James Jensen, Gunners Mate

(U.S.S. Belleau Wood, 1945)

As others in the family left for military service, still another brother, James, remained in Berthoud, Colorado. A hard-working man with whitish-peppery, coarse hair, Jim never strayed far from the farming roots of his home town.. Influenced by the beauty of his rural surroundings, this father of two was the only one of his nine siblings who showed an artistic bent as a painter and wood carver. His family always thought of him as a “gentle” soul, too much so, perhaps, for the ugly business of war that Americans faced.

         Jim Jensen’s brief letters from this period give few indications of the wartime demons that followed him for the fifty remaining years of his life. Like his other brothers, he seldom shared his wartime experiences with others; reliving the past was simply too painful.

         On 14 March 1945, the USS Belleau Wood and fifteen sister carriers in the 5^th Fleet (Task Force 58), including five British carriers, made an early departure from Ulithi Lagoon in the Caroline Islands  Prior to the Okinawa landings by the assault troops, the carriers had as their mission the destruction of Japanese commercial shipping, military convoys and airfields on Kyushu, the islands in the Nansei Shonto and Formosa.

          While the enemy tied down American ground units on the southern part of the island, the Japanese utilized Special Attack Forces at sea to implement their Divine Wind strategy. The nexus of this force was comprised of young kamikaze pilots who had only elementary flight instruction in takeoffs and “follow me” procedures. Their aircraft consisted of several thousand single engine fighters each carrying 250- and 500-pound bombs for the one way trip. Comprised of fifteen to twenty aircraft, each attack group bore the colorful name of kikusui or floating chrysanthemum. These groups struck terror into American seamen.

          Beginning on 17 March, continuing through their apogee in mid-April, and ending for the most part in early June, the kamikaze became an effective messenger of Japan’s will to continue the struggle against its American invaders. On April 6, 1945, the Divine Wind comprising 699 aircraft, including 355 kamikazes, converged on the East China Sea. The year 1945 transformed Jim Jensen’s life. Members of his family felt that he never came to grips with the psychological effects from this long-ago war—the violence to his soul and the guilt of having survived when other seamen did not.

         James Jensen, April 1945

         USS Belleau Wood, CVL 24

          A few lines, Kid, to let you know that I’m feeling fine and hope you are the same. I guess you know that I’m on a carrier. It’s rugged duty. I have been to Tokyo. We have been battling the Japs since the first of the year. They get kind of desperate once in a while. I have seen a number of ships socked by the kamikazes. We almost got it a couple of times, but got by with the skin of our teeth. I miss seeing those Jap planes dive into the ocean. I have seen hundreds of them day and night. Sure get tired of the kamikazes, general quarters, and five-inch anti-aircraft shells popping around us. There was some wild old shooting at times—direct hits on enemy planes coming in towards us. They actually disappeared in the air. We have a pretty good bunch of sharp shooters in this outfit.  Do hope the rest of the family is still alive. Well, this is about all for this time. I can’t say much due to censorship. This is a hell of a fix to be in for a man with a family.

The U.S.S. Belleau Wood is attacked by kamikazes on                     The U.S.S. Belleau Wood (foreground) and her sister                                  November 30, 1944                                                        carriers make their way to Japan in February 1945

 The U.S.S. Belleau Wood (background) fights

for its survival as kamikazes attack on April 6, 1945