You're in the Navy Now: Oct 1942 - Jul 1943

Elwood Edward Bradish (1921-2018)

father

 

During an interview on January 3, 2015, for the "Defenders of Freedom Project," sponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York, my father was asked if he remembered what he was doing on Sunday, December 7, 1941, when he heard Pearl Harbor had been attacked. He didn’t even hesitate. He said he was playing basketball with a friend in Clymer, a small town near Jamestown. Like most people, he remembered exactly where he was and what he was doing when he heard the news.

 

 

 

Left: Build for your Navy! Enlist! Carpenters, machinists, electricians etc. by Robert Muchley, ca. 1941-1943. (Library of Congress)

 

 

 

 

Dad was just twenty years old at the time but he had to know his life was going to change as a result of the attack. And so it did. Within three weeks, Congress had amended the Selective Service Act to require all able-bodied men, aged 18 to 64, to register with their local draft boards. Dad registered in Jamestown on February 15, 1942, as required.  

 

The front and back of Dad's Draft Registration Card. (Ancestry.com)

 

With the United States fighting on two fronts – alongside the Allies in Europe and against the Japanese in the Pacific – the need for troops increased rapidly. As the months wore on, Dad and his lifelong friend, Kenny Fisher, felt “the draft was closing in” on them. As draftees they would be assigned to the Army or Marines. Instead of waiting for the military to make the choice, they went to Buffalo, New York together on October 6, 1942, and enlisted in the Navy. Just a week later, they were in boot camp at Naval Training Station (NTS) Great Lakes in Illinois, about twenty-five miles north of Chicago.

The Naval Training Center is located on the shore of Lake Michigan. [1949] (Fold3 Military Yearbooks)

 

 

Left: A Recruit barracks in 1949 at NTS Great Lakes. (Fold3 Military Yearbooks)

 

 

 

 

 

 Upon arrival, recruits were inoculated, issued a sea bag, uniforms, sleeping gear, and The Bluejacket’s Manual, the ultimate guide to Naval procedures regarding equipment, duties, flags, jargon, and anything else a seaman would need to know. They also learned the regulation way to roll their uniforms, mattresses, sleeping gear, and hammocks to minimize wrinkles and take up the least amount of space in a sea bag. 

 

Right: US sailors at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station standing behind rolled out sea bags and awaiting inspection, by Bernard Hoffman, 1940. Life magazine. (Google Arts and Culture)

A rigorous physical training program was overseen by each company’s Chief Petty Officer who shouted orders and insults alike, just like the Army’s notorious drill sergeants. Occasionally, Dad enjoyed sharing one particular boot camp experience with us. Every now and then he rousted us out of bed in the morning by loudly imitating a bugle playing reveille, immediately followed by him shouting, “Up and at ‘em, hit the deck!” When we came stumbling out of our rooms, we were greeted by Dad standing at the bottom of the stairs with a big, mischievous grin on his face. Being quite the rascal, he really got a kick out of doing that. 

 

– A DIFFERENT TYPE OF AIRCRAFT CARRIER –

During Dad’s time in boot camp, it is quite likely he was witness to something unique to NTS Great Lakes that helped the U.S. win World War II. The Navy utilized the station’s location on Lake Michigan for the advanced training of naval aviators in safe aircraft carrier takeoffs and landings. The reason? Had pilots and crews been trained on the oceans, they would have been in serious jeopardy due to the threat of enemy submarines which frequented our shores and torpedoed ships. To accomplish this training without removing any carriers from active duty, the Navy purchased two Great Lakes coal-burning, side-paddle wheel, pleasure cruise ships in 1942, and had them refitted for use as aircraft carriers, minus hangar decks and weaponry.

The refitted ships, USS Wolverine and USS Sable, were lower to the water and somewhat shorter than ocean-going aircraft carriers. Also, conditions on the open ocean, such as waves and currents, could not be exactly duplicated on Lake Michigan. Despite the differences, the carriers and the lake served the purpose. If pilots could take off and land on these smaller carriers, they would be well-prepared for a full-size carrier. (Defense Media Network)

 

Training sessions on USS Wolverine began on Lake Michigan in September 1942; Dad arrived at Great Lakes a year later. It’s possible my father was able to see some of these training exercises from afar, but most certainly he was aware of them, since the USS Wolverine and USS Sable were docked at Navy Pier in Chicago when they were not being used for training.

 

USS Wolverine (IX-64) at Buffalo, New York in early 1942 just after completion. At left is the stern of SS Greater Buffalo just beginning its conversion to USS Sable (IX-81). (Naval History and Heritage Command)

USS Sable in West Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan in August 1943. (Wikimedia Commons)

– GRADUATION –

 

Boot camp was over by the end of November. This picture of Company 1615 is, in all probability, my father’s boot camp graduation picture. The photo is dated December 1, 1942, which corresponds to the time Dad would have completed his training at Great Lakes. Unfortunately, the men’s faces are so washed out it’s difficult to discern facial features on many of them. But after viewing the picture on my 17” laptop, then enlarging and darkening it, using a magnifying glass, and comparing it to other pictures of my Dad when he was about the same age, I’m quite certain my 21-year-old father is the third man from the left in the back row.

Company 1615: Dad’s company graduation picture dated December 1, 1942, U.S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, IL. (Fold3 Military Yearbooks Project)

Once basic training at NTS Great Lakes was complete, sailors were selected for various schools based on the results of screenings for aptitude, abilities, and fitness. These intense specialty training programs were usually three months long.

