Brooklyn (CL 40) - Naval Cruise Book

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Engagement Party given by Grace Dalzell in New York December 1942 for Lieutenant Ray WASARHALEY and bride to be Regina, center front row. They were introduced in the Wardroom in BROOKLYN by Father O'Leary and were married by him 1 January 1943. Others in the front row, Lt. D. Liane, and Lt. C. Wickham, second row, Lt. F.K. Coss, USMC, Lt. F. Cuccias, Ens. H. Green. back row, 5th from left is Lt. F.T. O'Leary. We are sorry not to be able to identify the others. 1 January 1943, St. Patricks Cathedral in New York. Ray WASARHALEY, new wife Regina, Father O'Leary. ii ill i i f,M 9

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1 7 IW . frnzffzzarfu , 6!kjf.gfiJ.lg' I If idk if. I V.: . , , '.. if ' l. 'V i ,gi 'Y 'Y 'H' :gl-I' ., fi 1 'A 4 i L J .T , 4' J 1. A 7 if 4 n?'! If J left LCDR R. WASARHALEY, USNR, as he looked 1944. He had just been selected for Lieut. Commander so he could take Command of a newly formed group of LSTs in the Pacific. right is a picture taken in 1978. Raymond WASARHALEY, LCDR., USNR., 34 Pearsall Ave., Glen Cove, New York, was born 9 March 1918 in Freemansburg, PA. Enlisted in the Navy in August.1940 as an Ap rentice Seaman. He made a one month crulse to Cuba and, then was one of the selectees for the first class of, H90 Day Wonders . The School was conducted in the USS! ILLINOIS, fSoon to be called Prairie Statel in New Yor . He was married to wife Regina 1 January 1943, and to this marriage was born, Raymond on 19 October 1945, he was a Lieut USA and served in the Vietnam War, and he has 2 children. Then son Brian, born 17 March 1948, Daughter Tricia born 3 October 1955. She now has 2 children. Son Gregory was born 9 October 1957. LCDR. WASARHALEY reported to BROOKLYN 4 December 1940, at San Pedro, California, directly from Midshipman School. He was assigned to the Gunnery Department and was one of the Turret Officers. After just a few weeks He was assigned to the 'Communications Department as Signal Officer and was a qualified Officer of the Deck Underway, being the Officer of the Deck for General Quarters. This was his assignment for the whole below Signal Gang, 1942 with Chief Meadows. tour of duty. 5 January 1943 He was detached, after being a volunteer for duty in the newly formed Amphibious Navy. He became the first Commanding Officer of the LST 376. lread the account of this assignment in the Story, U90 Day Wonders , following this historyj. Decorations and Awards: American European- Area, with stars for the invasion of Casablanca, North Africa, the landings in Sicily and Salerno, Italy. Letter of Commenda- tion for the Landings at Salerno, and for the shooting down of 2 planes in Sicily that were missed by BROOKLYN- 5-Ive is now Head of the Sales Department of Montgomery ar . The story that follows this history of LCDR WASAR- HALEY is one that was written by him from notesuand memories of his Navy Career. It is by far as dgood of ao S98 Story that most will ever put together, an have printed for all you to read and enjoy and fit yourself into somewhere ln the so nearly all the truth of a Navy Career- below Communications Officers 1942, with Lt. Sell

