other planes including the executive officer, Gallaher. Leaming's SBD lined up with them and held their position until the attack stopped. The SBD was no match for fighter aircraft. There were seven American aircraft circling Barber's Point at 7,000 feet waiting for a safer time to approach Ford Island. Gallaher ordered to line up to land on Ford Island. As they approached, American ships fired at them. Leaming used his search lamp to indicate to the American ships that the approaching aircraft were American by using to the appropriate codes. Hilton had put the plane into a vertical dive to avoid fire. After circling back to Barber's Point, Leaming and Hilton landed the SBD at the Marine base at Ewa. Hilton told Leaming to stay with the plane as it was refueled and to cover the stars on the wings of the plane with brush. Leaming's aircraft and one other took off from Ewa for Ford Island. The aircraft was parked at Ford near some bomb shelters. Leaming was told to stay by the aircraft while his pilot went in to get instructions. There was confusion and death near where Leaming waited. Commander Hopping was the commander of the squadron. He had landed on Ford Island earlier and had been out scouting to discover the enemy ships off Barber's Point. Of the 18 planes that had left Enterprise that morning, only nine were capable of flying. They were told to join up with some Army Air Forces aircraft from Hickam Field. The Navy fliers took off to rendezvous with the Army airplanes but could not find them. Meanwhile, they were being fired on by American antiaircraft fire. After not finding the Army fliers, they were told by Hopping to return to Ford Island. They went out again later that day looking for the Japanese, but it was a suicide flight since there were only eight American airplanes formed up for the mission. If the Japanese would have been discovered, Leaming probably would not have survived the combat. After landing back at Pearl, Leaming slept on a cot in a hanger that night. Of six Enterprise fighters that attempted to land on Ford Island, four were shot down by American forces. When the American aircraft showed their landing lights, the antiaircraft fire brought them down. The wives of the four fliers who were shot down were in tears that night. It was a mess. The Enterprise fliers on Ford Island remained there until the ship made it into port. CV-6 tied up in its usual pier ahead of the Utah [Annotator's Note: USS Utah (BB-31)]. All available hands, no matter what the individual rate or rank, worked on re-provisioning the ship as quickly as possible. Enterprise and Lexington [Annotator's Note: USS Lexington (CV-2) scouted the Pacific toward Wake Island and then returned to Pearl Harbor.

Jack Leaming and the crew of the USS Enterprise (CV-6) left Pearl Harbor and attacked the Marshall Islands in February [Annotator's Note: February 1942]. The carrier had gone to Wake and made its way back to Pearl Harbor before sailing to the South Pacific for the Marshall Islands. All the while, the crew wondered where they were headed. They could tell a difference in the skies above. They could see the Southern Cross. [Annotator's Note: The Southern Cross is a highly visible constellation of the Milky Way that is sometimes used for navigation in the Southern Hemisphere.] After the Enterprise's aircraft were launched and went into attack position, planes began stacking up behind their squadron commander. He told his aircrew to give him a few seconds before they rolled over into the enemy so that he could relay targeting information back to them. With Leaming facing the tail of the plane, he could not tell very much of what was happening below. He did have to turn around for the dive. While facing forward, the rear gunner would provide the pilot with the marks at 2,000 and 1,500 [Annotator's Note: 2,000 and 1,500 feet] so he knew when to release his bombs. Leaming did not see Hopping [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant Commander Halstead L. Hopping was the commander of Scouting Squadron 6] crash but the squadron was flying in a circle alternating diving in for the attack. As the individual dive bombers flew in, the Japanese began to get the range on their attackers. Leaming's plane had dropped a 500 pound bomb on its first pass then prepared to make a second pass to unload its two 100 pound bombs. Facing the back of the aircraft, he did not see what happened on the first pass. As