of the hundreds lying in harbor, was on fire, probably struck by a kamikaze. Late in the evening the Tryon set out for Hollandia, New Guinea. After a couple days there, we were transferred to the 'SS Lurline,' which then set out for Brisbane, Australia. The ship was loaded with 3,000 service men, but my bunk space had overhead cover from the level above, which wasn't bad. We spent our time playing cards and telling sea stories when we weren't busy brewing alcohol by fermenting fruit juice in a glass bottle! In sickbay, the doctor who treated my leg scolded me, 'Young man, you better stay off that leg or you'll lose it!' I guess he was concerned about how the seawater had caused the injury to open, swell, and fester badly. But a month later, we arrived in San Francisco and it was still okay. I must say, though, after fifty-seven years, it does become a little bothersome at times. But after surviving the sinking of GQ Johnny, I've learned to live with it! Norman V. Chatfield Norman Chatfield saw action in the Atlantic Ocean Theater. On the home front, he attended school for electronics. He had convoy duty and submarine search in a PBY Squadron. He learned to overhaul, repair, install, flight test, etc., radar sonar communication equipment. John Junior Christiansen John attended Weber College prior to his induction into the Navy in 1944. He served until 1947. During WWII, he was assigned as a turret gunner on a Navy plane that patrolled off the coast of Puerto Rico, Cuba and the West Indies, searching for enemy subs. Jerry M. Clark_ Jerry attended Weber from 1939-1940 where he was in Excelsior and lettered in swimming. He served in the Navy from 1940-1945 in both the North Africa Campaign and in the South Pacific. A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was separated from the service with the rank of commander. Farrell R. Collett Farrell R. Collett, a well-known artist and faculty member at Weber, was a lieutenant commander in the Navy and served on a minesweeper in the Pacific. When they found he was an artist, he was assigned to the 12th Naval District as a training materials director. He developed and illustrated information for seamen who had no training or knowledge of warfare. William (Bill) L. Collins Bill attended Weber from 1940-1941 and again in 1950-1951. He was inducted into the Navy in September of 1942. He served for 22 months in the South Pacific, participating in the liberation of Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, New Hebrides Islands and in Manila in the Philippines. He also provided support for several hundred plane raids from Truk Island to Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands. The ship to which he was assigned was credited with shooting down three enemy attack airplanes. He was discharged with the rank of EM first class in September 1945. Ernest Clayton Cook Ernest served in the Navy during World War II as seaman second class. He also served as an assistant to three different chaplains. Ernest volunteered for the service in order to avoid the draft. If he hadn't, he would have no choice of where he would serve, and he preferred the Navy because he always said he would rather die at sea than in a foxhole. 148 He met his wife, Helen Mar Whitney Cook in Ogden and started going out on a few dates before he left for Farragut, Idaho, for training. He went from there to training in San Diego, California, as a gunner and from there he was assigned to the USS Sangamon from February 6, 1943, until October 27, 1945. He returned home on a survivor's leave shortly before Christmas and proposed to Helen. They were married on August 7, 1945, during another survivor's leave. USS Sangamon The USS Sangamon was part of the CVE (Air Craft Tanker Fleet). She had a 502' X 81' flight deck and a complement of 272 sailors. She was part of the Pacific fleet. She was hit by a kamikaze on May 4, 1945, at Kerama Retto resulting in 11 dead, 25 missing and 21 seriously injured crewmembers. She received eight battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. Ernest published a daily newspaper on board the Sangamon and wrote articles as well as writing letters to the family members of the sailors who were killed in battle. When the war ended, he went back to Norfolk to help decommission the ship, returning home in early October when he and Helen began their married life. Darwin Sanford Costley_ USS Santee Darwin served for three and one half years as a flight instructor in the Navy during World War II. He served for three months on the USS Santee aircraft carrier. He received six battle stars, the Distinguished flying Cross, the American Defense Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the Asiatic/Pacific Campaign medal with one star, and the Philippines Liberation Campaign ribbon. Stanley Kay Crockett Kay Crockett, Weber College class of '41, distinguished himself in an air battle over Rabaul in the South Pacific on November 5, 1944. He joined the Navy shortly after Pearl Harbor and completed flight training in Corpus Christi, Texas, before being assigned to an aircraft carrier as a fighter pilot for a Grumman Hellcat. On the morning of the fateful day, Lieutenant Crockett, along with two other Hellcats were flying cover for a dive bomber, a torpedo plane and another aircraft. Their mission was to photograph Japanese ships and fortifications in the small bay at Rabaul, New Guinea, and to gather important intelligence information. When the attack group arrived over the target area, they encountered heavy antiaircraft fire from the ground and were jumped by thirty Japanese Zero fighters. In the ensuing battle, one Hellcat was shot from the sky leaving Lt. Crockett and his wing man to continue the fight against vastly superior numbers. After a half hour battle, the Zeros withdrew and the remaining U.S. planes, all badly damaged, returned to the carrier from which they had been launched. Crockett had bullet wounds in the head, arm, shoulder, knee and leg, but succeeded in making a 'perfect' landing on the carrier after which he lost consciousness from the loss of blood. The photo plane also returned safely although the photographer was found dead over his camera from bullet wounds. The Associated Press published the photos nationwide that were taken on the mission. Crockett's Hellcat was found to have 250 bullet holes from the encounter, during which he was 149