How do I find info about a WWII destroyer? (I did search)

I was talking to my dad and I brought up WWII, something he’s never talked about too much. He’s getting up there (78 today) and I wanted to know his story so I came out and asked.

In 1942, when he was 16, he ran away from home to join the Navy. He got caught and sent back home to a farm in Iowa, but when he turned 17 his dad said he’d sign the papers for him to join the Navy legally, as long as he didn’t set foot in a submarine. Dad agreed and was sent off to Idaho for basic training. He was then sent to San Francisco for further training. He sailed out of San Francisco bay on the USS Pennsylvania for Hawaii. Once there, he was transferred over to the destroyer USS Daily (that’s how he spelled it to me) and went to New Caledonia. He stayed in the South Pacific until 1946. I think he’s very lucky to be alive. Me too.

He doesn’t use the computer at all, so I told him I was going to look up some things for him. I found several web pages about the USS Pennsylvania, but couldn’t find one page mentioning the USS Daily, using Google and Yahoo Search. It definitely saw action since he mentioned witnessing dogfights between American and Japanese planes, and he saw a ship nearby hit by a bomb and break in two. His ship picked up survivors though there unfortunately weren’t very many (he remembers that only 160 made it, though he couldn’t remember the name of the ship that was hit).

There must be web pages about the destroyers of WWII, but nothing’s coming up on search. If anyone has any ideas about a better way to search, or a site I missed, I’d be very greatful to know.

Thanks in advance.

Perhaps the USS Daly

http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/519.htm

There’s a bunch of veterans out there who are very involved, with this huge network of reunions and such - I know because my dad was on a destroyer in Korea and he’s been running the reunions for a few years now (and let me tell you, the hole in the ship gets bigger every year.)

Anyway, there’s a newsletter you can get for veterans of destroyers, Tin Can Sailor - there’s a website at www.destroyers.org. The website there seems like a good way to get to a lot of the information these guys are all putting together - there’s a lot of “labor of love” out there with this sort of thing, and some of it really has a lot of information and pictures and maps and such. But a lot of it is very amateurish, and it’s quite possible that your dad’s ship even has a website that’s completely unfindable by conventional means. (When you start looking at these sites, mute your speakers. Thank me later.) Take your seizure medication, too.

From that site - are you sure it’s not the USS Daly? DD-445, Fletcher class.

Good luck finding some of this for your father - it’s very important to my dad, and he loves talking to his former shipmates. He’s been able to make connections through this whole ship reunion thing to people he never thought he’d see again. It was a serious war making sure their sparkling new website had no waving flags, Anchors Away MIDI, etc. It’s at www.johnwthomason.com, but it seems to be down at the moment - they’re doing this huge campaign to get pictures and personal accounts from the guys, though.

YES! Yes, that has to be it. Thank you so much!

I’ll have to jog my dad’s memory on this, since I asked him if it was a kamikaze (which was the one thing I remembered hearing about as a kid, that he saw a kamikaze crash into a ship) and he said no, it was a bomb.

On the other hand, it’s probably something he doesn’t want to remember. As much as I want to know details about my father, who he was and what he experienced, maybe it would be best to not bring it up again. I’m torn between wanting information and not wanting to bother him and bring up bad memories.

Maybe I shouldn’t have watched The Best Years of Our Lives the other night on TCM. It’s a great movie, but it made me want to know how things were for him.

Thanks again. Since he was on the ship from 1943 to 1946, I can learn a lot about what he went through just by reading those pages.

Thank you. Your post came through while I was writing mine. I’ll look through those web sites when I get home later tonight. It’s possible dad might be interested in the newsletter. I’ll ask. He never ever uses a computer (I keep trying) and I thought maybe getting information like this might prompt him to take the plunge. But if not, a newsletter would be good.

Dad was also on a destroyer during the Korean war, but he couldn’t remember the name of it (I think it upset him that he couldn’t remember). He slipped while going down some stairs during bad weather, and broke his back. He was sent to Hawaii then to Great Lakes in Chicago to recuperate before heading home to Iowa. Wouldn’t it be interesting if your father and my father were on the same ship? (I hope “ship” is the correct term). I’ll talk to him about it again.

