[Annotator's Note: The interview starts with Martin Banyas mid-sentence talking about being drafted.] Banyas learned that he would be in the next draft [Annotator's Note: in 1942]. His father could be supported by a portion of his pay. He decided to enlist so that he could be a pilot in the Marine Corps. Lacking sufficient mathematics in his education, he became platoon leader at Parris Island [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in Port Royal, South Carolina]. He considered that he would try again to get into the air wing after boot camp. A shavetail [Annotator's Note: a negative reference to a 2nd lieutenant] told him that he would be selected for sea duty. He was among a group of six-foot Marines selected for sea duty. The rationale for his selection was that his height was optimum for showing off the Corps when he wore his dress blue uniform in foreign countries. He found the notion of sea school objectionable until an old salt [Annotator's Note: seasoned veteran] told him it was good duty. Through a confusion in names, Banyas was sent to gunnery school. Upon return, the sergeant major offered Banyas duty aboard a ship and asked him which one he would like. Banyas said one near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since that was near his home. He was assigned to the Santa Fe [Annotator's Note: USS Santa Fe (CL-60)] which was still under construction. The ship was Christened by Miss Chavez [Annotator's Note: Miss Caroline T. Chavez] the daughter of a colonel [Annotator's Note: US Army Colonel David Chavez] at the Nuremberg Trials [Annotator's Note: Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, military tribunals Nuremberg, Germany, 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946]. The colonel had difficulty with his experiences in putting people to death but recovered after some years. Veterans of the Santa Fe had reunions in the ship's namesake city [Annotator's Note: Santa Fe, New Mexico]. One year, the governor could not attend their ceremony, so a judge addressed the men and told them if they had any legal problems to be sure and see him. Banyas never heard that from any judge in the more than 20 years he served in the police department. The ship's bell and wheel remains in city hall at Santa Fe. When the Santa Fe came down from the Aleutians, it bombarded Wake Island and then started to head for Australia. When another cruiser division got into trouble, the Santa Fe headed to Espiritu [Annotator's Note: Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu] to take on fuel and ammunition. She then pulled into Tulagi [Annotator's Note: Tulagi (Tulaghi) Island, Solomon Islands] across from Guadalcanal [Annotator's Note: Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands] and saw the cruiser division moored there in an undamaged state. The Santa Fe crew gave the intact ships the finger [Annotator's Note: a vulgar sign of disgust]. Army troopships arrived to relieve Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea]. Banyas' cruiser was to escort them. A communique from Douglas MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] reassured the cruiser that it had nothing to worry about in escorting the troops. MacArthur indicated that he had the Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] airpower licked. That night a mass of Japanese planes hit the harbor. Banyas heard it was 75 enemy aircraft. The Santa Fe shot down a couple of the attackers but the Birmingham [Annotator's Note: USS Birmingham (CL-62)] was alongside the Santa Fe and took two fish [Annotator's Note: torpedoes] and three skip bombs. She lost 90 percent of her Marine detachment assigned as topside gunners. The crew in turret four was hit by a bomb. The crew inside were all wearing talker helmets [Annotator's Note: Banyas motions to show oversize helmets that fit over headphones]. The explosion caused the helmets to cut the ears off each wearer. The only man said to be left alive was still shooting the gun while holding his guts in and trampling on some of his intestines.

