June 2007 Update I just wanted to add to this, that several months after I first posted this, I was contacted by a former shipmate of my Grandfather's, who told me about a reunion that the men who served on the USS Pamanset and their families have every year.
Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the reunion being held this year. But, it has been amazing, to have learned so much about this part of my Grandfather's life, just because of this one blog post. And someone left a comment just today, asking my grandfather's name. His name was Donald McNulty.
To all those who served on the Pamanset, and to the family members and veterans who have contacted me....Thank you!
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One of my uncles today emailed me some pics he scanned of my grandfather from his WW II service.
According to my mother, Grandad" volunteered for service after Pearl Harbor because he was too old to be drafted, and felt a patriotic duty".Grandad died in 1966,when I was 6 years old,so I have some warm memories of him but of course was too young to know or ask anything about his wartime service back then.
I'm unsure of his years of service, but know that he was a Lieutenant (jg) in the Navy, and he served aboard a fleet oiler called the USS Pamanset. I had heard my whole life that Grandad served "on a ship", and it was only in the past few years that I found out it was a fleet oiler. I had happened to read years ago a novel about a fleet oiler in WW II, and when I found out THAT was the sort of ship Grandad had served on? I said "Holy cow,Mom! Those were the most DANGEROUS ships in the Navy!!!They were filled with fuel to fuel the other ships!!!"
My mother says "He was never in much battle, although once or twice his ship was fueling another ship and they were between the ship and the shore, and there was fighting going on from the shore.He was unhappy to be on an oiler, wanted to see more action."
Via this link Click here: Pamanset I found out a little more about Grandad's ship. It says in part....."Following shakedown, Pamanset sailed for Pearl Harbor and duty with the Pacific Fleet during the final months of World War II. Departing Pearl Harbor 24 July 1944, she steamed to the Marshall Islands, then to the Admiralty
Ielands where she spent the next several months refueling units of the 3rd Fleet. She continued her support of the 3rd Fleet during the Western Caroline and Philippine Islands engagements in the fall of 1944 as well as during the Formosa and China coast attacks early in 1945. Refueling operations in very heavy seas in January 1945, resulted in injuries to several of her crew. Pamanset arrived offIwo Jima 26 February and participatedin that campaign until returning to Ulithi, 2 March, thence proceeding to San Pedro, Calif. for extensive repairs. She was underway again 4 June for the Western Pacific and serviced the 3rd Fleet in various fueling areas until the end of the war. After extensive operations in support of the occupation fleet in Japanese home waters, she departed Yokohama 8 November for San Francisco where she decommissioned 18 March 1946. She was struck from the Naval Register 28 March and transferred to the Maritime Commission 11 October."
In researching the fleet oilers, I found that they were all named for U.S. rivers, and the Pamanset was named for a river in Massachusetts. Although I know my youngest uncle (my grandparents had a second son after the war) has researched more on the ship,I forgot to ask him to send me that info,lol.
In trying to find out more about fleet oilers (I don't remember the name of the novel I read years ago), I happened to come across, of all things, an Edgar Rice Burroughs (the Tarzan novels writer) fan e-zine which lists some articles that Mr. Burroughs wrote as a journalist on board a fleet oiler.
The link is here Click here: ERBzine 1128: ERB WWII Articles
and you have to scroll down to find these two articles:
Laughs at Sea Found by Author
Traveling With a Naval "Oiler"
Honolulu Advertiser ~ July 9, 1945
To Happen,' Burroughs Feels
Honolulu Advertiser ~ July 5, 1945
It was just rather interesting to me, to find out a little bit more about my grandfather's service in WW II and the ship he served on, so I thought I'd share this and the pictures.
On my Dad's side of the family, he was the youngest of 10 children, and had 3 older brothers who served in WW II. One as a Marine, one in the Army, and one in the Navy. The brother who served in the Army died at the age of 21 in the Battle of the Bulge .I cried the first time I watched that part of "Band of Brothers" (the Battle of the Bulge) thinking of Dad's brother being the same age as my oldest son and dying.
Going back even further in family history, it turns out each of my uncles has Civil War memorabilia passed down from relatives.....and unfortunately, it seems we had different branches of the family fighting on both sides, as one uncle has memorabilia passed down from the Northern forces, and one has memorabilia passed down from the Southern!
Well, I suppose that's enough of my family history:) but I felt a sense of sadness researching all this....Dad has only one brother still living, and Grandad and all the others have passed away. I'm sure there are untold stories that went with all of them, and I just had a feeling of history lost forever now.
1 comment:
Just happened on your message when I Googled Pamanset. My father served on that ship in WWII and was the ship's doctor. I too have some pictures of refueling in high seas. He died about twenty years ago, but it was nice to make a connection with that bit of family history.
Dan
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