Thanks again for the information.

From Here there is a lot of good info about his time onboard. Cut and paste from that site for him, lots of good details!

He may or may not tell you sea stories from the port call in Oz, though!

Oh yes, “ship”, just don’t call it a “boat”. Ever. (Oops.)

Don’t assume that he dosen’t want to talk about the old times because there was a war with fighting and dying and being scared all the time and such. I mean, obviously I only see the guys who want to go to the reunions and be on the mailing list and such, but in my experience they really, really want to talk about it - they love seeing each other because they get to talk to people who understand what it was like.

The newsletter is pretty good for people who aren’t tech-savvy - it also has updates on who’s having a reunion and such (although some reunions don’t bother to put it in the newsletter), so maybe your dad would enjoy feeling connected in that way.

Thanks, I’ll have to read it later, but I’m very pleased! Ha, yeah, he said they regularly docked in Sydney. I asked him how he liked Australia. He said he didn’t remember Australia. I thought it was a memory problem and didn’t want to probe, but then he said that he only remembered the women and booze! I laughed and said “Well, so, how’d you like Australia?” He laughed. I said, come on, I’m an adult, and mom has been dead for over 20 years, I can handle it. He just laughed again and said the women were interesting and that’s all he was going to say about that.

Zsofia, maybe you’re right. I’ll tell him what I’ve found so far thanks to you guys, and just come right out and ask him if he wants me to just drop it, or help him get connected.

I just re-read this

I thought dad was really having a memory problem, because they picked up 11 survivors from that other ship, the Bismarck Sea, sunk by a kamikaze. This, the Brownson, is the one he told me about, and he was very close on the number of survivors (he said 160).

Which also tells me he definitely doesn’t want to talk about the Bismarck Sea kamikaze attack to me. When I heard it as a kid, he must have been talking to a friend, or mom, and I overheard, because he wouldn’t have said anything about it in front of us kids. I’m still his kid I guess, but that’s ok. He probably figures I couldn’t possibly understand anyway. Real life is not like the movies.

Please tell your dad that a lot of people are very grateful for all he and his shipmates and all who served did for us. Our WWII veterans are disappearing at an alarming rate, and I think most would like to go out knowing they are not forgotten and that their sacrifices are appreciated.

A quick update: I talked to my father again last night and he was fascinated to hear about these miraculous things called “web sites!” I read him the history page about the USS Daly. As many times as I’ve tried to explain the Internet to him, today was the first time that he really understood the fact that you can get actual information from it. I’m serious, he really isn’t into computers. He wants me to print out the web sites and mail them to him! I will, but I’m still hoping it will nudge him toward getting online himself.

It was a fascinating conversation. As I read to him about the ship, which, to my great alarm was in far more danger during the time he served on it than I’d ever known, he’d stop me every now and then and tell stories. He didn’t see much of the action (though he certainly witnessed some), since he was below deck most of the time. He was an “evaporator” and made fresh water as a full-time job. I didn’t realize that they not only needed fresh water for drinking and cooking, but for the boilers too. Since the ships were always on the move, I can imagine what a vitally important job it was. He said he and 4 other guys were stuck down there doing that hot (South Pacific! No air conditioning!) job, and since they were in the bowels of the ship I’d imagine they were very vulnerable. They’re not getting shot at, true, but I’d think they’d have very little chance of getting topside if the ship sank.

I hope he does get inspired to write down stories. One of the most sobering things he told me was that he went ashore at Nagasaki and toured the city with several of his shipmates. He said it was horrific and he didn’t even see any bodies. I had no idea he’d been there.

Zsofia, he still couldn’t remember the name of the destroyer he was on during Korea. He came up with a name but when I checked it out found it had been scuttled in 1947. He’ll think about it. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t remember.

I printed out all the web pages I could find about the Daly and will mail them to him tomorrow (he lives in another state). Once again, thank you all so much for your help. movingfinger, I’ll pass along your sentiments. We all heartily agree.