Battleship
Texas (BB 35)
America's
Oldest Surviving Battleship
After
52 Years The Sailor Returns
These
are his memories that flooded
back
from that reunion.
My nickname
was Sonny I was on the Texas from March 1943 to May 1945. I was in C.Div
(radio communication), my battle station was the main radio, manning inter
ship phones or coping Fox (A continuos radio station sending messages from
Washington, San Francisco, or Guam depending on where the ship was at.)
I saw combat in Normandy, Cherbourg, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Standing
at my station this is what I see:
If
I was on the inter ship phones facing toward port, I would see to my right
the hatchway to the code room, the main radio receiver, mills, (typewriters)
and radiomen on different frequencies. In the middle of the room in front
of the code rooms hatchway was a 40 mm elevator. Looking left along the
bulkhead was a radioman decoding call letters and more receivers and mills
manned by operators. Looking through the radio room at the end of
port side was a hatchway dogged down. Turning around looking starboard was a
hatchway dogged down.
If
I was coping Fox the only thing I would see in front of me was the typewriter,
radio receiver, paper, and to my right a sending key.
My
primary duty station was standing radio watches in the radio room.
Berthing
area aboard ship:
My
berthing area had a bunk in the old coal bin three decks down, just as
you came through the hatchway, second bunk from the bottom. Later on I
got a top bunk in a different part of the room.
Details
of things I can remember:
When
you had to get a haircut on the ship it wasn't long before you realized
to get a good haircut you slipped some coins into the barber's pocket.
Liberty
was the highlight of a sailors life after being out to sea for three to
six months. Most sailors had two dress uniforms: one was for inspection
GI uniform, another was for liberty. This uniform was tailor made out of
the best cloth that could be bought. The tailors on Sand street in Brooklyn,
N.Y. made a fortune making uniforms for sailors. The Division was divided
up into port and starboard liberty parties. It was possible to trade your
liberty time with a sailor that was qualified to stand your watch and an
OK from your chief, or you could purchase liberty from a qualified radioman.
Getting
ready to go on liberty you showered and shaved, hair neat, uniform spotless,
and put another spit shine on your shoes. Now you have to get past the
officer of the deck. This was not to hard to do as most of them were junior
officers. Most were good Joe's but once in awhile you got one who took
himself to serious, and he would try to find something on you to go back
and fix, or even deny you liberty. It seemed that this type of officer
either shaped up or was shipped out.
The
procedure was that you saluted the officer of the deck and asked permission
to go on liberty. Permission was generally granted and you saluted the
flag, and you walked off the ship.
We
as sailors were treated very well at all the ports that I remember. New
York was my favorite Port. When block parties were held in Brooklyn and
Queens, no soldier or sailor could buy a drink, or not dance with a pretty
girl. There were American's from all nationalities at these block parties.
It was in New York that I met my wife.
At
the end of liberty you would go back to the ship and up to the officer
of the deck and ask permission to come aboard, salute the flag and go to
your quarters.
Preparing
for inspection:
Preparing
for inspection was the same as preparing for liberty, except the G.I. Uniform
was used. At wars end not many inspections were called and those that were
the sailors seemed to get away with wearing tailor made.
Mail
aboard ship:
Letters,
mail, were taken to the post office on the ship. You wrote free on your
envelope where the stamp normally went. If your ship was on the west coast
your return address was:
Your
name and rank
U.S.S.
Texas Box 17
%
Fleet Post Office
San
Francisco Calif.
If
the ship was on the east coast the address was:
Your
name and rank
U.S.S.
Texas Box 17
%
Fleet Post Office
New
York, New York
If
you wanted your letter to go by airmail you put a six cent stamp on it.
I never helped with the moving of the mail.
Fresh
water for showers & washing clothes:
We
took showers on board whenever we wanted to, mostly I took them every other
day. I did not wash my own clothes, but when we got new dungarees, we would
tie a line to the dungarees and throw them over the fantail. This softened
them and made them more comfortable to wear.
