Veteran's History Project - Donald L. Wilson

Donald L. Wilson

CPO 1st Class

U.S. Navy

1947-1958

Editor's Note: This story is one of many American Veteran accounts published in The Sidney Sun-Telegraph. The writer, who is from Potter, is conducting the interviews as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.

Donald Wilson enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He grew up in David City, Neb. After graduating from high school, he soon realized that there wasn't much of a future for young people there at that point in time – 1947.

If your folks owned a ranch or a farm, you had a future. If not, you could look forward to pumping gas. They were tough times. He was single. He picked the Navy because of its schools. He needed a good job and something with a future. He traveled to the recruiting station in Omaha and enlisted. After entrance requirements and testing, he was sworn in and sent to San Diego for boot camp.

On arrival at the Naval Training Station there, he was greeted with someone yelling at him, "screaming and hollering." He received a different hair cut than he was used to and got "squared away" with new clothing. He felt like it was a fun environment. The Midwesterners were easy to get along with. He thought of himself as a depression kid. The Navy had everything he and his peers wanted.

He said he didn't take things real serious. On one occasion in boot camp, he failed to report for the first formation of a day. His company left the local area for the day's training. When they returned, the leader asked him where he was all day? Wilson then asked the leader where he had been all day, as he was looking for them. The pert answer got him the trip to the showers, where he scrubbed them with a tooth brush and soap for several hours and a tour of watch duty on the quarter-deck.

His initial leader was a Navy Chief. He had no problems going through boot camp training. When he graduated from boot camp, his leader told him that if he ever got above seaman apprentice, the leader would retire.

Years later, the same leader came aboard the U.S.S. Samuel Moore and saw Wilson. He couldn't believe it was Wilson. Wilson gave the on-coming Chief a hard time and had some fun at the time. He was unsure when he enlisted, but was in the Navy for 10 years, 11 months and 16 days.

Wilson served in the Korean conflict. Once through initial training, he moved on to fire control school. Next, he was shipped out to a base in the Aleutian Islands. There was no job for him there. He told the Navy that he wanted to be on a ship.

Soon the Navy personnel people realized they sent Wilson to the wrong place and moved him back. He was assigned to a ship called the U.S.S. Samuel N. Moore (DD747). It was a Sumner-class destroyer. He ran and maintained all the fire control equipment for firing the ship's big guns. He had responsibilities for all the computers and radars used in firing the large weapons.

He was in the 7th Battle group. His ship went to the Far East. He was in Hong Kong in June, relaxing on the beach. He and others were notified that the Chinese and North Koreans had crossed the 38th Parallel. They had 12 hours to get to the ship. The U.S.S. Maddox and the U.S.S. Moore, sister-ships, headed for Korea. There were about 250 personnel on each ship. They were among the first Navy groups to get to the fight. His ship had 40mm and 20mm guns and 5 inch guns. He saw combat.

There were six fire-control-trained men. The Navy assigned two on each of the three ships in his group. At one point in Japan, they were in a typhoon. They lost one of their guns. Since it didn't have all of its armament, the Moore stayed behind and another ship went. The second ship hit a mine and two of his friends were lost in the explosion.

The most memorable in the conflict was when the 25th Cavalry was in a big battle. They were "getting the hell kicked out of them." The U.S.S. Moore got into the harbor for fire support. The shore bombardment from the U.S.S. Moore was launched over the heads of the retreating Cavalry soldiers. The blasts from the big guns enabled the soldiers to evacuate the hill safely, saving many lives.

Afterward, he got a lot of free beers from the soldiers. Following the first bombardment, the South Koreans decided to evacuate the entire harbor including people and animals. The USS Moore laid down the fire support to allow the fleeing families to leave – on every available sea-worthy craft. One could actually see where their rounds were landing. They fired five-inch guns as well as .30- and .40-caliber anti-aircraft guns.

He stayed in touch with his family by letters. Their food on board was good. The cooks did the best they could with what they had. No one starved. "When there is a bunch of 18- and 19-year-olds, you are bullet proof, everything is funny, they never thought they were special You did what you needed to do."

They handled stress differently than it is now. They entertained themselves with card games. A casino from Las Vegas would send them a box filled with decks of cards.

He didn't come home for the first 11 months. They met their replacements out at sea. They went to Pearl Harbor then to the states. He was either in the states or in the theater for three years, going back and forth.

There were no entertainers that came to their ship. When they were on shore leave, they drank beer. Most of the traveling he did was in Japan, Hong Kong and Pearl Harbor. On one occasion, he had consumed quite a bit of beer and passed out in his rack. His ship mates stood him up, and tied his thumbs together. Other shipmates had found some golf balls and put them in his bed. When he awakened the next day, he was quite sore. There was never any retaliation.

The ship sailed to a re-fuel island. While it was in port, Wilson and others decided to steal a lathe. Their lathe didn't work, so they found another one and took it, figuring they needed it more than the others. At the same port, they stole a motor scooter. The sneaked it on board and over the next several weeks, detailed the scooter and painted it yellow. They stenciled the Commander's name on the scooter.

On arriving at the next port, the sailors created a ceremony for their commander and presented him the scooter. The commander loved the scooter and proudly drove it around on errands he needed to make. Wilson remarked that the thievery was never for the benefit of one person, it was for the good of the ship.

His last days of service were in San Diego. There were thousands of sailors there and nobody in charge. When he left San Diego, he went to Denver, where he worked for the defense contractor Martin Marietta. He was sent to additional schooling. He worked on decoding messages from enemy radio traffic and did some decoding of firing orders. He did take advantage of the G.I. Bill when he first got home, took some college classes.

He later became a firefighter in Denver. Over the time serving in the fire service, he became an assistant chief in the Thornton, Colo., Fire Department.

He developed many friendships while in the service. He tried to stay in touch but there are few and fewer of them. He did become a life member of the VFW Post #1 in Denver. He attended many funerals and joined the honor society of the VFW (called Cooties). He became the senior vice president of #7945 and #5814.

His military experiences developed the thought that every American person should serve in the military. It would make our country better. In his view, respect isn't being taught.

Good job, 1st Class Chief Petty Officer Wilson, and thank you for your service!