USS Balch DD363

The story of three young men who went to sea

Prologue

On a hot, humid; windy April 6, 1943, on an island in the

South Pacific consisting of coral and coconut trees, three young ensigns, all in their early 20 's, boarded a motor launch that would take them to their ship anchored in the harbor. They were dressed in starched and pressed khaki uniforms, eager to impress their new captain. After a thirty-minute ride in an open boat through the choppy bay they were drenched through and through. There were no creases in their trousers and they looked more like drowned rats than sailors. Thus, they were welcomed aboard what would be their home for the next thirty months.

Within a few hours the task force to which their destroyer was attached exchanged the relatively calm waters of Efate harbor for a wild and violent sea. Soon each was deathly seasick. No mercy was shown these young ensigns, .for each was assigned a four-hour watch as Junior Officer of the Deck (JOOD) during the long, rough, night hours. They didn't even know how to get to the bridge for their first assignment. As each one took his turn on watch relieving his partner, the only words spoken were, "The bucket is in the corner."

They had no idea where they were going and didn't really care. All they wanted was to be left alone to die in peace, but that was not to be. They stood watches, went to General Quarters, didn't eat a meal for days, and prayed that they could do their assigned duties. Their destination was Guadalcanal.

One day while eating lunch, three aging destroyer sailors all now in their eighties and living within a few miles of one another, started talking about their time together during WWII. They recognized that there was a common bond among them that was unbreakable. Why not jot down some of their recollections? That's how it started

This will not be another "Bombs, Bullets, and Bayonets" dissertation. Rather, it is our desire to leave a record of what life was like among 275 young men, average age in their early twenties, who called 1,850 tons of steel their home.

By recording our experiences in writing we hope to leave a record of those years so our .children, and particularly our grandchildren, will have some understanding of what was quite possibly the most important period in our lives. Gradually, it evolved.

This is the story of Lt. Ray Dunn, USNR, Chief Engineer; Lt. Arnold Vezzani, USNR, Gunnery Officer; and Lt. Chuck DeKay, USNR, Communications Officer. We arrived on board ship with neither those ranks nor those responsibilities. As ensigns when we reported we were the lowest forms of naval life. "Rank among ensigns is like virtue among " you know the rest of that saying. In addition when first on board, "We didn't know nothin!" As time went by we gradually became dry behind the ears, learned our jobs, became useful members of the ship's crew, and advanced to more responsible positions.

The World Situation Just Prior to December 7,1941

In the fall of 1941, the three of us were in college. Ray (an end on the football team) and Chuck were attending the University of California, while Arnie was a baseball player at San Francisco State University. We were very much aware of what was taking place in Europe but an ocean separated us and we felt that it was "Their War".

Chuck - I remember attending Cal football games m the fall of 1941 thinking how fortunate I was compared to young men in England

Adolph Hitler and his Third Reich had been terrorizing Europe since September, 1939, overrunning Belgium, France, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Holland, and sending waves of bombers over England. Our country was separated from that conflict not only by an ocean, but also by an almost universally held feeling of isolationism. There was no question where our sympathies lay. The United States did not hesitate to lend all possible aid to England, short of sending troops. But it was their war! We read and heard about the Japanese invasion in China, with the accompanying atrocities, but most of us at that time were not fully aware of the true danger they were to the United States.

As 1941 inched its way towards December 7, our feelings started to change, and many of us began to realize that sooner or later, we would be involved in a shooting war. Today, anyone who was ten years of age or older on that date, remembers with crystal clarity exactly where he was and what he was doing when those terrible words came over the radio, "Pearl Harbor is Being Bombed!" We were in the war!

What was each of us doing on the morning of December 7, 1941?

Ray - When I heard the news over the radio, I was propped up on a boarding house bed; studying, with a wood clipboard beside me, which, with a roar, I smashed into splinters with my fist. When war was declared I was already enrolled in the Naval ROTC program at the University of California. On my 21st birthday early in 1943, I graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. The next day I was commissioned an ensign in the Us. Naval Reserve.

