Sharkey, Nolan, St. Helena Parish, Louisiana
File prepared by D.N. Pardue and submitted by Inez Bridges Tate.
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Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives
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From "St. Helena Vets Remember World War II: Personal Interviews
With World War II Vets", published by St. Helena Historical
Association, 1995.  Compiled and edited by Inez Bridges Tate and
reprinted with permission.

     Nolan Sharkey was born and grew up on a farm in the Kedron
Community.  After graduating from Woodland High School in 1942,
he said he worked at odd jobs and at a cellutex pland in Westwego.

     Nolan volunteered for the Naval Air Force on July 6, 1942
and was sworn in at the Custom House in New Orleans.  Basic train-
ing was at North Island, across from San Diego, CA, reached by
ferry.  After nine weeks of training, he shipped out for Hawaii
on an old German ship, the USS Henderson.  He recalls it took
eight and a half days to reach their destination as they amneuv-
ered this way and that to avoid the enemy.

     Gunnery training was at Kanohoe Base on the Hawaiian
Islands.  Completing that training he took several weeks training
in mechanics also in Hawaii.  After this training, he was assign-
ed to a seaplane, one of the 13-man crew.  There were eight bunks
and a galley on the plane.  Nolan was a flight engineer charged
with keeping up with fuel consumption.  The pilot, co-pilot and
navigator were officers.  The remainder of the crew were enlist-
ed men.  Nolan said the seaplane was big, sluggish, and slow
but they were effective.

     He served in the South Pacific, "island-hopping" from one
small island to the next as duty called.  He recalls the Mar-
shalls, Gilbert, Marianas, Enwietok, Guam, Iwo Jima, Saipan and
Okinawa, all islands that had been held by the Japanese.  The 
Air Force crews went in to bomb before the invasions.  Nolan was
in Squadron 13 with the 7th Fleet.

     The seaplanes would tie up to a buoy and as the plane was
small, all the crew could not stay aboard.  Some stayed on land
or on another ship.  Nolan said he never killed a Japanese in
hand to hand combat but knows as a member of the crew that they
were responsible for deaths by bombing these various islands.
When they were docked at a particular place, they would sometime
go "Jap-hunting" inland as they knew they were "holed-up" in 
caves.

     To protect their plane when they were in dock, they were
assigned guard duty.  He recalls seeing the Japanese soldiers
swim out under cover of darkness to try to blow up the ships.
He said they would select the largest ship in sight to hit.

     Nolan was able to come home on a 30-day leave while serving
overseas.  This was a welcome break.  At the end of his furlough,
he returned to active duty in the South Pacific.

     He saw only one man he knew while in service - a Mr. Spring
from east of Amite.

     Nolan said with the end of the War, he was rotated home as
he had enough points.  He flew into San Diego, then traveled
across country by train to New Orleans to the Lake Front where
he received his discharge October 25, 1945.

     Returning to St. Helena, he did odd jobs for a while, then
decided to return to the farm and went into the dairy business
in 1947.  Nolan and Miss Eloise (Weesie) Hawkins were married on
March 1, 1950.  The parents of three children, a daughter and
twin sons, they have five grandchildren, a source of great
pleasure to them.  Nolan has retired from operating the daity --
the sons have the dairy now -- and Weesie from the Welfare
Department.  They enjoy their retirement and some travel.

     In reflecting on his military time, Nolan said "I wouldn't
give a million dollars for the experience but I wouldn't give a 
nickle to go back.  God has been good to allow me to return
home."

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Newspaper clippings:

9 June 1944

  Junius Nolan Sharkey
AMM3/c in the Naval Air Corps,
is stationed somewhere in the Mar-
shall Islands.  He has been over-
seas for 20 months, and has seen
considerable combat duty during
the past three months.  He is a son
of Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Sharkey of
the Woodland Community.

4 Aug. 1944

  Junius Nolan Sharkey, AM and 
AGM 3/c, has been in the South
Pacific Islands and has completed
his 52 missions and is now home
on 21-day furlough.  He is the son
of Mr. and Mrs. J.J. Sharkey of
Woodland Community.

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