Sam C. Gault

Sam C. Gault

I was born on June 13, 1926 in Dallas County, Texas. I was one of nine children. I had five older brothers, one older sister, and two younger sisters.

On my seventh birthday, I asked my Dad if I could Join the Navy. Of course, he said no because I had three brothers in the service at that time — one in the Army, one in the Navy, and one in the Marines. I continued to hassle my Dad, and he finally agreed to sign for me. I enlisted in the Navy six days after my 17th birthday, and was immediately put on a train to San Diego, California. I spent seven weeks In Boot Camp at San Diego, and then was sent to North Island Air Base at San Diego.

Since I did not get a leave to visit home, I volunteered for duty overseas. I was shipped to Los Alamitos Air Base near Long Beach, California in August 1943. I was in a Carrier Aircraft Service Unit. We left Los Alamitos in early October, and wound up in San Francisco. We left San Francisco in mid-October for Hawaii. We were stationed at Barbers Point, on the Island of Oahu, out of Pearl Harbor. We had rifles, bayonets, marine fatigues, and all the equipment for battle, and no one knew where we were going or what we were going to do.

One morning at muster, our Division Commander said we were 17 men over compliment, and when he called our names we were to step out of rank. One of those names was me. The next day, I boarded the U.S.S. Nassau in Pearl Harbor. I was pleased because now my life was beginning to look like a sailor's life. I was assigned to the 2nd Division on the aft for the ship. This was not the kind of work I really wanted. I was a Baker before Joining the Navy. One day, I saw the Chief Commissary Steward, Mr. Johnson, and I asked him what were my chances of working in the bakery. He told me to volunteer for mess-cook duty and keep volunteering every month, because nobody wanted mess-cook duty. Eventually he would work me in the bakery as a striker. Well, by the second month I got my chance In the bakery, and I was very grateful to Chief Johnson. Chief Johnson let me take my tests for Seaman 1st Class, and later for Baker 3rd Class. I passed them both, and again was very grateful to Chief Johnson.

My first voyage on the Nassau was early November, We sailed to Tarawa and hit there on November 19, 1943, and everyone knows what a battle that was. My first General Quarters station was in the Mess Hall with all the hatches battened down. I did not like this battle station, and again I went to Chief Johnson and asked him If there was anyway I could get a battle station on topside. He said he would check into it, and again he got me a Job In the 20mm ammunition closet loading ammo for the 20mm anti-aircraft guns. I was very thankful for this, and after a time and some training, I became a gunner on a 20mm gun. Now I was happy. I suppose Chief Johnson helped me more than anyone In the Navy. In talking to him, I found out he was from Dallas, also. Now don't get me wrong. Chief Johnson was not doing me special favors. He was Just a kind man and anxious to help anyone in need. God rest his soul. I will never forget him.

Well, I was happy to work hard in the Bakery and be as good as I could be in serving my shipmates, and serving my country aboard "The Nasty Maru". While I was aboard, we sailed to a lot of places, and to some of those two or three times. We sailed to the Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, the Philippines, the New Hebrides, New Guinea, Guam, Caroline Islands, and so many times to Pearl Harbor that I got tired going ashore. I know we sailed to other places, but the names escape me now.

My most memorable times aboard our ship were when we catapulted Army planes and pilots from our ship; and when we brought back thousands of Marines and Soldiers, some of them who were seriously wounded. We also brought back 17 Japanese prisoners, posing as fisherman, from the Marshall Islands to Pearl Harbor. The prisoners were given haircuts, new dungarees, and specials meals. I even got to give them all a cigarette in the Mess Hall one morning. That was exciting to me. They were treated like ROYALTY while they were aboard the U.S.S. Nassau.

The one time I was most frightened was one night when we had a hanger deck full of Marines. Some of them were seriously wounded, and some of them were in stretchers. They were watching a movie on the Hangar Deck. All of a sudden, the General Alarm sounded. WE had a rule that when manning battle stations, you go up Starboard and down Port. Well, the Marines didn't know that, and a lot of people were going the wrong way, tumbling into everything and everyone. When I finally got to my gun, there were Marines that had our Kapoks on. We said, "Hey, those are our life Jackets!" They said, "No way are we giving these up!" The Gunnery Officer finally came around and we got our Kapoks back. The battle that night was a false alarm. Some debris had been floating nearby and our radar picked it up. We stayed on our guns for most of the night. Another time, in the afternoon, a Japanese Submarine surfaced a short distance off our stern. We figured they were trying to get in position to fire at us, and that they surfaced by mistake. Well, the Destroyer in our escort dropped a few ash cans, and the sub was destroyed.

I got off the Nassau about October 1945, and was granted a 30-day leave. When the leave was over, I was shipped back to Los Alamitos at Long Beach. Since I did not have enough points to be discharged, I was again a Baker at Los Alamitos. I met my wife, Alice, while on liberty in Long Beach, Her mother and sister lived in Long Beach, and I knew right away the they were good people. I was discharged in April 1946 at a nearby base. My fiancee' and I traveled to Iowa to meet her family, and then to Dallas to get married. We married on May 25, 1946 and are still married. May 25, 2001 will be 55 years. We have five children, two boys and three girls. We have 14 grandchildren (one deceased), and four great-grandchildren. When we married, we went back to Long Beach to live. In 1949 we moved to Dallas; 1951 to Iowa; and 1969 to Oklahoma City. I worked for Firestone for 30 years, and retired in Oklahoma City where we still live. We have been blessed with a good life, and I am especially thankful to Sam Moore and many more, for all the reunions they have put together. May God Bless.