World War II veteran remembers the Big E
posted on January 30, 2013 8:10 AM views:245
By Staff Sgt. David Bruce, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Public Affairs
Laid out upon the kitchen table were the artifacts that chronicled one man’s experiences during World War II; photographs, clippings from newspapers, orders of the day and other memorabilia from his time aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, CV-6.
Arthur Brown, of Brown County, Ind., served aboard the aircraft carrier from July 1942 until the end of the war as a Petty Officer 2nd Class in the damage control section.
The Enterprise CV-6, or the Big E as Brown referred to it, was a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier commissioned May 12, 1938 and seventh ship to bear that name. During the course of the war, the Enterprise received 20 of 21 battle stars, commendations issued to U.S. Navy warships for meritorious participation in a battle, seeing action in every major engagement with the exception of the Battle of Coral Sea. It was the sole survivor of the three Yorktown-class carriers. After the aircraft carrier USS Hornet was sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands and the USS Saratoga was undergoing repairs, the Enterprise was the only aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific. This prompted the crew to post a sign reading ‘Enterprise vs. Japan’ on the flight deck.
The Enterprise was the most decorated ship to emerge from World War II with the aforementioned 20 battle stars, was the first aircraft carrier to receive a Presidential Unit Citation, and also received a Navy Unit Commendation and a British Admiralty Pennant from the Royal Navy.
“I was on the ship for 28 months; from Guadalcanal to Japan, and got back alive,” said Brown. “That was my home for all that time. When I got to Pearl Harbor and saw the transports, I thought those were the biggest ships. Then I saw the Enterprise; it was huge,” said Brown.
Brown said it required a lot of work to keep the Enterprise in operational condition. The task was made more difficult with Japanese navy trying to sink it.
“The ship is just like a city,” he said. “You always had something to do. I worked in fresh water systems for several months, then I worked in water tight integrity; every compartment we had to make airtight. When you were in battle, all the air and blowers were turned off until it was over. If you got hit, and things weren’t watertight, you would sink. And every time we went out of port, there were only two things we went out for: either to kill them or let them kill us.”
Brown said working damage control was a difficult undertaking.
“When we got blown-up, I had the worst job; cleaning up the bodies, pumping the water out, putting out the fires, getting guys out from below decks. Damage control was a dirty job,” said Brown. “When you got bombed, everything went dark, like in a mine. When you went into those sections, you didn’t know what you would find.”
The Enterprise received severe damage during the Guadalcanal campaigns, the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands and supporting the Okinawa campaigns. The final damage Enterprise sustained was May 14, 1945 from a kamikaze.
“When a bomb hit, it took out a wide area,” he said. “You take a 500-bomb and everything’s gone. But the biggest fear I had in the war were the kamikazes. You could look up and see them coming out of the sky, the sun, and you’d swear you were the only one on that ship. When that plane comes down, you think ‘Adios, this is it’. If it didn’t, it might have lit out there a mile or might have been disintegrated before it got there, but you’re still thinking that. But, I never got over this, the battles. I never told the boys, but I could never sleep all night long. I can’t do it; I have to get up. I never told anybody, I just put up with it. You don’t forget; it’s there.”
The final tally for the Enterprise: 911 planes shot down by her guns or aircraft; 71 ships sunk by her aircraft; 192 additional ships badly damaged or sunk and numerous shore installations damaged or destroyed.
“We had pretty good gunners and pilots,” said Brown. “I felt honored to be on that ship,” he said. “Our ship was the flagship for the first part of the war until they brought the new carriers out. The Japanese claimed to have sunk us six times. After Santa Cruz Islands, we were the only aircraft carrier in the Pacific for a while. It was like they were always after us during that time.”
Brown attended the decommissioning of the present Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Enterprise CVN-65, which was the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Dec. 1, 2012. Brown said attending the event brought with it a measure of celebrity.
“I was the only veteran of CV-6 there. I felt like a dignitary; they treated me like royalty. I couldn’t walk anywhere on the dock without someone stopping us and talking about World War II. They saw that CV-6 on my hat, and I would be talking to this guy and that guy and couldn’t get back to the car for nothing.”
According to his son, Carl Brown, also of Brown County, Ind., his father never sought any recognition for his service aboard the Enterprise.
“All he does is wear that CV-6 hat, and it comes to him,” said the younger Brown. “It’s good to see him get the recognition now. The respect they gave him was over the top.”
The younger Brown said they took a tour of the ship and had an opportunity to meet the captain of the Enterprise CVN-65, Capt. William C. Hamilton.
“We were escorted to the captain’s quarters and had a one-on-one meeting with him for an hour and a half. At the end, he presented Dad with one of the commemorative 51st year coin.”