Martin Banyas sailed all the islands [Annotator's Note: a Marine gunner on USS Santa Fe (CL-60)] including Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands]. He witnessed flies ten miles offshore because of all the dead bodies. Neither the Americans nor the Japs [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] could bury all their dead. Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati] turned out to be the worst of the invasions since the assault [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati] began at low tide and the boats could not get the troops in close to the shore. The first two waves were slaughtered by the Imperial Marines [Annotator's Note: the Japanese Imperial Marines]. None of the enemy survived. They fought to the end. Banyas was sent to the island where he got into an enemy ammunition dump. An accident resulted in explosions. Banyas picked up three wounded all of whom ended up as fatalities. The next terrible situation was Iwo [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945, Iwo Jima, Japan] where the whole island was lava ash. Mortar fire was heavy. The Santa Fe was directed to fire on a large artillery piece mounted to a railroad car that backed into Mount Suribachi. Another cruiser decided to take on the gun, but it was hit instead. Leaving Iwo, the CL-60 escorted the Franklin [Annotator's Note: USS Franklin (CV-13)] as it launched aircraft against the Japanese home islands. During the assault on the Philippines, the Santa Fe along with another cruiser and two destroyers entered Bislig Bay [Annotator's Note: in Caraga, Philippines] and sank 21 ships. The Santa Fe was credited with eliminating four merchant ships of significant tonnage. When the cruiser got into chasing the enemy fleet north of the Philippines, it fired four main salvos and sunk a Jap carrier. An enemy destroyer sent to pick up survivors was pulled down by the suction created by the sinking carrier. An enemy cruiser never could find the proper range when firing on the Santa Fe. Meanwhile, the opponent was on fire from bow to stern. During the air raid on Japan, the Franklin was hit while its second wave was armed down in the hanger deck. While the carrier's elevator was down, a Jap plane dropped a bomb through the opening. It exploded among the armed aircraft and created an inferno. The Santa Fe took over 800 wounded off the crippled carrier. Many of the crewmen tried going aft but Banyas warned them that explosions were there. Those that moved forward to the bow had a greater chance of survival. The 50s [Annotator's Note: three-inch, .50 caliber naval gun] and five-inch [Annotator's Note: five-inch, .38 caliber naval gun] were exploding back there. The Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: USS Pittsburgh (CA-72)] came over and took the Franklin in tow. The Santa Fe escorted the two ships toward Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. During the voyage together, Banyas observed bodies being cast off the wounded carrier as they began to smell. There was no problem with Japanese submarines. The Santa Fe was in on the Marianas Turkey Shoot [Annotator's Note: Great Marianas Turkey Shoot; nickname for the aerial battle part of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, 19 to 20 June 1944]. Banyas had his shoulder thrown out after he ran out of ammunition on the 20 [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] during the fight. He pulled his shoulder requiring stitches while guiding four cases of ammunition to put in clips when the rope broke. He hurt his back and neck but cannot say that to the VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] because he has no proof. A chiropractor named Fagan [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] helped get it back in location. Banyas has fought with the government to get something done. While at Formosa [Annotator's Note: Republic of Formosa, (Taiwan)], the Houston [Annotator's Note: USS Houston (CL-81)] was hit by a torpedo. It blew some of the crew off the ship. One of them was a Marine who was put in Banyas' section. Banyas outfitted him the best he could. His name was Cardoza [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling]. As the new man was revealing to Banyas some personal details, Banyas told him to follow him to the gun position on the fantail [Annotator's Note: overhang of the deck extending aft of the sternpost of a ship]. The new Marine said he was not going to the fantail because that was his position on the Houston before he was blown off the ship. Banyas told him to go to the bow if he preferred. Shortly thereafter, a kamikaze [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft] exploded over the forward part of Santa Fe burning the Marine gunners in that area. The Marine from the Houston only lived about an hour after that. Banyas subsequently tried to reach out to Cardoza's family but without success.

