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These are brief photo memoirs of my year aboard the
Nicholson in the Pacific. I wish I could remember all the names of my
friends. A lot gets away in 56 years. If you are looking at these pictures
and you know any of the names please contact me, John Hood
RT2c. Click here to email John Hood My first view of the Nicholson which I boarded in
February, 1944 at Pearl Harbor. |
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We took a small boat out to the ship at Pearl. I was surprised to find that I was the ranking RT aboard. A daunting responsibility. Charles Perdue also RT2c who I still see here in San Diego came aboard in the next day or two. |
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It may have been an old destroyer but it was a beauty to me. We wound up doing a lot of escort duty for LSTs. Our flank speed was about four times theirs. Further toward Japan we did a duty with Jeep Carriers and saw a few damaged Corsairs scrapped when they pushed them over the side. |
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Pretty impressive sight for a young sailor from
Colorado. Coming alongside for the first time.
During periods of radio silence we were assigned the duty to take a run out from the fleet to send messages. Most interesting was the time we made a run to rendezvous with the British flagship, King George V. - outdoor toilets on the fan tail!! |
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Underway with our new radars in full evidence. The SC4 air search at the top from General Electric was picking up the B29 raids at about 300 Miles. The SG1A surface search from Raytheon was the barrel stave antenna just below. We got aircraft on that one too from time to time. One of my favorite goof-offs was to claim repairs were needed up there with the antennas. They were all secured and I got to sit up there and enjoy the view for and hour or so while I inspected all the connections etc.. |
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I think this shipmate's name was Perry but I am not sure. I know he was a nice guy. In fact everyone aboard were nice guys as far as I was concerned. This is the aft number four 5 inch turret. I am not sure what he was showing off in the picture. This is the gun that went off in Kerama Retto just as I hit the deck after a red alert from a Kamikaze attack. We were not damaged. It was the loudest noise I ever heard. I had come out of my bunk back aft and made it to the main deck just as this thing went off right over my head. My hearing is now back to normal - almost |