Churchwell discusses his youth in Tennessee, his enlistment in the Navy as a steward in 1937, training a the Norfolk Naval Base, discrimination against African Americans, assignment at the US Naval Academy, the USS Seminole (At-65), the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, Japanese attack on the ship and evacuation from it, assigned to Guadalcanal, returned to the American mainland, assigned to USS Allioth, V-J Day, and post war career in the Civil Service as a field representative investigating Officers Clubs.