Merv Pregulman - Service in World War II

Service in World War II

In 1944, Pregulman was inducted into the United States Navy where he served as a gunnery officer on the USS Taluga in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The Taluga left Norfolk, Virginia in October 1944. On December 10, 1944, the ship reached Ulithi, an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, which served as her base of operations until the end of World War II. For the next 11 months, Pregulman and the Taluga crew were in and out of Ulithi picking up oil and other supplies there and carrying them to units of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. During that time, they supported carrier strikes and landings on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, landings on Okinawa, strikes on Formosa, and the final sweep of the Japanese home islands in the summer of 1945. Between April and July 1945, Pregulman and the Taluga crew spent much of their time in and around the anchorage at Kerama Retto, just west of the southern end of Okinawa. At dawn on April 16, 1945, ten kamikazes attacked their formation. One of the kamikazes dove at Taluga, strafed her deck, and then made for her superstructure. The attacker careened off the ship's bridge and hit the wheelhouse. However, only 12 men were injured, and the oiler was soon back in action. Pregulman normally would have been in the wheelhouse, but he went on deck just before the attack. He recalled: "If he had been five minutes later, I would have been in the wheelhouse and I certainly wouldn't be here." He recalled that the plane sheared off the top of the wheelhouse, and blew a hole in the deck, but no American soldiers were killed.

Just 11 days after the cessation of hostilities, Taluga entered Tokyo Bay on August 26, 1945, and took up duty as station oiler until early October. On November 18, 1945, the ship left Japan to support ships engaged in the occupation of China and Korea. She visited Tsingtao and Jinsen before returning to Yokosuka, Japan, on December 6, 1945. On January 31, 1946, the Taluga began its return to the United States, arriving in San Pedro, California, on February 16.