Several months later, they refloated West Virginia and brought her back to full working order. I saw her leave Pearl Harbor under her own power. We later found out that when electricians were brought on board to assess and fix the damage, they opened a forward compartment and found a group of sailors trapped inside. They had survived for 16 days on military rations before they died. In total, 106 crewmen died on our ship out of approximately 2,403 total American lives lost during the attacks. Sixty-six of them were trapped below deck, and found when the ship was raised. I was nearly one of those men.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, I rejoined the band and continued to play music aboard ships and at military stations on shore. We had a 17-piece orchestra at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. We had a pretty nice deal. While we could have been using our skills to help with intelligence and cryptology, the Navy understood the value in our big band concerts as a morale booster. We would play upbeat jazz from Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, and you could see the way it lifted their spirits. For the entire time we were there, the only guests in that hotel were aircraft and submarine crews. Nobody else was let in.
As soon as the atomic bomb dropped, there was an immediate sense of relief among the men. I saw West Virginia once more. She was outfitted with all her guns, about 50 total, including the Bofors 40mm, and was the first battleship into Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered. After all we had been through, it was something special to see.
After the war, I was sent out to San Francisco where a conference had gathered to draft the United Nations charter. By this time, President Roosevelt had passed away and President Truman was in office. They decided to bring the Pearl Harbor band out there to perform and I remember being told,“ You screw this thing up and I’ ll send you so far away you’ ll need a twenty cent stamp to catch.” Of course, stamps were free, but I understood his point. We had permission to recruit from all the various ships we played with so we sent orders out and brought all these guys in until we had a sixty-piece band. We were joined by a Marine band and I found out that when they went to over and played in Russia, they performed this beautiful Russian folk song. So we received permission to perform it there in San Francisco and we put on quite a show. We wore white hats with the perfect trim, gold scarves, epaulets, the whole nine yards. We looked great. Even better, the Russian representative, Vyacheslav Molotov, sent his aide to congratulate us on the performance. Our own captain loved Sousa marches so we played a few of those as well. It was a spirited day.
I was told at different points following the war that my rating would be changed to electronics. But I showed my stubborn nature and said that I came in a musician and I would leave a musician. It’ s fortunate, too, because I got to come and go on my terms.
I married my wife Carrie, in 1945, and spent my post-war years in the insurance and investment business. Fortunately though, I never left music behind. William Doud Packard, who owned Packard Automobiles in Warren, Ohio, was a passionate enthusiast of big band and military music. So much so, that he left $ 150,000 in his will to build a music hall. Eventually, when William and his wife Katherine passed, that original $ 150,000 grew to 12 million. So the music hall was built with more than enough funds to maintain a band. Eventually, I became executive director of the W. D. Packard Concert Band.
Like the music, memories of my time aboard USS West Virginia have stayed with me. I still can’ t go in a closet. If I do, I’ ll tear the door down. And if you put me in a dark room you are in trouble. But mostly what I think about are those young people who died for their country. The ones who never had a chance to be a mother, father, husband, or wife. Why was the Lord so good to me? Maybe I have something I have to do and that is why I became active in my church and want to help people. That is why I went into the insurance business, to help people learn how to save and care for people they love.
– WWII –
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