The Sentinel, The great Man I Never Got To Know Part 1 210320

      This picture is Joyce's mom and dad before they were married.

      I am writing about Joyce’s father Larry. His mother died when he was a young child and his father put Larry and his sister in an orphan’s home. Larry and my grandfather were both raised in an orphanage and both were better family men than most other men.

      Larry’s orphanage was on a farm and he grew up as a farmer. When he was old enough to leave, he went to work on another farm. World War-2 began and Larry enlisted in the navy in October of 1942. He had never been out of his home state prior to that. He was trained as a diesel mechanic after navy boot camp, so the navy put him to work on the USS Brownson as a water tender/fireman (what is now called a boiler tender.) He was a plank holder on the Brownson (that translates as a member of the first crew to serve aboard the ship.) He traveled to the Caribbean on the ship's shakedown cruise. Then the ship went to the African coast to assist in the invasion of north Africa. Next was to the waters off the Aleutian islands. That was a shock to go from warm, sunny seas to dark, frigid conditions, but that is what the navy does at times. (I remember going from the Philippines 90 plus degrees in December to Japan 30 degrees in roughly 3 days.) The Brownson left the Aleutians and headed for the south Pacific. Larry was initiated into Neptune’s realm as the ship crossed the equator. Becoming a shellback comes with a harsh initiation which a civilian would hardly believe back then. It is still done, but nowhere near the harsh, disgusting way it was.

      Later in the same year Brownson was in the battle of New Britain. The ship went to battle stations upon arrival. Brownson’s mission was part of a destroyer screen to fend off Japanese bombers so the Japanese could not bomb the marines and army troops landing on the beach there. That was where the Brownson was sunk by a direct hit from a 500 pound bomb. Larry was very lucky that day, despite the fact the ship was sunk. Because he was trained as a diesel mechanic, his battle station was in the auxiliary diesel steering room, the only diesel engine on the ship. Had he been in the boiler room (fire room) he would most likely have been killed when the 500 pound bomb exploded and nearly all those in that space died.

      Part 2 will follow.