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Thousands
of miles from home, the men did what they could to make the Ship
a friendlier place. On the Ship, they arranged holiday meals, held
entertainment on the fantail, enjoyed boxing matches, watched movies,
and listened to their band. On captured islands they played ball,
drank warm beer, or perhaps hunted and fished. Sometimes the Ship
had to return to a port for supplies and repairs. The men enjoyed
visiting places like Hawaii, New York, Jamaica, and San Francisco.
The men formed friendships that have lasted a lifetime.
"On
the battleship, you worked, lived, and became friends with guys
from your division. It was kind of clannish. Men from the same division
formed a working unit within their department. They worked and slept
in the same designated area. Your living area was pretty close to
your work area and you tended to stay within your assigned areas.
The guys in your division tended to be protective of their area.
Buddies from other divisions could visit your space, but everyone
was wary of guys they didn't know hanging out in their space. In
fact, there were some areas that were pretty much off limits. Enlisted
men's areas were painted white while 'officers' country' and other
restricted areas like sick bay, the plotting rooms, radio central,
coding room, and admiral's platform were painted green. You only
went into these areas if you have a job detail to perform there.
You just didn't go wandering around into areas that weren't yours.
For instance, you didn't go wandering down to the engine room or
climb up in gun mounts if you weren't assigned there. There were
a few guys with a gift for gab that liked to wander around, explore,
and meet people. We stayed in touch after the war. When I traveled
across the country, I could stay with my buddies. We eventually
formed an USS NORTH CAROLINA Battleship Association. In the early
years, we had regional meetings in addition to annual reunions at
the Battleship. Now we just have annual meetings along with our
newsletter.
On board
ship, we played cards, boxing, wrestling, wrote letters, and read
books from the library. Some guys had hobbies like making knife
handles or rings. Some guys made gifts for girlfriends and wives
like aprons out of their neckerchiefs or created purses and belts
by making knots from rope or made beautifully decorated leather
belts from leather they managed to get from the bosun's locker.
'Smokers'
took place on the fantail. You'd have musical groups, comedians,
skits, singers, dancers, tug of war contests between divisions,
boxing matches, and similar stuff. Officers and chiefs sat closer
to the front.
Any time
you encountered another ship you could swap movies. When in a safe
zone, could watch on deck or down in mess hall. But no movies if
in war zone. If the captain was coming through or to join you, his
bugler would blow a signal 'attention' and you'd know the captain
was coming and you stood at attention.
Sports
like division softball tournaments, baseball between ships, and
basketball had to take place in liberty ports or on South Pacific
recreational islands, but it was pretty limited. Most guys did other
things.
We had
church services. When the ship was commissioned, we only had one
chaplain, Commander Albert, a Protestant. Later on after the war
started, we had two chaplains, one Protestant and one Catholic.
The Chaplain's office was located inside the library and the library's
head (bathroom) served double duty as the confessional for Catholics.
When we had a Catholic priest, he held mass nightly in the Warrant
Officers' Mess. Some people started up Bible study groups. The chaplain
was in charge of morale and personal welfare. I remember being awakened
about 10:00pm one night and told to go to the chaplain's office.
The Red Cross had sent him a message that my wife, pregnant with
our first baby, was having serious kidney problems due to the pregnancy
and that I should come home. So I went home to see the birth of
my first son, born August 20th. The chaplain also helped with the
paper and library. We had an organ given by an officer's mother,
but it was removed after the war started along with all items that
were considered flammable or non-essential. We lost one of our planes,
our beautiful linoleum, decorative aluminum hatch covers, and all
but two of our 14 boats. We only kept two motor whaleboats. One
of those boats became the Captain's gig. Inside all the enamel paint
covering the bulkheads was chipped off and repainted with a chalky
white water-based paint. The decks were bare metal.
Everyone
looked forward to liberty, a time to get away from the ship. Liberty
was just a short leave like one day and most of the time we had
to be back to the ship by dark. In places like New York City, San
Diego, Norfolk, San Francisco and other large ports, we could stay
out until 7am the next morning. Besides hitting bars and visiting
brothels, other amusements depended on the port. For instance, in
New York you could go to movies, attend Broadway shows, go to Coney
Island, go sight seeing, and eat at restaurants. You could go to
the YMCA and you could have a locker there. They had stuff like
Ping-Pong, pool, cards, showers, and a barber where you could have
your hair cut the way you liked it. New York was a good place to
meet nice girls as was Boston, San Diego, and San Francisco, but
not Norfolk or Honolulu. In Pearl, you could stay in the Navy Yard
rather than catching the bus into Honolulu. The yard had movies
and bowling and a place to eat. Some cities welcomed sailors and
some didn't.
Once
we were in the South Pacific, the only real liberty town was Honolulu.
In order to stay overnight, you had to put in for a special request
that had to include where you were staying and the division officer
had to approve it. The ship had to know how to get in touch with
you during the night in case of emergency. There was a house in
Honolulu we called 'The Happy Hotel' that consisted of a bunch of
cots in this guy's basement located on ground level. The house itself
was on stilts. It was a pretty nice place. It had a large front
porch where we could sit out at night and get harassed by passersby.
He charged about $3.00 which was a lot of money back then.
Everyone
was entitled to 30 days leave each year, but once the ship arrived
in the South Pacific in July 1942, no one received much of a leave
unless it was an emergency or until the ship returned for a major
overhaul in Bremerton, Washington State for a couple of months in
the summer of 1944. One half of the ship at a time received 30 days
leave. Many weddings took place at this point including mine and
my new wife came back to Bremerton to stay until the ship left.
The Navy had some housing called Port Orchard for married people.
These flat-roofed three-bungalow units were tiny and consisted of
two rooms. The front room was a kitchen/seating area and the bedroom
was in back along with a single bathroom. A wood stove provided
heat and they dumped the wood in the street and you had to chop
your own supply. Our unit housed all couples from the NORTH CAROLINA.
While we were there, my wife threw me a birthday party. I managed
to have both a port and starboard liberty card so I could stay with
my wife most nights. Don't know how I did it without getting caught.
One time I went ashore with a temperature of 102 degrees and my
wife sent me to the doctor in Port Orchard. I didn't dare report
to sick bay for fear they'd keep me on the ship."
- Paul
A. Wieser
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