Chuck - It was about 10:00 AM when I heard the radio report, It put a real damper on the party that would be held in a few hours announcing my engagement to Barbara Root. In a few weeks I enlisted in the US. Navy V-7 Program. This allowed me to finish my last semester at Cat before being ordered to Midshipman School for officer training. I was commissioned an Ensign in the Naval Reserve at Northwestern University in Chicago on December 24, 1942~ My first orders were to report to the Destroyer Base in San Diego in 72 hours. This gave me just barely time enough to fly home and marry my Sweetheart on the 26th. Early the next morning I was on an airplane to San Diego for six weeks of gunnery school. Great honeymoon!

Arnold - Prior to December 7, the Dean called me into his office and said I had completed enough courses to permit me to graduate in the fall of 1941, instead of the spring of 1942. I declined on the grounds that some additional courses were needed for graduate school at Stanford The real reason was that I wanted the fun of my last semester. And it was great, great, great!

(Chuck-Arnie was Senior Class President and gave the valedictory speech at graduation)

On December 7th, I had a date. I got to her house about 10 a.m. She came to the door and said; ""The Japs just bombed Pearl Harbor ". Stupidly, I replied; ""Fine, get your coat ". SO much for deep impressions. I enlisted in the V-7 program in the Navy in February 1942. Later, on a train going to Notre Dame University for officers training, there were quite a number of V - 7 men on board Most of us were having fun. At the rear of the car, sitting alone, was Chuck DeKay, with about 20 snapshots spread out. I said to this unknown, ""What are you doing here alone? "

He responded; ""Want to see a picture of my girlfriend? " Wasn't it amazing that later we would become shipmates and lifelong friends?

Just before Christmas, 1941, I went to Marin County with a college buddy who was driving his father's new car. We hit a soft shoulder at over 70-mph, and went off the road I went through a shatterproof windshield; and bounced back, leaving a hole in the windshield the size of my head The point of this story is that I was sure I was going to die, but obviously did not. As a result, when we got to the Balch I was confident that I led a charmed life, and so I never worried And, by God; the Balch led a charmed life!

We Go to Sea

After being commissioned, Arnold and Chuck were sent to the Destroyer Base in San Diego for six weeks of additional training. Upon completion, each received orders to the Balch, while Ray, independent of the other two, also received similar orders. Before long, all three of us were in a convoy bound for God only knew where. We had no idea where we were going, other than it was somewhere in the

South Pacific. There were eight thousand men on a ship designed to accommodate less than a thousand. Water for bathing was rationed to about a quart a day per man. There were no facilities for doing laundry. The stateroom in which Chuck was quartered had six officers. It was meant for one couple. After a voyage of several weeks we arrived at Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia. Ray and Chuck were on the same transport and had become acquainted. Arnold was on another transport, didn't know Ray and was barely acquainted with Chuck. We had no idea where our ship was, but obviously someone did and started us on our way.

Function of the U.S. Navy during the war.

During the early part of the war in the Pacific the U.S. Navy was about the only line of resistance to the Japanese plans for their "Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere", which was to occupy much of Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. They had spread rapidly from the Japanese Empire, occupying almost everything south to New Guinea and east almost to Midway Island, 800 miles from Hawaii.

The Master Plan for military effort of the United States at that time was to defeat Germany first, then go after Japan. Early in the war most of our limited military resources were sent to England. The Pacific Fleet, which was inadequate at best on December 7, was terribly battered at Pearl Harbor. It was through sheer good luck that our three aircraft carriers, USS Hornet, USS Lexington, and USS Enterprise were spared. They were at sea on that date, with USS Balch a part of that Task Force.

In spite of inadequate resources, it was the Navy's job to slow the Japanese juggernaut until our country was able to build enough materiel to supply both theaters of war.

Later, as the United States devoted almost all of its resources to the war, increasing amounts of materiel were sent to the Pacific Theater. However it would be nearly two years before our forces there were adequately supplied to fight a really aggressive war. (Note: within twelve months the United States was building over 50,000 airplanes a year, launching a cargo ship every four or five days, and a capital ship every few weeks!)

