Eugene enlisted in the U.S.Navy late in the war. He was 18
and probably was about to graduate from high school.
He was assigned to a ship that had an interesting history.
Launched in 1929, the founder of Halliburton, Erle P. Halliburton named the yacht
for his wife, Vida. After the war
started, like many wealthy American’s, the Vida was offered by Halliburton to
the U.S.Navy to be converted into whatever craft that was needed at the time.
Of course Erle Halliburton is the founder of what we call Halliburton
Corporation today.
The Navy rechristened the Vida, the U.S.S. Crystal after
December 7, 1941. The Navy assigned the new Crystal to the “Hawaiian Sea
Frontier,” responsible for patrolling the area around Pearl Harbor. Throughout the
war, it was thought that the Japanese would attempt to attack Pearl Harbor once
again, this time perhaps taking out American aircraft carriers, which were
thankfully out at sea on December 7, 1941.
Eugene was assigned to the Crystal after finishing basic
training. At one time,the Crystal was a patrol craft that hunted Japanese ships
and especially submarines. From December 1943 to April 1944 the Crystal was
assigned to an area around Midway Island the scene of the pivotal Battle of
Midway in 1942. After this assignment, the Crystal was once again to the
Hawaiin Island chain.
Eugene’s most memorable experiences include the long and
often times boring watches searching for enemy ships, submarines and aircraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment