JAY E. COMEFORO -- WORLD WAR II MEMORIES

In September 1940, I became a member of the Rutgers University class of 1944 majoring in ceramics.

On Sunday December 7, 1944 I was alone in my room writing a report when another student ran into my room shouting Pearl Harbor had been bombed by the Japanese! I was skeptical, but the radio announcements calling for all military personnel to return to their posts soon convinced me this was not a false alarm. On Monday a classmate, Vinny Curcio, and I listened to Roosevelt 's "Day of Infamy" speech standing outside a store on the corner of George St. and Livingston Ave.

In 1944 I was classified by the draft for limited service because of a 20/200 eye test, even though it was correctable to 20/20, and the fact that the arch in my left foot had once been damaged. A manhole cover fell on it when I was trying to retrieve a ball in a stick ball game. At the request of the ceramic department, I received a deferment. For a number of months prior to receiving my BS in January of 1944, I had been working part time on the use of organic binders to replace clay in the new ceramic compositions demanded by the higher electric frequency requirements of radar. The prior electronic porcelains would not serve as electrical insulators in the higher frequencies required for certain radar needs.

Now the rush was on to enhance further the ceramic properties to permit it to be fabricated into a variety of shapes. The progress in the development of radar made superior ceramics vital to the governments of England , France , the United States , as well as our then enemies. The research was assigned the highest priority. Ceramic related companies and research enterprises almost received carte blanche funding towards improving the electrical characteristics of ceramics through composition studies which called for as little clay or group two cautions as possible.

The Rutgers Ceramic Department was essentially depleted of students, at one time down to two, and a staff consisting of E. P. Mc Namara, acting department head, and Larry Kane, assistant professor, plus a very active secretary and enthusiastic ceramic department person, a janitor and Jay Comeforo on the staff as research assistant and part time graduate student. I was fortunate to have two good part time undergraduate student assistants.

Sporadically, some Bell Telephone scientists came to use some of our department equipment. They were working on the compositional improvements for the electrical properties, specifically lower dielectric constants at very high frequencies. Through these contacts, it became apparent to us that the information obtained by a fortuitous raid on Dieppe , France , by the Allied Forces resulted in a tremendous benefit to the Allied forces, showing the possibility of 9mm and other short frequency radar which the Germans ignored until a later date. We were doing research on binders. A binder is added to a ceramic to facilitate the movement and position of ceramic particles during dry pressing of a part. The materials used for binding would have to withstand the same power surge that would pass through the devices needed for radar, thus preventing a crack in the device and preventing failure.

This served to intensify even further my efforts on our binder research which was showing promise. I arrived at the Ceramic Building before eight AM, had a quick lunch at a "Greasy Spoon" on Albany Street, and worked on our research until five or six PM when I had dinner at one of the local eateries, then returned to work. It was not comfortable for a civilian to spend much time on the streets of New Brunswick among so many soldiers from Camp Kilmer . I made it a point to be in my rented one room, shared bath, living quarters in time to hear the eleven PM news. Often I worked on the weekends. This finally caused a problem because Dr. Demerest, the former President of Rutgers and a minister, called Dr. Clothier, the then current President, to complain that someone was working in the Ceramic Building on Sundays, the Lord's day. Clothier then called E.P. Mc Namara about this. The conclusion, whether from Clothier or Mc Namara, was to inform me to use the rear door on Sundays and not light lights on the north side of the building.

On September 14, 1944 , we presented our studies at the Whitewares Division Meeting of the American Ceramic Society in Connellsville , Pa. and a second report on organic binders at the Christmas Meeting of the NJ Ceramic Society. I will always remember that while presenting our papers on September 14th my friend since childhood, Rudy Montani, was on a life raft in the Atlantic . His Coast Guard ship, the Bedloe, capsized in the tremendous hurricane and he, along with approximately two dozen other crewmen took turns clinging to the only raft that was launched. The raft could not hold the entire group. After approximately fifty seven hours Rudy silently slipped into the sea. The rest of the men were rescued about one hour later.

