Aaron Ward (DM 34) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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---- V .... . X. A ship is not a solid mass .of metal that has been fashioned into a lifeless hulk-capable of transporting itself on water. lt is, rather, a breathing, living work of creative man. Graceful, trim, characterized by the poise of a gracious lady, it serves to inspire and invoke the reverent affection of its crew. To the men who walk her decks, a ship is home, inhabited as a community, providing for their every want, and shielding them from the merciless se-a. Thus it was on the Aaron Ward. The stories below reveal the fate that was inevitable from the very beginning, a fate that links shipmate to shipmate and gives birth to the brotherhood of the sea. THE EYES, EARS, AND BRAIN OF OUR SHIP The N, Y, U Divisions fNavigation Depart-mentj make up t-he eyes, ears, and the brains of the Aaron Ward. The Quartermasters guide her on her course. The Radarmen protect her from surprise raids by Tojo's mighty air force. And the Soundmen protect her from attack by the deadly marauders of the deep. Our first introduction as a team took place on Treasure lsland, where we met our first tri-als and tribulations of attack teachers and ClC training. We left San Francisco by train for San Pedro, everyone eagerly awaiting his first sight of the Aaron Ward, for the majority their first sight of a real fighting ship. After commissioning came the sfhip's party ,where Bell showed his abilityas a hasherg it was here also that Potter sfhowed us how the model shore patrolman should execute his duties. Came shakedown, and the first touch of sea duty for many. lt was hard to hold thin-gs down at first and it was pretty much impossi-ble to navigate through ClC for all the buckets and containers that Beadel, Woods, and Vermie had gathered. This place soon became a contribution center for all unseaworthy members of the department. P . T A E New Year's Eve, and our return to San Pedro brought the end of shakfedown and a short period of leave and recreation for the men and a few minor repairs for the ship before our introduction to t-he terrible conflict ahead-little did we know then. lt was during this period also that Blunck gave his last instruc- tions on submarine warfare to the Soundmen and officers before our seafaring adventure. On the way to Pearl Harbor members of our department found it was not safe to sleep for fear of waking up with a bald top-knotg warm weather brought out the deviltry in some of our more mischeveous members. At Pearl Harbor George Walraven departed from our camp to join the crew of a minesweeper. Pearl was also the location where the Navigation Department tried very hard to become baseball champs. Give us credit for trying, anyway. Enroute to Okinawag knowing we were heading for the real thing, some of the over-enthusiastic members tried a little too hard to detect the enemy. The crew will remember the many times that excite- ment reigned throughout the ship as a submarine alert was sounded, only to be told later that the torpedo triplets fPotter, Dial and Mcliannal had sounded a whale, or that Blunck was pinging on a wake. The Bureau is still putting in overtime on the records to see if just once the-y couldn't have really hit on some- thing real. Then l guess no one will ever forget the time General Quarters sounded-the real thing-and a few minutes later a flock of Toj-o's wandering geese flew overhead. But then Wright can't always get the code right. Q. Going just a little sentimental l guess none of the Navigation Department will forget those evenings we spent on the wing of the gun deck in Guam when Cornutt and Dial provided the accompaniment for the astounding voices of Aylworth, Aitchison, Iaroszewski, Storey, Newmann, Wittenberg and Niwinski- can we ever forget- P A Through all the routine, there were always men that were continually thinking of eating. Such was Flynn, one of our prominent Quartermasters who ran a short or-der house in the Chart Houseg you could always smell a pot of mud brewing, or maybe you would catch an odor of sandwiches beingqgrilled. And somewhere alonig the way, one of the Radarmen, Hosking by name, had GCCIUi1'ed SOTHQ Canned cherries, how--you will have to as-k him-and by giving the Cooks a good line he was able to keep the Radarmen and Soundmen supplied with cherry pie through some of those long mid-watches. Then, occa- sionally, an episode came up to break the monotony of watch standing and became the topic of much conversation-like the time Schurmann overheard Mr. Halsted telling Cozby some of the highlights of his young manhood-We heard later from some of his friends that this was an everyday occurrence., oruthe time Mr. Dillon and Mr. Rosengren were overheard telling Chief Shelley sea stories. Then a standing joke ...l251..

