Shea (DM 30) - Naval Cruise Book

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THE ONLY Znd DIVISION ABOARD SHIP The 2nd Division consists of about 30 men now. Besides the men Who Were discharged and transferred, it Will be impossible to mention all names. The 2nd Division is the Deck Force in the after-part of the ship, Which takes in seamanship and upkeep of that part 'of the ship, Before anybody Was discharged or transferred, Cross, BMlfc Was L.P.O. of the 2nd Division. Then Daily, BMlfc, transferred from the U.S.S. TRACY, D.M.S., came aboard the SHEA. Cross Was put in charge of lst Division, Daily Was put in charge of 2nd Division. He Was discharged after the Okinawa Campaign . Haynes Sinatra Waters, BMZXC, stepping out of the position of M.A.A. of the mess-hall, taking the place of Daily, BMlfc as Leading Division Petty Officer, But . . . Sinatra Waters is also discharged, so Iimmy Ransom, BM2fc, transferred from U.S.S. AARON WARD, DM., to the Shooting SHEA in the Philadelphia, N. Y., is noW L.P.O. of 2nd Division, He has five Coxn's to help him along: Natural Pikul from Chy , Who made the rate of Cox. aboard a Destroyer Escort in the North Atlantic , comes from Chicago. Four Piper Iarrell, Cox., Who is also from Chicago, holds the Presidential Unit Citation , Big Deal Haus Cox., from Colorado, made his rate aboard the Shoot- ing SHEA and Was married shortly after. Eyes Moore, Cox., Who is our motor-Whaleboat Cox., has intentions of becoming a detective in civilian life and also has intentions of shipping over fcr another six year cruise. Undecided . Stephens, Cox., Who made his rate by running an L.C.V.P., is noW a member of the 2nd Division. With the help of these five coxswain, Iimmy Ransom, BM2fc, hasa snap. ik ik Sam Wade, S2fc of the 2nd Division, Was in the Navy in l927. He is now in the Navy again With his l9 year old son, Who holds the rate of a Cox. Cgood manl and helped us Whip our tWo common enemies. Hudson., S'2fc, Whom We call Rat Legs because everyone doubts Whether he can get in a foot locker and close the lid or not. P.S.-He can. The folloWing men of the 2nd Division Were Honorably Discharged: Daily, BMlfc, Sinatra Waters,.BM2fc, Vant Hul, Cox., Professor Hoffman, S.2f'c, The Lip Callicutt, SZXC, Carrot Top Green, Slfc, Farmer Smith, I. W., S'2fc, Stof'o Torelli, S'2fc, Old Man Hollaway, S'2fc, McGeeney, Slfc, and Goodwin, Sl2fc. The folloWing men Were transferred after being Wounded at OkinaWa : Oliver, S'2fc, Holdbrooks, S'2fc, Vail, Slfc, Moore, S2fc, TeW, S2fc, Wade, A. K., S2fc, and Woloshuk, S2fc, Editor's Note-These so-called Deck Divisions contain the real sailors, men of the sea, Whose duty is primarily the up- keep and safety of all things pertaining to seamanship. In addition, they are right there When the going is tough, and theirs is the heartfelt and hard Won admiration of the entire personnel of the ship for their steadfast qualities. L ' Pikul, Cox, is GUNNERY GANG No more important unit exists on a fighting ship, Keep- ing the guns in perfect order under all conditions is a very big job. There is always plenty of Work to be done. The record of this ship aptly testifies to the fact that our Work Was performed in a very creditable manner. We believe We have had more laughs and fun than anyone on our beach, orliberty excursions. We'd also like to express appreciation of the assistance rendered us by the other divisions in the battle hours. We're proud of our ship and our associates- officers, chiefs and the rest of the creW. ' Happy Lynch . , , a fit running pardner for Mr. OWens. Slack IaW Davis . . . he needs a mine Winch to take in the slack in his jaws When he awakens. Teeth Woodby . , . the fightenist man in the o Div., fcr the harm of the ship only. Scrooge Becker . . . next to Metcalf is the tightest man in the Navy. Old man Casbier . . . the only man in the Navy that has to cover his face at darken ship. Bugs Bunny Finch . . . the only man that can eat an apple through Venetian Blinds. Pour by three and a half Peck . . , he Wears