C/S David Nogales Flores – Born April 8th, 1924, in High Rolls, NM
David N Flores was the fourth son of Chana and Manuel B. Flores. The Flores family still lived with Chana’s parents in High Rolls. Like his older brothers he went to the High Rolls Mountain Elementary school for the 1st grade and then the family moved to the city of Alamogordo, NM. He attended the local elementary school and went on to attend Alamogordo High School. In October of 1942, David left high school to enlist in the Navy.
USS Mount Vernon 6 May 1943 - David N Flores boarded the USS Mount Vernon as Seaman Second Class (S2c) performing any and all duties assigned by his superiors. The mission for the ship was the transporting of 4,664 military personnel from San Francisco, Ca. to Sidney, Australia. Aboard was the entire ground echelon of the 380th Bomb Group, which was headed to the Fenton Airbase near Darwin, Australia. For the next 7 months the Mt Vernon would transport men and equipment between San Francisco and Australia.
USS Henry T Allen - In Jan 1944 David was promoted to Seaman 1st Class and assigned to an Attack Transport Ship (ATS) that was recently attached to US Navy Task Force number 77. On 26 March the USS Henry T Allen started “amphibious invasion” training exercises on Goodenough Island with the U.S. Army 24th Infantry Division.
Operation Reckless 22 April 1944 – This amphibious operation was also called the Battle of Hollandia. The goal of the Task Force was to attack and secure two locations on the northern coast of New Guinea. Around 30,000 troops of the 24th Infantry Division (ID) and 41st ID would attack multiple locations. After a naval bombardment, the amphibious attack commenced at 0600 hours. With all “hands on deck”, David and the seaman of the USS Henry T Allen made sure that all 16 landing crafts were lowered into the sea, each with 1,605 American officers and soldiers.
The 24th ID caught the elements of Japanese Imperial 2nd Army by surprise. On landing, the U.S. troops came under sporadic small arms and machine gun fire, but this was quickly suppressed. Japanese casualties amounted to 3,300 killed and 600 wounded in combat, a further 1,146 were killed or died in the area up to 27 Sept 1944. A total of 7,200 Japanese soldiers were isolated from the Hollandia region and they attempted to withdraw overland to a Japanese base at Sarmi; only around 1,000 reached their destination. Allied casualties amounted to 157 killed and 1,057 wounded. U.S. forces undertook mopping up operations in the area until 6 June. Operation Reckless was deemed an unqualified success.
Invasion of Leyte Island, 20 to 26th Oct 1944 - The first objective in the re-taking of the Philippines was the major island of Leyte, and its invasion was designated A-Day by General Douglas MacArthur. This amphibious operation, the largest since D-Day, involved 3 Naval Task forces under Vice Admiral T Kinkaid, the US 6th Army under Lt. Gen. W Krueger, and the Army 5th and 13th Air Forces commanded by Lt. Gen. G Kennedy.
Following four hours of heavy naval bombardment on 20 Oct, seaman 1st class David Flores manned one of the “more than one hundred” landing crafts of 7th Amphibious Force that hit the beach. The 6th Army forces landed on beaches of San Pedro Bay at 10am covering a 4-mile stretch of beach between Tacloban and the Palo River. Within an hour of landing, units in most sectors had secured beachheads to enable tanks and heavy vehicles to land on shore. Only in the 24th Infantry Division sector did enemy fire force diversion of follow-up landing craft. But even that sector was secure enough by 13:30. Securing the beachheads permitted General Douglas MacArthur to make a dramatic entrance through the surf onto Red Beach and announce "people of the Philippines, I have returned! By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil."
In responds to the invasion of Leyte Island, the Japanese Imperial Navy sent the entire Japanese Fleet to destroy the American landing force. For several days the US 3rd and 7th Fleet engaged three Japanese task forces throughout Philippine waterways. The multiple naval battles (referred to as the Battle of Leyte Gulf) led to the virtual destruction of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
After this operation, David Flores was promoted to the rank of Coxswain (T) V6. He would now pilot his own LCT Mark 6 landing craft for all future 7th Amphibious Force operations. This new rank also meant that David would be responsible for a crew of 11 to 12 seaman required to operate and support the LCT.
There would be multiple amphibious operations to come, but none larger than the main Philippine Island of Luzon.
Invasion of Luzon Island (Lingayen), 6 to 11 Jan 1945 - The next major operation was the invasion of Lingayen on the island of Luzon, Philippines. The final objective (much later) would be Manila, capital of the Philippines. The U.S. & Australian Fleet of more than 800 ships carried over 200,000 troops from the 6th Army to the beaches of Lingayen Gulf, on northwest Luzon. In the early morning of 6 Jan 1945, the large Allied naval force began bombarding Japanese positions along the coast of Lingayen Gulf for three days. On 9 Jan, the U.S. 6th Army landed on a roughly 25-mile beachhead and attacked Japanese coastal positions.
As in the Leyte operation the 7th Fleet with the 7th Amphibious came under relentless kamikaze attacks. Ships damaged by kamikazes numbered over 50 with 18 (Transports, Destroyers, Cruisers, and Escort Carriers) either sinking or suffering extensive damage between 3–11 January.
148 Landing Crafts, including the LCT boat operated by Coxswain David Flores transported troops and equipment on to the beaches of Lingayen. Back and forth these landing crafts would make the round trip from transport ships to the beachheads under Japanese attack. Fortunately, the Japanese resistance on the beach and inland was weak. The Japanese Imperial forces on Luzon, under General Yamashita had decided to set up defensive lines many miles inland.
A total of 203,608 soldiers were eventually landed over the next few days, establishing a 20-mile beachhead, stretching from San Fabian west to the central town of Dagupan, and then to the far Western town of Lingayen. Following the landings, the Lingayen Gulf area was turned into a vast supply depot for the rest of the war to support the Battle of Luzon and the liberation of the Philippines.
After the landing of American troops and equipment, the 7th Fleet returned to their bases in New Guinea. Many smaller amphibious landings would be conducted by the 7th Amphibious Force for the remainder of the war, but none of the magnitude of Leyte and Luzon.
David N Flores remained in the Navy as a Coxswain operator for LCT landing crafts for the rest of the Pacific war. David remained at sea till the surrender of Japan on 15 Aug 1945. David Flores, from High Rolls, New Mexico had spent 27 contiguous months in the Pacific Ocean as US Naval sailor fighting for the United States of America.
He returned to New Mexico where his mother, brothers, grandparents, uncles, and aunts were very happy and relieved that another of the High Rolls boys were back home safe and sound.