Kilroy Page 2

Story Number 1;

In May 1945 I enlisted in the USNR and was slated to go to Blimp Pilot School in Detroit. Ten days before I was to report to Detroit I was notified that they didn't need any more Blimp pilots. I was reassigned to Great Lakes Training Center for Boot camp. I graduated from Great Lakes 12 week boot camp on V J Day 1945.

Great!, the war was over and I had a 10 Day leave. I was 18 years old going through Chicago to catch my train to Ohio in dress blues. Pandemonium of a great time. Everyone had a bottle and shared. They wined and dinned us. When I finally got home the next day, my dad didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He managed a war plant and the cancellations were coming in by the car load. He'd saved up his A card gas stamps so I could go visit people and gas rationing was terminated. Returning to the Lakes after the leave, I was sent to Treasure Island, San Francisco for assignment to sea duty.

We were put on a draft for Bremerton, Washington shipyard. There we picked up a new destroyer, the Richard B. Anderson DD 786. We took the ship to San Diego for the six week shake down cruise. Most of our skeleton crew were green with the exception of some of the Petty officers. The skipper and a couple of the JGs were experienced, but the exec and junior officers were as green as I was.

We were swinging on a buoy in San Diego harbor. The ship needed a few touch ups before the Navy could accept it. One thing that was needed was painting the area around the anchor berth. As part of the deck crew I got to chip a lot of paint. One day, while I was chipping deck paint, the 2nd class boson was over the side painting the anchor berth in a boson chair. The first class boson was tending the lines. He said to me "Here Schneider, tend these lines for boats while I go to the head." All went well until the boson over the side asked to be lowered a couple feet. Of course the lines got away from me and I heard a yell and a splash. There was some salty language and a threat of death as he surfaced. He climbed aboard after swimming to the gangway still dripping water and gray paint. He chased me around the main deck a couple times before I ducked into the potato locker amidships to hide. I stayed there for a couple hours before I thought it was safe to come out. The Chief Bosons Mate thought it was the funniest thing that had ever happened. The boson who got dunked had to swallow it. You can bet when a dirty job came up in the forward deck crew, I was elected.

Number 2

After the shake down and the Navy accepted the ship, we stayed near San Diego doing chase patrols on baby carriers during their flight training. We also did training runs with sister ships, gunnery practice to get all of us trained to be a fighting ship.

On one training we were to fire dummy torpedoes at the sister ship and they at us. Both were firing at the others wake at full 30 knots. I was pointer in mount 2 ( pointer cranks the guns up and down to get them so automatic fire control could take over aiming.) You got instructions over the sound powered headset from the bridge. Two of the sister ships torpedoes were converging on our bow due to torpedo malfunction. The skipper was able to maneuver and miss one but the other came into the ship just below waterline at mount two. Of course over the phones we were hearing, 50 yards off the port bow, 40 yards, 20 yards, it's going to hit! Then clunk and the sound of water splashing. I was first down the ladder below the mount and water was splashing around the top of the hatch to the ammo elevator room so I was dogging the hatch down when one of the green Lieutenants came down behind me and said "OK sailor let's get in there and see what damage we have." I turned around and handed him the dog wrench and said "Yes sir, right behind you." He saw the folly of his order and backed off.

We were lucky the torpedo penetrated 5 feet at the elevator magazine hatch opening and the men had evacuated when the torpedo was at the 50 yard distance as ordered. If that torpedo had hit the powder cans, I and all of mount 2 crew would have had our trip to the moon. It is a distinction however, of being one of the only crews who were torpedoed inside the three mile territorial limit of the United States. We carried ammo all night from the forward compartments to the stern to raise the hole up out of the water so the mechanics could weld on a patch.

Number 3;

Our ship and four sister ships were tied side by side at a buoy in San Diego harbor for a weekend. By this time I had been promoted to Seaman 1st class and since the ship was undermanned Seamen firsts were standing quarter deck watches. I had the midnight watch. I was awakened to go on watch and dressed and stumbled up on deck half asleep. The retiring deck watch seaman handed me the piece and the belt. I pointed it at the black sky and thought I looked through to be sure there wasn't a round in the chamber and let the slide go. Well there was a round in the chamber and it fired into a really silent night. I never saw so many brass so fast. I guess all officers of all five destroyers were on deck within one minute. They all chewed me a new one that night. I was of course "on report" and lost a month of weekend passes.