Prior to 1940 it was standard practice to quote tolerances on a ceramic part to be +/- 1% with no tolerance more stringent than +/- 0.0010. The microwave frequencies demanded for radar and the overall precision of the integrated parts meant dimensional tolerances had to be drastically tightened for alignment and frequency control. as the ceramics under consideration underwent a shrinkage during firing, a consequence of the chemical reactions and subsequent reductions in porosity, approaching zero. As compositions and techniques improved for certain especially critical applications, such as microwave windows, grinding after firing became a standard requirement.

This presented a new problem for the conventional ceramic manufacturers and a new opportunity for problem solvers. Thus the precision grinding of ceramics became a new industry. Necessity forced microwave tube manufacturers into the ceramic grinding business. Thus, GE, Raytheon, Sylvania , Westinghouse and others plus new entrepreneurial ventures with copious government funding to all. Monetary efficiency is not a handmaiden of war.

In the spring of 1945 the binder studies were completed. The Ceramics Department and the Geology Departments were combined into a new entity, the Bureau of Mineral Research, which consisted of members of the Rutgers Geology Department and Ceramics Department. The specific task assigned was a study of the sands of New Jersey with particular attention to glass manufacture. Several years later a major glass manufacturer, I seem to recall Owens Illinois , but this is not definite, built a plant near the coastline based upon our studies. Fortunately, the quantity and quality of the location was as good as we had recommended, and New Jersey gained a sizable commercial enterprise.

Not realizing it at the time, the knowledge in this specialized area was to point me toward my professional career. The need for precise and unusually complex ceramic shapes, an outgrowth of the war, created a significant need for precision ceramics but not yet in large quantities. Prototype parts in small quantities were in demand. Large quantities of precision ceramics were not really feasible or practical at this stage of industrial development. Thus there was little effort given to this need.

World War II forced some companies to consider the appropriateness of developing some skills and gaining knowledge, but the real strides were initially made by small companies who already had a background in fabricating with ceramics using diamond wheels, core drills, fine diamonds for polishing, all with the goal of developing a successful business. There were a few individuals who realized this and began to prosper. As I became familiar with some of the companies philosophies I gained insight as to why some failed and others succeeded. What stood out to me was most of the small companies entered this precision machining of hard materials had a "try it and see" philosophy. If it did not prove financially successful they just "cut the losses" and got back to what they had been doing.

Another observation was they seemed to have difficulties determining the impact of the ceramic formulations in developing the consistency of the product. The former dimension tolerances +/- 0.005 inches of length changed as total length increased and was not acceptable.

Enlightened ceramic engineers realized this, but when a company going full blast or tilt on production of critically needed parts, the manufacturing of ceramics with tighter tolerances and consistent dimensional stability is a tremendous additional burden. The comparatively few companies capable of satisfying these were restricted to the few larger and experienced companies. Remember there was a severe shortage, in real terms, of competent machinists to meet this demand.

As a civilian I have no first hand memories of battlefields but I have been impressed by and have strong respect for the experiences of others. By a most fortunate coincidence while on a sales and follow up trip to one of the larger ceramic manufacturing companies we discussed their needs. I remember the person I spoke with paused for a while then said, "There is a former two star admiral waiting to talk with me. Why not come with me and I'll introduce you to him." So we went down and I was introduced to Admiral Orlin Livdahl. We sat in the reception area for a chat and this chat was extremely important to me. We were synergistically compatible. The admiral invited me to visit his home, which was a classic southern home with spacious gardens. We had dinner together at the Admiral's Club during which time he mentioned his family had naval officers serving in the U.S. Navy before the Southern Rebellion. I believe he mentioned his family had supplied seven flag officers to the United States Navy.

Livdahl had interesting experiences during WW II. For instance on Pearl Harbor Day, as a gunnery officer he was on Admiral Halsey's Flagship. As that fleet was heading to Pearl Harbor for weekend leave, the rudder of one of the Fleet destroyers was damaged by a whale. This caused the destroyer to vibrate and loose speed. The sailors on board all the ships were anxious for shore leave and some officers thought the Fleet should go on ahead into Pearl and let the damaged destroyer come in alone. But Halsey said something like, "No. We went out as a group, we will return as a group." The slow pace of the destroyer kept Halsey's Fleet from returning to Pearl Harbor just before the Japanese attack thus fortunately saving the heavy battleships from damage in the crowded, chaotic harbor.

