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WW II Memories
By Kris Fresonke
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Don McKinney
A seaman has a near miss in the Philippines.
"It was the last year of the war and I had just been assigned as a deck officer aboard the USS Alcyone. Another deck officer named Allison came on board at about the same time. I had the eight-to-midnight watch; when it was over I went straight to my bunk. I got up about 7:15 and headed to the wardroom for coffee. On the way I passed several men and one of them did a double take when he saw me. He said he had heard I was dead.
"It turned out that the captain had ordered a patrol boat the night before, and assigned me to take charge. The executive officer pointed out that I'd just gotten off my watch, so they sent Allison instead. The boat ran into a small Japanese patrol craft and had opened fire. The Japanese fired back and Allison was killed.
"I never really knew the man but I've never forgotten his name."
Frederick E. Brunner
An unexpected sight in the Coral Sea.
"As a new Ensign, I was assigned to the HMS Victorious, a carrier borrowed from the British fleet.
"We patrolled the Coral Sea to protect our forces, which had just captured Guadalcanal after an epic six-month battle. A large Japanese fleet was based a few hundred miles north of us at Rabaul, and General MacArthur had broadcast a message from Australia daring that fleet to come out and fight.
"Under such circumstances, you can imagine my surprise upon returning to the cabin I shared with a young British officer to find clothesline criss-crossing the space with 24 ladies' silk stockings. My cabinmate awakened to explain that the crew had been given such hard-to-get items by Americans, and that his fiancee advised washing the stockings every two weeks to prevent their rotting in the humidity of the Coral Sea."
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