~~Soaring High, Over The Mountaintops: "Come Ride my dream"~~
SIGNING UP FOR THE SERVICE
I wanted To go into the Air Force or anywhere I could to Fly. By this time I was 16 and a half years old. The winter had set in pretty good by then so it was real cold on the day I went to the grocery store for my stepmother Francis. I forgot what I was supposed to buy however, because that was the day I heard the radio
proclaim that a war had started. It was December 7th, 1941, the day that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, which meant that the United States was going to war against Japan and Germany.
Everyone was
excited and afraid at the same time, worrying about their sons and daughters going into war. When I went to school everyone was talking about the war, and about the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. In fact, the boys I was going to school with wanted to join the service real bad. A lot of my friends who where old enough went to inlist in the service. The younger boys couldn’t wait until they were old enough to join a branch of the service.
At the time, they
were taking any fellows who had a 10th grade education into the Air Force to train as flying Sergeants. I wanted to go so bad that I took my birth certificate and tried to make the date show one year older. My dad wouldn’t let me join though, because he said I was too young. We had quite a discussion about it for the next six months. I know my dad loved me very much, and I know how he must have felt at that time, because now I am a father of boys myself.
Back then, feelings were running very high, and people were very mad, yet patriotic at the same time. Everyone was joining the service, and I wanted to go too. So on May 6 1942 I turned 17 legally.
Tommy Chicareli and I rode down to the recruiting office in Newark NJ. There we found out that they were not taking anymore 10th graders as pilots so we decided to join the Navy. We came home with the papers, showing that
we had signed up, but needed our parent's signature. Well Dad and I had a big discussion, or an argument if you want to call it that, and in the midst of it he signed the paper, saying, as he signed, that if
I wanted to go that bad, then to go the (----) in. I knew he didn’t really mean it, because we were pretty close at that time. He didn’t want to see me go. So I took the papers to Tommy’s house for safe keeping until we got to
Newark on the day to report for duty.
We had about four days to report, and dad knew it. In the meantime, he searched the whole house looking for the papers he had signed. The day before I left he’d asked me to give him the papers back. When I explained to him how I felt about going into the service, he finally gave in, hugged me, and wished me the best.
I can really remember that day very clearly because we both had the tears in our eyes. For
no matter what, I loved my daddy more than anything in the world, and still do, for we were more than father and son. All through my life I have always been a friend and partner to my dad. Because as I got older I realized how much he’d done for us through the years of his hardships. And although he didn’t have much in his life, he gave us everything he could, mostly and more importantly, his love and guidance. He didn’t have much of an education, because he had quit school to help put his brothers and sisters through college. He had had to help with the family expenses. He must have been only 11 or 12 years old when that took place, so I guess you can imagine how much
harder it must have been for him. That is why I am writing this book and trying to remember some of the good things my dad allowed me to experience, through his love and inspiration. I am so glad I was able to contribute some of the help that I gave him, while setting pins in the bowling alley, and working with him on the milk route until I went into the Navy.
Navy War Career
Tommy and I were off to go into the Navy. After taking our physical examination we found out that Tommy could not pass it, and was told that he was deferred from service. I was real sad about that because Tom and I were very close friends and had shared many dreams. We were always talking about someday joining the service to fly, or at least become pilots.
After the examination they loaded us on buses for New York, where we would be sworn into the Navy. As I left Newark New Jersey and saw Tommy waving goodbye, my heart sank. I felt very much alone with no one to talk to. Then, after being sworn in, I boarded a train for boot camp in Newport,
Rhode Island.
I was in boot camp for two or three-weeks when they asked for volunteers for the submarine service. Since I had seen many of the submarine movies, I thought how that would be my second choice for excitement, plus I wanted to get out of boot camp.
So they transferred me to New London CT, where I became qualified to go aboard submarines. I actually qualified as a submarine instructor.
After training I spent about a year and a half
training officers aboard submarines based in Florida, while at the same time we patrolled the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. At that time, from 1942 and 1943, there were a lot of German submarines sinking the merchant ships and oil
tankers along the U.S. coastline. After nearly losing my life on a submarine two or three times, I decided to transfer to a surface ship, the U.S.S. Egeria.
The U.S.S. Egeria was a repair ship. I met it at Norfolk, Virginia and sailed from
there through the Panama Canal, into the Pacific, and on to Pearl Harbor. From there we started capturing the islands back from Japan.
My first action was at Eniwetak Island, and after two years of constant fighting, I ended up at the
island of Karamoreto Japan. Japan surrendered in August of 1945, and I was honorably discharged on December 15 1945, with a distinguish war record. I amvery proud to have served my country, even though it wasn’t through flying.
My Other Pages
The Stearman
Photographs
Learning To Fly
My Flight Instructor
Episodes In My Life
MY WARTIME EXPERIENCES
My Favorite Links
USAF, Combat In The Pacific
A Relaxing Place
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Marilyn (MWL1367@aol.com), December 1999
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