Martin Banyas enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942 because he liked the fighting Marines. The first job for his ship [Annotator's Note: as a Marine gunner on USS Santa Fe (CL-60)] was bombarding Aleutian Islands [Annotator's Note: Aleutian Islands, Alaska] captured by the Japanese. It seemed the whole fleet was there. The Pennsylvania [Annotator's Note: USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)] turned hard one day and fish [Annotator's Note: torpedoes] from submarines went down both her sides. Whales had the same underwater signature for destroyers as submarines, so depth charges were dropped erroneously on them. Consequently, many whales were killed in the Aleutians. The Santa Fe did a lot of shooting off Attu [Annotator's Note: Attu Island, Alaska] in the Aleutians. Enemy defensive antiaircraft fire could not reach the ships offshore because they did not have the range. The weather was terrible up there and the daylight hours were long. The Santa Fe shot 5,342 tons in bombardment ordnance. After the Aleutians, the Santa Fe went to Hawaii where everything was shot up after they had been hit [Annotator's Note: she arrived in September 1943, months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941]. During the Battle of the Philippines Sea [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Philippine Sea, 19 to 20 June 1944], a Japanese cruiser was sent to detain the fleet, but the Santa Fe sank the enemy vessel. An enemy carrier was sunk before the cruiser, but the rest of the Japanese fleet escaped. When the shore bombardments occurred, Banyas and his 20 [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon] was told to standby. When the 20s went off, the sailors below in watertight spaces worried that the enemy was closing in on them. The 20mm guns were the last line of defense for the ship. A Betty twin-engine bomber [Annotator's Note: Mitsubishi G4M medium bomber] closed in and Banyas' tracers indicated that he got it. His operator responsible for elevating the gun took off. If Banyas would have seen him, he would have shot him. There was one other crewman on the 20, a loader, plus some standbys including a butcher. Tarawa [Annotator's Note: Battle of Tarawa, 20 to 23 November 1943, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati] and Iwo [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945, Iwo Jima, Japan] upset Banyas the most because of the number of Marines killed. He saw three feet of foam from Marine dead along the coral reef floating along-side a hospital ship. On Tarawa, the enemy was entrenched inside log bunkers. The Marines needed offshore assistance from the warships to blow the emplacements apart. When the Santa Fe captain pulled close to shore to provide support, some of Banyas crew moved forward to see the show. Banyas warned them of Jap [Annotator's Note: a period derogatory term for Japanese] return fire. The Japs used heavy machine guns on the ship before the twin 5-inch mounts [Annotator's Note: five-inch, 38 caliber naval guns] blew the bunkers apart. The Marines advanced after that. Banyas laughed at his gun crew as they returned to him because the incoming fire was too hot. While at Bougainville [Annotator's Note: Bougainville, Papua New Guinea], the Santa Fe was hit by a fish [Annotator's Note: torpedo] that was a dud. The dent in the side was discovered while in drydock at Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. Banyas is sure the good Lord protects the dumb and the blind, and the crew fit into that category. Banyas went ashore on some small island to work at an enemy ammunition dump. His buddy Rip [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] went with him. John Chauvin [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] could likely provide details since he puts on the reunions and has access to all the information. A reunion is due in Branson [Annotator's Note: Branson, Missouri]. Even though Banyas wears his Santa Fe hat all the time, he never has met a man from the Franklin [Annotator's Note: USS Franklin (CV-13)]. A buddy has seen numerous thankful men from the Franklin, but Banyas has not. The two ship veteran reunions may be joined, but Banyas feels he is part of the over the hill gang at 87 years of age. The Santa Fe returned to the United States but then was deployed to Japan afterward. Some of her sailors who went to Nagasaki's [Annotator's Note: Nagasaki, Japan] ground zero [Annotator's Note: the point of detonation of the nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, 9 August 1945] got cancer. Banyas was stateside when the war ended. He was preparing for surgery on his shoulder. He was warned not to have the operation proceed. He opted not to go forward on the procedure and took a furlough [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] instead. Going on to Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], he was discharged there.

Martin Banyas has restricted use of his shoulders as a result of his wartime service [Annotator's Note: as a Marine gunner on USS Santa Fe (CL-60)]. Getting into fights was common during his police work. His shoulders were problem in those instances. He got into a fight with some Black men whom he would have shot if it came to it. It did not. He went to chiropractors after the war who helped his back. It is not like that today. Today, they just want a patient to keep returning to them every week. As a policeman, he grew tired of going to court and seeing the prisoners released with a slap on the wrist. He was not going to risk his life for that, so he went on the road and retired later as an engineer. He even ran a passenger train one time before he retired. He has not seen The National WWII Museum in New Orleans [Annotator's Note: New Orleans, Louisiana]. It is important for those museums to exist. After Vietnam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975], people spit on veterans. Uncle Sam [Annotator's Note: Uncle Sam; a common national personification of the federal government of the United States] said he would take care of veterans, but he lied a lot. The vets do not get justice. Banyas did have good service at a VA [Annotator's Note: Veterans Administration] Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania. He has been given dangerous overdose prescriptions in other facilities. As a Marine, he knew the Marine personnel on his ship but not the Navy personnel. There was a captain on the ship who had a dog. The Navy officer took counsel from Banyas who was a longtime