Letter from Orville Rogers to Budd Nease, 5 APR 2000
Hi, Greetings & Such,
Hope all is well with you & your family. I have thought about you a lot and it has bothered me considerably that I have not kept my promise to send you whatever information I can remember about my almost two years on the Arizona. I have been real busy but the problem is that I never seem to really get much done. However, I am one of the most expert procrastinators you have ever met. And it's an activity (a passive one) that I enjoy.
(Webmaster's Note: we are forever grateful that Mr. Rogers took the time to tell his story. He passed away 15 Aug 2004.)
I was raised on a subsistence farm in the hill country of Missouri. I had never set foot on a boat of any kind until my older brother in San Bernardino, California took me to Long Beach one Sunday in 1937. It wasn't planned but we were exploring the water front and looking at all of the Navy ships in the harbor. I do not recall how many different types of ships there were. I had eyes only for the battle ships and the two large (for that time) aircraft carriers - Saratoga and Lexington. While we were lookin with awe at the ships, someone told us that we could go aboard on of the ships as Sundays were "visitors day" and the ships ran regular motor launch trips to and from shore. We located the landing where the motor launches came in. We took the first available motor launch and it was one from the ARIZONA. The trip out and back in the 50 foot motor launch was a new and exciting experience for me. However, when we got on board the ship, I was really impressed. I had never been anyplace that looked so clean and orderly. Those are two things that were important to me as long as I can remember.
We returned to San Bernardino, where we were living at the time. We had moved out there from Missouri about 2 1/2 years (late 1934) before that fateful and fortunate (for me) trip to Long Beach and my visit to the Arizona. I was really impressed with what I had seen.
During this time in my life, I was going to High School in San Bernardino and not really doing very well. City life was still new and exciting to me and I found school dull and boring. One bit of information I picked up on my visit to the Arizona was that the Navy would take you at the tender age of 17 years with parental consent. I was 17 on July 25, 1937. I immediately started harassing my father to consent to my joining the Navy. He finally gave in and I joined the Navy on December 14, 1937.
I went thru training in the San Diego U.S. Naval Training Station. Life at the station was a complete change in my life style. It was certainly not dull and boring. I was exposed to information and things I had never dreamed of. I am not sure of just how well I adapted or how good a recruit I was, but I made it thru training without too many problems.
When we graduated (Company 37-45) and received our assignments to ships in the fleet, mine was to a WWI four stack destroyer - the USS Wasmuth, DD338 in the 24th Destroyer Division based in San Diego. The othere 3 ships in this Destroyer Division wer the USS Zane DD-337, the USS Trevr DD-339 and the USS Pearry DD-340.
I do not know why, but I thought that all Navy ships and crews would be as clean, neat and orderly as what I had seen on the Arizona. I was kind of shocked when I reported on board the Wasmuth. The ship was clean, but not like the Arizona. The ship was orderly, but not like the Arizona. The uniform of the day was dungarees and the white hat. Very parctical but not too sharp looking. I had the misfortune of having a small, scrawny 3rd class boatswains mate about 1/2 my size who was very sensitive about his size, for an immediate supervisor. Our relationship got off to a very bad start (my fault) and I did not particularly enjoy life on the Wasmuth. I was assigned the job of "Mess Cook" which was one of the first details for ne men reported (non rated men) on board. It was a three month assignment which I did not complete.
Shortly after reporting aboard the Wasmuth, I was contacted by another member of the crew who had a brother on board the USS Arizona. He had been trying for some time, without success, to get someone on the Wasmuth to agree to a swap of duty stations. Because he had been turned down by everyone else and I was new on board, hecame to me. I think he was really surprised when I agreed to the swap. The Arizona was kind of a dirty name among destroyer sailors because of its strict discipline, by the book and strictly regulation. The destroyer sailors had a sort of vulgar name for strict regulation ships. I agreed to this swap because of the good memories I had of the Arizona on that one-time visit before I joined the Navy.
The swap went thru channels and was approved rather quickly. I have always considered that going on board the Arizona was on of the best choices I made and was most benificial to my Naval career. I adapted quite well to life on the Arizona. I tried to avoid the mistakes I had made on the Wasmuth. I could see the benefit to the ship and crew resulting from the strict discipline and regulatio practiced on the Arizona. Sure, we bitched and complained about many things, but the Arizona was a clean and very efficient ship and most of the crew were proud her. I was in the 6th division. We had th port anti-aircraft battery. My battle station was at a 1st loader on one of the open mount 5 inch 25 anti-aircraft guns. I was assigned this job because of my size and I like to think that I became quite good at it.
