U . S . Navy Photo |
I was 19 years old at the time and was in downtown Newport , Rhode Island , with a buddy of mine killing time at a restaurant . As we left the restaurant , there were crowds outside shouting that Pearl Harbor had been hit .
Everyone wanted to get revenge , and so the decision to volunteer was a no brainer for me . I was fishing with my father , it was late in the summer and fishing season was almost over for the year . When we finished , I marched right down to the recruitment office .
I knew the alternative was to be drafted by the Army , so I figured I ’ d head to the Navy recruitment office and see if that might be a good fit .
When I got there , I mentioned that I was a fisherman and asked what the Navy could offer a guy like me .
” Oh , you ’ re a fisherman ?” the officer asked . “ Well , you know , the Navy just ordered 175 ships , all destroyers , to be built . They ’ re going to need some young guys with expertise to serve on these new ships .”
I also found out that with some commercial fishing experience , I would have the opportunity to enter the Navy with a promotion , which sounded pretty good to me . So after thinking it
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USS THE SULLIVANS - GEORGE MENDONSA ABOARD - OFF THE COAST OF PONAPE ( NOW POHNPEI ) IN MAY , 1944 .
ONE YEAR LATER , ON MAY 11 , 1945 OFF OKINAWA , THE U . S . CARRIER BUNKER HILL WAS HIT BY TWO JAPANESE KAMIKAZE PLANES AND SEVERELY DAMAGED . MEN LEAPT INTO THE OCEAN AS FLAMES ENGULFED THE SHIP . THE SULLIVANS WAS STATIONED NEARBY , AND RESCUED MANY OF THE SURVIVORS , TRANSFERRING THEM TO A HOSPITAL SHIP . THE DEDICATION FROM THE NURSES IN CARING FOR THE WOUNDED STRUCK GEORGE MENDONSA , WHO WOULD NEVER FORGET THE KINDNESS THEY HAD SHOWN HIS FELLOW WOUNDED SAILORS .
over for a short time , I joined the Navy and they promoted me to a 2nd Class Petty Officer , which was the equivalent of a deckhand on the ship .
When I joined the Navy in 1942 , there were about 150 men in the company I joined . After a short time , there was a real need to transfer some
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men out of training and into the fleet since the war had already started . They tried to identify the men who entered the Navy with some kind of skill . I was chosen because of my fishing experience , along with another 15 to 20 men to ship straight out into the war , onto one of the new ships that were being built .
So I went home and awaited my orders . The rest of the 15 to 20 men had shipped out already to join the war in the Pacific , but my orders hadn ’ t come . I couldn ’ t figure out what was going on , so I went to the Navy base and asked what had happened . I was told they wanted to boost my rate . They told me that as a kid on the water , they felt I could learn to run a boat and wanted to send me to Quartermaster School .
” What the hell is Quartermaster School ?” I had no idea what I was being asked to do , but I found out a quartermaster does celestial navigation and sends messages by light . I was also told that this was a better rate than what I had been offered , so I went along with it .
The five Sullivan brothers were killed in action aboard the USS Juneau November 13th , 1942 , and the president ordered Bethlehem Steel out in San Francisco to build a new destroyer and
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