An article appeared in the Dallas Morning News on May 11, 1997 by staff writer David Flick. He interviewed Mr. James Reed who resides in Mesquite, Texas and is a survivor of this event. Mr. Reed has been seeking publicity for this nearly forgotten piece of wartime history since it was one of the best kept secrets during World War II.
I am also a survivor of this incident. I was a member of the 534th U.S. Army Amphibian Tractor Battalion aboard LST #340 which was located in the second row of 7 LST's. This unit landed members of the 4th U.S. Marine division on Saipan D-Day June 15, 1944 and Tinian on July 24, 1944. I am relating parts of this newspaper article and also information statd in a book "The West Loch Story" written by William L.C. Johnson (also a survivor) which was published in 1986 (Library of Congress catalog card No. 86-050525 ISBN 0-9616964-0-0).
Our forces were advancing in the Pacific theater and the next objective at that time was the capture of Saipan, Tinian and Guam in the Marianas. The ships known as LST's had concluded maneuvers off Maui, Hawaii. Most of the troops were soldiers, sailors and marines. About 3 PM there was a terrific explosion which began in the line of 8 ships closest to Walker Bay at West Loch an arm of Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
The explosion triggered fires on the adjacent LST's which were laden with munitions and gasoline. Six LST's were destroyed and most of the 34 at anchor in West Loch received some damage. Men who survived the blasts were killed when they were run over by the LST's trying to pull away from the destruction. Some of the men who swam to a nearby cane field were crushed by the falling debris. Military authorities warned survivors not to discuss the incident to protect the scheduled invasion of the Marianas. Four days after the disaster, authorities released a one paragraph statement acknowledging only that an explosion had caused "some loss of life, a number of injuries and resulted in the destruction of several small vessels". Only after the Saipan invasion did the authorities release a more complete description.
The cause is still unclear. The board of inquiry concluded that "the initial explosion resulted from one or more 4.2 inch mortar shells which exploded while they were being loaded on LST 353". Some survivors question that theory. Some believe careless smoking ignited fumes from high octane fuel stored in the ships. Others believed it was sabotage. Even the number of casualties is in dispute. The official casualty count was 27 dead 100 missing. The very detailed book "The West Loch Story" by William C.J. Johson put the body ount at 163. The only monument to the disaster is a table-sized plaque erected on the shore of the loch in April 1995.
Edward N. Walko From "Combat Stories of WW2" website by Ernie Herr