Eugene J. "Gene" Parus US Navy USS Castor |
In the late 1930s, the Great Depression was still on and jobs were scarce. After high school and a six-month hitch in the CCCs, three of my buddies and I joined the US Navel Reserve. We trained one night a week and made annual two-week cruises with the regular Navy. During the summer months, we had access to a YP boat, which we used for weekend training. In September 1940, our division was placed on standby notice. The call came to go on active duty, and on March 7,1941, the 10th Fleet Division marched to the rail station, boarded the train, and headed for the Brooklyn Navy Yard, to be part of the crew of the USS Castor. The Castor was the first of a new breed--a Stores Issue Ship. She didn't have the silhouette or armament of a battleship, the long, trim lines of a cruiser, nor the knife-like contour of a destroyer. She looked like an average merchant ship, which she had been. Yet to those who sailed her, she was beautiful. The "Lucky Lady" was a special ship, with a special mission, and as the crew would say, "She's home and a feeder." The Castor introduced a new concept in fleet supply. Her mission was to operate with the Pacific Fleet as a floating supply depot for ships and landing craft anchored at isolated ports in forward operating areas, where no advanced bases had been established. Her mission was soon expanded to include replenishing ships while underway, thus the term UNREP (underway replenishment) was coined. The USS Castor departed the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 3, 1941, on her maiden voyage. I was transferred into the Commissary Section, first as a cook striker and later as a baker striker. Chief Holland would rotate the strikers so we actually learned other jobs in the Commissary Section. For a while, I was the "Jack O' the Dust." Besides learning how to bake, I also made ice cream and puddings for the crew's mess. Our cooks took pride in how they prepared the food. In fact G. Wright, the ship's cook 2nd CI, was the proud owner of a Fanny Farmer Cookbook. I have to admit that the first time I baked on my own I made an error. The recipe for corn bread called for one scoop of sugar and a pinch of salt. I reversed the measurements and the corn bread was inedible. The "Can Do" ship arrived in San Diego on May 29, 1941, to begin a series of cargo voyages to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to re-supply the Pacific Fleet ships present. Her first outbound cruise from the West Coast was from Mare Island Navy Yard to Pearl Harbor, carrying over 1,400 items of general stores and diesel engine parts. Several trips were made between Mare Island and Pearl Harbor that summer. Late in October 1941, the Castor was in Pearl Harbor, scheduled to return to the West Coast, when the ship received an unexpected change of orders. Soon members of the US Marine Corps, First Defense Battalion marched to the ship as all hands commenced a major loading operation of small arms ammunition, engine parts, and other miscellaneous stores and provisions. Escorted by Destroyers USS Jarvis and Blue, steaming under darken-ship conditions, the Castor carried the Marine reinforcements to Johnson and Wake Islands, mission completed, and after refueling at Pearl Harbor, the Castor returned to Mare Island, California. In late November 1941, the Castor again sailed for Pearl Harbor. The tensions of the time were reflected in her latest cargo loading, most of it being heavyweight ammunition of various types, in addition to her normal load. The Castor arrived in Pearl Harbor late in the afternoon on Thursday, December 4, 1941, and commenced off-loading the ammo on to barges Friday morning. Not too much had been off-loaded before they secured for the weekend, so the two barges were alongside for the weekend, flying "Baker" (the red flags) just a half-mile from Battleship Row. On December 7, 1941, at approximately 0755, two waves of 360 Japanese fighters, dive bombers, high-level bombers and torpedo planes made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, inbound from the north coast. Torpedoes and bombs slammed into Battleship Row. I had just finished mailing a bunch of Christmas cards, and was getting ready to report to the Bake Shop. You could hear muffled explosions and someone said, "What a dumb day to pull a war game." Just then, GQ sounded. I grabbed my helmet and life jacket, and started up the ladder to the main deck to go to my battle station. I was assigned to the ammunition hoist for the #2 three-inch gun at the bow. One of the first things I saw was a torpedo plane, flying about bridge high, a huge silver torpedo slung under his wing. He flew to the end of the