First-Person Account Written by the Late Captain Albert J
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Memoir of Captain Albert J. Pelletier, USN (Ret.) By Captain Albert J. Pelletier, USN (Ret.) On the first of September, 1968, I retired from the United States Navy with the rank of captain, after 36 and one-half years of service. It all started back on January 29, 1914, when I was born in Superior, Wisconsin. I grew up in the little suburb of Allouez, whose claim to fame was the Great Northern Railway's ore docks, where the rich iron ore of the Mesabi Range was transferred from rail to boat for its shipment to eastern iron mills. My dad was a switchman on the docks and, as such, received annual passes for travel on the Great Northern system. While I was a junior in high school, he took me with him on a visit to his sister's home in Seattle, Washington. While there we went to Bremerton and visited one of the Navy's battleships. The die was cast with that visit. I wanted to be a sailor and see the world. I graduated from high school in June of 1931 and got a job as a handyman in the Pontiac Garage. I worked six days a week for the tidy sum of $8.00. I knew that this wasn't for me, and I kept thinking of those friendly sailors I had met the year before. One day, while picking up parts in Duluth, Minnesota, I passed the Navy recruiting office. I went in and made inquiries. In the midst of the Depression, the lines were long and the "kiddie cruise" had been abandoned. The "kiddie cruise" was for boys between 17 and 18 and lasted until they reached the age of 21. In my case the enlistment would have been a few months more than three years, and the recruiter told me to come back when I was 18. I put in my application without much hope. However, I guess the recruiter liked me, because he checked me out. When he checked with the garage, my days there were numbered. They gave me a good recommendation but informed me they were looking for someone who would be around for a while. I was unemployed once more. On the eighth of March of 1932 I was accepted for enlistment. The morning of the eighth I caught the train for Minneapolis. In Duluth two other young fellows, Sholund and Burland, came aboard, also bound for the recruit center in Minneapolis. Lennart Sholund and I became fast friends and kept in touch. However, we lost touch with Burland after a few years. At Minneapolis we were given a physical examination, signed some papers, and were sworn into the Navy. Then it was on to the recruit training center at Great Lakes, Illinois. We caught a train departing Minneapolis at 2100 for an all-night ride, wondering just what the morning would bring. It turned out to be the start of a wonderful life, one that I would do over again in exactly the same way. Chapter 1 Boot Camp It was my first ride in a Pullman car; I guess I slept, but I just can't remember. We arrived at Great Lakes at 0630, 9 March 1932 and were marched, if you can call it that, to an isolation center called Camp Barry. We were issued our first uniforms: a suit of undress blues, underwear, socks, and a white hat. They also issued us our hammock, bedding, and a ditty bag containing toilet articles. Next we were taught how to stencil our belongings, roll our clothes for storage in our seabags, rig our hammocks, and a few other essentials we needed to know for survival. That night, my first sleeping in a hammock, will live long in memory. I fell out four times. Fortunately, the hammock was only four feet above the deck--the new name we learned for a floor--so no damage was done except to my ego. The following day each of us was issued the remainder of his uniforms: one dress blue jumper, another pair of blue trousers, two pairs of shoes, one pair of rubbers, four pair of socks, three handkerchiefs, four suits of underwear, three suits of undress whites, one suit of dress whites, two more white hats, one blue flat hat, one watch cap, one jersey, and a pair of swimming trunks. We were formed into Recruit Company 19 and informed that we would be in quarantine for about three and one-half weeks and could look forward to frequent inoculations. We got the first of those pronto. We were also issued some old rifles and told that we would start training in the morning. Our company commander was a chief gunner's mate named Volpe, and he let us know that we could call him "Sir" and would be expected to salute him every time we saw him. He had gold hash marks up to his shoulder and a gold rating badge on his right arm. We had never seen that much gold before, so we assumed that he was some sort of an admiral or more. Up to this time, the only officer we had seen was the one at the recruiting center in Minneapolis. He had sworn us into the Navy, but we didn't pay too much attention to insignia then. Of course, we soon found out differently about our chief. He was much more than an admiral; he was God! Our day started at 0530 and ended at 2200, when we went to bed. Seven and one-half hours of that day were devoted to training. The rest of the time we ate, read, or scrubbed our clothes. After the first night I never again fell out of the hammock and rather enjoyed sleeping in one. Of course, in the beginning I was sort of homesick, but the busy schedule alleviated that. On Saturday night we had sound movies, and on Sunday night other entertainment. We were also expected to attend church services on Sunday mornings. When it snowed, we had to drill indoors, and about all we could do indoors was practice the manual of arms. During our stay, we got a total of three series of shots. As I remember, the food was good, and there was plenty of it. The pay was $21.00 a month, and we were paid on the first and the 15th. However, they paid us only $5.00 on those days, saving the rest so that we could go on leave after graduation. My first payday was only $1.65; the rest of the $5.00 was for a haircut and toilet articles. I wasn't getting rich, but I had much more to look forward to than I would have had if I stayed with the garage. And I was enjoying myself. Finally, on April 2, 1932, we left Camp Barry and moved over to Camp Paul Jones. Here life was more pleasant. We had a Hostess House, where we could lounge around, write letters, and read books and magazines; it was a regular home to us. We could even have visitors, and my relatives from Milwaukee came down one weekend to cheer me up. We also had movies twice a week, and there was a dandy swimming pool and a big gym. However, drilling intensified. You see, we would be included in the graduation parades in only a few more weeks, so we had to work extra hard to get ready. Our company commander wanted us to be the best, and he demanded that from us. We were also allowed liberty on three weekends out of four. On the fourth weekend we stood watches. The hammocks were moved up another two feet. Now they were six feet off the deck, but I was used to them and had no more falls. Training included much more than marching, for we also learned to shoot a rifle, row a boat Navy style, signal with signal flags, tie knots, and many other things the Navy thought we ought to know. We first shot .22 rifles indoors, where safety was emphasized. Then off to the rifle range to shoot the .30-.30s. We shot 15 rounds--five prone, five sitting, and five rapid fire. We had 30 seconds to shoot the rapid fire. I remember that it sounded like a war. Later, to qualify for marksman, we shot 30 rounds, ten in each position, and had to score 120 points. My first try netted me 105. At a later attempt I managed to score 121, and so I became a real live marksman, entitled to wear a patch on my right arm. I was one proud kid. Now the emphasis changed to winning the rooster. The company that scored the highest number of points in competition won the rooster for two weeks. Everything counted: infantry drill, seabag inspection, physical exercise, military bearing, barracks cleanliness, and general- information questions. We didn't win on our first try, but by the time Company 16 graduated, we had the rooster. We were the best company in the parade and were riding high. Our graduation was set for June 8; only three more parades, and it would be over. Company 17 graduated; only one more before us now. Then we took our trade-school exams the next day. As my hobby at home had been making crystal radio sets, I thought that radioman would be the place for me, and so did Chief Volpe. I scored high enough to win a slot in radio school, but I would have to take another test after I got there.