Arnold E. Juntti
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Arnold Juntti shipped on the Great Lakes and on the eastern seaboard of the US, working in the engine room of the ships prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the US was still officially neutral.
The ships were supplying war material through the “Lend Lease” Act to Great Britain. This act gave President Franklin D. Roosevelt the powers to sell, transfer, exchange, and lend equipment to any country to help it defend itself against the Axis powers.
The US ships that Juntti was on was carrying war materiel to Canada from the east coast ports in the US and returning with mostly paper products from Canada. At this time, the German battleship, Bismarck, was sinking many ships and since these ships were in violation of the neutrality act, by carrying war materiel, the Bismarck would have the legal right to sink the ships, if they were stopped on the way to Canada.
On a return trip, upon entering New York harbor, a Coast Guard ship came alongside and asked the Captain if there was an Arnold Juntti on board. The Captain sent for Juntti and the Coast Guard informed him that he should get in touch with the Eveleth, Minnesota draft board as soon as possible. Because he was in the Merchant Marines he could have avoided being drafted, as that was a critical occupation. Juntti decided he would join the army anyway. By this time the Pearl Harbor attack had come and gone and the US was at war with Germany and Japan.
After basic training, he was ordered to Camp Callan, which was a brand new army base on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just north of San Diego. He was a member of the Coastal Artillery and he spoke of them training by firing their artillery at targets being towed by ships offshore. He said for some time, they could not hit anything or even come close, and a few times they nearly sank the ships towing the targets.
When it became obvious that Japan was probably not going to invade the West Coast the Coast Artillery was cut down in size and he was shipped to another post, Camp Haan, just south of Riverside, CA. He was promoted to tech sergeant and assigned to a motor pool, because of his mechanical experience.
His unit did a lot of training in the nearby Mojave Desert. Many times, they met a convoy attached to General Patton’s group, which was also training there. His unit also trained at Camp Irwin, near Death Valley – today known as “National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA.” This base was a major site for training for the Gulf War.
Eventually the day came to ship out. No one knew where or when because everything was secret. At the time, German submarines were sinking ships easily, and very often, as they left the ports of Houston and Corpus Christi, TX. Sometimes the ships would be torpedoed before they were even out of sight of the port.
At the last moment orders came that Juntti would not be shipping out with the others. No explanation was given at the time but Juntti concluded that it was because of his bad back and the fact that, by Army standards, at 37, he was too old for combat. The Army used him as a trainer in the motor pool for a while then he was discharged.
Later he worked for the Long Beach Navy Shipyards and then in the northern Minnesota “Iron Range” mines as a truck driver and a mechanic. The Navy offered him a job as a marine machinist at Pearl Harbor when the Korean War began. He spent 4 years there.
Upon returning home he resumed work in the Long Beach Navy Shipyard till 1967. Juntti “did his part” for three wars without ever carrying a rifle or seeing combat.
