Will Lehner's Bio 11

Was activated with the Naval reserve group of 85 men and left for San Diego Destroyer Base in January, 1941, to put a World War I destroyer back in commission. It was the USS Ward (DD139).

After putting the Ward back in commission we headed for Hawaii, arriving there in March of 1941, and were assigned to inshore and offshore patrol duty. The next 9 months were spent around the Hawaiian Islands with training the fleet and visiting the other islands.

At 0345 on December 7, 1941, we went to General Quarters. The USS Condor, a minesweeper on patrol, had spotted a periscope and notified the Ward by blinker light. Nothing was found at that time and we secured from General Quarters. At 0630, it was starting to break daylight and General Quarters was again sounded. This time a submarine was spotted and No. 1 gun opened fire with a “4” shell, it just missed going over the conning tower. Then No. 3 gun on the galley deck house fired a shot and it scored a hit right at the base of the conning tower and the hull on the starboard side. As the sub started to submerge, we ran over it and dropped 4 depth charges.

At 0755 we noticed a lot of planes over Pearl Harbor, and at first thought that perhaps the Air Force was practicing some maneuvers. Shortly thereafter, two planes came over the Ward and one on each side of the ship dropped bombs off the stern, lucky for us they missed. We continued our patrol the rest of the morning, with more planes coming in around 0900. That lasted for about an hour.

In December, 1942 the Ward left the Hawaiian Islands to go back to the states to have the ship converted to an Armed Transport Destroyer (APD), arriving in Seattle, Washington, at Puget Sound Navy Yard on Christmas Eve, 1942.

In February, 1943, after all work was completed, the Ward left for hazardous duty in the South Pacific. Arrived at Pearl Harbor, February 21, 1943, and 14 crew men were transferred to new assignments. My good friend and schoolmate, Ken Swedberg, was transferred to the Salt Lake City cruiser. We crossed the equator on February 28th, and all became shell backs. Then on March 3rd, we crossed the International date line and gained a day. Then on to the Fiji Island and and New Hebrides. Then on to Guadalcanal which we reached in the middle of March and anchored across the bay at Tulagi. From then on it was escort duty taking ships and supplies to Russell Island and north.

In the first part of April, Japan sent a group of over 200 planes to Guadalcanal. We shot down 4 planes in a matter of 10 to 20 minutes, and I had a good workout as I was first loader on #4 – 3 inch gun. Three ships were sunk during the engagement and we were sprayed with shrapnel and our ship fired over 150 3inch shells and hundreds of 20 MM. These air raids were quite common for the next two months. In June was the last big raid when we shot down 4 more planes. Bombs were dropped on each side of the ship again, but our luck held out. There were a number of ships sunk again in this raid.

In July we were in dry dock in Noumea for overhaul. While there, a crew man put a hole in the bottom of the ship with a chipping hammer. It was patched up and we were sent back to Guadalcanal.

In August we made landings on VellaLavella under heavy air attacks. This continued into September, with more trips to bring in supplies and reinforcements.

In November on a trip to Bougainvillea to land supplies and reinforcements, the APD McKean was hit by areal torpedoes and sunk about 0330 in the morning after opening fire on the plane and giving their position away.

On December 1, 1943, while in New Caledonia, we received orders to go to Sydney, Australia, for 10 days of rest and recreation. When that was over we went back to New Guinea for more landings between there and the Solomons. During the next five months the Ward was busy participating in landings on Aitape, Saidor, Hollandia, Biak, and Cape Sansapore.

In August, 1944, we made a return visit to Sydney, Australia, for another 10 days, then back to New Guinea and more landings and getting ready for the Philippines.

In October, we left Hollandia carrying the 6th Ranger Battalion – Co. B of 21st Infantry Regiment. We made the landing on Dinegat Island outside of Leyte. The weather was rough and although the Japanese had dropped a flare, no planes attacked us. We had made the landings three days before the big landing in Leyte. Then it was back to Hollandia.

In November we received orders to escort another convoy to Leyte Gulf. Finally reached Leyte Gulf on November 28th and then lay at anchor until Dec. 6th, when we loaded officers and men of the 77th Infantry division. We left that night with Japanese planes dropping flares, but not attacking any of the ships.

Arrived at our destination on December 7th and lowered the boats away with filled troops, about 700. By 0800 all boats were back at the ship and aboard. Shortly after 0900, while on anti-submarine patrol, lookouts spotted some twin engine bombers coming over us. They flew over us and attacked other ships farther away from us. We could see them diving on the ships and exploding. Shortly after, three twin engine bombers came at us. I was number 1 loader on #4 gun and they came down on us from the stern. We hit two of the planes as they were coming down and one of them dove into the port side of the ship, forward of the fire room, causing a fire that we could not put out.

We had orders to abandon ship. I, along with some other crew men were fighting the fire until the skipper came alongside and saw is and gave orders to abandon ship. I was taken to the Scout by boat after walking off the screw guard into a boat. While on the Scout we had a Japanese plane dive at us but it crashed into the water along side.

We were taken back to Leyte and then back to Hollandia and given survival clothes and personal items. We were then transferred to the SS Monterey for the trip back to the states. All in all we made about 32 landings on various islands and many shore bombardments, including about a dozen planes shot down and 2 submarines sunk.

We arrived back in San Francisco in January, 1945. I was sent to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California, where I spent five months until being discharged on May 16, 1945, with a 50% medical disability.

Back in St. Paul, I went back to school and graduated from Dunwoody Industrial College. I got married on May 29, 1946 to Florence Sall, my high school sweetheart. We have three children, 2 daughters, Patti Adamski and Cynthia Lehner, and 1 son, James Lehner. Four grandchildren and three great grandchildren. I retired in 1986, after 40 years, as manager of the printing department of The Worth Company, a fishing tackle manufacturer located in Stevens Point, WI.