After Midway he was sent back to the states and assigned to a new destroyer and which was sent to Guadalcanal and was in the pacific for the duration on the war which has a great story in of itself as a highly decorated ship, USS Saufley DD 465.
Awesome. My grandfather was on a plank owner on a Fletcher, too. ‘43-’45 in the PTO. Battle of Philippine Sea was his big battle. He would never talk about combat. Only silly stuff like lighting farts on fire and how much he enjoyed “shore partrol” in the red light district of Honolulu. Even that was only with the grandkids. He never ever talked about the war with his kids.
Just got back from seeing Midway. Great movie and it will be considered a classic of it’s genre. No doubt in my mind.
My father almost never spoke of it and as kids we knew not to ask, only the lighter and comical things were revealed. I learned more after he passed when my mom gave me his records including a copy of the ships DD465 action reports. I found a book written by anther plank owner on that ship called Tin Can Man which was also an interesting read.
They truly were the Greatest Generation.