The role of a destroyer during the Pacific war was to furnish protection to cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers from submarine attack; help in the defense against enemy aircraft; give gunfire support to our forces landing on those god-forsaken, coconut palm tree covered coral atolls; and when ordered, to deliver a torpedo attack on capital enemy ships. They were expendable! Now, let's see what goes into the making of a destroyer - our destroyer.

The Bloody B, as we affectionately called her, started life at the Bethlehem Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. She was launched 24 March 1936, at a cost of $3,783,950. Today, that wouldn't even buy one radar on a modern destroyer. At birth her vital statistics were: length, 381'; width, 36'; weight, 1,850 tons. The thickest steel plate in her hull was 3/4 inch, which a 50-caliber machine gun bullet could easily penetrate. She relied on speed, not armor plate, and was the second naval vessel to carry the name of Admiral Balch, a Union Civil War commander.

Balch was one of eight destroyers in the Porter class. The class is named after the first ship built of that design. When USS Porter (DD 356) left the harbor for her first sea trials she almost rolled over when rounding the harbor entrance buoy. Gingerly she returned to port where she was immediately loaded with 50 tons of cast iron ballast in the bilges of the engineering spaces. All other ships of that class were similarly ballasted. That's one of the reasons ships have "sea trials" and "shakedown cruises."

A Sea Story

Chuck - I had the Mid Watch (midnight to 4 AM) during a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean in 1944, when our ship rolled 62 degrees. I was convinced she would ne1-'er return to vertical and would capsize, but slowly, oh so slowly, she started to right herself I believe that was the most frightening moment of the war for me. USS Warrington, a destroyer very similar to Balch, did rollover during that same storm and sank with the loss of nearly 300 men.)

A Sea Story

Ray - One evening in the South Pacific the seas were particularly rough and the ship was on a course that caused her to take heavy rolls from side to side. Alternately, the edges of the main deck would be buried into the sea. I was aft on the port side, attempting to go forward The trick was to time the rolls so I could dash up when the she rolled to starboard; then grab anything available for support until she rolled over to port and ('dipped her deck ". I had reached the amidships passageway just as she took a tremendous roll to starboard; immersing the main deck in four feet of water, while, at the same time a huge wave broke over that side. A six-foot wall of green water came roaring through the passageway. I made a desperate dive for a vertical coaming and caught it with both hands in the nick of time, just as my feet were swept off the deck. My body was twisted sideways and levitated parallel to the deck by the lush of water. If I had missed that coaming ?

Reflect back to our first days on board Balch. We were bound for Guadalcanal. After a few days on station at the site of some of the worst naval defeats in our history, we were ordered to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. On arriving at this gem of the Pacific we immediately took on quantities of cold weather gear. Having just come from a climate that seldom saw daytime temperatures under 85 degrees, and where one could start sweating merely from thinking about it, we were puzzled. We soon learned our next destination would be the Aleutian Islands where we would assist in the recapture of the islands of Attu and Kiska. These, and Wake Island, were the only territories of the United States occupied by the Japanese during World War II.

A Sea Story

Chuck -While we were freezing our tails off in this cold miserable, rainy, foggy climate, every four or five days we would retreat to a safe harbor called Cold Bay to get fuel and ammunition. There was a lake close to the harbor which held large rainbow trout. The USO (United Service Organization) had supplied fishing tackle for use of the service men stationed there. On one occasion when I had no watches or other duties, I asked Tom Saunders, our Executive Officer, permission to go ashore for a few hours to fish. His immediate reply was, "Negative", with no explanation. I never really like him after that (and he was a graduate of the University of California!). The closest I got to fishing was to throw hand grenades into the water in that harbor. Their explosions resulted in our having fresh cod for dinner.

Toward the end of the Aleutian campaign, the ship .I developed a serious problem in one of the engine rooms. As a result we were detached from the task force and sent to the Naval Shipyard in San Francisco for eight-weeks

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