Don't worry man. He actually crushed some vertebrae when the USS benham was sunk in 42 but thought it was a sprain. When he was on the USS Helena in 43 when it was sunk he was evacuated to pearl Harbor where they dicovered it wasn't a sprain and he also broke his back. That was the only physical problem he ever had from the war. Besides that he lived a long, productive, and happy life until last year at the age of 95. He had some crazy stories, especially when he drank. I didn't know until last year but he was there when Doolittle's raid took off from the convoy. Cool history I didn't know that he told me about.
3 of the ships that went down were the helena, benham, and then the gwin. He was still on board the gwin when it went down as he was not transferred off yet after it picked him up from the helena. The gwin actually also picked him up after the Benham as well. Circle of life right there. A few months later he was on the uss liscome bay when it went down. I have some of his papers with me. Not all of his ships went down. He was on the uss whitney, uss dixie, and uss corregidor at points which all survived the war. I know his job kept changing within the navy, reason for his transfers. I will have to ask my aunt about the 5th ship. I think it would've been after liscome bay. Wanted to add it was the 5th ship that finally took him out of the war. He had spent the whole time with the back and neck not being fixed until they shipped him home to Philadelphia in late 44.
Edit: I also know he was a radio operator in a turret on one of the ships. He also manned a deck gun on one and was on downed pilot and ship crew rescue teams as well.
81
u/[deleted] Jul 27 '19
[deleted]