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, s So now it was back to San Pedro again for the final touches, and then we'd be off. This stay saw the Ship's Dance in Long Beach become a foamy reality, and a party which will always be remembered as a good one. lt was also in San Pedro that Chief McClure was transferred to shore duty-along with his s-ide- kick, Sweetpea Parrent. We hated to see Mac go, and Sweetpea' had a brand of humor all his own. From San Pedro we went to Pearl Harbor where we went through mining exercises, giving the Minemen a chance to do their stuff. lt was also in Pearl Harbor that Gunner Siler and Mineman, Second Class, Follet came aboard. Pearl didn't seem like such good liberty after the States, although on the way back it did look a lot better, didn't it? From Pearl l-larbor we made the long jump over to Ulithi, lt was warm all the way. lt was during this time that Van Paris, Knoss, and Williams joined the Gunner's gang as strikers. Then, when we left Ulithi, l guess none will forget that long line of destroyers and small craft, and the way they looked through the slanting rain and choppy seas-we were told we were on our way to Okinawa for the big show. Remember the way we started firing as soon as we got to Okinawa in March? We fired nearly every night from then until May 3rd, and we never had a single major casualty on any piece of ordnance and fire control gear aboard. That's a little something we can be proud of, too. ' lt was also during these days that we all got to know each other a little better than before, I guess. The long hours on watch were spent talking future hopes and past events-and about the girl at home, and most of all, about home itself. A pot of joe and a couple of men-this meant a good bull session was on the way-a good way to pass the time. lt's no use putting down my impression of the night of May 3rd, and our fight-l guess we all had pretty much the same idea-lt was terrible. Most of us witnessed acts of courage and bravery and sacrifice which we shall never forget-nor the men who perpetrated them. lt was at dawn on May 4th when we realized that we'd have to say so long forever to Long, Turner, Hendrickson, Olmeda, Good, Armand, Folett, and Zaloga. They'd shoved off on the long cruise. Although they may destroy this ship, the will never destroy the memories we hold in our minds of the ship and the men who manned her. So in the years to come-when our thoughts drift backto this year and the night of May 3rd-let's drink a silent toast to those we left on Zamami Shima in Kerama Retto. A long time ago another American sailor said, The price of liberty is paid in brave men's blood! lt's still true. Edmond Hall. GM3fc THE C6R GANG This little essay is being written with the idea in mind that in all the morrows it may be referred to as evidence 'for the unity of mankind. One early morning, at Treasure Island, a group of some 300 men, the crew of the U.S.S. Aaron Ward, were congregated, Most of these men knew very little about the Navy, but felt sure that eventually they would be able to do their bit. That same morning these men came into contact with a man that will always be remembered and respected. lt was soon learned that this man was Lt. Oomdr. Nuepert, the Executive Officer of the Aaron Ward. l know l couldn't say too much in expressing every man's good feelings towards Mr. 'Nuepert lwon't say any more on this subject, because l'm sure that there will be space set aside to inform you of this man. Time marches on! So the crew of the Aaron Ward was formed. At present all hands are in a mill, wondering and attempting to predict the outcome. So far, sfo good. At this point l'd like to mention Ransom, Oden, and Shores-all good friends of mine, yes-but still well-liked by every one in the deck force, Take Ransom. l-le's one man that will always be remembered for his triple personality-a great pointer, a specialist in the art of Hboatswaining , and a terrific man on the beach. l-le's just one fine example of the type of man that makes up the Deck Force. Yesterday the Aaron Ward was commissioned. A very proud and memorable day for all of us, l'm sure. This was a day that will remain in all hands' minds forever. Their feelings can be eXD1'eSSed bY visualizing an explorer discovering a gold mine. By now every man had contacted his shvrpmates and was pleased with the results. -I 27 1-