Joe Urednick

Joe Urednick

SF3

At the turn of the century, my Morn and Dad came over to Ellis Island from Czechoslovakia. They were married in Chicago, Illinois. I was born on March 7, 1924 in Mishawaka, Indiana to Frank and Frances Urednick. I had three older brothers that served in the service. One brother had 30 years in the Navy.

I enlisted, in the Navy right after my 18th birthday, on February 25, 1943 in Mishawaka, Indiana. I was sent to Toledo, Ohio for my physical, and sent home until I was called into service. On March 6, 1943 my orders were to report to Toledo, and from there to Great Lakes. I went to Boot Camp at Camp Moffett, and was in the 13th Battalion - Co. #313. So, I think #13 is my lucky number. Like the rest of Boots, I got trained.

We left O.G.U. (Great Lakes) in May 1943 for Treasure Island. From there, we went to Goat Island, and then on or about June 10th or 12th, we were put aboard the Nassau.

My first trip aboard the Nassau was to Brisbane, Australia. I remember when the ship left. We went under the Golden Gate Bridge, and then past Alcatraz Island, it was in the evening. I could see San Francisco in the background (I think it was Frisco or Oakland), and I wondered if I would see the good of U.S.A. again.

The next day, we were all mustered together and put in our divisions. I was put in the C&R Division as a Shipfitter. The duties of a Shipfitter were the maintenance of the hull of the ship. Our General Quarters was Fire Fighting.

There were many things that happened aboard ship. I remember was when I made 3C Shipfitter, and the First Lieutenant told me that I was taking eighteen men to fire fighting school, and that I was the youngest Third-Class to be put in charge of these men. The Fire Fighting School was supposed to teach you fifteen years of fire-fighting in 24 hours. And, I guess it did! This school was on Oahu.

I remember crossing the Equator, where the International date Line crosses the Equator (Lat. 00 - Long. 00), and we were the first ship to cross that spot in 25 years.

Aboard ship, in those days, it was too hot to sleep in the compartments. So they slept on cots in the elevator pit. Some slept on the Hanger Deck as it was cooler there. Oh yes, getting back to what happened. C&R, my shop, had racks of angle iron, pipe and other stuff stored in the elevator pit. The piece that slipped out was a piece of monnel, about 4 foot long, and it hit the deck. The deck below the elevator had a hollow and empty peep tank. It sure scared the heck out of those sleeping sailors. It was about 12:30 a.m. when this all happened.

The most exciting time was when our destroyers sunk a Japanese sub. I was on the fantail of our ship when one of our 5" guns (cannon) went into action, but by that time, the destroyer sank the sub. Good thing it did, or they could have sunk us.

One other exciting time was when a Jap submarine chased us over the Equator seven times in 24 hours! I can't remember the exact time I left the Nassau. It must have been about July 1945. I was sent to Bremerton, Washington to be assigned on the U.S.S. Sicily, but was only aboard her for about three months when I went to Great Lakes for my discharge on October 25, 1945. I had enough points for my discharge out of the Navy. My rating at discharge was S.F. 3C. I served our country for 2 years, 7 months and 20 days.

I was going with my wife, Blanche L. Weldy, at the time the war was going on. On the 27th of February, we eloped. She was sixteen and I was eighteen. We lied about our ages on that night, and we were believed. To this day we are still together, 58 years!

We had three children: Joe, Jr.,Greg, and then Fran. Franiis our only living child, and she is married to Jay Bowser. They have two children, Phil and Angel. Joe, Jr. left us with two nice grandsons, Gregory and Gary. We have eight great-grandchildren.