the plane was about to tip over for a second pass, Leaming saw one of the SBDs [Annotator's Note: Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber] get hit by enemy fire. The wing blew off the fuselage and the aircraft dropped into the ocean. He was not sure who the pilot was in the SBD, but he thought it was Fogg [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant (j.g.) Carleton T. Fogg]. Hilton [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant (j.g.) H. Dale Hilton] piloted the plane with Leaming in the rear cockpit in their dive to release the two- 100 pound bombs over the airstrip. When they were flying 50 feet over the airstrip, Leaming saw Japanese soldiers coming out of a building. He emptied a can of ammunition on the enemy and saw them fall. Leaming recalled the loss of four Navy planes on the raid. Japanese aircraft attacked some of the Enterprise aircraft. Leaming did not know who was shot down by enemy fighters, but he saw Fogg and Dennis [Annotator's Note: Fogg and Radioman 3rd class Otis L. Dennis] get hit. Returning to Enterprise, there were seven Bombing 6 and two Scouting 6 aircraft rearmed and spotted for rejoining the attack. The officer in charge was Lieutenant Dick Best. He was in charge of the second raid. After the planes returned from the second raid, three Japanese bombers attempted an attack on the Enterprise. The ship's fighters responded and shot two of the enemy down. The third bomber was losing altitude and headed directly toward the carrier to drop a bomb on the ship. An airman named Peter Gaido [Annotator's Note: Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st class Bruno Peter Gaido] jumped into an SBD rear cockpit and started firing at the enemy bomber which was approaching on the fantail of the ship. Gaido fired .30 caliber machine guns at the bomber and killed the pilot. The attacking airplane lost its wing and the wing hit the forward antiaircraft gun battery then fell into the ocean. Several sailors lost their lives. When the bomber went along the deck of the ship, it clipped the tail off the airplane where Gaido had taken his position in the rear cockpit. Gaido did not even know the SBD's tail had been struck until the fight was over. After the action, Gaido was called to the bridge by the captain and given a field promotion. Gaido was happy about that promotion. Gaido became a rear seat gunner and was lost during the battle of Midway after being shot down, captured and executed by the Japanese. After the Marshall Islands raid, the Enterprise headed toward Wake Island for an attack on it. There was no opposition from the air. Seeing tents next to the airstrip, Leaming emptied a can of ammunition into them trying to catch any enemy soldiers that might have been in them. After dropping their ordnance, the American aircraft were returning to their ship when they spotted a small enemy vessel and had gunnery practice on the ship. Leaming took his turn firing on the ship. The ship sent a message back to Japan about its dire condition. Some prisoners may have been taken from the ship after it was sunk. After the raid on Wake, Enterprise headed to Marcus Island. On 4 March [Annotator's Note: 4 March 1942], Marcus was hit. The group commander had a hard time finding the island, but when he spotted it, he turned. Leaming and his section were flying on the executive officer, Gallaher [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant Earl Gallaher]. When Hilton and Leaming, along with their section, formed up with Gallaher, they followed his lead. Gallaher had not seen the group commander turn to port, left, after spotting the island. As a result, Gallaher and his flight were still flying straight instead of vectoring toward the island. When the group commander gave the order to commence the attack, Leaming and his section could not see the island at all until the first bombs hit. After the ordnance struck, there were explosions and fire. By that time, it took three or four minutes before Leaming and his section got into position with the three other aircraft. Clouds prevented a vertical dive so a 45 degree dive was needed. The pilots were not used to scattering after their dive. By the time Hilton came in for his attack, he was in a glide, not dive, approach. The antiaircraft fire was heavy and close because of improved Japanese director fire. It was worse for the Americans than what they experienced during the Marshall raid.

