Michael Doherty
Navy
Ridge
Michael Joseph Doherty was born May 23, 1924 in Bronx, NY. He
completed high school and was living in College Point, L.I. and
working as an auto mechanic in Flushing when he enlisted in the Navy
on Nov. 11, 1942. After 6 weeks of recruit training in Newport, RI
he was sent to boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill. for 6 months. He
received additional training on Oil Burning at a Navy training
school in Philadelphia, PA. He was assigned to the assault
transport USS PIERCE which had been commissioned June 1943 in
California and after a brief shakedown period they sailed for Hawaii
to join the Fifth Amphibious Force, Pacific Fleet.
During the next two years the PIERCE transported assault
troops to various islands in the southwest Pacific including the
Gilbert Islands, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Saipan in
the Marianas, Angaur in the Palau Islands, Leyte and Luzon in the
Philippine Islands, and Okinawa. The Pierce was in San Francisco
for repairs in June and July of 1945 and Michael was assigned to the
transport USS BUTTE which had been active in the Pacific and
was back in Calif. during the same period. The BUTTE
departed Seattle July 8, returning to the western Pacific and
arriving at Okinawa on August 12, three days before hostilities
ceased.
After the Japanese surrender on Sept. 2, 1945 the BUTTE
carried troops to Korea and North China and in mid-December,
returned to the U.S. Michael was discharged March 5, 1946 at Lido
Beach, Long Island.