Veteran Manly Utterback, of Rancho Mirage, points out on a world map the places his destroyer, the USS Cummings, traveled and fought during World War II. Utterback served as the ship's doctor. / Richard Lui, The Desert Sun
Utterback received a pocket watch from the kamikaze pilot, shown bandaged in the photo, as a thank-you for medical treatment. / Richard Lui, The Desert Sun
MANLY UTTERBACK
Age: 93
Born: March 7, 1917
Hometown: Perry, Mo.
Residence: Rancho Mirage
Military branch: U.S. Navy; USS Cummings (DD-365)
Years served: April 8, 1943-Aug. 3, 1946
Rank: Lieutenant
Family: Edris (deceased); Michael Utterback of Indian Wells and Stephen Utterback of Bakersfield; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren
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Manly Utterback, a U.S. Navy doctor, witnessed the massive build-up of naval power for the planned invasion of the Japanese mainland.
He was wrapping up his tour of duty in the Pacific
“I was on the way home when they dropped the bomb,” Utterback said.
If the bombs hadn't been dropped, the invasion would have been inevitable, because the Japanese were not about to surrender, he said.
“They would not give up,” he said. “That was their nature.
“It was a big relief the war was over. It would have been terrible if we had to invade.”
Utterback, a Missouri native, graduated from Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. The graduation speaker that year happened to be J. Edgar Hoover, he said.
The young doctor had been interning at St. Louis City Hospital for nine months when he entered the U.S. Navy.
“I finished my internship at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego,” he said. “I had all the casualties of Guadalcanal coming in.”
After completing his final three months as an intern, he was immediately assigned to the USS Cummings, a destroyer operating near French Nouméa, New Caledonia.
“I had to catch a transfer to find the ship in the South Pacific,” he said. “I caught a transfer in San Francisco that was taking provisions down. It took three weeks to get there.”
When they arrived, “They couldn't find the ship,” Utterback said.
They finally landed in French Nouméa and after a few days, the USS Cummings was located.
Utterback worked in a clinic on the ship, “A place where we met every day for sick call,” he said.
“All ships had medical officers and every destroyer had a doctor,” he said.
Aircraft carriers and battleships had operating rooms and carried a dozen doctors.
“Just like a hospital,” he said.
The USS Cummings was assigned to patrol one of the islands in the Aleutian chain in December 1943.
“The territory we covered was Adak,” he said.
Adak, which had an operational air base, was close to Attu and Kiska — islands the Japanese had recently occupied, but were now back in U.S. control.
During this time, Utterback ran into a swashbuckling screen star aboard ship.
“I walked into the officer's quarters and met Errol Flynn,” he said. “(He was) visiting with the USO.”
In the spring of 1944, the USS Cummings met up with British ships at the tip of India, Utterback said.
Together, the ships accompanied carriers during air attacks on targets including Sabang, Sumatra and Surabaya, Java.
In July 1944, the USS Cummings escorted the USS Baltimore when it carried President Franklin Roosevelt on a tour of U.S. bases, including Adak, Juneau and Pearl Harbor.
The president and his staff came aboard the USS Cummings on Aug. 8.
“The Cummings brought him back to Seattle,” Utterback said.
The USS Cummings also supported escort carriers during the Battle of Leyte Gulf and made numerous trips to Iwo Jima where she supported repeated strikes on the island.
“We covered a lot of territory,” he said.
“We didn't have any injuries and we were never hit by shell fire,” he added.
But the ship narrowly missed being hit by a kamikaze, and Utterback ended up treating the wounded Japanese pilot after he was shot down in the attack.
“He started his dive,” Utterback said. “We hit him before he got to the ship. He landed in the aircraft in the water. He survived. We took him aboard. He was so relieved to get good treatment. I guess he thought he was going to be tortured.”
The pilot had head and arm injuries and Utterback stitched-up his wounds.
“He just smiled,” Utterback said. “He gave me his watch.”
Utterback still has the the pocket watch with Japanese inscription.
