Virgil Butler

I was born in Walnut, Iowa on May 29, 1921. I enlisted in the Navy on my Z1St birthday (5/29/42) at Portland, Oregon. Boot Camp was in San Diego. I was assigned, in June, to the U.S.S. Nassau, which was being fitted for sea duty at Bremerton, Washington, and departed for sea duty on September 16,1942.

I was assigned to the Aerology Department V-3 Division. Trying to predict weather on a rolling ship was a challenge, using weather balloons, etc. My battle station was assisting our officer on the bridge with launching aircraft. I was the one with the phone headset.

The most memorable event happened at Cold Bay, in the Aleutians, on May 18, 1943, when a Japanese sub launched two torpedoes at the Nassau. Our lockout spotters passed the word to the skipper. It seemed the ship turned to the starboard instantly. The torpedoes just missed the stern. The Chaplain had a full Hanger Deck of praying sailors at church services that morning.

Jim Rappenecker and I also were the first to take water temperatures. The Navy Department would later call this "El Nino." They knew water temperature in the Pacific had something to do with North American's weather. We would drag a Bathythermograph on a 1000 foot cable astern. Sonar thought it was a submarine. Many times the ship went into General Quarters!

I left the Nassau after the Leyte Gulf Mission, in the Philippines, on November of 1944. I was one of the last six plank owners of the original crew. I was ordered transferred to Terminal Island, Long Beach, California Naval Station with an Honorable Discharge from the U.S.N.R. on December 16, 1945 after serving on the luckiest carrier in W.W.II after five major battles in the South Pacific.

 I married Marian Neuenfeldt in Portland, Oregon on February 5, 1949. We have one daughter, Stacey, born May 14, 1954. We have two grandsons, Tim and Sean. My soul-mate, Marian, died suddenly on October 24, 2000 on her 75th birthday, after 51 and one half years of great memories.

My new address is: Virgil Butler, 930 Mountain Meadows Circle, Ashland, OR 97520

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08/16/02