As was common practice for new men, I was assigned to mess cook duties. I asked for and got assigned to the scullery which counted as mess cook duty. I actually did six months on scullery duty and I enjoyed it. A member of the ship's Master at Arms force supervised the scullery operation. He was a 1st class Watertender. A good man and a very too supervisor. His name was Snow. I never knew his first name. I have often wonderd what happened to him. He was not on the list of casualties from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
I do not remember the names of very many of the crew or even the members of my own Division. My Division Petty Officer was a BM 1st class by the name of Nix. Though a pretty strict disciplinarian, he was a good and fair supervisor. I learned quite a lot by observing the way he did his job. It was a well run division. For some reason I don't think he liked the Marines - one time when I was getting dressed and was tucking my undershirt inside my shorts, he asked, "Who the hell do you think you are, some damned Marine." I never tucked my undershirt inside my shorts again until I retired in 1958. My immediate supervisor was a coxswain (3rd class BM) byt the name of Zuscko. I have no idea if that is the correct spelling of his name. There was also a BM 2nd Class in the Division. I think his name was Vevers but I can't be sure about it. Two members of the division that I made a lot of liberties with was a seaman 1st by the name of Marlowe and another by the name of Charlie Leonard. They were not on the casualty list either. Another member of the division who is a Survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is Russ Lott. Other names that I remember are R. (Big Dick) M. Hendon GM 1st class and Sam Sapranio (sp?) BM 1st class on the Master at Arms Force. Also, the ship's tailor of the name Chandler. He was a PFC in the Marine Detachment when I first went aboard but shipped over into the Navy while I was aboard. He continued to serve as the ship's tailor. He was also what the Navy termed a "loan shark" and quite successful. This was an activity officially frowned upon by the Navy. However, all major ships had one. They were a convienent source of funds in an emergency.
While I was aboard the Arizona, we were a part of the Worlds Fair at Treasure Island. I was told that our reason for being there was two fold; to serve as a visitor attraction and to provide emergency electrical power for Treasure Island should the need arise. We also made on trip to Hawaii (Maui) which was a big disappointment for me. We made one trip to the Bremerton Naval shipyard for overhaul. That was a new learning experience for me. At that time, the ship's crew cleaned and painted the ship's hull from the main deck to the keel. We started scraping and wire brushing the hull from floats as they were draining the dry dock. This was nearly an "all hands" evolution. This was a high priority activity involving psonnel from all divisions until the hull was completely cleaned and painted.
Before entering the Navy Yard, ALL ammunition had to be taken off the ship. This was another high priority job involving all available manpower. Interesting by fairly hard work. While in the Navy Yard, I made a few liberties with a seaman from one of the other divisions. His name was Rogers also, but no relation to me.
I recall quite a bit of gunnery practice. most of it was with the anti-aircraft battery. On at least one occassion we were involed in what was called the "off set battle practice." Part of it involved the Arizona towing a "target sled" perhaps a thousand yards astern while another battleship fired its main battery at the sled. I observed this action and could see the 14" projectiles in flight before they hit the water or the sled. It ws the first time I realized that the projectile did not strike the water, or target, exactly point first. The projectile (approximate weight 1800 lbs) struck the water at the same angle that it left the barrel of the gun. The nose would be high and the base low. When it struck the water, it would submerge and then come up out of the water for a short distance before going under again. This was all logical, it was just that I hadn't thought about it until I watched it. I was impressed.
Captain Kidd was skipper of the Arizona while I was aboard. I made seaman 1st on the Arizona and I have the certificate with his signature authorizing my "promotion."
Some of the things I remember about living on the Arizona that I would not care to contend with again, (although at the time it didn't seem so bad) include living out of a seabag - no lockers to stow our personal gear in. No showers - we had to take a bath out of a bucket. Sleeping in hammocks - the petty officers and the seamen slept on folding canvas cots. The bag inspection (clothing) every other Saturday and bedding inspections alternated with the bag inspection. Almost everyone had a complete issue of clothing just for bag inspections, never wore any of it. Every other ship I have served on had showers available, lockers to stow your uniforms and other personal gear and bunks to sleep on.
The recruiting posters when I joined the Navy encouraged potential recruits to "Join the Navy and see the world." The prospects of seeing much of the world while on board the Arizona seemed pretty slim so I put in for duty with the Asiatic Fleet and got it. I left the Arizona in March of 1940 and was assigned duty aboard the heavy cruiser Augusta CA-31 then in Shanghai, China. I rode the queen of the Navy's luxuary liners, the USS Henderson, from the states to Shanghai.
I hope this info and my picture will be of some use to you. Are you going to make it to Panama City? I hope to make it. ~ Orville ~
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