March 20, 1944

Wednesday

     "It sure was snowing this morning. 
     We started advance school today.  We are on guns this week.  45 cal. pistol, 50 cal. and 20 M.M. aircraft guns.  Thompson submarine gun, Garand rifle, Springfield and carbine rifles.  It looks like I am going to be a gunner.  I ain't kicking and I ain't happy about it.  A 20 M.M. on a sub surface battle station is pretty rough.  That just makes one more count against me.  But the better the gunner the better his chance.  So a good gunner I'll be.  We changed barracks again.  I'm in 147 now.
     Stone and I went to the show and saw, "See here Private Hargrove."  It was good.  Came back and answered a letter from Sweet."
  
Dad's Submarine sank several enemy ships.  He was a torpedo man with his bunk over a torpedo. In one of his last years he told me that he had killed only on man face to face.  A sub had come up next to them.  A sailor came out facing him with his gun pointed.  Dad said he had cut the sailor  in two with fire.  The memory bothered him, and he had remembered this when much of his memory had slipped away.  This was the only time he talked about the incident. 

My Dad was seasick when on the surface, so he tried to pull duty above board as often as possible.  He had no problems when they were submerged.