Allen R. Ervin, Roy, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, August 4, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 694

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ALLEN R. ERVIN spin it. o I went out there and brought my intercom phone out ther . so bad. T 4, 20 4 z. hat w n't If for some reason, when I'm in the boat and I was doing something and the dead were being brought back, they'd pile them up on the davit deck. They davits were like my hands [demonstrates]. Down go the cables, they pick up the boats. As soon as they hit the davits, like where my fingers are, the thing goes, eeengh! And the whole davit would pull up like my arms until it was up as far as it could go. In the meantime, here was your boat. So you'd fasten the boat down. Right below the davit was kind of a little deck. They'd pile the bodies on there. You don't know how many times I'd walk on the bodies. In the dark I could feel them give, under my feet. I thought, "Oh, my god, they've got wounded up here again." Or they were dead, really. That was always kind of an icky experience. BEC: Let's bring you home. You were in the Boston Navy Yard and the war in the Pacific ended so they didn't need you over there anymore. So you were discharged? AL: That's right. What happened then was I got orders to go to somewhere in the Boston Navy Yard, pick up a load of recruits and take them to Florida. I said, "Okay." So I got my sea bag packed and everything and I went over to where they were at the railroad station. That's where I met them. There were about thirty guys. I said, "Okay, you guys. I want you to stay right here. Don't move and I'll be right back." I was gone quite a while to get all the tickets and everything. I came back and there was nobody. There was nobody there. I saw one guy and said, "Where the hell is everybody?" "Oh, they' re here and there and everywhere." So I finally got them all assembled. They came from all over the place. Finally, I assembled them. I said to them as I remember, not 41