Drafted to Panama: An Interview with Staff Sgt. Floyd Curtis

On May 18, 2001, I interviewed Staff Sgt. Floyd Curtis about his experiences during World War II, inside the Canton Public Library. Within the next week I plan to begin writing a vignette based on the information I have gathered from the interview. Drafted in 1941, Mr. Curtis was sent to complete basic training at Fort Bragg, NC. He did not realize that, after December 7, he was to spend four years in Panama. The following transcript represents only a portion of the interview. The letters “FC” represent Mr. Curtis speaking, while “Q” represents the questions I asked.

FC: ...when Pearl Harbor came on a Sunday, we didn’t even finish our basic training yet...they called us out on that Sunday night -- you don’t remember, ‘cause you’re too young anyway -- they called us out at midnight and said we were going to be shipping out. We hadn’t even finished our basic training yet. So we all got out there, we went back in and got our duffel bags all loaded and got on the train...went down to Florida. Then from there, we got on a ship...we still didn’t know where we were going, they didn’t tell us anything...so we got on the ship, we all slept up on deck on the floor -- no rooms, there were so many of us -- and then they told us where we were going -- Panama. I figured we were very lucky, we didn’t have to go over to Germany and those places to fight...but they’d had word that the Panama Canal was gonna be attacked by the Japanese. So they got us on the boat, we went down to Panama -- took us four days, and I was sick every day --and we went up through the Canal, which was real nice, we went up through the daytime.

So we got a good view of that...and we got into where the barracks were. We sat there for three days, still didn’t know what we were going to do. So the fourth day came, they said we were going out to the islands -- San Blas Islands, all those islands there -- and we were going to work on radar. I don’t know if you know what that is...yes? They told us where we were gonna go for the first time, it was one of those San Blas Islands out there, and we slept in tents. And...it wasn’t very good. We slept in tents. Had nothing to eat for a day and a half...well we had the rations, but ...<laugh> to have those...they weren’t that good. Anyway, we had rations, then the ration boat

came in...and we had good supplies. Spam, ham, powdered eggs, powdered potatoes, powdered, um, eggs...everything was...powdered. We didn’t have any fresh food...so we start clearing the area, and we put our tents up. And slept in those. And we were greeted by a lot of snakes, which we weren’t used to....a lot of different kinds of snakes, and we had nets over our beds...so we did alright. And we were told about catching malaria...they gave us pills...told us to be sure to take those during the day...didn’t have fresh water, had to go down and put water in a canvas bag, and put the pills in there...one of my best friends died from malaria...

Q: When did that happen?

FC: Back in 1941, I guess it was. They sent him home...when he got home I guess he lasted about a month and died. So...we cleared the area and got our tents...and there was just nothing to do there. The natives were there...there was nothing for us to do. So we did a lot of swimming...we had a lot of fun, the waves were a pretty good size...and we just sat there, sat there, sat there, and then they brought out the radar. To track the airplanes. Four hours on a shift, and four hours off...and we did that for four years. It was interesting at first, but after four years it gets tiresome. But we had an identification that could tell us if it was an enemy plane or one of our planes. They called it IFF. Of course, if the plane got below the mountains there, you couldn’t get it on your radar. So we go there, sit there for four hours...then go have our lunch somewhere, and after four hours go back again, so that’s what we did. That’s all.

Q: Every day?

FC: Every single day. Very boring. And then you’d sit there, sit there, sit there, we didn’t have no games to play with down there, no games...and we stayed on that one island, that San Blas island...for one year. And then they called in and said we were going to get shipped to another island -- well, I forgot the name of the island, there’s so many of them -- and we got there, and there's a two-man submarine there from Japan. So I guess it was a crashed spy or something, I don’t know, really. We never found out. So we stayed there, but down there, instead of sleeping in tents they had set up barracks on the other island, which was alright with us. But it didn’t help our food any. Still had all dried food...yup...and that was it. And we stayed there for another year, then went to another island...three different islands while I was there for four years. It was...it was monotonous, really. We had to sit and watch that stupid screen...watch it for four hours...but actually, we were lucky compared to what some of the fellas went through in the war. But we did have to clean the area, with Collins Company machetes...took the brush all down so we could get through fast. And then the rainy season...thirty days in a row, rain, rain, rain, rain. We used to go to bed at night and take our shoes off, and we’d wake up in the morning and our shoes would be all green. But compared to what some of the soldiers went through in Europe, we had it real easy. Finally thought about it and said, yeah, we were lucky. And that’s about it.

Q: What sort of interaction did you have with the natives?

FC: The natives were good to us...they didn’t like the way we used their coconuts though. Used to send the kids up to the top of the coconut tree...they climbed it just like a monkey, those kids...and they’d take a couple coconuts and throw them down, and we’d just cut the top off and drink the juice and throw it away. They’d eat all the inside and everything. So we got caught on that and they told us not to eat any more coconuts...well, we didn’t know. That was a lot of their food. But...and then we came home, took us seven days to come home, on an LST‹a flat-bottomed boat‹and I spent seven days up on deck...sick all the way home. Seasick when I went down, seasick

when I came back. And the Navy...they’d think they were smart, you know, they’d come up in the kitchen, where we got some pork chops for you, or something like that...trying to be funny. But we just considered ourselves lucky we were there and had to do no fighting.

Q: How many people were you down there with?

FC: Four platoons. We went down and most of us had to sleep up on deck, we had to use our duffel bags...for a pillow. Oh yeah, we didn’t have no place to sleep, we had to sleep up on deck. And when you’d get up to walk you’d walk on somebody at night. They hurried us down there because they heard the canal was going to be attacked.

Q: So as soon as Pearl Harbor was bombed, everything suddenly changed?

FC: That’s why we went that same Sunday night. That’s why we started at 12:00 Sunday night, to go to Panama...yup.

Q: What rank did you end up with in the armed services?

FC: I was a staff sergeant. Started out as a private, then a corporal, then a sergeant, then a staff sergeant, then I came home.

Q: Did you ever have any scares on the radar, or was it always just

completely blank?

FC: No...of course, like I say, when the airplanes came down behind the

mountains where we couldn’t get them, we couldn’t tell what it was. We

couldn’t tell with our machine...IFF they called it. Identification Friend or Foe. And we couldn’t tell what it was...well, we could tell what the

airplane was, but if they didn’t have that IFF we could have never told

anything.

Q: How did the IFF work?

FC: It gave us a signal. If it was a US airplane. On the screen, it gave us a signal...of course, the radar came from England, you know. They didn’t have it here. United States never had it, it came from England. They used it first. Wonderful thing. You just sit there, catch the airplanes...and then you get that sign on there, IFF, and it would tell if it was an enemy or friendly. But the only enemy we saw was that two-man submarine, I don’t know what happened to the two fellas...?cause it was Japanese...