Jerry Ciccimaro poses with an aunt and cousin in Los Angeles. / Submitted by Jerry Ciccimaro
Jerry Ciccimaro
Age: 83
Born: July 19, 1927
Hometown: Los Angeles
Residence: Palm Desert
Military branch: WWII: U.S. Coast Guard; USS Cavalier (APA-37); USCGC Wachusett (WPG-44); U.S. Navy
Years served: U.S. Coast Guard: July, 1943 - April 17, 1946; U.S. Navy: March 28, 1947-Nov. 24, 1951
Rank: Seaman first class
Family: Wife Carole (deceased); daughter Anna Hartley (deceased), son James Ciccimaro (deceased); niece Linda Lee of Woodland Hills; one grandchild; two great-grandchildren
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U.S. Coast Guard veteran Jerry Ciccimaro was a self-described rebel during his early years.
“I was having a lot of problems with traffic violations,” Ciccimaro said, laughing.
The teen drove too fast and reckless in the family's 1936 Ford — accumulating — and ignoring — numerous tickets.
Between 1942 and 1943, he'd collected about 25 tickets — mostly for speeding.
He got thrown out of Fremont High School in Los Angeles after getting into a fight with the football coach.
“I was just wild. Real wild!”
When his dad chained the steering wheel of the Ford to prevent his son from driving — it didn't stop Ciccimaro. He cut the steering wheel free and was soon racing around town.
“The cops started chasing me. When I got home the police were right behind me.”
His dad, who was asleep in bed, awoke to a flashlight shining in his face.
“The next day, he took me to Long Beach and signed me up with the Coast Guard.”
He was technically too young to join — 17 was the cut-off and parental consent was required — but his dad signed off that the 15-year-old, days shy of his 16th birthday, was of age.
After completing two months of boot camp at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, Ciccimaro was assigned to horse patrol duty at Morro Bay.
Aboard his trusty steed White Socks, Ciccimaro patrolled the sandy shores near Morro Rock, keeping sunbathers and picnic-goers away from the coast.
“We cleared everyone off the beach,” he said.
White Socks was a good horse, except for his one nagging habit.
“He would want to go into the ocean,” Ciccimaro said, laughing.
After about five months, the beach patrol operation was shut down and Ciccimaro was back in San Francisco, where he boarded an aircraft carrier bound for Honolulu.
Arriving in Pearl Harbor, he was transferred to the USS Cavalier (APA-37), an attack transport ship.
One of his duties was operating the landing crafts that took the men ashore during invasions.
He participated in the invasion landings of Saipan, Tinian, Leyte and Luzon.
“In Luzon, the casualties were so heavy we became a hospital ship. We stayed there 10 days taking care of the wounded.”
“We were on our way to Okinawa when we got torpedoed. We were the lead ship in the convoy.”
On Jan. 30, 1945 the ship was near Manila Bay when a Japanese submarine launched a torpedo that rammed into the back of the attack transport.
“The ship had cracked in half,” Ciccimaro said. “You could look out (the crack) and see the ocean. In 15 minutes, everyone evacuated the ship ... I was one of 15 left aboard. A tug in the convoy hooked up to us and the rest of the fleet took off. A destroyer escort circled us while we were being towed.”
He spent months in Honolulu while the ship was in dry dock for repairs in Pearl Harbor. After the war ended on Aug. 15, 1945 he was sent back to the States, but since he was young and single, his name was at the bottom of the discharge list.
While waiting to get out of the service, he helped put a Coast Guard cutter in commission — USCGC Wachusett (WPG-44). A friend talked him into joining the crew on a trial run to Alaska, up to the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands.
Ciccimaro, who also served in the U.S. Navy from 1947 to 1951, said his military experience turned his life around.
“It straightened me out. It made a man out of me, more or less.”
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II on Sundays. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
