Alfred joined the U.S.Navy on May 6, 1944 at the age of 17.
Like many, he joined the Navy to keep from being drafted. We have seen however that
some young men were drafted and placed in the Navy, the Marines and the Army
Air Forces. It just depended on the luck of the draw and the needs of the
military at the time. In Alfred’s case, it all worked out well.
After basic training Alfred was sent to the Pacific Theater
of operations and soon he was aboard the U.S.S. Matanikan (CVE-101) which was a
Casablanca class escort carrier.
Early in the Matanikan’s service she served as a training
aircraft carrier up and down the west coast. Between January and June of 1945
there were 12,762 aircraft carrier landings by pilots attempting to qualify as
carrier pilots. During and after this time, Alfred was an EM3C and was an
electrician on board the ship.
In November of 1945 the Matanikan participated in “Operation
Magic Carpet Ride,” which transported thousands of veterans from the Pacific to
the west coast and eventually home. On December 27, 1945 Alfred participated in
the transportation of the 3rd Marine Division to the Chinese
mainland. These Marine’s were there to help the Nationalist Chinese army in the
fight against the Communist Chinese army. On another cruise the Matanikan
transported the 8th U.S. Army to Japan for occupation duties.
Alfred and the Matanikan made it back to the
states in 1946 with Alfred being discharged on April 18, 1946
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