Jack Leaming and his SBD pilot had just completed their bombing run on Marcus Island when the antiaircraft fire became very dangerous. [Annotator's Note: Leaming was the rear gunner in the Douglas SDB Dauntless dive bomber piloted by Lieutenant (j.g.) H. Dale Hilton in Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) flying from USS Enterprise (CV-6).] Hilton was too preoccupied with evasive action to hear Leaming warning him of the intensity and proximity of the enemy fire. Antiaircraft fire hit the starboard wing and set the outboard auxiliary fuel tank on fire. Quite a bit of fuel had been consumed from that tank, but it was still burning. Pieces of aluminum were falling off the wing. Hilton told Leaming to prepare for a water landing. Hilton placed the SBD in a gulley between two waves. It was a beautiful landing but as soon as the engine stopped it pulled the nose down and the aircraft started filling with water. Leaming released the lifesaving gear from the rear cockpit and inflated the raft. Hilton was still in the forward cockpit. The airplane was sinking fast so Leaming went to aid his pilot. Extracting him from the cockpit, Leaming noted a large gash on Hilton's face and a seriously dislocated finger on one hand. Hilton told Leaming to reset his finger. The plane was sinking and Leaming was knee deep in water. Both men got into the rubber boat as the SBD sank. Leaming rowed the raft in circles. His pilot was in pain. Asking for assistance from the pilot, Hilton told Leaming to keep a particular cloud in front of him. Meanwhile, Leaming saw an enemy Marine sentry pacing on a coral wall ahead of him. He hoped the enemy would not notice them, but he did. When the Enterprise had left to attack Marcus Island, there were three cruisers with her. Leaming hoped that the cruisers would send their seaplanes to rescue them. That was not the case. The carrier and her escorts turned and got away from the action after the attack on Marcus. The big ships had to get out of the target area. After the Japanese sentry spotted the two downed American airmen, a small enemy boat came out to pick them up. The boat was loaded with Japanese sailors with fixed bayonets. They pulled up alongside the rubber boat with Leaming and Hilton aboard and a rope ladder was thrown overboard so the Americans could come aboard the enemy vessel. Leaming was blindfolded and tied to the kingpost. Hilton was blindfolded and taken to the rear of the boat where he was tied up. The boat returned to the island and ran up on the beach since there was no docking wharf there. The blindfold was removed from Leaming, and he was told to jump down to the beach. He did so. Leaming and Hilton were put in a truck and blindfolded again. His flight gear was taken from him. They were brought to what looked like an amphitheater. The blindfolds were removed and both Americans were told to sit down cross legged. The Japanese commander and his lieutenant addressed Leaming. He was told to answer all questions correctly, or he would be killed. He was asked which ship he came from and the numbers of the ships that were in the raid. Leaming responded that he was from the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] because he thought it was still on the East Coast. He did not realize that the Yorktown was in the Pacific at that time. Leaming and Hilton were put in a building that served as a brig. They had nothing to sleep on for seven days but a pallet and piece of canvas over it. When the first meal was brought to them, Leaming was surprised at how big the plate was. There was seaweed, soy sauce, small fish, and rice. He had never eaten anything like that before and could not eat it. He had recovered beans and bread from the aircraft before it sank, but Leaming could not eat that either. He could not eat until the next morning. Eventually, Leaming gave the beans and bread to the Japanese. Their captors fed the captured Americans well while they were there. The captives were taken out of the brig before sunrise for exercise in the morning. The exercise lasted about ten minutes and was similar to some of the typical American exercises. The Japanese did the moves to music. Afterward, the captives returned to the brig. Hilton was questioned and hit while on the island. The Japanese would come by and peek in the small window to the brig. Initially, there was little communication when the meals were brought in, but as time passed, that changed. A translation book was supplied. By the time the Americans left the island, the captors had become friendly. Leaming and Hilton had not been abused except for when Hilton was questioned.

