CENTER FOR U.S. WAR
VETERANS' ORAL HISTORIES
World War II
Joseph C. Olivadoti
World War II Oral History Interview
US Army, 204th Port Company
Date: December 10, 2007
Interviewer: Carol Fowler
Summarizer: Kaz Garcia
Veterans History Project
Summary
Joseph C. Olivadoti was born in 1924 in Long Branch, New Jersey. Prior to his service, he worked for a railroad company that covered from Bayhead to South Amboy, New Jersey. Olivadoti was a laborer and, although he was one of the youngest ones working, he enjoyed it. Since he was eligible for the draft, he had a difficult time finding work. The only place Olivadoti could find work was at the railroad. He was only in high school when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Olivadoti recalled that he was on the way home from a show with friends when the news of the attack came on the radio. At the time, he and his friends did not know where Pearl Harbor was. However, everything changed after the bombing.
Olivadoti eventually got drafted into the U.S. Army, after seeing many people he knew enlist or get drafted. At the beginning of his service, he went to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for about a week. From there, Olivadoti went to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, for basic training. The community of soldiers at basic training was very kind and welcoming; it made it easier for him to adjust to Army life. Typically, he and the other soldiers would talk about sports, because they were all around his age. Interestingly enough, Olivadoti got promoted to Buck Sergeant because he was good at drilling.
After training in Indiantown Gap, Olivadoti travelled to Fort Hamilton. This is where he got more training with his unit where they unloaded in Brooklyn ships of tanks, ammunition, jeeps, and other equipment for soldiers on the frontline. Olivadoti mentioned that his job was very important because without him and his unit, front-line soldiers would not get the equipment they needed. Later, in 1941, he left for Camp Stoneman in California.
In California, they boarded a large, converted luxury liner ship to travel to Hawaii. Olivadoti laughed when remembering that their ship was so fast, it did not need an escort. When they got to Hawaii, they arrived on a man-made island called Sand Island. His mission there was to unload all the ships in Honolulu. He worked incredibly hard, with shifts lasting from 6AM to 6PM; they barely had any days off.
Even though this work was strenuous and difficult, Olivadoti enjoyed it, because he knew how important it was. He reemphasized that the quicker the ships got unloaded, the quicker the equipment would get to the frontlines. Additionally, one of his cousins was with the Navy in Maui, while he was in Honolulu. After asking for permission, Olivadoti was able to go visit his cousin. This would be the first time he ever went on a plane. “My first plane ride- they did all these [tricks]” Olivadoti exclaimed over the recording. He laughed when he remembered all of the tricks the jet did while he was on his way to see his cousin. Nevertheless, Olivadoti “loved it.” He and his company were in Hawaii for 14 months.
We worked sometimes 30 days without a day off. We worked until the ship was finished.
While reminiscing on his time in Hawaii, Olivadoti mentioned that he met a lot of friends that had been in battles in Europe. One thing that his fellow comrades all wanted to do was go home; they were excited to go home to their families. Unfortunately, many of them did not make it back.
After Hawaii, Olivadoti went on another ship to go to Leyte Island in the Philippines. On the way there, his ship was attacked several times by the Kamikaze and suicide boats. Upon arriving at Leyte, he recalled that all he saw was “devastation.” Olivadoti was not at Leyte long; he soon travelled to Okinawa in Korea.
On the way to Okinawa, the ship that Olivadoti was on got hit by a Kamikaze. That attack was one of their worst ones. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, only one person broke their arm. The Kamikaze hit the back of the deck, so there was not a lot of damage. Furthermore, Olivadoti mentioned that his outfit was incredibly lucky, because when they would get hit by the Japanese, there would never be any serious damage. He explained that the Japanese would have a bomb in the front of the boat; like a motorboat and then would ram it into the ship. When Olivadoti’s ship was hit, it went right out of the water and came down. Everyone was in a daze and did not understand what was going on. A lot of people jumped over, because they did not know what to do. They were about a mile to a mile and a half from the beach. The men that jumped off the ship got hurt; unfortunately, one of them hurt his back very bad and was disabled for life. The suicide boat went right through the engine room. But fortunately, it did not sink.
Once Olivadoti and his company got to Okinawa, they were lucky that there was little resistance. One of the worst things he ever saw were soldiers lined up and covered in graves. There were too many deceased soldiers; they were not able to make graves fast enough. Olivadoti mentioned that he came out of the gravesite crying; it was very devastating to see. One of the ways he felt better was from receiving letters from home. His sister would send him letters and tell him everything that was going on back home. Olivadoti would also get letters from relatives and friends. He would hear bomber planes flying over heading to Japan, and the men on the ground would get excited.
After Okinawa was secured, they headed out to go to Japan. This is where they heard about the atomic bomb. No one knew what kind of bomb had hit Japan; later on, they celebrated that Japan had surrendered.
On December 1, 1945, Olivadoti boarded the train to finally go home. He thought that he would be home for Christmas, but no trains went to Fort Monmouth in time. On Christmas Eve, that’s when Olivadoti boarded the cross-country train to go home. It was disheartening for him and all of the other soldiers. He was home for New Years Eve but had to be back for New Years Day in order to get discharged. For New Years Eve, Olivadoti did not go out with his friends; he just wanted to stay home with his family. When he got discharged, he received a big list of all his comrades addresses and information; this way, he was able to keep in touch. Olivadoti helped to plan annual reunions and kept in touch with everyone through the years.
Olivadoti joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Italian American Memorial Italian Association. This interview is the most he ever spoke about his military experiences. Their first reunion was one year after they got discharged. Olivadoti showed a few pictures; one was a headshot of himself in his uniform, and the second was of him and two other men at the camp in the Philippines. He showed his medals; The World War II Victory Medal, Good Conduct, Asiatic-Pacific Medal with a bronze star for Okinawa, the Carbine Medal, Liberation of the Philippines, and The Ruptured Duck Medal.
Looking back, Olivadoti was glad to have served his country. He learned a lot, mostly to “respect people” and “respect anyone that went through that war.” Olivadoti stated that it was “a bad war, even for the ones in Europe too.” His final message of peace is that “everyone should try to get along… I think there should be no wars.”
Joseph Olivadoti passed away at the age of 88 in Long Branch, New Jersey, on April 25, 2012.
