The Newsletter of the Fort MacArthur Museum Association

This quarter we review the career of Joseph Joyce. Joe grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. After high school, he enrolled at St. Thomas University with the goal of becoming a lawyer. He finished two years of college and was about to start his law degree when Joe’s father made a strong suggestion. Joe’s father felt that since the draft was in full swing, it didn’t make sense for Joe to start a law degree only to be interrupted in the middle to serve in the Army. So he suggested that Joe volunteer to be called up, finish his year and a day in the service and then start his degree.

On September 16, 1941Joe was selected and inducted at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Shortly thereafter he was sent to Camp Callan, San Diego. There he was sent for basic training in the Coast Artillery. Joe was destined for seacoast artillery and trained on various small arms and seacoast guns with the largest weapon being the 155mm GPF. While in training, Joe recalls that many members of the 155mm gun crew stuffed cotton in their ears for protection during firing of the guns but also recalls that the cotton didn’t help much. Camp Callan was very pleasant and on Sundays, many of the troops went into San Diego and attend church services. At the conclusion of services, it was customary for members of the congregation to adopt a person in uniform and take him home for Sunday brunch or Sunday evening meals. He recalls that many churches provided this service.

Joe was learning the basics of Coast Defense when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Upon news of the attack Joe and the other trainees were detailed into platoon size units that would patrol up and down the coastal areas near Oceanside. Joe recalls that since Camp Callan was a training facility, it was not equipped with many vehicles, especially troop transport so these platoon size units were sent to their destinations via San Diego City buses! Once the troops arrived at their destinations they set up tents and began routine patrols of the coastal areas. Joe recalls that they were fed by special detachments from Camp Callan when on these patrols. After about two weeks of beach patrol, Joe was shipped out from Camp Callan to Fort MacArthur. Upon arrival he was assigned to Battery C, (later D) at Osgood-Farley. Upon his arrival, Joe reflected that he had not completed his basic training, yet was assigned to an active battery. Despite this concern he shifted into the duties without much trouble.

Osgood-Farley at that time was being fitted with camouflage netting and darker paint to blend the concrete with the hillside. Additional camouflage included covering exposed lighting on the battery and surrounding buildings. During this time the personnel were billeted in the battery tunnels and not in the barracks buildings. Food was served and eaten in the Battery Mess Hall at the top of the hill except when the battery was on alert. Then food was brought down and served at the battery. Joe recalls that for some time the entire battery had their bunks set up inside Battery Osgood-Farley.

In many cases the troops were on alert for 24 hours. His first job was to be the plunger. This duty was to swab the powder chamber after each firing. During his time with the battery, the guns were not fired due to security reasons. Instead the crews drilled with dummy ammunition. He recalls that the dummy shells which had a spring loaded counterweight inside would seat and unseat itself after being rammed home. Joe recalls that this was standard routine during the early days of the war. Since Joe was new and a draftee, he and others like him were often selected for the less interesting duties of the battery like cigarette butt patrol and weeding. 

They also had other duties that were a bit of a challenge. Joe had performed guard duty at Camp Callan and expected to see similar duty at Fort MacArthur. He was surprised to learn that at Fort MacArthur, guard duty was performed with dogs on a leash. While he was not upset about this duty it did require extra care. As he recalls, once a soldier had a dog there was no real problem and the dog gave him a sense of additional protection.

It was during the change of guard that things got tricky. The dog usually identified with the handler and not the relieving soldier. Dog bites occurred since the dogs were difficult to control at this time. After a few minutes with the new handler, the dog would settle down to a normal routine. Joe also recalls that he was issued with a couple of clips of ammunition for his M1903 Springfield at the start of each patrol. It was understood that a single soldier was not expected to hold a perimeter by himself. Instead he would stay in position, fire his weapon and the firing would alert other guards and battery personnel and bring a more effective response. The dog would provide the alert to the guard and if unleashed would go after any intruder. Hopefully, enough troops could be brought to counter the security breach.

The NCO’s of Battery D soon learned that Joe had been in college before the war and had taken a few college math classes including geometry, algebra and trigonometry. He was soon transferred to the plotting room where he worked on Lateral Fire Control solutions. This involved entering data to determine the predicted azimuth for the gun crews. He recalls that the gun sergeants did not always have respect for the plotting room staff and occasionally challenged the coordinates issued by the plotting room. It appeared to Joe that many of the gun sergeants were Regular Army and at least with Battery C, many of the plotting room staff were ex-college types and draftees to boot. Joe recalls that the entire crew ended up working as a well oiled machine but there were some growing pains at first.

Joe enrolled in a Coast Artillery OCS selection class and was learning the basics of nearly every aspect of Coast Artillery. His tactical job remained in the plotting room but he had a new administrative job. He was selected to serve as the assistant Battery Clerk in the Headquarters Administration building topside. He assisted CPL. Joe Mejia with the duties of the Battery Clerk which included money handling and the distribution of chit for the soldiers to spend at the PX. He excelled at the tasks of keeping the paperwork of the battery in an orderly fashion but soon learned he was selected for Officer Candidate School.

He shipped out for Fort Monroe in June of 1942 and completed Coast Artillery OCS in September. He was assigned to Camp Pendleton, Virginia as part of the 53rd Coast Artillery Brigade (Provisional). This unit, formed from the nucleus of the 53rd Coast Artillery Regiment was a 155mm GPF unit and Joe was with them for about one month when he and the 1st battalion was selected to be the advanced guard of the Harbor Defenses of Tampa Bay (Provisional). They were first sent to Saint Petersburg and then on to Passagrille Bay to occupy the newly constructed defenses there. Throughout 1942-43, Joe found himself operating in many capacities, first as a Battery Commander, then Plotting Room Officer in charge of training all of the officers and men in the plotting room and then as the Brigade Adjutant.

The Adjutant’s administrative job was conveniently located next door to the plotting room so his tactical and administrative positions were close together. For a while he was