The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
PAGE 14
have a lot to do other than just be one of the fellows.
Mr. Nichols:
Mr. Kenney:
Mr. Nichols:
Mr. Kenney:
Mr. Nichols:
Mr. Kenney:
SIDE TWO:
Mr. Kenney:
Was there a physician, or a corpsman on board in case you-----?
There was a purser. All he had was aspirin and band aids and things like that.
A first aid kit?
Yeah. We didn't have any services like that. We just had one Naval officer. I didn't tell you but,
the first time I went out, I went over to get on this ship and they put me on there. I went up on
the bridge and the captain, I introduced myself and he asked me what I was doing. I told him I
was your signalman on the ship and he said, "No. You're not going to be the signalman on my
ship." Now, he was Merchant Marine. So I said, "OK.' and went on back down and told the
officer, "Well, we have a little problem here. The captain said I can't be the signalman on the
ship." He said, "Well, come with me." So we went back up there and he told the captain, he
said, "Now this is Navy and he's going to be the signalman. The other signal man is gone on
leave." The Captain said, "You stay. But, you stay up here to be sure he does it right." That's,
kind of, one of the stories I had that was unusual, to go on a ship they assign you and then they
tell you they don't want you. I was the only signalman on there, you know? It was interesting.
Do you have anything else to add? Would your wife like to prompt you on anything?
I think one of the funniest stories I had with halyard on the main mast for the flag. You know,
we didn't fly an American flag when were going back and forth. But, we had the halyard for it
in case we needed to. The officer told me, he said, "The halyard on the main mast is down and
you need to replace that." I said, "OK." I didn't think too much about it and then, in the
afternoon, he said, "Did you replace that halyard, " I said, "Not yet." He said, "I want that
thing replaced. I said, "OK." I went down and got a roll of signal halyard and, I don't know if
you know how a signal halyard is but, it opens up in the middle and, kind of like one of these
Chinese fingers, you can put it on and pull it tight and it gets tighter. I went over there and I got
me one of my buddies, one of the gunners, and said, " I need you to help me." and he
said,"OK." I said, "Now, what ever you do, don't let this roll of signal halyard go overboard,
because we are going to really be in a problem. I'm going to take it up there and put it through
the hook up there on the jack."
Now, I'm not a airplane person, or anything, so I chucked it in my belt and I started up
that mast and I got up pretty high. Of course, the ladder decreases down in size according to
how the mast gets smaller as you go up. It was a metal ladder. (Side One ends).
When I was standing on the deck, the jack didn't look very long but, when I got up there, it was
like ten foot out and it had a cable going down to it. So, the pulley was out on here, so I had to
go on up the other ten foot and get that cable and pull that jack over to the mast and put the line
through it and let it back down again. I had to feed it out and I tied it back in my belt and then
I started back down. I got back down to the deck and I fixed it off at the snaps and things on it.
I've always said, "I'll bet if you went to that ship in mothball somewhere and found it, you