Additionally, the slowdown kept the battle carriers and other major ships out of Pearl Harbor . Having seen such concentrated air attacks, the antiaircraft guns began firing. Orlin Livdahl, the air fire control officer, immediately ordered all antiaircraft guns to cease firing because he recognized they were American fighter planes, not Japanese, thus saving a number of our sorely needed planes and pilots.

In another instance, a longtime school friend from P. S. 11 on Staten Island , Tom Falloon, shared with me declassified information on the August 29, 1945 to September 19, 1945 liberation and evacuation from Japanese prison camps, of American and other prisoners of war by Task Group 30.6. Tom's ship, the U.S. San Juan, was flagship for the Commodore. It also claims to be the first ship into Tokyo .

Tom served four years on the San Juan , having enlisted after Pearl Harbor . He was in Boot Camp in Newport RI , and went aboard ship after three weeks training. They left Boston in April, went through the Panama Canal June I, 1942, to San Diego , the Friendly Islands and Fiji . Guadalcanal was their first taste of war. Tom said the only invasion they missed was Peleilu in the Palau Islands .

The area of activity involved in the liberation and evacuation of the allied prisoners of war included the Tokyo waterfront, Hamamatsu --- Nagoya , Sendi--- Eastern Honshu and Niigata and Western Honshu on the Japanese Islands .

The report is sober reading. First was the amazing jubilation and emotion of hundreds of prisoners of war, who streamed out of the first camp, Camp Omori, when they saw the liberation ship approaching. Some even swam out to try to reach the ship. The report says the Japanese camp commander claimed he had no authority to allow the prisoners to go with the task force because he had to await orders that the formal surrender had taken place. He was emphatically informed otherwise.

Commander Arthur L MaHer, USN, who was the former gunnery officer of the USS Houston , was the senior prisoner of war officer so he was put in charge of gathering and organizing the prisoners of the camp and getting them ready for evacuation to the hospital ship. Commander MaHer, plus other officers informed the task force of other camps plus a camp called Shinagawa hospital where many prisoners were seriously ill. A party was sent to investigate the location and conditions of the camp. They returned to say the camp was an "indescribable hell hole of filth, disease and death. "

The sick and injured and almost starving men were immediately given plasma, intravenous nourishment and other emergency treatment. Approximately 2000 prisoners of war were released by the task force, plus some civilians. In all, think about six or seven camps were liberated in this action. The liberation and evacuation of all the prisoners of war from the several camps involved the commandeering of trucks and trains plus the ships and smaller craft and took a great deal of organization. It was carried out by officers and men from Task Force 30.6 with assistance from Japanese citizens, the Commanding General, Eighth Army, the Red Cross and individual members of the Swiss and the Swedish Legations.

Part Eight of the report concerns, "Lessons learned, Conclusions and Recommendations." I quote, "It is mentioned in passing, not in a commendatory spirit, but only as an observation, the Japanese who were contacted by this group, after the surrender ceremony, were almost universally helpful and outwardly polite. With the end of the war, history started immediately to repeat, but we shall not be deceived again by the superficial friendship of this cruel race."

"My recommendation is that we continue our announced policy of forcefulness toward the Japanese nation and that the United States of America forever maintain effective diplomatic representation and strong potential if not actual military pressure to force continued peace, and to insure that our citizens and our friendly world neighbors never again fall prey to the cruel existence endured by the brave peoples just repatriated."

While my thoughts about military action in WW II are all second hand, I do have personal memories of life on the home front. Those who were civilians on the East coast will remember the brownouts. German submarines were active along the coast. Several ships carrying war materiel were sunk or damaged by German submarines, some even a few miles from shore. The brownouts were necessary because normal lighting caused a profile of buildings on land and identified locations which helped the Germans locate their positions and also see the silhouettes of ships at sea.

My parents owned the Pioneer Miniature Golf Course on Hylan Boulevard and New Dorp Lane on Staten Island , adjacent to what was then an Air Force facility called Miller Field. Recreation, cheerful or propaganda films, even sports, were considered by the government acceptable activities which would help keep up the spirits, support and patriotism of the citizens. But the lights needed to illuminate the miniature golf course were unacceptable and it was feared my parents would have to close down at night. My father enlisted the help of lighting engineers from the power company. Together they lowered the lights to a height of eight to ten feet and painted a black two inch ring around the lower inside of the reflectors, which kept the lighting within bounds.

