Here's a photo of my Grandpa on board the Bell, taken when he was around 19-21 years old (hard to tell since he served through all the years of the entire Pacific campaign). His
His role was a signalman, and trained at the Navy facilities in Illinois for that role. What he would do was to go to the beaches in advance of the Marines (usually after a bombardment) and signal back to the ship the conditions. From there the ship would wait or go ahead and send the troops on their landing craft. From his account, he was on some very hot beaches that saw a lot of Japanese activity and resistance. His new wife, my Grandma begged him to not volunteer for that duty after they got married, so he respected her wishes and remained on board for the last stages of the war.
my dad was the chaplain on the "bell" and it was in drydock on VJday, in San Francisco. I was there. we had dinner on the ship that night. my mom and I got to sail off the dry dock to the new berth when she left the repair dock. I had fallen asleep and slept through the whole thing.
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