1943 - February 6, 1946

Alex: What were you doing during the time of the war?
Lee: I was in high school. I was 17.  I decided to go into the marines, but they turned me down, because I  had two bad molars. Then I tried for the navy, but they wouldn't take me because they said I had a bad heart. So I waited around for 2-3 months, I then signed back up for the navy, they took me quickly. So they shipped me off to boot camp in Farland, Idaho, I was there for about 16 weeks. We took a test and they went by our I.Q.,  they took our two top grades, and they sent the top two to school. I then took up gunnery and some other high school classes I was missing. After a school term ended we would take another test and for some reason I always did good on the tests. They then sent me to another school, I ended up in Seattle, at Fort Union. We had a couple barracks there, a place for officers to train, I stayed there for around 3 months. We were quarantined once for some kind of fever, we couldn't leave the barracks, they would come and slide a bowl of food in for us to eat and then they would come and get the bowls back and wash them real good. Every time at the end of school most of the guys would go over to fight in the war, but not me, I would be sent to another school. I kept getting advancements, I was up to gunners mate second class. They put me in charge of a shop on Pier 90, then Pier 91. We were right next to the radio shop, and a few other shops throughout the area. I had to take the armor off of the ships that came from across seas and dispose of the old stuff and put on the new, put fresh ammunition onboard and new types of guns. I was there for most of the war, I took guys out for training on firing the guns. 

Then in 1946 I had enough points to get out, they went on a point system, but they wouldn't let me go unless I taught some civilians to do some of the work I had been doing. They then let me go on February 6,1946. I had married by now, and had a little girl. I then took up flying and got my pilots license. They sent me back to Colorado because that is where I was born and because of some sickness. So I finally ended up staying in Salt Lake City.

Alex: What type of responsibilities in your ranks?
Lee: As a second class gunners mate I had to instruct the other kids on guns and stuff. They had to learn to tear them down and rebuild them. They worked on depth charges, submarine torpedoes, hedgehogs.  They would work some place far away, so that if they blew up it would only be the two of them. It was interesting work to me, I enjoyed it.

Alex: What were your feelings at the time versus now?
Lee: I was pretty gung-ho. I couldn't wait to get in, and after I got in I kept thinking I was going to go over seas. I put in for overseas twice, but I never got sent. One of the times they said I would catch the next ship over, but it was only a YDL33 which was 2 walls on both sides and it was to repair other ships. It was a floating dry dock is what it was, but they never did move it from the base. It worked so good that they leased it with Russia, we never got it back. 

Alex: How long were you in the war?
Lee: Somewhere around 3 years.

Alex: What was your branch or office?
Lee: I was in the U.S. Navy Reserve.  The U.S. Navy Reserve puts you in the rest of the war plus 6 months. The regular Navy puts you in for 6 years, so I was glad I wasn't in that. 

Alex: What were some of your experiences?
Lee: I didn't have many experiences, but had a good time during the war, enjoyed everything I did. I played basketball and baseball.