Wilbur A. Zink

Wilbur A. Zink

My life began on April 30, 1926 when Alien and Fern Zink became the parents of a baby boy they named Wilbur Alien Zink. the location was on a farm, two miles northeast of Appleton City, Missouri. A visitor from Kansas came by the day I was born and gave my parents $25.00 to start a bank account for me. His name was Wilbur, so I got that handle also. I volunteered for the U.S. Navy on March 31, 1944 in Kansas City, Missouri. I was allowed to graduate in May, and I reported to the Navy Headquarters in Kansas City on May 18, 1944. I was sent to Great Lakes Naval Training Center, near Chicago, Illinois. I played the bass horn in the band, besides all the other good things in Boot Camp.

After my leave, I was put on a train and sent to Camp Shoemaker, CA, arriving on July 15, 1944. On August 9th, I was told to pack my seabag and I was taken down to the berth of the U.S.S. Nassau (CVE-16). In late afternoon, we lifted our anchors and went under the Golden Gate Bridge, headed for Pearl Harbor on our way to the South Pacific. I got seasick, as did a lot of others including a group of Marines going overseas with us. We arrived in Pearl Harbor on August 15, 1944. While on liberty and on a barge returning to our ship, my 1.D. card fell out of my pocket and into the water. I received the normal thirty hours of extra duty and 20 days restriction in port. I didn't get off the ship for three months, and cleaned lots of heads and scraped a lot of paint.

There was no place to go, but up. So, I found a position in the Air Department Office as a Yeoman striker, and was in the V-3 Division. In a few months, I was in charge of the office with one striker, James Wreford from Texas. I was Yeoman 3rd ra month in Tacoma, Washington where we decommissioned the Nassau. Other than my aviation clerical duties, I edited the Nassau Narrator, which was our ship newspaper.

There were many memorable events onboard the Nassau, including the times our ship's radar showed Japanese bombers (Bettys) headed our way. Our planes would intercept them, shoot them down, and we thus avoided being bombed as well as being hit by Japanese suicide planes. Another exciting time was when we were anchored in Buckner Bay at Okinawa, riding out a typhoon. Another ship, that was out of control, rammed the Nassau and we lost one of our anchors. We were forced to head out for the open seas, and the sailors lined up around the Flight Deck looking for loose floating mines, but we were blessed by not hitting one of them.

In case our ship was sinking, my position was to put all the confidential files in a large sea bag, with a heavy weight in the bottom, so it would sink when I threw it overboard. This was so the enemy would not get them. Praise the Lord, we never found ourselves in that position.

I shall always remember a young Christian sailor, John Kruis, who started a Bible study and prayer group with me, Paul Oliver, a black cook and four others. I finally got to meet John again, after over fifty years, when we had our reunion in Chicago. As I look back, I believe God heard this little prayer group and His hand of protection was on the Nassau.

I was discharged at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis on June II, 1946. On August 2, 1946, I was married to Dixie D. Watts, who was my high school classmate. We have celebrated our 55th year of marriage. Dixie wrote me every day while I was in the service. She graduated from Southwest Baptist College in May 1946. We have two adopted children, Susan Jane Zink (Cooper) and David Alien Zink. We have three grandchildren: Lauren, Undsey and Anna.

We moved to Springfield, Missouri in 1999 to be near both our children. I am still involved in Zink Motor Company at my hometown of Appleton City, Missouri. I have been a Ford Dealer for 55 years. I was called to the ministry when in my forties, and pastored small churches in west central Missouri. I continued to operate my dealership and drove to the churches on the weekends. My college consisted of three years of night school and three years of summer school.

Our Nassau reunions have been a highlight in my life, and I am grateful to Sam and Mary Moore for making this possible. It was an honor to serve our country In the 3rd Fleet under Admiral Bull Halsey. The U.S.S. NASSAU was a special ship because of some great shipmates.