Earl Anthony Pacitti
Age: 86
Born: Jan. 17, 1925
Hometown: Detroit
Residence: Palm Springs
Military branch: U.S. Navy; USS Alcyone (AKA-7);
Years served: May 17, 1943 - Feb. 13, 1946
Rank: Quartermaster Second Class, SV-6
Family: Wife Margaret (deceased); four children, Tony Pacitti of Calabasas, Janice Fenske of Woodland Hills, Karen Kirby of Palm Springs, and Tina Maize of La Quinta; four grandchildren.
Staff writer Denise Goolsby will profile desert veterans from World War II on Sundays. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via email at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
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U.S. Navy veteran Earl Pacitti served as a quartermaster aboard an attack cargo ship, the USS Alcyone, during World War II.
The ship dispersed troops and cargo via small onboard ships dropped into the ocean during invasion landings in the Pacific.
As quartermaster, he steered the ship, consulted sea charts and made navigation corrections.
While standing his daily four-hour watch, he essentially acted as the ship's historian.
“I actually wrote everything down that happened aboard ship during my shift,” Pacitti said.
Every hour, Pacitti took temperature and humidity readings and noted the condition of the sea.
Every morning, he set the marine chronometer — the ship's clock — to Greenwich Mean Time in England, the international standard adopted by the military.
He also measured the depth of the water, especially after harbor channels were dredged to remove obstructions, like sunken ships.
The method wasn't necessarily scientific, but it was accurate, he said.
He would stand on a little platform on the side of the ship holding a long rope with a 10-pound weight attached to one end.
“I'd swing it over my head and throw it into the water.”
Knots were tied about every six feet (one fathom) along the length of the rope.
“Then you'd pull in the fathom rope until the weight bounces off the bottom.”
The number of knots that were submerged determined the water's depth.
Pacitti was involved in six invasion landings, including the Gilbert and Mariana islands, Guam, Saipan, and Leyte and Luzon in the Philippines.
Pacitti said the attack cargo ship carried Marines, soldiers, supplies, ammo and Jeeps into combat.
“After the invasion, we'd leave, go back to Honolulu, pick up supplies and go on another invasion.”
An entry from Pacitti's diary on Nov. 20, 1943 reads:
“Made invasion of Gilbert Islands and it was a little tough. We landed troops and cargo on the beach.”
Nov. 21, 1943:
“Still unloading cargo for troops on the beach. Our planes and warships are bombing and shelling the beach for gun emplacements. Had trouble with two (Japanese) ship hulls in the harbor. They were machine gun nests and our planes strafed and bombed these hulls so our men could get to the beach. We hit an ammunition dump and flames leaped 200 feet in the air.”
Almost a year later, on Nov. 19, 1944, Pacitti wrote: “This morning we had another (Japanese) air raid. Three of them made suicide dives right into three of our ships before we knew what happened This evening we got underway for Manus and there was another air-raid, but they just missed seeing us and we got out of it without firing a shot. Boy, was I ever glad to leave that place.”
Pacitti made his way up to Quartermaster Second Class and leading quartermaster, responsible for a team of about 10 men.
As his responsibilities increased, so did his pay. He started out at $50 a month and by the time of his discharge, he was pulling in $120 a month.
He kept his men on task but still enjoyed a little fun now and then.
“One time my buddy, and I made wine out of canned fruit,” Pacitti said, laughing. “We had it for Christmas. We had a great time.”
After the service, he worked as an upholsterer, plasterer and restaurateur.
Pacitti and his family owned and operated a Love's BBQ restaurant at Ramon Road and Indian Canyon in Palm Springs for nine years, beginning in the mid-1970s. In 1985, they purchased Nicolino and Sons, an Italian restaurant on Arenas Road, which they sold in 1994.
