I joined the Navy when I was 17 and after Boot Camp I went to torpedoman's school in New Port RI. After that I went to Sub School in New London CN. After Sub school I was assigned to a submarine relief crew on the Howard W. Gilmore. We were stationed in the Marshall Island. Our primary job was to assist in the repairs of subs coming in from patrol and to provide replacements for crewmembers. In January 1945 I was assigned to the USS Gato SS-212. We went on patrol in the Yellow Sea. It was a miserable patrol. The weather was bad during the whole time we were there. At one point I was almost left on the bridge when the boat dived from a Jap ship.

Fortunately I heard the other lookouts hit the deck when the officer of the deck cried "Dive Dive". During this patrol we sank two ships and I experienced my first depth charging. My second patrol is the one I have just recounted. Since this was a lifeguard patrol and we picked up ten airmen the patrol was considered a success. My third patrol and the Gato's 13th was off the Northern coast of Japan. We sank one ship and were in the process of making a run on a second ship when we received word to cease all hostilities. That ship never knew how close she came to being torpedoed.

After I left active duty, I went to college under the GI Bill and studied Civil Engineering. I also joined the Naval Reserve. After two years of college I applied for and received a Commission as Ensign. That was on May 1, 1950. The Korean War started the next month but since submarines were not needed for that war, I was never called to active duty. After 22 years I retired from the Navy.

After graduation from College I went to work for Texaco as an Engineer and retired in 1984 at the age of 58. For the next ten years I worked as a substitute teacher at our local high school. I was married in 1950 and had three sons all of who are married with children, six in total. My first wife died in 1996 after 46 years of marriage and I remarried again to my present wife Trudy. She lived in a retirement community in New Holland, PA, I liked the area and loved Trudy so I moved here from New Jersey.