The brownouts also required all automobile headlights to be painted black on the top half Gas rationing made everyone walk whenever possible. That, in turn, helped people get healthful exercise. The emphasis was to keep the citizens strong and healthy to sustain the support of the war effort. After all, the posters of "Rosie The Riveter" don't display a picture of a pale butterfly but a well muscled woman.

My wife, Jean, whom I married July] 1, 1945, reminds me it was difficult to find a pure white wedding dress before we were married. Whatever material went into whitening fabric had "Gone To War" just like silk for parachutes and the "Lucky Strike Green" on the metal pack of Lucky Strike brand cigarettes.

To all who are interested in this Rutgers History of WW II, remember, World War II affected us all and affected everything we did.

After WW II Jean and I moved to Urbana , Illinois where I accepted a research position with the University of Illinois Air Force Project which was to produce ceramic coatings for jet engine liners for military aircraft. This included free tuition for courses toward my doctorate plus a stipend, the amount of which I cannot recall. I do know we lived rather frugally and my parents sent us a check for $100 every month. Housing was simply not available. All living quarters and rooms were taken by returned GIs and their families. The U of I had built hundreds of mobile homes for returned veterans but this was grossly inadequate. In storms wind blew snow through cracks and at times rain water flowed across the floor. Jean and I realized a search for living quarters was fruitless so we visited a seller of house trailers and had a brief discussion, including legal constraints relating to trailers. We then had an appointment with the mayor of Urbana to solicit his opinions regarding siting a trailer on land in town. His answer was encouraging provided we had acceptable connection to a sewer. Our trailer was situated on a vacant lot owned by our land lady, Mrs Addie M. Stearns, whose parents had pioneered the area. Our bathroom facilities were in her basement, twenty to thrity yards from our trailer. That was our sewer connection. We dug a dry well for the kitchen sink.

The Army Air Force Project involved research to reduce the glow from jet engines used at the end of WW II. The heat generated caused the jet engine to glow, offering a target for Japanese Kamikaze planes which could dive into and destroy the American planes.

We developed ceramic coatings for stainless steel, mostly inconel, which definitely reduced the visible radiation from the very hot engine manifolds. The headquarters for the project was the Wright-Paterson Field at Dayton , Ohio . Interest was expressed by Wright Field in procuring ceramic coated combustion liners for a fifty hour continuous operation test in an actual engine. The time period is now 1947 or Spring of 1948.

Two Air Force majors who worked on the Air Force Project and who were well known to an the research group at the U of I, came to mention the difficulty in getting the interest of commercial enameling companies when those companies were then working fun time on consumer items such as refrigerators, stoves, washing machines and signs. With the approval of Wright Field they came to ascertain the feasibility of some of the Illinois group joining them, the two majors, in forming a company using the coating compositions developed at Illinois . The obvious benefit was there was no training period and delays in getting started and in furnishing what Wright-Paterson was so anxious to obtain for trial evaluation.

The Air Force team at Illinois, with three exceptions, were contemporaries of mine and ex GIs. All were married and most had infants. They were not financially able or risk adverse to consider this opportunity. Dale Martin, one of the majors, felt committed to this opportunity so he and I prepared a possible plan to go forward with the primary objective of supplying the Air Force the coated combustion liners. Dale was on paid terminal leave from the Air Force so it was natural he would be contacting companies with appropriate furnacing and spraying facilities for our embryonic company. This new company needed a name. Our product was metal with a protective ceramic coating. Hence, I created the name CERAMETALICS, INC. "For Longer Life At Higher Temperatures." The Bendix Corporation acquired the name after Cerametalics was terminated, about 1950. In a sense a small operation died of neglect, but I am ahead of myself.

Cerametalics did rent fine facilities in a modern porcelain enameling company in a western suburb of Chicago . We could only operate after five PM on Friday through late afternoon Sunday. As I recollect this I am still amazed at the load this put not only on Dale and me but on the two wives. Dale drove from the Dayton , Ohio area to the rented facilities in Chicago . The uncoated metal combustion liners were either picked up by Dale or shipped to the Chicago facility. He would arrive at the plant in late afternoon unpack the liners, set the furnaces at the proper temperature, adjust the spray equipment.