a dog lover. Banyas did not know the captain's name but saw the name Berkey on the dog's collar. He called the dog Berkey as a result. The captain assigned Banyas to take care of the dog. That was the best thing to happen to Banyas. He could leave the ship without authorization if he walked the dog with him. Years later, at the first Santa Fe reunion Banyas attended, he introduced himself to then Admiral Berkey who said if he had a .45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol] on him when he called the dog Berkey, he would have shot Banyas. Banyas had a good friend named Rip [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] who saved his life when he nearly drowned. Rip went back and saved another man afterward. Banyas has not seen Rip since his discharge. Rip was a robust fellow who would fight at the drop of a hat. Another man named Moose Manchetti [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] was on the ship. Banyas would provide Manchetti excess alcohol that he had obtained to clean his seven 20s [Annotator's Note: Oerlikon 20mm antiaircraft automatic cannon]. Manchetti would get juice from the galley and make cocktails and the singing would start. Although hit with shrapnel one day, Banyas never felt exposed. The men told him to go get the 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], but another plane attacked, and he forgot all about it. While cleaning his gun barrel, the ship rocked, and the barrel hit the ring around the mount. He used the spare barrel instead when the ship was attacked. The weapon overheated so much that he used a fire hose to cool it off. He stuck the hose down the barrel and thus had the only water-cooled 20mm on the ship. The steam erupted and Banyas' officer screamed at him. The officer was worried about distortion on the barrel which might result in it exploding and killing the crew, but it did not. Halsey [Annotator's Note: US Navy Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey] caused the loss of destroyers during a storm. The waves were like mountains. Hundreds of sailors were swept overboard and either drowned or were eaten by sharks. Carriers had planes washed off the flight deck. Destroyers listed so heavily that seawater got into the boilers, and they exploded. The Santa Fe listed so much that crew walked on the walls.

Martin Banyas and his gunners did a good job as the last line of defense for the ship [Annotator's Note: USS Santa Fe (CL-60)]. As one enemy plane flew by the ship, the gunners saw they took the enemy pilot's head off. Banyas was a hunter, so he did not get shook up. He could have shot his trunnion operator if he had seen him running [Annotator's Note: in heat of battle Banyas lost a crewman who ran away from the position]. A gun crew on the forward end of the ship suffered an explosion from an enemy plane. The ship's Doctor Smith [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] was good. He treated the badly burned crewmen. A Texan named Johnson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] recovered and the captain decided to assign him to Barney [Annotator's Note: a nickname for Banyas]. Banyas told the captain and the Marine that he would shoot the Marine if he ran. When the action got heavy, Johnson froze and did not run. Banyas accepted him as a member of the crew then. The man did not run after that. While in sea school, a British Marine bummed off everyone. To get back at him, the Marines put vodka in his beer and had him sign authorization to put an American flag tattoo on his chest. There were a lot of guys who came up with that kind of stuff. Despite offers for him to stay in the Marines after the war, Banyas left the service. Promotions came slowly but he made corporal. At Philadelphia [Annotator's Note: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania], some Blacks went over the hill. Banyas was selected as a prisoner chaser. Another Marine was assigned to help him. While bringing a captive into the prison, there were multiple gates to pass through. At the last gate, the sidearm had to be checked. Banyas dropped his clip, cleared the action and pulled the trigger pointing the weapon up. His assistant did the same but forgot to drop the clip beforehand. When the pistol went off, the prisoners, many of whom were shell shocked [Annotator's Note: psychological disturbance caused by prolonged exposure to active warfare, especially bombardment] from the Pacific were barely missed. The colonel in charge brought Banyas forward, but it was the idiot with him who caused the problem. Banyas told his commander not to assign that man to him again. When Santa Fe attempted to assist the Franklin [Annotator's Note: USS Franklin (CV-13)] after it was hit by a kamikaze [Annotator's Note: Japanese Special Attack Units, also called shimbu-tai, who flew suicide missions in aircraft], the cruiser would not come alongside the carrier until both the Franklin's magazines [Annotator's Note: ammunition holds] were flooded. Following that, the carrier's antenna obstructed the Santa Fe while she closed. When the antenna started pulling on the Santa Fe, her crew took the torches out and started burning the obstructing structures away. Some of the wounded were using the antenna to reach Santa Fe and fell between the two ships. One man named Kemp [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling] received the Silver Star [Annotator's Note: the Silver Star Medal is the third-highest award a United States service member can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for his efforts in saving the men who fell into the sea. Banyas saved men by telling them to go forward on the Franklin because of exploding ordnance on the aft end of the carrier.