Luther Owen US Navy USS MacDonough |
I grew up in the great depression when things were really hard. I grew up on a farm in Anderson County, South Carolina. I enlisted in the US Navy on April 16, 1940, and did my eight weeks of training at NOB at Norfolk, VA. After two weeks of boot leave, I returned back to Norfolk, VA, did 30 days in the mess hall. Then we were shipped out to Key West, FL. I went aboard an old 4 stacked destroyer, the USS Buchanan (DD13D), came back up the East Coast in to Norfolk. Then we sailed on up the coast. Went in to dry dock. We chipped and scrapped the old ship from bow to stern and painted it. Then on into Nova Scotia where we turned it of to the English. Came back down to Philadelphia by rail. I stayed there for two weeks, then by rail on to Bremerton, WA. We boarded two different battleships and an aircraft carrier. We sailed down to Los Angeles, CA and then by bus on to San Diego, where we went aboard the USS MacDonough (DD351). We sailed on October 1940 over to Pearl Harbor. We sailed all around the Pacific Ocean and even went to Wake and Midway Islands. I will never forget December 7, 1941. I was in the washroom brushing my teeth, when the Japs began to bomb our fleet. We immediately manned our guns and began to fire at the attacking planes. We were in for an overhaul and were tied to a buoy along side the USS Dobbin, our destroyer tender along with four other destroyers. We were approximately six to eight hundred yards from the Arizona. Our firemen and Motor Machiners put the engines back together and built up steam. We got underway about 3:00 or 4:00 that evening and went to sea looking for Japs. We fought in several air battles and also took action in four or five island landings. I served aboard the "Mac" for three years and nine months. I left the "Mac" a 1st Class PO. I came back to the states on August 10, 1944. Married my childhood sweetheart on August 26, 1944. We were together for almost fifty-seven years. She went on to be with Jesus on March 31, 2001. |
Information provided by Luther Owen. |
