Donald MacLean of Palm Springs served in the Navy during World War II. / Wade Byars, The Desert Sun
Provided photo
DONALD A. MACLEAN
Age: 83
Born: March 15, 1927
Hometown: Golden Valley, Minn.
Residence: Palm Springs
Military branch: U.S. Navy
Years served: Aug. 21, 1944-July 7, 1946
Rank: Seaman first class; medic
Family: Wife Eileen Upton; three daughters, Patricia Grodt of Everett, Wash., Roxanne Olason of Lake Stevens, Wash., and Peggy Jeanne Upton of Ellensburg, Wash.; two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren.
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U.S. Navy Seaman Donald MacLean was part of a 30-man crew sent to Nagasaki, Japan, within weeks after the atomic bomb was dropped over the city, killing nearly 100,000 civilians.
MacLean and the crew of LST (Tank Landing Ship) 565 were stationed in Manila when the first atom bomb exploded over Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.
When a second bomb was dropped over Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, the ship's 160-man crew was ordered to be reduced to a much-smaller crew of 30.
MacLean was assigned to serve as the ship's medic.
“Our LST 565 was ordered to enter Japan two days before the war ended,” MacLean said.
On Aug. 13, 1945, LST 565 left Manila and anchored off Kagoshima, Japan, waiting for orders, he said.
The next day, the men received orders to travel up a 33-mile stream that led to Nagasaki.
There were still thousands of American, Korean and Chinese POWs on the Japanese island, and President Harry Truman insisted on bringing the men home.
But Gen. Douglas MacArthur adamantly opposed the idea.
MacArthur “said he won the war and was not going to allow any American POWs to be recovered in southern Japan,” MacLean said.
According to historical accounts, the concern was the sweet taste of victory might turn sour to Americans if they got wind, right away, of the horrific damage that had been done to the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“It was all on the QT,” MacLean said. “We worked with the Swedish recovery team.”
The plan was for the small U.S. Navy crew to arrange for the return of the Korean and Chinese POWs — and the Swedes would handle the rescue and return of American POWs.
“Since I spoke Swedish, I was able to communicate with the Swedish recovery teams,” he said.
MacLean said the trip up to Nagasaki was extremely difficult.
“The water was only five feet deep,” he said, adding the LST was the only Navy vessel able to traverse such shallow waters.
Thousands of dead filled the stream and the surrounding area.
“We had to plow through dead bodies,” he said. “Dead bodies were caught in our (propellers). It took three days to push through the bodies.
“At 30 miles, we could see Nagasaki harbor,” he said. “A great number of Japanese ringed the edge of the harbor, crying for food and medical help.
“According to a Japanese doctor who spoke English, he said, ‘These people think they survived, but they'll all be dead in two to three weeks,'” MacLean said.
Bodies everywhere
During the following months, large numbers died from the burns, radiation sickness and other injuries, compounded by illness.
When the ship pulled into the harbor, they saw the outlines of bodies plastered onto walls of remaining buildings.
“The skin was still attached” to the walls, he said.
“Everything was burned a brownish black,” he said. “The signatures of Japanese dead were everywhere. Their outline impressed upon walls, cement roadways or in half-burned funeral pyres.
“You could see the outline of bodies where they scraped the bodies that were fused to the roadway,” he said. “The crew would stand there and just cry.
“Night after night, thousands of funeral fires burned the dead,” he said. “The smell was overwhelming.”
The men helped pile up the dead bodies and search for POWs.
“We combed the coal mine down to 1,400 feet looking for American POWs,” he said. “Besides recovering American POWs, we located great numbers of Chinese and Korean POWs.”
“He said about 40 percent of the Koreans and Chinese were suffering from tuberculosis.
“On the third week, we had located so many Koreans that we returned the Korean POWs to Seoul — only a two-day trip from Nagasaki.”
“During our four weeks in Nagasaki, we recovered nearly 1,500 American POWs,” he said.
The men also discovered nearly 3,000 Americans being held in an old cargo ship.
“We had to go into it,” he said. “(There were) dead everywhere.
“They had not been fed for several weeks,” MacLean said. “Only approximately 300 survived.
“Finally, we were ordered to Hong Kong with a shipload of Chinese,” he said. “We expected to be sent home. Instead, we were ordered to begin transporting Chinese National Army troops to Manchuria, landing directly under fire.”
This operation went on for several months, he said.
“Almost every landing was under fire,” MacLean said.
On Christmas Eve 1945, while landing in a rocky area, he was thrown through the open doors of the LST, into the water, injuring his right shoulder.
After being discharged, he returned home and contacted the Minneapolis Veterans Administration, where he complained about his shoulder pain and problems with his breathing.
“They said they hadn't started serving GIs with radioactive exposure,” he said. “I guess they weren't geared up yet.”
Since then, MacLean has been unsuccessful in accessing assistance from VA hospitals for medical care for the physical and psychological effects of his war-time service.
He continues to be haunted by his horrific experience on Nagasaki.
“One night, he woke up and he shakes me (and said), ‘Oh my God! Can't you smell that flesh burning,'” said MacLean's wife, Eileen Upton.
“I still have nightmares,” he said. “I've been a Christian all my life. I've not spoken to anyone about it. I pray several times a day.
“Night after night, I walk the streets, trying to get tired enough to sleep and avoid the endless nightmares,” he said.
