Tales of a Tin-Can Sailor

During my navy duty I served with many outstanding officers and men whom I will always remember with an affection borne of shared experiences. While I remember many by name, rather than treat them as individuals, I think of them as a part of the ship. One exception to that is Russell C. (Rusty) Williams, with whom I served on both ships and for my entire time at sea. He was exactly the ideal destroyer captain, loved and admired by us all. It is absolutely true, especially for destroyers, that the captain sets the standards, and the ship is as good or as bad as the man in command. While he and I became close friends, I must say that at no time did he favor me over any other officer, nor did I take advantage of our friendship. To the contrary, at times he came down on me pretty hard. But I did try to operate so that he would not find it necessary to make any difficult decisions.

It has been over fifty years since I left the navy, and I know that time has a way of adding color to such long-ago events. Because I never kept a diary, I have no records to turn to, but must trust my memory. I believe most everything is true, but as my neighbor Jack Thomas says, "Never let facts stand in the way of a good story." Since I m a hopeless romantic and because so much has happened in my life since the war, there may be places in this story where facts have yielded to fiction. From the beginning I have not looked at this as a history of naval events, so have not turned to historical writings of others nor to the ships logs for verification. Rather I have tried to show how a group of unselfish and dedicated people, operating under the most trying conditions, can have an effect on major human events. I have also tried to show a little of the mood of the country during wartime and illustrate some of the problems faced by thousands.

Every once in a while during the course of the war, your thoughts would turn to the heavy responsibility thrust on you and on millions of other young men and women. It made you realize that your performance meant life or death not only for you, but for many others as well. I imagine nothing makes a man out of a boy faster than combat. It certainly makes you realize that you must be the best that you can be, and that s a lesson that follows you through the rest of your life. There was no time for an officer who did not put out 100 percent, but those were few and far between.

Looking back on the war, I have to marvel that anything of such magnitude could have been carried out to such a successful conclusion. The problems of supply must have been endless, yet when we required food, ammunition, fuel and spare parts, they were always available, no matter where we were. This seemed to be true throughout the world for our troops as well as for us in the navy, despite some shortages in the South Pacific early on. It took a tremendous effort from everyone in this great country. It was that effort, along with the fighting men, that brought the war to a successful conclusion Victory.

Writing this book has been an interesting and enjoyable experience. Though it may be no literary masterpiece, it has helped my writing skills. It has definitely increased my appreciation of professional writers, be they novelists, biographers or any other user of the written word. I now find that I read books in a different way, which has increased my enjoyment of them. I can easily see how a person is inspired to write a novel. If I were younger I might give it a try.