Lt. Dan Tontz circa 1945. Note the safe beside him where they kept the printed codes. The codes were used to change the wheels on the encoding device every day. 

Duties of the Communication Officer:

• Decoding and encoding of all traffic on the network.

• Distribution of incoming and outgoing messages.

• Supervising the maintenance and operation of the various forms of visual communication which consists of flag hoists, flashing lights and Morris code.

• The care, maintenance and operation of the sonar, T.B.S., Combat Information Center (C.I.C.) equipment.

• Maintaining the security of the radio coding and  "baskets" for coding wheels.

My general quarters station was in the coding shack and maintaining discipline on the 40 mm twin Bofors closest to the coding shack.

When conditions prevailed it was my duty along with West and Ray Moses to see that the wires in the coding wheels were severed and then thrown overboard in a weighted canvas bag. The depth of the water where the USS Bush was sank was estimated to be 50 fathoms.

Larksfield Place Resident Dan Tontz was an officer aboard the USS Bush (DD 529) from 1944 to 1945. A native Kansan, he joined the destroyer shortly before the invasion of the Philippines, and stayed aboard until the USS Bush was sank by Kamikazes off Okinawa.

To learn more, visit these links on the USS Bush Page:

Iwo Jima: Dan goes ashore

Dan's recollections of the rescue at Okinawa

Dan's memories of the bridge crew

A photo of Lt. Tontz onboard the USS Bush

Copyright © 2000 Dan Tontz. "I, Witness to History" and  logo are trademarks of Wesley Retirement Communities, Inc., d/b/a Larksfield Place. All rights reserved. 
7373 East 29th Street North, Wichita, KS 67226.
Email: mwalker@larksfieldplace.org. Phone: 316/636-1000. 
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This page was last revised September 21, 2008 .