Meanwhile I got to the Champaign railroad station for the five PM train to Chicago . This train was a local that stopped at perhaps ten small towns to pick up and drop off mail and Railway Express packages and often a bunch of milk cans, then load baggage car packages for delivery to the Chicago area. The usual arrival at South Street Station was ten PM . Then a taxi to the subway station, which ran above ground, for a connection to a commuter train which had a stop near the plant where we did the work. I changed to work clothes which included an asbestos thermal insulating jacket and asbestos gloves, plus a face mask and head protecting gear very similar to a welder's. We worked effectively and steadily the rest of the night, taking quick a quick nap when possible. I could not determine whether it was worse in winter or summer. We had coffee and some doughnuts or similar fare for an early morning snack, then continued the work until Saturday evening. What kept us going, aside from youth and drive, was the realization that Saturday evening we would have a very nice meal and a room in a nice hotel near the Illinois Central South Station. In the morning we had breakfast. Dale would then drive me to the railroad station and continue his drive home. I would arrive back at our trailer home usually at mid to late afternoon.

Now the time arrived for the 50 hour continuous test of the Cerametalics coated combustion liners. The test engine and associated test measuring equipment were assembled and, in the presence of various Air Force officers and program advisors, plus Dale representing Cerametalics, the test began. For the fifty hours of continuous operation the engine ran without a problem. Shortly after, the engine ceased operation because the fuel supply was exhausted. Dale said he immediately insisted on refueling the engine to test until engine failure. The decision making Air Force officers and officials declined since the engine had passed the test.

The Allison Division of General Motors, the manufacturer of the jet engines for the Air Force, supplied the uncoated liners to Cerametalics for the coating operation. This GM division made and sold the completed engines, ready for installation in the airplanes. The chief purchasing agent for the Allison Division, Mr. Green, a name not likely to be forgotten by me, kept telling Dale a large order was in process but there were some details to be worked out. Meanwhile, Cerametalics rented a 5,000 square foot building with adequate power for the necessary furnaces and moved in our materials, mixing equipment and furnaces. Dale invited Mr. Green to visit this small but adequate facility for the job, at least in the initial stages. Mr. Green came on several occasions but always with a half dozen or more GM engineers. Dale was so anxious to close on what to Cerametalics was a large contract that he allowed all these engineers in the plant. Mr. Green would tie up Dale in the office while the engineers actually copied the serial numbers and manufacturers' names of all the equipment and the suppliers of our raw material and the chemicals in the plant. When Dale mentioned this I was shocked at this critical mistake. As I expected, the General Motors contract never materialized. After a few months General Motors offered to purchase the building and all the equipment from Cerametalics at a price which equaled our out of pocket expenses plus a few thousand dollars extra.

Shortly after selling the company in 1950 the Korean War began and, incredible as it may sound, the Allison Division had an estimated total of 300 people in our former plant on a three shift basis!

The unscrupulous manner in which Mr. Green took advantage of Dale, and indirectly me, is the reason Jean and I have never purchased a General Motors car. The top management of GM most likely financially rewarded Mr. Green for his "clever" action.

I have concentrated on the activities of Cerametalics but during this period I was also taking two or three courses and working on a Illinois Clay Products Fellowship work. Now, all the requirements for the Ph.D. were nicely coming to an end. My course work, thesis, and written exams were completed as were my responsibilities to Illinois Clay Products. All that remained for my doctorate were my oral exams. My faculty committee consisted of Doctors Andrews, Hursh, Clark and Tooley. The oral exam gives the final stamp of approval. It is somewhat like sitting in judgment. The professors sat on one side of a long table and I sat on the opposite side. Ralph Hursh, as my faculty advisor, began with a broad range of questions related to refractories and the fabrication of ceramics and their testing. Dr. Andrews covered enamels, furnaces and laboratory procedures. Dr. Clark on x-rays, spectroscopy and ionization and discussions of their applications. Dr. Tooley on glass manufacturing, the structure of glass, and the properties of various glasses and their applications. The entire examination took approximately two and a half hours. These men conducted the procedures so professionally and respectfully I was almost sorry it was over. Their congratulations and their warmth I will not soon forget. Jean was waiting at the trailer, hopefully for good news. This added to the good feeling we have with Illinois.