Jack Leaming and his pilot were taken to Yokohama. [Annotator's Note: Leaming was the rear gunner in the Douglas SDB Dauntless dive bomber piloted by Lieutenant (j.g.) H. Dale Hilton in Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6) flying from USS Enterprise (CV-6). They were shot down and captured during a raid on Marcus Island on 4 March 1942.] The captured fliers were brought to a house that had formerly been occupied by a representative of Standard Oil. The former occupant had left in a hurry because the house looked that way. There were magazines lying about. The American prisoners of war, POWs, were allowed to eat what their Japanese guards ate. They ate good meals in Yokohama. Both POWs were questioned. When asked what radio frequencies the Americans used, Leaming gave fictitious answers. When asked what ship he was on, he responded that it was the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)]. When asked about the flying specifications and characteristics of the SBD, Leaming said he did not know because he was just a gunner. In the first interview session, the interpreter pushed some cookies and half a cigarette toward Leaming. Leaming refused them because he did not want to appear compliant. While being questioned, if Leaming hesitated, he would be kicked or smashed with the butt of the sentry's rifle. It hurt but did not incapacitate him. He never gave them the details that they asked for. He only gave them the calibers of the machine guns on the SBD because he figured that the Japanese were aware of that anyway. That was not too confidential. If asked the destinations on their voyages, Leaming would respond that the captain never told them. In the house in Yokohama, there were about nine POWs being held. They were separated in different rooms of the house by glass doors kept them apart. The captives were instructed not to motion, talk to, or look at the men in the other room. There were good books to read and he disguised communication with the other POWs through hand signals while holding the book. Eventually, he determined that the other POWs were from the Yorktown and had gone down in the Marshall Islands. This disturbed Leaming as he had claimed to be from the Yorktown only because he did not think it was in the Pacific. He thought CV-5 was still at Norfolk because its sailors had near mutinied over too much sea time while in the Atlantic. During his time in Yokohama, Leaming came in contact with a man who knew information on the Norden bomb site. The man was severely beaten to extract the specifications on the bomb site. The man had cuts and bruises on his face. It was quite a beating but no others had to experience that extent of abuse. While at Yokohama, the POWs could have a hot bath in a tub but they would all have to get in together. Leaming and Hilton always managed to get into the tub first. Leaming had one bath while he was in Yokohama. After Yokohama, the POWs were taken to Ofuna.

Jack Leaming was shipped to the Ofuna prison camp after Yokohama. Baths were in individual tubs with water heaters. The men received a bath once a week. Leaming raked leaves all day long with a guard watching over them. The guard observed his high school ring and took a liking to it. Knowing this, Leaming hid it under his mat in his eight foot long by three foot wide cell. The guard came after the graduation ring and slapped Leaming around. Leaming lied and said that a different guard had taken his ring from him. The demanding guard left him alone after that. A short time later, Leaming and Hilton [Annotator's Note: Lieutenant (j.g.) H. Dale Hilton was the pilot of the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber Leaming was a crewman on] were sent to Zentsuji. Zentsuji offered a little more freedom than Ofuna. The Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] POWs were there. Leaming was in a room with men captured on Guam. The other POWs did not trust him. They did not believe that Leaming had been shot down. Hilton was with the officers apart from the enlisted men. There was a Greek Bosun's Mate from Guam who was in charge of the room Leaming occupied. They did not believe Leaming had been in Pearl Harbor either. While in the service, Leaming and many others were addicted to nicotine. In the POW camp, the captives would smoke the cigarettes down to the butt and then save the remaining tobacco. When there was enough tobacco, the POWs would gather it up and roll more cigarettes with the residual quantity. When he was in a camp with Indian POWs they did not smoke. Cigarettes became available from his fellow POWs at that time. While in the room with the bosun's mate from Guam, Leaming learned to tie different types of knots. At Zentsuji, Leaming would be sent to a hill on work detail. Before going, he had rice for breakfast. The workers would be given two small loaves of bread for lunch plus any of the rice that was left over from breakfast. Dinner would either be rice, soy beans, cabbage or other indigenous Japanese vegetables similar to a cucumber. When the vegetables got scarce, the Japanese captors would give the POWs leaves off the vegetables. There was no harshness for the captives at Zentsuji. The Red Cross came to the camp with fruit which they put on a table. As the POWs passed the table, they would pick up two pieces of fruit. Once out of camera range, the captives had to return the fruit to their captors. The event was for the benefit of the Red Cross. While in the custody of the Japanese, Leaming was issued a British knapsack from troops captured at Singapore. He was also issued a Japanese army mess kit and a small tea cup for his green tea. Eventually, a spoon was issued to the Americans who could not manage eating with chop sticks. Japanese army uniforms were given to the POWs. Leaming was POW number 61 and had a patch sewed to his jacket that identified him as such. Leaming learned to speak Japanese, but, with the passage of time, he has lost his ability to remember the terms. After being at Zentsuji for a week, Leaming was put out on a hill to terrace the hillside and remove rocks and boulders. The POWs would try to break as much of the equipment as they could. The guards realized that the sabotage was on purpose and were angry at the POWs.

