Brandon recalls service in Pacific

James Brandon had just lowered his 20-millimeter gun for reloading. His two loaders had finished the job and Brandon, the third member of the crew, was preparing to raise the gun back up when he caught a Japanese pilot in his sights. The plane was so close that Brandon could see horn-rimmed glasses behind the pilot's goggles.

It was a clear violation of Navy rules to fire the gun at so low an angle; the danger was that you might hit a friendly ship nearby. But the pilot was right there, in Brandon's sights, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. There wasn't time for second-guessing.

He took the shot, and earned one of his five kills as a gunner aboard the USS Manila Bay. Brandon, who was a cook as well as a gunner, earned a Silver Star Medal. He earned seven stars for the Asiatic Pacific campaign and two for the Philippine Liberation campaign, and won the American Victory II medal.

Brandon, a native of Chase City, Va., has lived in Shelbyville for the past year, thanks to his daughter Judith Brandon. He is now 84 years old and uses a cane. But the fire in his eyes still burns brightly, and he still remembers his days in the Pacific during World War II. He is frustrated that so many of today's young people seem to know so little about it, and notes that an understanding of history is crucial to an understanding of the present.

"The same thing that put us into World War II put us into the Persian Gulf," said Brandon: Oil. It was a U.S. embargo on oil from the East Indies which historians say caused the Japanese to attack.

"We have to have oil," said Brandon. "Japan had to have oil."

Brandon noted that the Japanese intended to declare war and then attack Pearl Harbor, but their message was not delivered in time.

Brandon had not yet entered the military when the Pearl Harbor attack took place, 65 years ago today. He was working for the U.S. Civil Engineers in Washington, D.C. If he had stayed in that job, he would have had a 4-F draft rating, but he quit his job when he heard of friends making more money back in Virginia. That left him open to the draft, and he joined the Navy in March 1943. He sailed with the USS Bolinas when it was being delivered to the British and then was assigned to the Manila Bay. He joined the Manila Bay soon after it was commissioned and stayed with it until just before it was decommissioned.

The Manila Bay was a small carrier built on the hull of a Liberty Ship. The first air-to-ground missile attack in naval military history was launched from the Manila Bay, on Feb. 3, 1944, according to "Navy Wings of Gold," a book by author F. Willard Robinson. Robinson has become a friend of Brandon's and was instrumental in helping Brandon obtain his Navy Unit Citation in 1999, more than half a century after the war had ended. Robinson convinced then-U.S. Sen. Dirk Kempthorne to intercede on Brandon's behalf. Kempthorne is now Secretary of the Interior.

Brandon is currently sending Robinson much of his personal memorabilia for a book which Robinson is writing.

The Manila Bay was active in the Battle of Surigao Strait, which was part of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

"There'll never be another battle like the Battle of Leyte Gulf," said Brandon. The conflict is considered by naval historians to be the last great battleship-to-battleship conflict. But Brandon said its significance was downplayed by Admiral Halsey because it was being done in support of the ground troops of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. In fact, the Manila Bay was part of what was sometimes referred to as "MacArthur's Navy."

Brandon sympathizes with today's troops in the Middle East, who must walk a delicate tightrope in trying to figure out who is a civilian and who is their enemy. A soldier who makes the wrong decision can have his life ruined.

"They handcuff them," said Brandon. "They court-martial them."

He said the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have killed civilians but they saved many more lives in the long run -- including, he believes, his own life, which would have been put at risk if the Allies had invaded Japan.

"If Truman had not dropped the atomic bomb, I would not be here," said Brandon. At the time of the bomb, Brandon was sailing in the Sea of Japan to escort Russian Marines to northern Hokkaido.

After leaving the Navy in 1946, Brandon worked for a number of companies before moving to Bedford County a year ago to be with his daughter. Brandon's father used to break horses, and his daughter had been trying to get him to the Celebration since the 1960s. He finally got to see the show this year, on its final Friday night.

"Good thing I went on a Friday instead of Saturday," joked Brandon, in reference to the controversy which ended the Saturday show prematurely. In any case, he loved the show. He said most people look at a horse's front legs, but his father taught him that it's actually the hind legs which are the key to a horse's quality.

Brandon is a proud member of the American Legion.

Brandon's military service is not his only connection to history -- he is the nephew by marriage of famed North Pole explorer Matthew Henson, a connection which will be explored further in a future issue.