Naval War College (U.S.)

Thiele, Edward H., RADM, USCG 1905-1981. National Guard Company C, One hundred and Twenty First Engineers, 1922-1924; USCG Academy, 1927; Cummings, Shaw; Assistant Engineer Officer, Mendota, 1929-1930; Instructor, Academy, 1930-1933; Engineer Officer, USS Hunt, 1933-1934; Engineering Officer, Chelan, 1934-1936; Chief, International Combustion Engine and Small Boat Section, and Chief, Re­ search and Development Division, CGHQ. 1936-1940; 1937 visited foreign countries in connec­ tion with construction of icebreakers; Office of the U.S. Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding, New York, supervised the design and construction of icebreakers Mackinaw, Wind, Raritan, 1937- 1944;XO, Westwind, 1944; CO, USS Gen. D. E. Aultman, USS Wakefield, 1946; District Engineer, Third District, New York, 1946; Chief, Machinery Section, Naval Engineering Division, CGHQ; CG Safety Director, HQ, 1948; B.E., 1949; Chief, Administrative Management Division, CGHQ, 1949; Senior CG and Marine Detail Officer Europe, London, England, 1949-1953; Staff, Com­ mander in Chief, Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, 1949-1953; Staff, CO, Fifth District, Norfolk, Va., 1953-1956; Chief, Merchant Marine Safety Division, 1956; Chief of Staff, 1957; CO, Ninth District, Cleveland, Ohio, 1957-1958; Engineer in Chief of the CG, 1951; Re­ tired,1961.

Youth in Warwick, R.I.; Father's influence led to hisjoining the Navy; Reaction to attack at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941;Joined the Navy in 1942; Comments on rationing and patrio­ tism; Boot Camp, U.S. Naval Training Station, Newport, R.I.; Assigned to USS Gatling; Shake­ down cruise; Pacific Theater and the invasion of the Marshall Islands and Guam; Friendly fire; Major island invasions, including the Palaus, the Philippines, Leyte Gulf, Formosa, Saigon, To­ kyo, Okinawa, IwoJima, and Hong Kong raids; Attack on USS Princeton and rescue of survivors; Escorted USS Birmingham to Ulithi; Typhoon, December 1944; Shipboard work, food, religious services, general quarters, mail call, and recreation; Destroyed a kamikaze plane; Return to the United States; San Francisco, Calif. and Boston, Mass.; V:J Day, Boston, Mass.; Assignment to Camp Dealey, Guam as Master of Arms; Contracted TB; Radioman, USS Bushnell; Hospitalized in California; Discharged, September 1947; Returned to Warwick, R.I.; Employment with Addressograph Multigraph; Retired in 1987; Significance of naval service. Part of Naval WWII Veterans Project.

Ferrance discusses his career as an electrician's mate in the U.S. Navy from 1942-1965. He comments on his service in various destroyers, at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, his promotion to master chief and selection as chief of the year, and his role at the Destroyer School in Newport, RI, his last assignment before retirement. Part of WWII Veterans Project.

O'Connor, Eileen, 1922-2001. Reminiscences of an enlisted WAVE who served in WWII. Focus is on early years in James­ town, R.I.; Graduated from Rogers High School, attended Newport Secretarial School; Joined WAVES inJuly 1943;Basic training at Hunter College, N.Y.; Advanced training at Yeoman School, Stillwater, Okla.; Daily routine; Classes; Regimental reviews; Recreation; Assigned to BuPers, Washington, Washington, D.C.;Barracks at Arlington Farms; Temporary assignment to Secretary of the Navy's office; Interview with Mildred McAfee, WAVES Director; Yeoman Detailer, Chap­ lains Division; Story of Chaplain O'Callaghan; Chief Yeoman, Chief of Navy Chaplains; Social life; Recreation; Promoted to Chief; Lifelong friendships; Positive experience and benefits of WAVES service; Discharge from WAVES; Postwar employment at NWC Logistics and Classified Library.

Ferguson discusses his naval service from 1936 to 1943, including WWII battles of Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal where his ship was sunk and he was rescued. He comments on his training, cruises, and his billet as a deck hand and in fire control as well as his reasons for joining the Navy during the Great Depression.

Klatt, Elizabeth, 1920-. Education at Pembroke College, 1942; Joined Marine Corps (WR) in March 1943; Training at U.S. Naval Training School (WR) , Bronx, N.Y.; Comments on classes, uniforms, drill, inspections, and exams; Advanced training at Radio School, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, July-November 1943; assigned to Goleta Air Station, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Duties as a radio oper­ator decoding messages; Social life, recreation, Hollywood Canteen; Discharged October 1945; GI Bill for teacher certification; Teaching positions in Japan and Connecticut; Member, Women Marines Association; Significance of Marine Corps service.

Carlson, Elizabeth Malm, 1912-. Youth in Boston suburbs; Simmons College graduate;Joined the WAVES in December 1942; Training and indoctrination at U.S. Naval Midshipmen's School (WR) , Northampton, Mass.; At­ tendance at Navy Supply School, Harvard Business School where learned accounting procedures; Assigned to First Naval District headquarters, Boston Navy Yard, as assistant to the disbursing offi­ cer; Married in 1943;Assigned to the Philadelphia Navy Yard; discharged in December 1945; Sig­ nificance of her naval career; Postwar employment.

Strauss, Elliott B., RADM, USN, 1903-. USNA, 1923; USS Concord, 1923-1925; USS Hannibal, 1925-1926; USS Arkansas, 1926-1927; USS Toucey and USS Blakeley, 1927-1929; Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, R.I.; USS Manley, 1932-1936; istant Naval Attache, London, England, 1935-1937; CO, USS Brooks, 1939-1940; Navigator, USS Nashville, 1940-1941; U.S. Naval Observer, London, Staff of ADM Mountbatten, where he took part in the Allied Raid on Dieppe, 1942; Staff duty, Task Force 122 and Allied Naval Commander in Chief, 1942-1944; CO, USS Charles Carroll, 1944-1945; Served as naval adviser to the United Nations General Assembly. 1946; CO, USSFresno, 1946-1947; Stu­ dent, Imperial Defense College, 1948; CO, Destroyer Flotilla Six, 1951; Head, Long Range Plans Branch, Office of the CNO, 1952; Retirement, 1955; Staff, Assistant Secretary of Defense for In­ ternational Security Affairs, 1953-1956; Chief, Foreign Aid Mission to Tunisia, 1957-1960; Direc­ tor, AID Mission to Malagasy Republic, 1961-1963; Foreign Service Inspection Corps, 1965.

Cocroft discusses her enlisting in the WAVES in 1942, training at the Radio School at the University of Wisconsin, her assignment to the NAS San Diego, CA, work living conditions, recreation, attendance at US Naval Midshipmen's School (WR) in 1944, communications training and assignment at HDQs, 12th Naval District, San Francisco and discharge in 1945.

Birdy discusses her service in the WAVES from 1944 to 1946 as storekeeper in Pasco, WA, Klamath Falls, Oregon, and Seattle, WA. Included are her comments on training at the U.S. Naval Training School (WR), housing, recreation, marriage in Seattle, and thirty-three years as a Navy wife.