Aaron Ward (DM 34) - Naval Cruise Book

among the boys was the wonderful example of perfect sound watch set by Vornbrock, the only man who could ping through four hours of day-dreaming. Also when quarters for muster was called and Holte, Thorpe, and Moxley didn't answer to muster much to the dismay of Mr. Wallace. Chief Winston would always send Michael down to route them out of their favorite haunt-namely their sack. 'Now for a few lines of seriousness, reverent and humble. On the night of the action of May 3rd there departed from our midst three truly great men. Henry W. Niwinski, Marvin I. McLaughlin, and Billy Ray Dial. It is hard to put into words the heartfelt loss of these great comrades only in their teens. But we of the Navigation Department will never forget the laughter and gaiefty that was so much a part of them and the radiance that they expressed while they served with us on this great minelayer. McLaughlin, Niwinski and Dial will leave a deep imprint in our memories always. And, though we know the greatest tribute on earth will not bring them back-we humbly pay them this tribute, of vowing never to forget their supreme sa-orifice. , - y 1 William R. McKanna. SoM3fc "G" STOOD Fon GUNNERY This erstwhile literary effort is being made with only one purpose in mind-to provide those whose names appear herein with a little memento, which, in the years to come, may serve to bring back fond memories of our year spent together-bot-h in battle and on the beach. When the crew finally' boarded ship in San Pedro, all hands in the Gunnery Department were pretty wellfacquainted, having previously met while at Treasure Island in San Francisco. The Department was made up of Gunner's Mates, Fire Conftrolmen, and Minemen-and it was a good outfit from the beginning. Our first muster read something like this: GUNNER"S MATES: Chief McClure, Castanien, Busch- bacher, Ouimette, Iervais, Whelan, Putrzynski, Shea, Boles, Dial, Turner, Long, Hall, Abbott, Collins, Trites, Larson, McClendon, Padgett, Hammock, Gaworski, Hendrickson, Parrent, and Carson-all under the watch- ful fand sometimes exasperatedl eyes of Lieutenant Bubel, Lieutenant Lavrakas, and Ensign Ferguson. The Fire Control Gang had Foster, Kroll, Beckmann, Despin, Quinn, Longlois, Oueior, Roumfort, Good, Olmeda, 'Chmiel, Schmitt, Andrade, Husted, and Kutch. These men' were kept at the job by Ensign Kelly -an ex-enlisted man himself. T-he Minemen were under Lieutenant tjgl Mendelson, consisting of Offins, Armand, Brown, Zaloga, Hitchcock, Rawlins, Mogensen, Gross, Wimer, and Fields. Now, let's look back and remember a few things which happened during the year in which we became brothers in a common undertaking, and with a mutual interest in its successful conclusion. While in "Frisco", the Shi-p's basketball team Candi its starting lineup held a good many "O" Division namesl won the DD Pool tournament-this was the AARON WARDAS first victory. When day's work was done and recreation was in order, many of the boys took the "A" train to "Frisco" or Oakland and could, shortly after their arrival in either city, be located in such pleasant haunts as El Patio, McCarthy's, The Dawn Clufb, The Lone Star, and The Breakers. ' ' By October 28, 19444, the journey from San Francisco to Los Angeles and San Pedro had been made, and on this date we commissioned the ship. Immediately we began to ready her for sea and the shake- down cruise. Of course, while in San Pedro it was necessary to investigate the recreational possibilities of the neighboring cities of Long Beachand Los Angeles. Said possibilities were found to be entirely adequate for our needs-'nuff said. It was while we were in San Pedro that our Gunnery Officer met the girl who was later to become his wife-Lieutenant and tMrs. Lavrakas it is now. Eddie's Pago-Pago, The Clipper Club, The Gay Inn, Melody Lane, and Park's were favorite spots with the liberty hounds. - Now, to borrow a phrase, the party was over and our preparation ,and training commenced in grim earnest. Each piece of gear had been minutely inspected, lubricated, and tested. We were pretty sure that we were ready for the shakedown, but we wouldn't really know until the first firing run was finished. We had the most modern gear in the Navy and one of the newest ships. We had plenty of contidence in the gear, our officers, and ourselves-we wanted to see what we could do. And we 'found out when, at the end of the shakedown cruise, we were notified that the ship had set a new gunnery record for the San Diego Command. That bit of news was worth all the work, inspections, and Worry we'd had-and then sorne. -I 26 I.. L. au- ',..., f-. ,,,,..,,... , ilk '- f --F' - 7 ggah-W pf