Richard John Thill US Navy USS Ward |
Information provided by Richard John Thill. |
Enlisted in the 47th Div., 11th Battalion, 9th Naval Division of the US Naval Reserves on July 29, 1940 in St. Paul, MN. August of 1940, I took a two week Naval Reserve Training Cruise aboard the gunboat USS Paducah on the Great Lakes of Michigan, Huron and Superior. Left high school in my junior year as a result of being called to active duty January 21, 1941. Left St. Paul, MN (by train) for San Diego, California Destroyer Base. Assigned to the USS Ward (DD-139) World War I Destroyer that was recommissioned February 13, 1941. My battle station assignment was "Site Setter" on #2 4"-50 CAL open mount main battery. Left Mare Island, California February 28, 1941 and arrived at the island of Oahu in the Territory of Hawaii on March 9, 1941 after a very stormy sea voyage. The USS Ward was assigned to the 80th Destroyer Division stationed at Pearl Harbor. Earned my first battle star when the USS Ward fired the first two shots of WWII sinking a Japanese Submarine that was trying to sneak into Pearl Harbor an hour before the air attack started on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. December 13, 1942 - USS Ward sailed back to the United States to be refitted as an all purpose destroyer so it could carry troops for amphibious operations. December 24, 1942 - Arrived in Puget Sound Navy Yard for overhaul and conversion. February 6, 1943 - The USS Ward was designated APD-16. It now had radar and updated armament. My new battle station was "Site Setter" on #2 3"-50 CAL open munt main battery. My station when we were disembarking troops in the new Higgins boats was "Bridge Talker" to relay the captain's orders to the boat stations. I also manned a 30 CAL machine gun while at this station in case of air attack. February 11, 1943 - Departed Puget Sound. February 28, 1943 - Crossed Equator on way to New Caledonia. Now I'm a "shellback". March 3, 1943 - Crossed International Date Line. Now I'm a "Golden Dragon". April 7, 1943 - USS Ward shot down three Japanese planes in the Guadalcanal area. June 16, 1943 - USS Ward shot down four Japanese planes in the Guadalcanal area. Participated in twelve amphibious landings and two shore bombardments earning four more battle stars in the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre. Transferred from the USS Ward May 20, 1944. Served aboard the USS Savannah (Light Cruiser) in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and the Caribbean Sea from August of 1944 to August of 1945. In February of 1945, the USS Quincy and the USS Savannah and a thirteen destroyer escort carried President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his staff to meet with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin at the Yalta Conference. August, 1945, transferred to Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, FL to attend Chief Commissary Stewards School. Honorable Discharge October 14, 1945 at the Naval Training Station in Jacksonville, FL. Total time in active service was 5 years, two months and sixteen days. I was still twenty-one years old when I was discharged. |
