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Nimitz Education and Research Center National Museum of the Pacific War Nimitz Education and Research Center Fredericksburg, Texas Interview with Mr. Clyde Day Date of Interview: February 8, 2017 1 National Museum of the Pacific War Fredericksburg, Texas Interview with Mr. Clyde Day Interview in progress. Ed Metzler: This is Ed Metzler. Today is the 8th of February, 2017. I am interviewing Mr. Clyde Day at his home in Kerrville, Texas. This interview is in support of the Nimitz Education and Research Center Archives for the National Museum of the Pacific War, Texas Historical Commission, for the preservation of historical information related to this site. So, let me start, Clyde, by thanking you for spending the time with me today to describe what happened ... seventy, seventy-five plus years ago, and I’d like to start by having you introduce yourself with your full name, date and place of birth, and then we’ll take it from there. Mr. Day: Uh, my name is Clyde Wickliffe Day, W-i-c-k-l-i-f-f-e. Uh, I’m ... I was born in Texas on a farm in Hunt County up near Farmersville, and on ... August the 11th, 1920. This ... the time that we spent on the farm was good; it ... kind of gave me perspective in life that I’ve always appreciated since that particular time. Ed Metzler: That’s a good culture to get ... to get exposed to early in your life. Mr. Day: Yeah. Ed Metzler: Now, what ... your father was ... a farmer? Was he all of his life or ... Mr. Day: My father ... Father was a farmer ... all of his life; he died when I was ... two years old. I never knew him; I was raised by my mother. She had eight ... she gave birth to eight children, two of which died at or near birth, and one was killed on a farm accident when he was thirteen years old. Ed Metzler: Uhm! 2 Mr. Day: So, I ... I was raised on a farm and eventually moved to a small town, Floyd, when I got to high school years. And I got ... got my ... this is back in the days when the education system in Texas consisted of eleven grades. Ed Metzler: Now, were you the youngest of the siblings? Mr. Day: I was the ... yeah, I was the youngest, yes. I was ... well, as I say, I was two years older than ... Ed Metzler: Uh hum. Mr. Day: ... when ... when he died. Ed Metzler: So, you were the baby of the family? Mr. Day: Oh yeah! Ed Metzler: How did your mother make ends meet after your father passed? Mr. Day: We had a small farm, and ... the boy, the old ... older boys are big enough to run ... to drive the mules, and we farmed. Uh, we had ... Ed Metzler: Cotton? Mr. Day: Uh, cotton, oats; that’s not a wheat country ... oats and corn. And cotton was the staple, the ... the others were to feed the mules and the ... Ed Metzler: So, you went to high school in ... (bird sounds in the background) ... in Floyd? Mr. Day: Yes. Ed Metzler: And graduated after ... the eleventh grade? Mr. Day: Yeah. My family ... was ... an institution up there because all of the children, except for one, were salut ... for ... valedictorians of their classes. I was valedictorian, uh, my ... brother just older than me was the black sheep of the family; he was salutatorian. Ed Metzler: Oh, he was ... he was the laggard, huh? (laughter) Mr. Day: But he ... but when he went to college, he’s the one that made the good grades (laughter). Ed Metzler: Well, that ... I bet there’s a story behind that, too, but we’ll get to that. Uhm, so let’s see, if you were born in ’20, you probably got out of high school when ... in like ’37 or ’38. Mr. Day: ’37. Ed Metzler: Uh huh. 3 Mr. Day: And I went to ... Wesley Junior College in Greenville, Texas which was a Methodist supported school the last year of it’s existence, and from there I went to the University of Texas, enrolled in uh, chemical engineering and graduated and on June of 1942 ... which was aft ... I was in a Navy program which was a kind of a correspondence thing; it had nothing to do with the University of Texas. I was ... I ranked in the Navy from June 30, 1941 ... that’s when I got ... for ... first ... I got ... got ... that’s when I got my Ensign. And we ... we had ... we went through college, and ... I went into the service, officially, I went on active duty, and on June 30 of 1942, I went to Cornell for some ... indoctrination and training followed by schools in Washington D.C. at the Naval Gun Factory as so