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Grandy Ferrell Scarber

Born 28 April 1926 in Post Oak, Jack County, Texas
Died 08 January 2015 in Bowie, Montague County, Texas

Military Assignments from 27 April 1944 to 21 May 1946

National Museum of the Pacific War
Fredericksburg, Texas
Memorial location Bush Gallery Wall, Row 5, Section near side entrance
Unveiled 19 September 2015
The direct link to Ferrell Scarber's Memorial Plague is here, just in case the website's search engine is still broken.

Arrived	Unit / Organization	Location
27 Apr 44	Enlisted at Naval Recruiting Station as A.S. (Apprentice Seaman), USNR, V-6. Listed at 5 foot 8 inches, 123 pounds, age 17 years 11 months.	Dallas, Texas
	On inactive service.
8 May 44	Recalled to active duty. Pay for A.S. - $50.00 per month.	Dallas, Texas
12 May – 7 Jul 44	Reported to US Naval Training Command, Farragut, Idaho, for Recruit Training. Qualified as marksman on indoor and outdoor range, qualified swimmer, night lookout trainer, gas mask gas chamber instructions. Advanced to S2c (Seaman Second Class). Pay for S2c - $54.00 per month.	Farragut, Idaho
8 Jul – 26 Jul 44	On leave and travel to next command.
27 Jul 44	Reported aboard APA RecBks, Naval Station Seattle, Washington.	Seattle, Washington
28 Jul – 26 Sep 44	Attended USS Deuel Detail and APA Pre-commissioning School.	Seattle, Washington
26 Sep 44	Authorized to wear AMPHIFOR insignia IAW BuPers C.L. #173-44.	Seattle, Washington
6 Oct 44	Reported aboard Naval Air Station, Astoria, Oregon for duty CFO USS Deuel APA-160.	Astoria, Oregon
13 Oct 44	USS Deuel APA-160. Started serving outside the continental limits of the U.S.	At Sea
11 Jan 45	Advanced to S1c (Seaman First Class). Pay for S1c - $66.00 per month.	At Sea
28 May to 29 Aug 45	Served continuously in the Philippine Area. Entitled to wear the American Theatre and Asiatic-Pacific Area ribbons. Auth: AlNav 104-44.	At Sea - Philippines
2 Feb 45	Crossed 180^th Meridian onboard USS Deuel APA-160.	At Sea
19 – 27 Feb 45	Participated in Iwo Jima operations onboard USS Deuel APA-160.	At Sea – Iwo Jima
8 Mar 45	Crossed the Equator bound southward from a secret port to an unknown port aboard USS Deuel APA-160.	At Sea
9 – 14 Apr 45	Participated in Okinawa operation aboard USS Deuel APA-160.	At Sea – Okinawa
2 Sep 45	With the US Navy in Tokyo Bay aboard USS Deuel APA-160 to witness the Formal Surrender of the Empire of Japan to Allied Forces.	Tokyo Bay, Japan
Oct 45 – Jan 46	Participated in Operation Magic Carpet.	At Sea
Jan 46 – Apr 46	USS Deuel APA-160 transferred from the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet control. Changed homeport location from Washington to Norfolk, Virginia. Scheduled for decommissioning.	At Sea
15 May 46	Detached from USS Deuel APA-160 for transfer to PSC, Norman, Oklahoma and discharge.	Norfolk, Virginia
18 May 46	Reported aboard PSC (Personnel Separation Center), Norman, Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma
21 May 46	Honorable Discharge from US Navy. Served 2 years 25 days.	Norman, Oklahoma

Decorations and Awards:

US Navy Amphibious Forces Patch	Authorized for US Navy personnel assigned to Amphibious Forces. Unusual in that Navy uniforms usually did not have patches. This patch was authorized in 1944 but was discontinued in 1947.
Seaman First Class Cuff Stripes	Seaman uniforms only had rank insignia on the cuffs of their dress uniforms. While in working uniform, the non-rated seaman had no indication of pay grade.
American Campaign Medal Row 1, Ribbon 1	The requirements for the American Campaign Medal were: a service member was required to either perform one year of duty (cumulative) within the continental borders of the United States, or perform 30 days consecutive or 60 non-consecutive days of duty outside the borders of the United States but within the American Theater of Operations. The eligibility dates of the American Campaign Medal were from December 7, 1941 to March 2, 1946.
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal Row 1, Ribbon 2	Awarded this medal with two campaign stars (Iwo Jima operation between 15 Feb – 16 Mar 1945 and Okinawa Gunto operation 17 Mar – 30 Jun 1945). The Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal was awarded to any member of the United States Military who served in the Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. There were 48 Navy official campaigns of the Pacific Theater, denoted on the service ribbon by campaign stars.
WWII Victory Medal Row 2, Ribbon 1	Established by Congress on 09 Jul 1945, and awarded to members of the US Armed Forces for service between 07 Dec 1941 and 31 Dec 1946
Navy Occupation Service Ribbon Row 2, Ribbon 2	Established by Navy Department General Order No. 10 of 28 January 1948. Awarded to Naval Service Personnel who participated in the occupation of the territories of the enemies of the United States during World War I1 and subsequent to the surrender of these enemies. Occupation duty in the Asiatic-Pacific area may be credited to organizations for duty performed between 2 September 1945 and 27 April 1952.
Row 2, Ribbon 3	Incorrect image for this ribbon.
Philippine Liberation Medal Row 3, Ribbon 1	The Philippine Liberation Medal is a military award of the Republic of the Philippines which was created by an order of Commonwealth Army of the Philippines Headquarters on December 20, 1944. The award was presented to any service member, of both Philippine Commonwealth and allied militaries, who participated in the liberation of the Philippine Islands between the dates of October 17, 1944 and September 2, 1945.
Navy Rifle Marksman Row 3, Ribbon 2	The U.S. Navy has issued the Navy Rifle Marksmanship Ribbon since 1920. To earn this award, the Sailor must score a minimum level using the current service wide rifle. In 1944, the M1 Garand semi-automatic .30 Caliber Carbine was the standard qualification weapon.
Navy Pistol Marksman Row 3, Ribbon 3	The U.S. Navy has issued the Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon since 1920. To earn this award, the Sailor must score a minimum level using the current service wide pistol. In 1944, the weapon was the Colt M1911 semi-automatic .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).