Music
& Reading:
When
I try to remember the type of music aboard my recollections are that there
were certain radio circuits that a few messages came through but they had
to be manned at all times. Radiomen got so they could man these circuits
with one ear, leaving the other ear for hearing the music from another
receiver. So we were able to pick up music from all over the globe depending
on where we were at. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose played the hit songs from
the United States.
As
far as music being played over the public address system, that depended
upon where we were at to whether the Captain would allow this. I believe
the music was picked by Chaplain Moody.
As
far as reading material aboard ship, all I can remember was some copies
of Stars & Stripes, and of course the Navy Manual.
Relaxing
and hanging out:
Out
at sea when we had time off, there were always some card games going on
someplace that you could get into. Some games we gambled for money, and
others we did not. When in the Pacific and the weather was hot, there was
a locker just forward of the smokestack, that sailors from different divisions
would gather and shoot the bull. We sat on top of this locker and got the
scuttlebutt from different divisions on the ship. Some time was spent practicing
receiving and sending code and practicing with the bug (a faster way to
send code than a key). You never knew when it might be possible to go up
a rank. On the Texas sailors who wanted to advance would have to transfer.
Only a few of my buddies transferred. There was a close bond with the people
in the C division.
Recreation
and exercise was the same as above. We played cards, checkers and gambled.
As for exercise, I don't remember any except picking up my money when playing
craps.
Just
before we were called to general quarters for the Normandy invasion, we
had been rolling dice for about an hour and a half. Little Brother was
winning heavily, a couple hundred dollars, when the call came he picked
up his money and said to me as we started to run to our battle stations:
"Do you think I will go to hell because of all this money I won?". Because
part of the money was mine I said, "Don't know Little Brother, just don't
get killed." I knew we would play again and get a chance to win some of
it back.
Eating
aboard ship:
Part
of the radiomen ate with the band in the band's compartment. A table was
set up and food was brought in by the strikers, sailors who were learning
to be radio operators. They got the food from the main galley and brought
the pots and pans of food and we passed it around. When I was a striker
I had to serve the food and set up the tables, take them down and stow
them away when chow was over. Spam was the worst food and steak was the
best. I never had to prepare the food, or clean dishes aboard the Texas.
It
was during the long general quarters time spent in Okinawa, that I lost
my taste for spam. For lunch the cooks would bring us spam sandwiches,
(made with thick bread and an inch slice of spam), and a pitcher of joe.
You got one sandwich, (and that's all you wanted as big as the slice of
spam was!), and cup of joe, more joe if there was any left. Coffee was
not a problem for the radio shack. I believe the cooks thought that they
better keep those radiomen awake. They gave us a pitcher of old joe whenever
we wanted it, which was all of the time. Sometimes during the general quarters
we got K rations for supper.
There
was a soda fountain which was opened only periodically. I remember using
it only a few times. From the ship store/canteen I remember buying a few
candy bars. The ships store was used mostly for buying cigars, chewing
tobacco and cigarettes. A box of rumcrook cigars cost about $2.00. Bagpipe
or beechnut chewing tobacco was 15 to 25 cents and cigarettes 50 cents
a carton or 5 cents a pack. We also bought toothpaste, shaving cream and
other toiletries at the store.
Racial
tension:
I
have been asked if there were any racial tensions aboard the Texas, and
this is what I recollect concerning that. The black sailors aboard the
Texas were stewards for the Officers. They made up a gun crew of their
own. I think they manned forty mm antiaircraft guns. I never heard of any
racial tension on our ship. Their living quarters were on the third deck
on the portside next to the main radio.
Fights
& conflicts:
There
were some fights or conflicts aboard ship, but had nothing to do with racial
tension as far as I know. I remember there were two sailors fighting about
a question of embarrassment caused by the one in front of the other's girlfriend.
The sailors in the compartment thought it should be fought out in a fair
fight. So sailors were put in the corridor and in the hatchways as lookouts
for the officers. Rings and bracelets were taken off the combatants and
the fight began. Blood was flowing and the fight lasted about five minutes.