In mid 1942, Jack Leaming and approximately 60 other prisoners of war, POWs, were transferred to a camp in Osaka. The POW group that Leaming was part of had men from Guam and the aircraft carrier Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)]. Chief Saunders and Bosun's Mate Maloof from Guam were the ranking enlisted men. At Osaka, the Japanese commander was a lieutenant colonel who had been in China. The Japanese took them out to a stadium which was their first quarters. The captives were positioned under the bleachers. There was a flooring raised off the cement floor with two meters by one meter wide mats for each man. It was there piece of ground while a captive there. They ate there and slept there. They had five blankets. There was a Japanese interpreter who had come from the United States. The POWs could not do anything destructive without the interpreter reporting it to his commander. The captives were lined up in ranks of two and were taught how to count off in Japanese. The ranks were wide enough for the guard to walk through the middle of them. The new language was strange for Leaming, but he had to pronounce his number properly or he faced being kicked by the guard or even being hit with the butt of a rifle. [Annotator's Note: Leaming counts off in Japanese to simulate the experience.] The men had to learn not only their own numbers, but the numbers of the men on each side of them. The POWs would be taken out on work parties to unload ships. They would offload rice, soybeans, and sugar. They would also work in a lumber yard. Japanese guards worked on their bayonet practice in the lumber yard one day. They called it kendo. The wooden rifles used by the guards were sized in a manner to represent a rifle with a fixed bayonet. They would be on the POWs on occasion. The simulated bayonet had a blunt end so that when a prisoner would be hit, it would not penetrate the skin, but it would jar him. Two Marines captured on Wake Island were observing the guards practicing kendo and laughed at them. The Japanese sergeant major saw the Marines laughing and told them to show him how they would do it. One of the Marines was named Boyle and the other was Malloy. Malloy had been a Marine Corps instructor. Both Marines showed how the Corps would do bayonet practice. Afterward, the Japanese sergeant major told Malloy to show him how to do it. The Japanese noncom had a padded breast covering to protect him. Malloy was so proficient that he overwhelmed the enemy noncom. The Japanese sergeant major asked Malloy to show him how to do it. Malloy did so until his opponent improved. Malloy worked with him until the noncom learned the technique. Malloy was thanked, and the training was over. On one occasion, while the work detail was marching through town, one of the captives saw chickens in a coop. Having farm experience, the POW caught one of the chickens, quickly wrung its neck and put it in his knapsack. While on work detail benjo [Annotator's Note: benjo is Japanese for toilet] break, the chicken was plucked, cleaned and cut up. That night, the chicken was boiled for dinner. The men enjoyed the chicken meal. Sometimes the work parties would be able to get rice and put it in their mess kit to return to camp and cook it. Leaming's mess kit showed the effects of three and a half years of cooking with it. It was blackened and could never be clean again. Water could not be consumed so green tea, ocha, was the alternative. While on work details, ocha would be available for the laborers and guards. It would be kept warm on a charcoal fire that would be kept going during the work day.

