March 1, 1942 - October 15, 1946

[Van Taylor] enlisted in the U.S.  Navy March 1, 1942.  I traveled by train from Salt Lake City to San Diego California for Boot Camp. It was night when we arrived and we didn't get much sleep that night because, we had to have shots, hair cuts, and be issued our uniforms and get assigned our bunks. We were not only tired but starved looking forward at tomorrow's breakfast which turned out to be beans and cold coffee. 

I was in Boot Camp for three weeks, after which time the back half of my company was drafted into the Armed Guards. We were to serve as Gunner Mates on Merchant Mariners ships.

I had one month gunners training in San Diego. From there are company of five men were sent off to New Orleans which was to be are home base. When we arrived in New Orleans they were just building the barracks, and only had one finished and it was full of men. 

 

The first night I was there they brought in a crew from an oil tanker which had been torpedoed by a German submarine. Later, the Armed Guard discovered two German submarines hiding out in the Gulf of Mexico. The water in the river was so muddy that the submarines could hid in the water and torpedo any ship they choose. When the U.S. got their submarine chasers it took only a few days to blast these submarines out of the water. After, going through the remains they found things that proved that the German men had been living and fueling on shore.

 

In New Orleans I was assigned the fruit tanker [ship] the John D. Archibald the largest tanker in the world, which I was on for ten months. My position was pointer on a gun. The crew consisted of five men, three boarders, a trainer and a pointer. My job was simple I pointed the gun and fired it.  After, ten months I had my first leave I could go home for thee days then return to New Orleans.

Now I was assigned to a freighter that hauled supplies to the front line of fighting in South America . Each time I would return after leaving I would be assigned to a different ship. I was on eight different ships, I was a Gunner Mate each time.

 

 I went on three separate trips to India through Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The moon over the Red Sea was so bright I could read a news paper on the deck.  One trip to England through the English Channel to London, there were so many of our planes that it darkened the sun. We were ordered to put down our guns because we were shooting down more of our planes than the Germans.

One of the ships I was one went down through the Panama Canal to Chili. While we were waiting for are way through the Canal we notice a shark in the water. We had a fishing reel on each side of the ship that we would use to fish with when we got out to sea. We decided to try are luck at catching the shark. We put a large piece of beef on one of the hooks and through it out as far as we could. The shark saw the meat but didn't pay much attention at first. Then all of the sudden, he popped out of the water after the meat. We played with him for a few minutes then shot him and hoisted him up on to the deck. The boatman took some of the glands and other stuff that could be used for medicine. Then we dumped the shark back into the ocean. The shark weighed around 2500 lbs. and was 14 ft long.

It took us a long time to find the station where the Germans were firing the fuzz bombs from so we could blow it up. This was just before the United States were about ready to take over France. Our troop was split in half, half stayed to fight and the other half went to Boston for another load of supplies. I was with the ones that went to Boston and when we got back they had conquered France so we didn't take are supplies to England, we took are supplies to France.

I was discharged from the Armed Guard, as Gunners Mate 3rd class October 15, 1946.