Henry Dittmer enlisted in the US Navy on July 24, 1943 in Portland, Oregon. He reported aboard the USS Calvert on August 29, 1944 while the ship was in the Hawaiian Islands.

As a Pharmacist Mate he was a member of the ship’s medical crew and was involved in landing operations in the Pacific, including the landings at Leyte, Philippines.

Occupation of Japan – Atomic War Veteran

Henry was also aboard the Calvert during the occupation of Japan, Hiroshima area, in October and November 1945. He took leave of the ship in San Francisco on November 30, 1945, following the crew’s return from the occupation of Japan.

Appreciation to his son David for providing photographs, documents from his father’s collection: “My father was a corpsman in the navy during World War II, although the navy term for his classification was pharmacist’s mate.  He served on a troop transport ship and was stationed in the waters around the Philippines. I asked him if he was drafted and he said he was afraid of being stuck in the infantry, so he enlisted in the navy. If you saw ‘Saving Private Ryan’, you saw the Higgins boats that brought the troops ashore. Dad said he was on the 7th wave, although it was in the South Pacific, not Normandy. He was at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and saw kamikaze attacks, Towards the end of the war after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, his ship was sent to Japan. He and a pilot were dispatched on a small boat with a couple of officers to Hiroshima.”

Below are five photographs, and interview notes, from his time ashore in Hiroshima Japan in October and November 1945. These photographs and pages were originally posted, around 2007, on a web site dedicated to sharing the stories of Atomic War Veterans, but which is no longer available online. The interview and photographs were introduced as follows on that web site: “Henry went ashore at Hiroshima in October 1945, as a Medic and tells what he saw there. He also sent five photographs taken while he toured the ruins of the 1st city blasted by the atomic bomb.”

Additional information on the Calvert’s and crew’s experiences during the Occupation of Japan, Hiroshima, in October and November 1945 are available on this page: https://www.usscalvert.com/2021/01/16/occupation-of-central-japan-hiro-wan-bay-hiroshima-area-october-1945/