muzzle bags for dungarees. Grand dad Cheat- Wood . . . a very happy newlywed. BGfUCldled Yoflce - ' - never knows W1-mfg going on, tells it all over again. Slew tom Bgrrau , . . too much Wading in Louisiana Swamps. Bro, Richards . . . home WGS never like Ml- 3- Weep -I 39 Grammiconi . . . four cylinders was not enough. Slosh Felton . . , going 'back into civilian life, has no time for class. Spadefaced Kane . . . the only man in the o Divn. that has both looks and brains. Chief Reliable Wilkes . . . We'll 'leave our kids in his hiands. Casanova Dyal . . . With curly hair he couldn't lose. Tex Greer . . . With a heart as big as the State, Slim Griffith . . . after chief, the years the Navy Will offer possibilities. Handle Bar Knaus . . . good luck to a good man. Killer Pesenta . . . God's gift to the Women. Rebel Mays . . the Civil War Will never end. Short Stuff Gunnel , . . little but loud. The Gunner's Mates of the SHEA, 60 per cent of the original gang are still the fightenest and shootenest bunch of any in the Navy. The ones that have left us to pay the Supreme Sacrifice are sadly missed. Those Who have been assigned to differ- ent duty and returned to civilian life Will remem-ber the days We all fought together as a team on the shootenest ship in the Navy. The ones that are carrying on noW Will try to keep the good name everyone has contributed to the Gunner's Mates of the SHEA. The Gang. 1.-

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THE CONTROL GANG -igpo0 - left us to Join the Navy Air Corps Iohnson a very person Now here there, men. -Ship's holiday with the excep- ' l ' I ' ' . -- tion of the fire control gang Mark' Markl Mark' We are a small gang of I4 men, two strikers and the rest Petty Officers. We formed in Norfolk, Virginia, for train- ing, Later on we were sent to the U.S.S. SHBA in Brooklyn Navy Yard and there is where our troubles began. First trip to Bermuda. Every night while we were there you could hear the PA. system ring out all fire controlmen. and strikers man, your station for Director check . After long days of arduous practice, we left the beautiful island and headed for Norfolk. Of course, we were still holding Director checks and the gang was getting pretty well fed up for we never appreciated the importance of this practice until the Iap planes started at us. Here we would like to say a few words about the boys in the gang. Most of the boys in the gang had seen some action before coming aboard the SHEA. The gang now is the proud possessor of two wearers of the Purple Heart and two presidential Citations . One of our outstanding mem- bers, Bolstead, gave his life when the SHEA was hit. He was one swell guy and a real friend to all of us. Shrapnel Bryant, who when short of cash, rushes to the Medico and has some of the steel removed from his carcass and converts it into cash. Then we have Dashing Eichelberger, the boy that guarantees to repair the phones IF you can find him out of his rack. Meet W. D, Smith, a jolly good fellow who sings all day long-never a sad day when Smith is around. Then we have Leo Long, who is definitely the romantic type. We like his sly sense of humor. We would like to introduce you to our Chiefs: Chief Ary made his rate aboard the SHEA and it was well deserved. Our new Chief who took Ary's place came up the hard way-Chief Hrastic. He was re- puted to have a complete drug store in his locker. Brectel was renowned for having a darned good watch, which took three screw drivers to rewind. Then there was Fulton, who ax? 1 'fir able chap better known as the 40 MM King Horack is next-the only sailor who ever pulled his hitch over a Circuit, McShaffrey was the fighting Irishman who wouldnt fight without his lucky shoes. L. I. Smith left us to Q0 to The hospital-we hated to see him go. Cole, the boy who says he has never kissed a girl. Myatt-the family man who was always talking about his boy. LYT1Chf Unmhef fCfm1lY 1'f1CI1'1, who was always talking about his baby girl. Blecky, the Qld boy who swore he was '59-he was no