Jack Leaming and other Allied prisoners of war, POWs, were forced to work by the Japanese after capture. Work details around Osaka were worked by the same group until the fall of 1942 when some of the Philippine captives and British merchant seamen who were off a ship sunk by a German raider ship arrived. Other than Zentsuji where a Japanese paper was available, no news of the war came to the captives. The Japanese papers were ridiculed by the captives because of the obvious propaganda content. At the Osaka docks, carrying the bags of rice was difficult because they were heavy to lift. Work assignments could also be in a steel mill. The work was not hard in the mill. It involved using an air hammer and a chisel to work on removing cracks in cooled steel plates. The personnel in charge at the mill were not bad to work under. This was a preferred assignment in comparison to lugging sacks of rice or other similar items with him only weighing 120 pounds. The chisel was much more manageable for Leaming to work in his physical condition. Yamaguchi was the overseer supervisor for the ten man POW detail. The sergeant major was actually a Korean who was drafted into service for the Japanese. Yamaguchi was pretty friendly with the ten men he managed. The sergeant major would assign the right numbers of men for the variable needs of the various companies they worked for. Leaming learned where to get in the ranks to assure that he would get the work at the steel mill. Some of the heavier captives did not mind the stevedore work because they could handle it. They would have fun on the stevedore party and the Japanese stevedores liked them as a result. When Leaming joined the dock work, he worked with a hand truck. He would move a five kilogram truck load off the small boats into the warehouse and unload it. He could not do that by carrying the loads on his shoulder. Malloy and Boyle [Annotator's Note: two US Marines previously mentioned by Leaming] always worked at the same place every day so they got to like the guards. The guards would bring Japanese newspapers and show the two Marines the pictures and explain what the Japanese army was doing. There was a bit of information gained that way. The guards were friendly. When the demand was high, Leaming would work in the steel mill. On the docks, the Japanese guards would show the Americans how to make a hollow tube out of a small piece of bamboo so that they could obtain some rice from a bag. The Americans would steal rice that way. If a bag of rice or beans would break or leak, the Americans could get some rice that way. When the work parties would return, their captors would frisk them. Leaming had a small bag that he could put rice or sugar in and place behind his testicles and secure it so that it would not be felt by the guards when they searched him. When Leaming traded Yamaguchi some sugar for a cucumber, he was still wearing his Navy dungarees. He cut them so they would flare out more. He made them into bell bottoms. He tied the cucumber under his knee. The guards rarely searched the lower legs on a man. They would usually feel between the legs, under the armpits, and the back. Leaming made sure that he was in a truck that was tight so that he could walk with others around him and the food would not fall. Yamaguchi did not like the Japanese very much. He was Korean and had been captured by the enemy but was free. Rice and sugar were the commodities typically stolen. Ace, from the Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)], was a radioman like Leaming [Annotator's Note: At the end of the interview, Leaming will refer to Dalzell as being the man shot down from the Yorktown]. They had a lot in common. The building they occupied was 30 foot long and 20 foot high. Inside, the first shelf was a meter off the floor. It held ten men. Another shelf was a meter above the bottom shelf. It would also hold ten men. The top shelf was a meter off the middle shelf, but it was peaked above so that it had more head room for the men to stand. On the bottom two shelves, the men had to bend over when they tried to stand upright. There was a four by four post with wooden triangles on alternating sides that was used as a ladder for the men to climb up. Leaming was positioned on the top shelf and Ace was alongside him.

