World War II Navy veteran reflects upon time at sea

F or World War II Navy veteran Edward Rasmussen of Gurnee, choosing to put on his shoes and get on deck rather than sitting down to write a letter might have saved his life.

Rasmussen, 88, was aboard the USS William D. Porter, a Fletcher-class destroyer, when it was hit by a bomb shot from a kamikaze, or suicide attack, by a Japanese military aviator, on June 10 of 1945.

“If I was sitting on the deck I’d probably have my spine broke,” Rasmussen said.

The ship sunk as a result of the attack, but all of those onboard, including Rasmussen, were able to escape to safety.

Rasmussen enlisted in the Navy on Feb. 13, 1942, at the age of 17. He first served on the Kearny DD 432 destroyer docked at the Boston Harbor. He served on that ship until he was assigned to the William D. Porter in July of 1943.

Prior to the ship’s demise, the Porter participated in a special operation to escort the Iowa, a vessel carrying then President Franklin D. Roosevelt, to the Cairo and Teheran Conferences in North Africa.

The Porter accidentally fired a torpedo at the Iowa during a torpedo drill on Nov. 12, 1943, during the trip. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the Porter’s captain and entire crew were placed under arrest until Roosevelt intervened and insisted the incident had been an accident.

The Porter won four battle stars for its service in World War II.

With Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day on Friday, Dec. 7, Rasmussen reflected upon his involvement in the war and time at sea.

Why did you enlist?

I was going to be 17 and in December World War II started for us after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I was in my third year of high school and I dropped out to go into the service. I was living in Chicago. The [Japanese] bombed a bunch of ships at Pearl Harbor and sunk the Arizona. About 3,000 sailors died. It was a major thing. President Roosevelt said, ‘We’re going to war.’ You were either going to be put in the Army or Marines. I wanted to be in the Navy. I went to school and got to be a torpedo man. During World War II we used torpedoes and things with a lot of explosives in them. I was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Station and had about three months of training.

What was the first vessel you were assigned to?

I went on the Kearny DD 432 destroyer in October of 1942. We went from Boston all the way down to Brazil through the Atlantic Ocean. We rescued a lot of planes, pilots – anyone that had been torpedoed by German submarines. Then I got transferred off of that one onto the Porter. Overall, I was on about four ships. Two were wartime ships and the others were rescue ships.

About how many men were on the Porter?

We had 273. Some were my age and some might have been five years older.

What was it like to be out at sea during wartime?

When you’re that age you don’t think about things. You think, ‘I’m a sailor now.’ You stay out of trouble. [On the Porter] my battle station was a trainer and a five-inch gun. We did a lot of shooting. We went through 8,500 five-inch shells. We were in battle on the water all the time.

How did you communicate with family while overseas?

Once in a while you could send them a letter. But, you couldn’t tell them where you were. You could just say that you were doing OK.

What happened when the Porter helped to escort the ship carrying President Roosevelt to North Africa?

President Roosevelt was on the ship the Iowa. He was going over to visit [Winston]Churchill and [Joseph] Stalin. They were going to have a meeting. Part way over there we were practicing and someone up on the bridge hit a button and the torpedo tubes turned out. Since we were practicing, they weren’t supposed to go out. And all the sudden, ‘Whish!’ We just fired a torpedo at the Iowa. They aimed all their big guns at us if we did any more. It was just the one thing. We had to turn around and go to Bermuda and we were under arrest for two weeks. They thought we were an outfit that was going to be blowing up President Roosevelt. One of the chief torpedo men was supposed to go to jail, but then President Roosevelt said not to send him to jail because it was an accident. They took the captain off our ship and gave us a better one. When you’re young like that you don’t think about what’s going on. But as you get older you realize every minute you have a chance of dying – that’s how close it was.

What was going on the day that the Porter was hit?

June 10, 1945, at around 8‘o clock in the morning, we were trying to locate any [Japanese]. There were these kamikaze planes coming in. When we got hit it was by a plane made out of canvas and wood so we couldn’t pick it up on the radar. Fortunately, the plane hit the water and missed the ship. The bomb that was on there went underneath the ship and exploded down there and lifted the boat up three feet, made it start leaking. It took the ship three and a half hours to sink.

What were you doing when the bomb hit the ship?

I had finished eating breakfast. I was down below where we’d sleep. I thought ‘Should I write a letter?’ I’d be sitting on the floor if I wrote a letter. I decided not to so I was standing up when the ship got hit. If I was sitting not he deck I’d probably have my spine broke. I was standing on one foot putting my shoes on and so when it hit the only thing that wrecked me is my foot. My big toe is the only thing that got broken. Fortunately, we had no causalities.

What happened after the ship sank?

It took us almost 30 days to get back to San Francisco [on rescue ships] and then we had 30 days leave. I had to go to an armory in Chicago and they sent me to Navy Pier. Then I was transferred back to Great Lakes.

What are some of the good memories you have from being at sea?

We were one of the only ships that had an ice cream machine. We installed it and it worked just fine. We had movies too. We always had three meals a day, a nice warm place to sleep, showers every day and movies only when it was safe.

What’s your advice to today’s Navy recruits?

Think about what you want to do for the rest of your life. You could learn to be a pilot, an engineer, a nurse – there are skills that will help them later in life.