No winner but both fighters seemed to be satisfied. I don't believe they
ever became close friends but they never bothered each other either.
A
typical non combat day:
On
a typical, non combat day at sea radio watches had to be manned 24
hours so you had to alternate between night watch and day watch. Depending
on which part of the world you were in, the manning of the number of frequencies
were greater or smaller. The watches were broken up to four hour on and
eight hours off or six on and six off or eight off and eight on with a
sixteen off wherever possible. Sometimes you hit the bunk in the daytime
and other times at night. If you had to relieve the watch at meal times,
you went to an early chow to give the person you relieved a chance for
the second chow. Your free time was spent in the bunk or shooting the bull
with other sailors. At times we played cards or went topside to watch the
ocean waves. If we were in a convoy we would spend time watching the ships,
noticing that when loaded the merchant ships lay deep in the water. If
there was room in the radio shack sometimes you would spend time practicing
code receiving and signals.
Shipmates
& Officers:
It's
been 52 years since I left the Texas in the Philippines. I can see the
faces of my shipmates as plain as they were in 1945 but names escape me.
One reason I believe is because we used so many nicknames, like Little
Brother, Flattop, Rags, Flash, etc.. The officers that I was familiar with
I remember of course because their full name was always used.
Captain
Roy Pfaff, Captain of the Ship
Captain
Charles A. Baker, Captain of the Ship
Commander
J. M. Cabanillas, Executive Officer
Lieutenant
Forrest Drummond, Communicatons Officer
Lieutenant
jg Knowles, part of the communications staff
Lieutenant Knowles was called "MaMa Knowles" by the enlisted radio men. He was liked by all and was like a mother hen with her chicks. When we were in port and part of the crew was on liberty, he would not hit the bunk until all sailors were back and accounted for.
Rear
Admiral Carleton F. Bryant
Part of the time the Texas was his flag ship. During the Normandy invasion, while he was on his bridge, I heard him singing, "Three little fishes in a itty bitty pool". When Admiral Bryant came aboard he bought his own radioman with him.
Jake
Taylor Chief Radioman
He took over when Chief Whitaker left because of sickness, I believe.
Jack had a brother Ike who served on the Texas for a while as aviator radioman.
Both brothers were on the Texas before WW II started.
Ollie
Sawyer
One of the men who served on the Texas before WW II. He was a second class radioman and knew procedure real well. He stood watches generally as a supervisor.
Quigley
I don't remember his rank but he was the radioman wounded on the bridge during the Cherbourg battle with the German shore gunners. His hands were in bad shape and he had other wounds. I sat on the deck with him just before they took him off to the hospital ship.
Favorite
memories:
It's
difficult to pick out a favorite memory of being on the Texas after 50
years. Any memory of the ship is a favorite one. The U.S.S.. Texas became
home to most of us sailors. Some of us actually thought that serving on
the Texas made us "adoptive sons of the state of Texas", the state where
our heroes, the cowboys, roamed.
I
do remember that during 1943 when we were doing convoy duty we had a English
sailor who joined the Texas to stay with us for a crossing. He was there
to show how to set up and operate a transmitter, that was used to jam radio
bombs, that the Germans were using.
Reflection:
Now
fifty years later, I realize that the Texas was not a first line ship like
the Missouri,
Wisconsin, New Jersey and Iowa. In those days to me she was the greatest
ship that was! (Which every true sailor will believe his ship is the greatest.)
The Texas seemed to have a guiding star following her wherever she went.
Who knows it might have been the lone star of the state of Texas.
Along
with the star a lot of credit has to go to the antiaircraft gunners for
the safety of the old girl. She was right in the middle of the kamikazes
strikes in the long battle of Okinawa. The conditions of Yellow, Red and
Green were echoed through her decks day and night. It was these gunners
that were responsible for the last echo to be green and that we all were
alive and that no damage was done to the old girl of the sea.
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