dock and made a right turn into Battleship Row. All of our guns were quickly brought into action and blasted at the enemy planes. I don't know how many shells we expended. One Japanese torpedo plane was hit by the #3 gun and destroyed. Anti-aircraft bursts from other ships of the fleet dotted the heavens, and bellows of black smoke poured into the sky. Launched from six carriers, Japan's striking force of 360 planes succeeded in crippling the US Pacific Fleet. In two short hours, 19 ships had been sunk or damaged. Over 2,400 US military personnel and civilians were killed and more than 1,100 were wounded. By 10 o'clock, the air raid was over, but we stayed at GQ till noon, when the commissary personnel were relieved and went to the galley and bakery to prepare the regular meals. For the next 72 hours, Baker Kimball and I rotated shifts, baking bread for the survivors of the sunken and damaged ships. After the attack, the Castor unloaded all the remaining ammunition and stores. She moved from her berth at Merry's Point to the Matson Line Dock in Honolulu and was loaded with Dole Pineapple products as ballast. She then headed back for California steaming under darken-ship conditions. The Castor passed under the Golden Gate Bridge on the morning of December 24, 1941, and docked at the Alameda Naval Air Station. She was the first ship from the attack on Pearl Harbor to return stateside. The ship's cook John Morrill and I went to a nearby church for a midnight Christmas service. During January and into February, 1942, the Castor carried cargo from the West Coast to aid in building up Pearl Harbor to serve as the nerve center for the Pacific. Then, she aided in the opening of operations in the critical South Pacific area, with cargo runs from San Francisco to bases in New Caledonia, New Hebrides, the Fiji Islands, and New Zealand in support of new staging bases. In April and May issues were made to fleet and shore units at Pearl Harbor. The Castor departed Pearl Harbor on June 13, 1942, carrying her normal cargo plus 27 members of the Navy VS-1 Scouting Squadron as passengers en route to Pago Pago and American Samoa to join their squadron. In July, the Castor proceeded to Auckland, New Zealand. After unloading her cargo, she picked up Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, who had just returned from Antarctica. His new mission was to survey islands in the South Pacific for possible future bases. Upon our return to the US, we again loaded at the Navel Supply Depot in Oakland, California. Stores issues were scheduled to be made to fleet units at Bora Bora, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Efate, Havannah Harbor, Espirito Santo, Noumea, and New Caldonia, where we finally went ashore for some long, overdue liberty. Upon returning from liberty, I was notified that I had been transferred to one of the new Destroyers that were anchored in the harbor--the USS Fletcher DD-445. It was pitch dark when I climbed aboard. The OD told me to find any empty sack for the night, and they would process my paperwork in the morning. I was awakened by the sound of the anchor being raised and the screws turning over. I ask the Quartermaster, who had just come off watch, "Where are we going?" He replied, "Some island called Guadalcanal." But that's another story. The USS Castor operated in the Pacific area during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. She was finally decommissioned on October 13, 1968, after a career of more than 28 years. She was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (three bronze stars), the Korean Service Medal, and the Vietnam Service Medal (three bronze stars). |
Information provided by Eugene J. Parus. |
Link to more information regarding Mr. Parus as well as to the Rio Grande Valley, Texas - Pearl Harbor Survivor Association. |
NOTE: Some details in this story are from the History of the USS Castor, printed by the Reunion Group. |
Eugene J. Parus DOB: 11/5/1920 Service Dates: 10/24/1939 - 12/9/1945 Military Career: Enlisted in the US Naval Reserve, Apprentice Seaman, Rochester, NY; USS Mead, Seaman second class; USS Castor, Baker third class; Pearl Harbor Raid, Baker second class; USS Fletcher, DD-445, Baker first class; Advance Base, Navy 722 FFT, New Guinea; APA Pre-Commissioning School, Naval Station, Seattle, WA; Naval Air Station, Astoria Oregon; USS Karnes, APA-175, Chief Commissary Steward; Honorable Discharge, Chief Commissary Steward. Civilian Career: Stromberg Carlson, General-Dynamics, Global Van Lines sales rep., XEROX security guard, retired. Family: Married to Vicki, four children - Diane, John, Patricia, and Michael. Three grandchildren - Naomi, Jon-Mark, and Alexander. |
