North Pacific

Written by Calvin K. Sunderland

My dad was not a braggart. It was rare he would talk or write about his time in the WWII Navy on board the heavy cruiser USS Portland. What follows is one he wrote a few years before he died. I can only try to emulate the bravery it must have taken to weather events such as he experienced during the war. – Michael K. Sunderland

“One of the most frightful episodes while I was aboard came late in our North Pacific excursion. A storm at sea is one of nature’s more spectacular performances, and among the most memorable dangers a sailor encounters. The Portland rode...