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' 90 DA Y W0 DERS PREFACE Somehow this salvo of shells had a different .sound from the others dropping in the water around our ship. We knew it was going to hit. It had been fired by the French cruiser Primauguet as she tried to come out of Casablanca Harbor with nine other French cruisers and destroyers. One shell smashed into the five-inch gunmount just below where I stood on the brid e, throwing the Marines around in a.red sickening mess. Tlre shell hit the deck at an angle, up into the side of the heavily armored coding room, kept gfllllg up past me so I, could almost touch it, and fell out into the water. It didn't explode. The date was November 8, 1942. I found this amongst notes, misplaced for many years, that I had written during my World War II Navy days. As I read through the notes that spanned over five and a half years, I relived the good feeling of patriotism, pr1de.of country and fighting a war for a cause we believed in with a whole country behind us. How different this is than the dilemma of my sons and all the teenage youth, plus their fagmilies, as they live through the era of an unpopular war to ay. No one can ever be glad there was a war in their life, but at this moment I am most thankful whoever arranges the whole scheme of who is to be born into whichtfaeriod of time, chose to put me where I was. It was goo to grow up with love of country and no doubt that you lived in the greatest in the world. That you were willing to fight for your country didn't make you odd because most of all those about you shared your feelings. I read through all the notes. Five and one half years is a lot of people, a lot of places and it was a time of world changing events. Everybody in the service bitches and going home is the constant uppermost thought. But now that I quietly go over these violent events, the many ocean trips, the far away places, the people and the victory, I more than ever realize I was priviledged to have had this experience with the right attitude and at the right age to be most effective. I didn't do a very ood job of helping my sons and their teenage friends in deciding how they should react to each one's approaching personal decision date on Vietnam. I thought I was really getting to them with, If your Country is worth living in, it is worth fighting for. These could be the most interesting and rewarding years of your lives, etc. I must be pretty thick. It took me months to realize what generation gap meant. They didn't know what I was talking about because they were in a different era with different situations. I was a real square to them and didn't understand their problems. It wasn't until I found and read these notes that I had a return of that feeling of pride in where I had been and what we had done. I used the term U90 Day Wonders on the teenagers and they only figured I certainly must be a wonder of some kind. , There are a lot of names and people included in the notes. I've lost track of them all. We shared this experience together and I feel like writing a letter to them all saying, Hi, you still there? Remember when we did this? I've never seen much written about the Amphibious Force as we knew it. The force that must have done a good job because we ended up on the winning side. I was in it from the beginning and am proud to have been a part of it. I feel like writing it down in hopes of sharing it with many of my generation that were there. I'm not really doing this to get around my inability to talk a convincing story to troubled teenagers. But as I read my notes and look at them, I feel that but for the chance of birth dates, they could have been me and I could have been them. Pm glad I drew the hand I did and maybe some of them would like to read this just to see what life was like with father. A , Pm going to start writing. It's a true story of evllglnltliyplaces, dates and people. All true. Chapter I APPRENTICE SEAMAN TO MIDSHIPMAN TO ENSIGN 90 DAYS PLUS It all started as I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940. Here again, I was really proud of my school, its academic standing and the football teams. Now it is still a fine school, but mostly publicized as demonstration center of anti-anti. Mainly Anti Vietnam War. I had worked my way through college as a playground director for the neighboring city of Oakland and counselor in Oakland's summer camp at Feather River. Three of my fellow playground directors and I had planned a trip on bicycles down through Mexico, the Panama Canal and on into South America.. We had all the equipment and even went to a doctor and got shots. After graduation, one after another, all three of them backed out of the trip. I was left with my shots and nowhere to go. President Roosevelt made a request that was put out on the radio for college men to take a trip to Cuba with the Navy. The next day I got another playground director, Leroy McCormick, to take a ride at lunch time to San Francisco Navy Recruiting Office. They admitted they didn't know much about it, but said they would get all information for us. In the meantime, the chief said, As long as you are here, why don't you take a physical and see if you can pass. After spending more time than I had intended, including signing some things for the chief, we were on our way back to Oakland and I told Leroy I had had a funny feeling we had joined the Navy. We weren't to be civilians again for five and one half years. I never did ask Leroy if he was mad at me. Within days we had orders to come with the clothes we would wear, plus a pair of black shoes, to the Railroad Station in Oakland. We said goodbye to some bewildered parents and the train roamed all over the country picking up other college men and we knew the train's final destination was New York. I don't think anyone on the train had ever been to New York. before and we were ea erly looking forward to seeing the sights. The tunnel into grand Central Station, transfer to a subway and up to 135 Street, and the Hudson River, and onto the floating houseboat USS Illinois was exciting but not exactly New York sightseeing as we had planned- The Battleship USS Wyoming was anchored outside the Illinois waiting for us. Over 600 strong, we went aboard with the lowest rate, apprentice seaman, of anyone on board. We Were given white sailor suits, bellbottom pants and Illlfldy t0PS, and we were given hammocks. One of the other things We were given that afternoon were shots. I stood up tothe sailor in the sickbay after waiting in line to ask my question, I just had these shots for a trip to South America, does tllatfnake any dlfference? The sailor handlin the needle didn t even have time to get out the words, I cIon't know, before he had the shot in my arm. glue day we were on the train in civilian clothes. The next ay we were in sailor suits, out the New York Harbor and 4...1nd