Jack Leaming had a buddy nicknamed Ace who was a prisoner of war, POW, from the carrier Yorktown. [Annotator's Note: At the end of the interview, Leaming will refer to Dalzell as being the radioman from Torpedo Squadron 5 (VT-5), USS Yorktown (CV-5) who was shot down in the Marshall Islands.] When Ace went out on stevedore work parties, he would steal as much sugar or rice as he could. Ace would share with Leaming, who would take it to Yamaguchi who would provide tomatoes or something like that in exchange. [Annotator's Note: Leaming refers to the overseer only as Yamaguchi, a Korean national who was drafted by the Japanese but had no real loyalty toward them.] There were swaps, but not often. Maybe once in two months an exchange would occur. Yamaguchi was in an office in the building where Leaming worked in the steel mill. When Leaming let the Korean know that there was something to swap, Yamaguchi would call the American into his office like he was going to be reprimanded. The swap would occur then. There was also a young Japanese guard who was not strict. He appeared to want to be friendly, but he was very careful. He did not want to be caught talking to the prisoners too much. Otherwise, he was friendly. He would not trade anything though. Soybeans were stolen by the prisoners when they had the opportunity. In the prison building, there were three charcoal stands where the inmates could cook their contraband food, but they had to be very careful. Initially, the POWs were given Sunday as a day off from work detail. The stolen soybeans could be cooked on Sunday with their rice. It was difficult to cook contraband on other nights because after returning from work detail, guards would circulate through the buildings. The POWs had to be careful what they did on those nights because they would be turned in for any infractions. There was one guard toward the end of the war who would enter their building with a fixed bayonet on his rifle. He would place it in the corner of the building and ask the men for some green tea, ocha. After being given a cup of tea, the guard would demand sugar, sato, from the POWs. He knew his captives had sugar. [Annotator's Note: Leaming laughs at the recollection.] After getting the tea, the guard would divulge how the Japanese army was doing. He would also tell the men that he would like to come to the United States after the war. He was very friendly. The sergeant major they had was not too bad, but, once in awhile, he would hit the POWs with the scabbard of his sword. Leaming had diarrhea so bad one day that he broke ranks to race to the toilet area. Unlike American toilets, the Japanese would cut a hole in the floor and place a pot under it so that it could collect human waste. Occasionally, the waste would be dipped out, removed and disposed of. Leaming never learned where it went. The buildings were made of quarter inch thick wood with two steps up and then the door to access the toilet space. Leaming broke ranks and ran to relieve himself. The sergeant major chased him to the toilet shouting for him to stop. When Leaming reached the latrine, he jumped in but because the building had rotted, he fell in up to his neck. His pursuer could not stop laughing. The sergeant major told Leaming that he did not have to go to work that day. He gave him a some soap and told him to stay in camp for that day and clean up. Indians off a sunken British merchant ship normally cleaned the whole camp while the POWs were out on work detail. The sergeant major was the same man who wanted to learn the bayonet drill from Malloy. [Annotator's Note: Malloy was a Wake Island Marine who had been a drill instructor. He taught the Japanese sergeant major how the Marines performed bayonet practice.] Leaming will never forget the incident. [Annotator's Note: Leaming laughs at the recollection of the incident.]

On 1 June 1945, 800 B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] flew over Jack Leaming and his prisoner of war, POW, camp toward Osaka. They were the first bombs dropped on the center of Osaka. Succeeding raids on the city got closer and closer to the camp until bombs rained down on the edge of the camp. Previously, the captives would see American bombers fly over taking pictures. Before the bombers arrived, the sirens would sound and a Japanese seaplane and a four engine plane would take off and fly to some place where they would be safe. On 1 June, Leaming observed the bombs coming down from the B-29s when they hit his camp. About 100 feet above the ground, a bomb would open up and several incendiaries would explode outward and ignite. The roofs of the camps were set afire. During the bombing, Leaming could not see out of his left eye due to a previous injury where a steel filing had entered his eye while he grinding steel. He was in camp and could see the fire coming. He ran to his sleeping area and grabbed his personal effects and that of his bunkmates. The men had prepared themselves to grab their items as quickly as possible so Leaming exited the building quickly. Shortly