Sailor Says Decision to Write Letter Probably Saved His Life-- Part 2

The USS Porter won four Battle Stars for its war service.

The following is from an interview with World War II veteran Edward Rasmussen, 88.

WHY DID YOU ENLIST:  After Pearl Harbor, "I was in my third year of high school and I dropped out to go into service.  I was living in Chicago."  "You were either going to be put in the Army or Marines.  I wanted to be in the Navy.  I went to school and got to be a torpedo man.  I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station and had about three months of training."  Great Lakes, in North Chicago, Illinois, is still training sailors.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST VESSEL?  "I went on the Kearny DD 432 in October 1942.  We went from Boston all the way down to Brazil through the Atlantic Ocean.  We rescued a lot of planes, pilots--anyone who had been torpedoed by German submarines.  Then  I got transferred off of that one onto the Porter.  Overall, I was on about four ships.  Two were wartime ships and the others were rescue ships."  1941 was the zenith of the Battle of the Atlantic off the US coast.

HOW MANY MEN WERE ON THE PORTER?  "We had 273.  Some were my age and some might have been five years older.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE AT SEA DURING WARTIME?  "When you're that age you don't think about things. You think, 'I'm a sailor now.'  You stay out of trouble.  My battle station was a trainer and a five-inch gun.  We did a lot of shooting.  We went through 8,500 five-inch shells.  We were in battle  on the water all the time."

More to Come.  --GreGen