called at that time, later called the Navy ... Washington Navy Yard. And ... after graduating from those schools, I was assigned to the USS Boston on the 1st of January of 1943. Ed Metzler: Well let me ask you a few questions as we pass through. Uhm, where did you do basic training or did you? Mr. Day: Uh, Cornell. Ed Metzler: And that was the Cornell stop? Mr. Day: Yes, that was the Cornell spot. Ed Metzler: It’s cold up there! Mr. Day: Uhm, I was up there in ... the summertime. Ed Metzler: Okay (chuckles), you lucked out on that! Mr. Day: But I went to Washington D.C. in the ... Ed Metzler: In the winter. Mr. Day: ... immediately ... immediately after that, and it was pretty cold and lots of snow. Ed Metzler: So, why did you chose the Navy or did the Navy chose you? Mr. Day: I had the opportunity to get into a Navy program which looked interesting, and I ... I did it. Ed Metzler: Uh hum, uh hum. Mr. Day: Don’t know any other reason. Ed Metzler: Yeah. Where were you on December the 7th, 1941? 4 Mr. Day: I was studying ... uh, for examinations at the University of Texas in my room. Ed Metzler: (Laughter), I know that feeling. And ... so, what ... you heard somebody run in and say, “Pearl Harbor’s been attacked,” or were you listening to the radio or what? Mr. Day: Uh, we probably had a radio on somewhere around there. Ed Metzler: Uh hum. Mr. Day: And ... several chemical engineering students ... had rented a house, and we had ... the lady lived there, but we had most of the house, and it was a good situation. And ... but it ... we didn’t get much studying done. I had visions of being immediately called up for service, and so on and ... they said, “Look fellows, just settle down, get your degree, we’ll call you when we need you.” (laughter). And that’s what they did! Ed Metzler: Because ... when you have the degree, then ... you’re an officer when you go in or can be. Mr. Day: Well, I was ... I was an officer at ... Ed Metzler: Already?! Mr. Day: ... at that particular time. Ed Metzler: Yeah, you were already an Ensign, man! Mr. Day: (Unintelligible). Ed Metzler: Man, that was ... Mr. Day: My ... my serial number is a hundred and ten, four thirty-one. Ed Metzler: (Laughter). Mr. Day: And that is an old ... serial number (laughter). That goes back ... that goes back to 1941. Ed Metzler: Uhm. Now, you talked about ... school, uh, at the Washington Naval Yard or the ... I guess the Naval Gunnery ... location. What kind of training was that, describe that to me. Mr. Day: We ... we had ... training on armament; we learned how to ... disassemble, uh, guns up through the one point one, and we had access to the Navy Yard where they were manufacturing weapons; we were shown the details of ... how the big guns were manufactured; we’re ... we watched ... the ... the liner being put in a 5 sixteen inch ... uh, Navy ... rifle, and it ... it’s a wonderful things because it was a vertical furnace, and they put that ... big block of exterior in it or, no, the ... uh, the bridge block of a sixteen inch is probably at least six feet tall; I mean, it’s big! Ed Metzler: (Chuckles) Mr. Day: And ... they heated it for ... days until it got to an exact temperature; they rated ... they chilled ... the ... liner in a ... in a vertical thing over here, and they got it chilled and that was ... the other one hot and they ... and they’d pick it up with cranes, and I watch them do it! And it ... slow, it was steps ... in other words, the exterior wasn’t ... one ... diameter; it was ... uh, big here and got a little ... like so. Ed Metzler: So, it was tapered, huh? Mr. Day: It was ... it’s ... a little section, tapered sections. And when it dropped in there, it went ... clunk, and that was it! It was ... it was in. Ed Metzler: It was in! Mr. Day: It was ... it was solid. And ... Ed Metzler: And you let ... the temperature ... handle the rest of it? Mr. Day: Yeah, right. Ed Metzler: So, that was a ... a ... Mr. Day: So anyway, we had all sorts of ... we had classroom work in which we talked about ... uh, I went to a Nav ... uh, Gunnery Fire Control School in association with that, and that’s where I ended up onboard ship; I was a ... at the end of the war, I was the ... Gunnery Fire Control Officer ... of the ... of the Boston. And ... it was a ... Gunnery Fire Control does not mean that we fired the guns.
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