Jack enlisted into the Navy on August 9, 1943. After basic
training he was sent to the South Pacific and began serving on the U.S.S.
Wrangell, AE-12 which an ammunition ship.
During his service on the Wrangell, Jack’s ship was tasked
with loading ammunition on other ships, sometimes at sea while underway.
Jack saw the raising of the flag on Mt. Suribachi off Iwo
Jima. No doubt the Wrangell experience the massive suicide attacks on U.S.Navy
ships anchored off that strategic island that was the scene of horrific
fighting between Marines and fanatical Japanese.
In August, 1945, the Wrangell was anchored in Leyte Gulf
when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Jack said that he observed the
pyrotechnics caused by the massive blast hundreds of miles away.
Jack was discharged from the Navy on February 8, 1946 with
the rank of Pharmacist Mate 2nd Class.
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