Miscellaneous information about different elements of his career.

Amphibious Forces Patch

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Farragut Naval Training Station, Idaho

Eleanor Roosevelt allegedly noticed Lake Pend Oreille on a flight to Seattle. Knowing that President Roosevelt was seeking a location for a secure inland naval training center, she mentioned it to him and he made a secret tour of the area. Ground was broken in March 1942, and by September the base had a population of 55,000, making it the largest city in Idaho. Liberty trains to Spokane ran three times daily. At the time Farragut was the second-largest training center in the world (behind Naval Station Great Lakes).

Over 293,000 sailors received basic training at Farragut during its 30 months of existence. The last recruit graduated in March 1945 and the facility was decommissioned in June 1946. It was also used as a prisoner of war camp; nearly 900 Germans worked as gardeners and maintenance men.

U.S.S. Deuel, APA-160

USS Deuel (APA-160) was a Haskell-class attack transport built and used by the US Navy in World War II. She was a Victory ship design, VC2-S-AP5. She was named after Deuel County, Nebraska and Deuel County, South Dakota, USA.

Deuel was launched 9 September 1944 by Oregon Shipbuilding Corp., Portland, Oregon, under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. J. Himmelright transferred to the Navy 13 October 1944; and commissioned the same day, Captain D. G. McMillan in command.

Deuel sailed from San Diego 25 November 1944, and after training at Pearl Harbor staged at Saipan for the invasion of Iwo Jima. On 19 February 1945 she helped land the 5th Marines in the initial assault. She stood off the island for 6 days, embarking casualties for transportation to hospitals at Guam. After replacing her boats at Florida Island, and training at Espiritu Santo, she sailed from Ulithi 4 April to transport support troops to Okinawa where she embarked casualties for transfer to Saipan.

From 28 May to 27 August 1945 Deuel operated in the Philippines on transport and training duty. She carried Army troops to Japan for occupation duty in September, then returned to San Pedro Bay, Leyte to embark more troops and a civil administration party which she landed at Kure between 5 and 11 October. Assigned to "Magic Carpet" duty, she carried servicemen from the Pacific home to the west coast until January 1946, then sailed for the east coast where she was placed out of commission 17 May 1946, berthed at Norfolk.

Operation Magic Carpet was the post-World War II effort by the War Shipping Administration to repatriate over eight million American military personnel from the European, Pacific, and Asian theaters. Hundreds of Liberty ships, Victory ships, and troop transports began repatriating soldiers from Europe in June 1945. Beginning in October 1945, over 370 navy ships were used for repatriation duties in the Pacific. Warships, such as aircraft carriers, battleships, hospital ships, and large numbers of assault transports were used. The European phase of Operation Magic Carpet concluded in February 1946 while the Pacific phase continued until September 1946.

Battle of Iwo Jima

Iwo Jima, which means Sulfur Island, was strategically important as an air base for fighter escorts supporting long-range bombing missions against mainland Japan. Because of the distance between mainland Japan and U.S. bases in the Mariana Islands, the capture of Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing strip for crippled B-29s returning from bombing runs. The seizure of Iwo would allow for sea and air blockades, the ability to conduct intensive air bombardment and to destroy the enemy's air and naval capabilities.

The seizure of Iwo Jima was deemed necessary, but the prize would not come easy. The fighting that took place during the 36-day assault would be immortalized in the words of Commander, Pacific Fleet/Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who said, "Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

To the Japanese leadership, the capture of Iwo Jima meant the battle for Okinawa, and the invasion of Japan itself, was not far off.

On D-day, 19 February 1945, more than 450 ships massed off Iwo as the H-hour bombardment pounded the island. Shortly after 9 a.m., Marines of the 4th and 5th divisions hit beaches Green, Red, Yellow and Blue abreast, initially finding little enemy resistance. Coarse volcanic sand hampered the movement of men and machines as they struggled to move up the beach. As the protective naval gunfire subsided to allow for the Marine advance, the Japanese emerged from their fortified underground positions to begin a heavy barrage of fire against the invading force.

The 4th Marine Division pushed forward against heavy opposition to take the Quarry, a Japanese strong point. The 5th Marine Division's 28th Marines had the mission of isolating Mount Suribachi. Both tasks were accomplished that day.

The 36-day assault resulted in more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead. Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders, only 1,083 survived. The Marines' efforts, however, provided a vital link in the U.S. chain of bomber bases. By war's end, 2,400 B-29 bombers carrying 27,000 crewmen made unscheduled landings on the island.

Historians described U.S. forces' attack against the Japanese defense as "throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete." In the end, Iwo Jima was won not only by the fighting spirit of the Marines, but by the meticulous planning and support provided by the Navy and Army through supply efforts, medical care, and air and naval gunfire.

Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines and sailors, many posthumously, more than were awarded for any other single operation during the war.

Eighteen U.S. Navy ships were sunk or badly damaged by enemy action with a loss of approximately 337 Sailors killed and 493 wounded.

Any errors on this page were transcription errors made while reading the copied official record of Grandy Ferrell Scarber.