Sam Moore

Sam Moore

I was born in Burlington, Iowa on January 29, 1922. I graduated from Burlington Senior High in 1940.

After graduation, I worked as a farmhand, a bus boy, in construction, and lastly at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica before enlisting in the U.S. Navy on May 4, 1942.

I went through Boot Camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, and then on to Aviation Machinist's School at Navy Pier, in Chicago, Illinois. I was denied my third class rate because I was late getting back from liberty, but with the promise I would automatically receive it after three months at sea.

I left by train, for San Francisco on January 9, 1943 and arrived at Treasure Island on January 13, 1943. After about three weeks at Treasure Island, I sailed for Pearl Harbor on the U.S.S. Kenmore on February 8, 1943. I was seasick the whole eight days of our voyage, arriving on February 16, 1943.

I said to myself, when docking in Honolulu, "They are never going to get me aboard another Navy vessel." Guess what? On February 21 1943 I was on my way to the New Hebrides, but I was never seasick a day after that. The sea was as smooth as glass as we headed west.

Jim Hartzheim and I went through Boot Camp together; through school together, in Chicago; and now we were together on the U.S.S. Nassau. For this reason, Jim holds a special place in my heart.

I was assigned to V-1 Division which was the Flight Deck. From that point on, until March 26th, I endured some of my worst times in the Navy under Chief Casy Coleman. Because I had flown in private planes, and knew more about aircraft, in general, than he did, he was constantly belittling and harassing me. That came to an end when I was assigned to the galley as a mess cook on March 26, 1943. Here I became friends with the Chief Commissary Steward, Fluke, who allowed me to strike for baker on November 30, 1943. I was then transferred out of V-1 into the "S" Division. One time our shipment of flour came aboard infested with weevils. We tried our best to remove them with sifters, but many went through unknown to us.

One day the Exec. came to the Bake Shop with a piece of pie in hand. Pointing to the pie he said. Do you see that?" About then a weevil crawled out of the pie, after it had been baked at 375 degrees. Needless to say, the Exec. was a little bit cranky. He went immediately down to the shipfitters and ordered three sieves to try and get rid of the weevils. Guess we never did get rid of all of them as the pie and the bread dough continued to have little black specks in them.

I am very proud to have served 26 months on the U.S.S. Nassau, as well as being proud of the crew I served with.

One interesting fact was when we went on liberty in Hawaii, it was from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. due to the All Island Total Blackout.

I was discharged from the U.S. Navy on November 7, 1945 at Norman, Oklahoma. I tried working in civilian bakeries, but they wanted me to work the kind of hours I worked aboard the ship, for about the same pay. I had a friend that introduced me to the sign and silk-screen business. I drifted from sign shop to sign shop, learning the trade and ended up working in the sign shop of Alpha Beta Markets in Los Angeles.

I was married to Mary Elizabeth Rosenquist on February 3, 1952. We moved a year later to Redding, California where I opened my own sign business, semi-retiring in 1987 — the year I organized the first U.S.S. Nassau Reunion.

My wife, Mary, and I are the proud parents of 4 daughters, 14 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren.

Mary and I were born-again in 1953 and have faithfully served the Lord, ever since, in many charities, such as teaching, music and The Awana Program.