Frank Montecalvo US Navy USS Gamble |
I was on the USS Gamble on December 7, 1941, inside the harbor about ½ mile from battleship row. Needless to say, it was not a picnic. I went aboard the Gamble on December 5, 1940, in San Francisco and sailed on December 8, 1940 direct to Pearl to join the fleet. The USS Gamble was a minelayer destroyer. I was on a 50-calibar machine gun putting up gun belts. We were lucky to get out. I knew a lot of sailors on the West Virginia and the Arizona. I went to boot camp in October of 1940; we lost a lot of people out of boot camp. We went to Great Lakes Naval Station. I was very luck, I wanted a battleship, instead the out going people put me on the Gamble, how lucky I was at that time. We got out about 9:30 am they didn't want us and spent most of their power on big ships. I just turned 20 in September of 1941. I am now 80 years old. I never thought I would go home; I was gone 5 years without coming back until September 1945. We lost the Gamble at Iwo Jima on February 17, 1945. |
Information provided by Frank Montecalvo. |