afterward, the building rapidly burned down. That night he could see all the way to Osaka where the center of the city had been burned flat. It was still burning and smoking. Bodies of dead Japanese were stacked six high for two blocks then doused with kerosene and burned. It was awful. The next day, the POWs were taken by train to Teriaba [Annotator's Note: cannot confirm spelling or location of the camp]. The remaining prisoners were there from June until surrender [Annotator's Note: the Japanese surrendered on 15 August 1945]. While in their final camp, the men worked on unloading rice ships. The harbor was mined. The Japanese would detonate the mines and kill fish and the POWs collected the dead fish. On 15 August, the captives were taken to a ship and loaded aboard. It was empty and the covers to the holds were removed so that the men could enter all the way to the bottom of the ship. The holds were then covered. One of the men from Corregidor had studied the Japanese language. He went to the top and pushed one of the boards aside and peaked out and overheard that the Japanese were surrendering. When the Emperor finished, the Japanese came back and removed the covers from the holds and marched the captives back to the camp. The guards would not admit they had surrendered. Saunders saw the officer in charge and asked if they had surrendered. [Annotator's Note: Saunders was one of the ranking enlisted men in the group of POWs. He had been captured early in the war on Guam.] The Japanese officer admitted to the surrender. That night, the guards all disappeared and left the POWs by themselves. Saunders told the men not to leave camp, but Leaming was hungry and jumped the fence to find something to eat. He found rice and returned with it. The Japanese cook was ordered by Saunders to give the men some beef so they had steaks for dinner. [Annotator's Note: Leaming chuckles at the memory.] Not long afterward, an Air Force representative came in and said to get the sick ready. Previously, Leaming brought rice back to the camp for some of the men with extreme dysentery. He was caught by the guards and sent to the brig. Other men were also caught attempting to bring rice into the camp. Three days were spent by them in a very small cell with a latrine at the end. One man had to stand, one man had to squat, and the third man could lie down. They would rotate positions. After those three days in mid-July, the three were released. On 15 August, the sick were pulled out of camp and the next day flights of B-29s unloaded all kinds of goodies over the camp. One large container hit a local home and destroyed the roof. The Americans told the Japanese owner of the home that the Air Force would take care of his house and that he should keep the contents of the container. After four or five days, the men were ordered to get on a train. They headed back to Tokyo.

Jack Leaming arrived in Tokyo after the Japanese surrender and was put aboard a hospital ship. They were stripped naked to shower completely. Afterward, they were issued new uniforms. They were told to keep the memorabilia and set it aside. All their keepsakes were disinfected, too. The hospital ship was the USS Benevolence (AH-13). Leaming was given a choice of the means to return to the United States. He chose an air flight over a ship because he was anxious to get out of Japan. While getting ready for the flight, he noticed the complete destruction of the Japanese flight facilities. They had been bombed and strafed to complete disarray. It was a mess. Leaming's first leg of the return flight was to Guam. Then he went to Honolulu for two or three days. He had to fight to obtain leave to go and see what Honolulu looked like after war. He was finally given a pass to see the town. After the liberty, he returned to the Naval Air Station on Ford Island and then returned to the San Diego Naval Hospital for 90 days. He met up with his old sweetheart and got married. He returned home in December [Annotator's Note: December 1945] on leave. Upon return from leave, he was attached to the Air Station at Ream Field [Annotator's Note: Ream Field was a Naval Air Station in San Ysidro, California]. Leaming's picture had been in the newspaper and one of his old shipmates came to get him. Leaming was shown the electronics capabilities at Ream Field. He was impressed. He saw so many knobs on the first radar that he was totally confused. He requested radar school and attended it at Ream Field. After graduation, Leaming was kept as a radar instructor for almost two years. He was stationed in Japan during the Korean War. He made out like a bandit. He was discharged after 16 years in the Navy. Leaming has stayed in touch with Dalzell [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] who was the POW off the carrier Yorktown [Annotator's Note: USS Yorktown (CV-5)] who shared time with him while a captive of the Japanese. Dalzell lives in Florida. [Annotator's Note: Leaming ends the interview by unfurling a cloth memento with two Japanese flags and an anchor printed on it.]