Dad sometimes recalled a test where he was required to identify all types of U.S. and Japanese aircraft from any angle in just an instant – an essential skill in a war zone. I can still conjure up the image I created in my mind. I envisioned Dad alone in the middle of a darkened room, sitting on a tall stool, with images of various aircraft flashing onto a screen in rapid succession. In reality, there was probably a slide projector being used to test a group of sailors on this crucial skill. I remember him telling me he did well.

Dad often recounted how his high test scores, good day and night vision, and excellent physical condition had qualified him for Naval Aviator School. But one thing kept him from going – he was missing two molars, making him two teeth shy of the required number to be accepted. To my father, the most ironic and upsetting part was that a Navy dentist had pulled the teeth. I don’t recall Dad telling me why.

 

– SPECIALIZED TRAINING –

 

My father’s next stop was his first duty station at NTS Dearborn in Michigan at the Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge plant. It was there he completed Aviation Machinist’s Mate School. 

Dad would have stayed in these barracks in Dearborn, along with up to 900 other sailors. (Detriot News Blogs, 1 May 2004).

"Recruits sleeping in cots." U.S. Navy (Wikipedia)

Interior of the tool and die building, Ford River Rouge Plant, Dearborn, Michigan.
(Library of Congress)

      

 

My father (right) with his lifelong friend, Kenny Fisher. The photo is dated March 13, 1943. (The Elwood Bradish Collection)

 

Given that Dad has an AMM patch on his left sleeve, this was probably taken in Dearborn, Michigan after he finished Aviation Machinist’s Mate school. Kenny might have been in that school, as well, although there were many different schools at the Dearborn facility. 

 

 

Rt: Enlarged photo of Dad's patch.

 

Notice the comb in Dad's left pocket. I can still picture him giving his hair a quick comb-through. He always had to keep that wave at the front in line.

– JOIN THE NAVY - SEE THE WORLD –

 

After Dad finished AMM School in Dearborn in March 1943, he was sent to Naval Air Station (NAS) Norfolk in Virginia, home of the Atlantic Fleet Air Base. This was probably a temporary duty assignment since it isn’t listed on his separation papers. 

 

Part of Dad's training there could have included working on Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines manufactured at the Ford River Rouge plant where he attended AMM school. The engines were used in Martin B-26 Marauders, the plane chosen for a photographic training squadron (Fleet Air Photographic Reconnaissance VD-2) that began operations at the Norfolk base near the end of 1942.

 

By the  end of the war the Martin B-26 Marauder was considered the most survivable aircraft to fly in combat. (Wikimedia Commons)

 

Dad left NAS Norfolk when he was transferred to his next duty station, Advanced Base Aviation Training Unit NAAS (Naval Auxiliary Air Station), Ellyson Field in Pensacola, Florida. This naval station provided flight training for naval air units, and was also home to several schools, including the Navy’s four-week Aviation Machinist’s Mate Class A School.

While Dad was at Ellyson Field, he got further training and hands-on experience servicing different engines in the fighters and bombers that were used at the base. In his 2015 interview, Dad specifically mentioned the Pratt & Whitney R-2800, 2000 hp engines. He was quite impressed by their power. The R-2800 was used on several different planes, but one in particular – the Grumman F6F Hellcat, a carrier-based plane and naval pilots’ plane of choice for carrier takeoffs and landings – was often used in aviator training at Ellyson Field. 

 

Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida (Google Maps)

 

 

 

An F6F-3 Hellcat in flight near NAS Patuxent River, Maryland in February 1944.

(Wikimedia Commons)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From NAAS Pensacola, my father was transferred to New Orleans. It was the first of three transfers that occurred in a few short months. From New Orleans he went to San Francisco. Both must have been temporary duty assignments because, like Norfolk, they are not listed on his separation notice. Dad never said anything about his time in New Orleans that I recall, but he did tell me when he was in San Francisco he was on Shore Patrol for a short time in a rough area on the waterfront.

 

Sections 21, 22, and 24 from Dad’s Notice of Separation from U.S. Naval Service, dated October 23, 1945, are shown below.

 

(Image from Bradish Notice of Separation)

   §21 Ratings* Held:

     a/s = apprentice seaman

     S2c = seaman 2^nd class

     AMM = Aviation Machinist’s Mate 

     3^rd, 2^nd, & 1^st class, 

     (T) = terminal the highest rating

 

   §24 Vessels and Stations Served On:

     This shows Dad’s duty stations 

     during his three years in the Navy.

 

  

 *Rating is the term the Navy uses for “military occupation specialty,” the Army's terminology.

 

The third and final transfer from San Francisco back to New Orleans happened around the third week of July 1943. It was a serious move. In a few short days Dad would be on his way to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii straight into the Pacific Theater of World War II. 

 

 

 – Family photos from The Elwood Bradish Collection held by Jodell Bradish.

 

NEXT: Adventure on the High Seas

 

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– NOTES –

 

~ From the Notice of Separation: Dad’s duty station in Hawaii was CASU #38 at Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station.

 

~ CASU = Carrier Aircraft Support Unit

 

~ Kaneohe is pronounced cä – nay – oh’ – hay. [ ä is pronounced as the o in cot ]

   

~ Dad was stationed at U.S. Naval Air Station Bunker Hill, Indiana when he returned from

   Hawaii. 

 

~ More on Kaneohe Bay and Bunker Hill Naval Air Stations in future posts.

 

 

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– DIG A LITTLE DEEPER –

 

~ Paddle Wheel Flattops of the Great Lakes is an interesting article with lots of photos of planes taking off, landing, and not quite hitting the mark during training.  

 

~ Navy's Historic Aircraft Wrecks in Lake Michigan  

 

~ World War II Aircraft Lost in the Great Lakes  

 

 

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Bradish-Scott Family History – July 2021