kid. Veno, a swell guy we left at Pearl Harbor, going back for HIOTS? Yris, the sharpest guy who ever put on a set of dress blues and 'then headed for the beach. PurCSlli, the HSiI?C1'fTCfH Of the fire patrol gang-noted for his joviality and that becoming paunch. Godwin-Jbetter known as eagle eye . Krollja great big guy from the WARD, who saw plenty of action before coming aboard. Gillespie, the sonny-boy of our gang. Green is a young guy, with two sons in the service. Brown is the king of the 5 -the man who was never wrong. O'Don- nell-better known as the rajah of the radar, Lt. I. G. Moore was our fire control officer and was liked and respected by all the men. Could that man get work done? That is about all the good l can think to say about the boy.s and naturally I would be afraid to write the bad parts factually, there aren't any bad partsl. In your memory, can you remember the fire control men ever having a ship's holiday? As is customary, a good writer always saves his best material until last and our best material was Dennen-the key man of our group-and with Dennen in the Director a feeling of security. spread throughout the whole ship. So long for now-see you at the next Director Check. W. D. Smith, Slfc. at THE MINE MEN OF THE SHEA Minemcrn Extraordinary Stump Hole Bailey . . . blood brother of Ray Acoff and co-originator of The Great Speckled Bird , etc, Big Bobby Morris . . . most successful in marriage of mine gang. Bobby very happy teaching son preservation of Mine Gear. Red Eye Marsh . . . the only minernan alive with four hotel rooms and- who insisted on sleeping in the brush. Demitasse Keay . . . who fed demitasses to all the debutantes in the Sheritan, then ate the containers. He can do it too, Sugar foot Flanagan . . . when under assimilated shore bombard- ment and the slack light from the beach centered on the ship, Sugar Foot came out with 'his latest dance routine and took his bows. Hunky Waide . . , the mineman with the per- petual grouch and the goolash stand on the fantail. Clark Bar Kyle . . . when all others wished for Four Roses and Ea beautiful girl, he would settle for a Clark Candy Bar, Robert the Ripper Doty . . . who was going great guns until the tables were turned. Feets Turner . . . the only man on the ship who was not assigned a life raftg with a pair of oars and confidence in himself, he'd make out, Killer Diller you know who . . . God's gift to the fair sex and who mustered his women in squads. Spider Beadle . . . who looks like one and acts like one, but with a what you may call it in each appendage, is the most valuable man in the mine gang, Little Moose, Ir., Fitzgerald . . . the man who fooled Ship's Company for six months by having his eyes openp he sleeps that way. Brown, I, R., M.N.lfc, U.S.S. WARD-Hitchcock, M.N.2fc, U.S.S. WARD--Demetrosko, Euro- pean Theatre: are the new additions to the group and each a capable and popular fell-ow. Mattress Back Davis . , . who carried a mattress both fore and aft. He feared that some day he might fall forward, Forgetful Reeves . . . the only man on the ship who thought Church Call was Cap- tain's mass, Freddy Duddy Pratt . . . for a rough tough Chief, he purchased hundreds of roses but proved he could dig a fox hole in a steel deck. Financially Conservative Metcalf . . . who insists his dress canvas isn't dungarees and who appreciates any contribution. Radar Ears Lusk . . . the only man in the Navy who had to be kept below decks if the ship was to remain on course. But all in all, its a swell gan.g. And all's said in fun, of course!! These are the men who changed the SHEA from a D-D. to a D.M. These are the Dead Eyed Boys that assured us of safety from submarines. These the men that made such fine records in mine laying activities Never found an one - Y QTOUP Yet that could do so much talking on a telephone circuit Never a bunch who were more meticulous in the care of their gear. We are proud to have taken our part in the ad- ventures of this great ship, the U.S.S. SHEA. Donald E. Keay, MNI fc 40. - I l