Larry Stewart, World War II

This is a picture of Grandma Murphy’s half brother Larry Stewart. (Does he remind you of anybody in our current family?) Uncle Larry served in the navy on the USS destroyer Zellars during World War II.

He wrote: "We took the ship on a shake-down cruise and had several shipyard workers with us, so several sailors including me had to give up our bunks to them, so I slept behind the switchboard (my life jacket was my mattress) that was my battle station--the forward emergency diesel generator room. It was very cramped. The chief electricians mate, who was also an associated press photographer, snuck in and took my picture while I was asleep! You will see the result."

Uncle Larry described a stop for some R & R before they went into battle at Okinawa. It sounds straight out of the movie, "South Pacific." "We were escorting the USS Franklin, an aircraft carrier, around the South Pacific and we received orders to go to the staging area for the invasion of Okinawa. On the way there the captain found a beautiful island and anchored there. He said we were gong to have a beach party. . . . It was beautiful, palm trees, white sand on the beach, water so clear it was like looking through glass. And no bathing suits allowed. Everybody went swimming and had a good time. When we got tired we waded to the beach for cold beer and spam sandwiches. After that sides were chosen and a tackle football game started. I watched from the side lines. What a game that was, bare a... foot ball on a beautiful sandy beach, fouls galore. A good time was had by all. After the party ashore, the captain found out that someone had broken into the beer locker and swiped some booze. [The person who did it] traded all the booze, including the officers’ for a bunch of Babe Ruth candy bars. We found out later that they were full of mildew, but we could break off the bad part and eat the rest. Kinda disappointing. I didn’t like beer anyway. After that we headed for Okinawa."

His ship was hit by a Japanese suicide plane during the battle of Okinawa. Luck and timing saved his live. "This is all that was left of the emergency generator room and switch board that I was pictured sleeping in and that was my battle station. The arrow shows the level of the main deck on the other side where the planes were attacking. The gunners got two of them and the third was closing in and they hit him. The pilot was probably hit and he raised the plane and hit the ship on top of the main deck and stopped, then caught fire. The torpedo crashed through the bulkheads of the officers’ mess (temporary medical center and ship doctors’ battle station) went out the other side and exploded over the main deck, killing the doctor. Chief Cushing had been taking pictures on the other side and he got some good ones of the plane just before it hit, but the camera was jarred from his hands and hit the deck and broke. Fortunately the film was still good. I had bought some pictures from him that he had taken before, but they were destroyed by the fuel oil that leaked out on the deck in the compartment where my foot-locker was located and inundated it. I lost everything. . . . Later they passed out the stuff of the deceased and we were able to look a little decent. After that we got an allowance to purchase new clothes and bedding."