Operation Ivy
US Atomic Veterans
Nicholas Lauletta
Nicholas Lauletta sent email about his duty at Operation Ivy.
From: Wllmlake@aol.com
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2005
Subject: Nicholas Lauletta
To: pdxavets@aracnet.com
I am writing to let you know that my dear brother Nicholas Lauletta passed
away on 2/15/05, he had cancer. Looks like another victim of Operation Ivy.
He was from USS Oak Hill LSD 7, an engineer and was the closest boat to the blast. They were also called to go out and find a pilot that was downed. His boat was
called Yellow Cab. He leaves behind 2 daughters and a granddaughter who he loved
very much. He was the oldest of 5 children of Joseph and Antoinette Lauletta.
Our Mom passed away in 1990 but our father is still living. His beautiful wife
Marta passed away in 2001. My brother was devastated by her death.
He will be cremated and buried in Las Vegas Veterans cemetery in the beginning of March. I am notifying you because I believe he would have wanted his friends and
fellow sailors to know. If there is anyone that remembers him would you please
find the time to send a note to his daughters who especially now would want
to hear every word about their father.
His oldest daughter's e-mail is chrissyrainbow@verizon.net
Kimberly is his youngest, e-mail is itannereagle@aol.com
His granddaughter Jesse's email is versusgirl@aol.com
I want to thank you for taking the time to read this and know that my brother
would do it all the same if he had the chance, he loved his country.
God Bless all of you.
Sincerely,
Betty Lake
From: "Nicholas Lauletta" nlauletta@coam.net
To: "Keith Whittle Atomic" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: What I remember of IVY
Hi Keith
I would like to give you a look into my mind, and see what I remember of IVY.
To start, I was a member of the Boat Pool attached to the USS Oak Hill LSD
7. I was the engineer on one of the LCPL's ; our call sign was Yellow Cab
55, as I remember it when I was assigned to the boat we had to bring it out
of mothballs and that entailed painting etc. The Coxin was a fellow named
Moore as I recall. He worked in the movie industry in LA. I have some names
that have come to mind, they are as follows, of course they are all last
names; didn't know any first names. Here they are : Bazow, NY, Hinchclif,
Binns, Fox, Lindberry, Macklin, Ford, can't remember anymore, but there
were many more. Master at arms on Oak Hill was named Smith, BM1, he caught a
very large Stingray one day, we helped him land it on the forecastle, it
must have weighed 200 lbs. The Captain of the Oak Hill was named Youngjohns
We in the boat pool would take any opportunity to get chow on the
Islands or any other ship in the lagoon, the food wasn't the best on the Oak
Hill.
We as the name connotes were a "Yellow Cab" anywhere anytime rain or
shine. Perhaps some of the persons there will remember the "Tidal Wave "
alert, we were told to man the boats, and stay away from the land mass, all
of the ships in the lagoon left to face it in the open sea. Well, as it
turned out the wave hit the Island at 1100, as the Coast
Guard station on the island told it, and the height was about 1 ft., so much for that .
Of course the big bang went off on time, we were the closest ship to the blast,
we had to launch one of the crash boats to search for a pilot that went down
off of "Keith" an island on the other side of the passage to Eniwetok, it
still had trees on it. We bent a shaft coming out of Oak Hill.
The recreation island of Japtan was always exciting, good swimming and shell diving,
or a walk out to the tanker on the reef, the Nickajack Trail, providing the
tide was out. The beer wasn't too bad. Oh I remember a Bm3 named Bert Park, he
caught one of the dragons on Japtan by the tail, and couldn't let it go. He
had to swing it in a circle and then let it go. They used to scare the hell
out of you when you walked through the jungle and scared them.
One day as we were landing in one of the "M" boats someone was swimming in the beaching zone, and was run over by the boat, He didn't make it.
I was to stay on the Island after the tests were over, it turned out
ok. The Island life was good, as I recall there were thirteen sailors and
all the rest were Air Force, Army and Civilians. I was picked to stand sideboy for a Lt General, visiting the island, can't remember his name. I lucked out when I was selected to escort
the USO troup while they were on the Island, good duty.
We had typhoon called Hester hit us, it knocked out all of the fresh water distilling ,
food and living quarters. We were living in tents all the while we were on the
Island, very good tents. The highest point on the Island was a pile of sand
down near the boat pool quonset hut, it was about 13 ft high, the water was
washing over the Island. We had a crash boat tied up to a buoy in the
lagoon, couldn't get the engines started, it broke loose from the buoy, and
we rode it to the reef. I was in the engine room when the reef came through the
bottom, scared the hell out of me when the reef came up between the engines.
We still had one crash boat left, Safire 82, it would go like a bat out of
hell, had those Hall Scotts tuned good. We would always take it out when the
USNS Shanks would come into through the lagoon with dependants on board, and cruise
around the ship with all of the kids and wives looking at us, and then give
it a boost in the ass, and what a rooster tail we had.
The cooks on the Island liked to fish, and would ask us to fish from the boat. We were on
twenty four hour duty, and of course we said yes. We would use the Duck to
ferry them out to the crash boat, and they would always bring food. I
learned to eat peanut butter and pineapple preserves that way. Of course
there were many steaks, pizza, and whatever we liked.
One night we got a call, that one of the Army guy's on the Island decided to row home, we got underway and found him just at the entrance to the lagoon, he was so scared he was spread eagle on the bottom of the boat and we had a hellava time getting him on board.
We used to take care of the sonar net around the Island, when one or more of the sensors would go bad we had to fix it, interesting work. We would have a guy on the bow and stern of the LCPL, with an M1 looking out for sharks. We had to tow a guy so that he could follow
the cable to the sonabouy, didn't see any sharks, however we did see many
Manta Rays, scary beasts but friendly, as were the porpoises. Got a lot of
bottom time there. Great place to dive.
We took a helicopter ride one day,
and there was a great big Leopard shark up north, quite close to the hole in
the ocean. I was told that he was always there.
We had a good relation ship with the Air Force, and Army guys, they were a
transportation group, they unloaded the supply ships.
While on the crash boat, we would listen for the mail plane coming in, as I recall the call
number was 55595, "triple nickel 95", most of the time.
I finally left for rotation back to the states, and was stationed at
Hunters Point until my release, completed school and have been retired from
GE Aero Space, 35 years as Manager, Field Operations, Europe. We came to Las Vegas , NV
in 1990 bought a house and retired in January 1995. Unfortunately my wife
died of cancer January 2001. I'm still healthy and will be 69 on Oct 4,
2002.
It would be good to hear from some of the guys. By the way the
physical given by the VA for Atomic Vets is a joke.
Thanks to you for the opportunity to give my recollections of the operation,
I would gladly do it again.
Nick Lauletta
Email: nlauletta@coam.net
Keith Whittle
December, 2003
To: "Keith Whittle" pdxavets@aracnet.com
Subject: IVY
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003
Hi Keith
Perhaps you recall my name Nick Lauletta, I sent you a "What I remember of IVY"
Well I was diagnosed with lung cancer in August of this year.
It was Large cell carcinoma of the left lung, upper lobe.
Thankfully the VA here in Las Vegas is on the ball, in no time I was referred to the proper physicians and was operated on at the VA surgery facility in San Diego. It is quite a place. Fine care and doctors are mostly from UC San Diego.
I'm presently taking Chemo, and the prognosis looks good;I have three more chemo sessions, which I'm not looking forward to.
I will keep you informed on both my health, and the results of the claim, if you want.
Sincerely
Nick Lauletta
OPS IVY JTF 132.3
[ Operation Ivy ]