CALVIN PRICE
WWII Veteran
By Bethami Chaisson
Mr. Calvin Price, a WWII veteran, was born on December 8, 1925. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on November 8, 1943. “Everybody else was going, so I figured I’d go with them; they’d need some help,” said Mr. Price.
When asked about his training experience, he stated, “I had never been away from home that long; it was really bad, but it had to be done, or we wouldn’t be here today.” Sixty-five years after his training as a gunner, Mr. Price recalled some of his instructors, but not all. He then recalled one particular instance as, “Well, I’ll tell you what. It sure changed me from good to worse. One commander--the man in charge of the Pacific Theater-- said if you didn’t smoke or if you didn’t drink, he didn’t want you in the Navy. That was the type of person he was. To me, he wasn’t anything.”
During WWII, he earned the rank of Seaman 1st Class. His job aboard the ship was as a gunner. Although he came close to combat, fortunately, he was never in direct combat.
“We wouldn’t sleep, we were always on watch. The Japanese were always trying to sink our ship. We could hear the depth chargers going off all night long. We were lucky they didn’t get us,” Mr. Price remembered.
Another vivid memory as they approached the islands was the sight of dead Japanese hanging in the trees. He also commented on the mass burials, where deep holes were dug, and everything – people and even cattle – were pushed in and buried all at once.
While overseas, he kept in touch with his family by writing letters, which took two or three weeks each way. Although things were rough, he found the food to be really good and the supplies to be plentiful. He did recall, however, running short of clothes, but when their pants were too worn, they would simply cut them into shorts.
While some of his comrades may have carried good-luck charms, he carried his rosary and recited it regularly in prayer for safekeeping.
Each time he was granted leave, he returned home to his family and could be found duck hunting each morning.
When asked about entertainment, Mr. Price responded, “Everybody did their job, so there was no time for entertainment.”
However, he does have one humorous memory of two boys with whom he was stationed.
“Everyone on board referred to them as the ‘Gold Dust Twins,’ since both had blond hair.” Laughing, he said, “If one got sick, the other one did, too.”
His service ended at Port Chicago, but they were still loading ships about a month later and could not depart until everything was complete.
However, according to Mr. Price, one thing has always bothered him.
“We were one ship with four destroyer escorts protecting us. Why? I never did find out what we were carrying. I think it was part of the atomic bomb. I had never heard of one little ship like we had with four escorts. I’ve been worried about that ever since.”
He returned home and farmed for three years before going to work with his father at the local fish market. He worked there until his father passed away. Afterwards, he spent the next 22 years buying furs. He and his wife, Ida, married in 1947, one year after his return from military service.
Today, he enjoys being with his wife, whom he stills refers to as his “girlfriend” and their family.
EDWARD E. SMITH
Korean War Veteran
By Jenna Conner, Matt Moore, and Brittany Ryder
On January 30th, 1929, a Korean War veteran was born. At the ripe age of 17, Edward E. Smith enlisted in the U.S. Navy to avoid the inevitable fate of being drafted into the Army.
“At that time,” he says, “they had the draft, and if you applied for a job, the very first thing they’d ask you was, ‘Are you a veteran?’ And if you told them ‘no’ they weren’t going to hire you because you would be drafted to leave into the service.”
Mr. Smith was inducted into the service in Little Rock, Arkansas, and went on to San Diego, California to begin his vigorous training. Laughingly, Mr. Smith recalls wearing the same clothes in San Diego for two weeks before receiving a proper uniform.
When asked about his instructors, Mr. Smith replied, “Some were real good, others—if you’ll excuse the expression—were horses’ behinds.”
His tour of duty brought him through places such as Alaska, the Philippines, Korea, and Japan. His ship, the USS Fechteler, saw duty in the western Yellow Sea and the eastern Sea of Japan as the plane guard for the USS Boxer. His duties as a 2nd Class Radar Gunner’s Mate included maintaining his stationed weapon, as well as general upkeep of the ship.
He recalls being deployed in 1947 to the Philippines to help dispense of the militant communist group, the Huks, who pillaged and plundered throughout the Philippines. Mr. Smith recounts the weather in the Philippines as horrid--pouring rain one second, searing hot the next.
Mr. Smith feels that one of the most important duties he performed in the service was when his fleet was sent to support the British Navy in keeping the Chinese from taking over Hong-Kong in 1949.
His ship was dispatched to the Chosin Reservoir, where they collected and transported cold, weather-worn Marines, as well as an orphanage of 75 children and two Korean nuns to be delivered to the southern Korean city of Seoul.
Mr. Smith received a star for his excellent service in the war, as well as a medal of gratitude from the Republic of Korea. The USS Fechteler was awarded five battle stars for Korea and four for Vietnam.
When asked about how he feels he fared throughout his military career, Mr. Smith replied that he “took it in stride.” He strongly encourages young men throughout America to serve their country by joining the Armed Forces, as it “gives you discipline, makes you a better man, and gives you morals.”
Mr. Smith served from 1947 to 1952. Fortunately, he sustained no injuries.
America is honored to have brave men such as Mr. Edward Smith to have laid their life on the line in service for all of us. We thank you.
HAROLD
RHODRIGUEZ
WWII Veteran
By Laurie Duhon
(Interviewed by Christian Bourgeois, Trey Dugas, and Hunter Hargrave)
Harold Rhodriguez, a resident of Lake Arthur, was born on March 23, 1923. His family moved to Lake Arthur in 1939, and he graduated from the old Lake Arthur High School.
A World War II veteran, he enlisted in the Coast Guard in the 7th Naval District in New Orleans.
When asked about his enlistment, he replied, “I didn’t want to walk in the walking Army. I wanted to be a Marine, but the quota was full, so I went to the Air Force. I wanted to be a pilot and they said, ‘our quota’s full, and we can’t sign you up right now.’ In the mean time, we were probably going to be drafted into the walking Army, and I didn’t want that, so I went ahead and signed up. I joined to serve my country. We were in jeopardy of being taken over by Japan. Really, had they known the damage they did in Pearl Harbor, I guess they would have come over to California, and we would have been completely dominated. We would have either been speaking Japanese or German had we not gone on and done what we did.”
Upon enlisting, he left New Orleans and went to Baltimore, Maryland. He remembers it being 80 degrees when leaving New Orleans and when arriving in Maryland, there was snow everywhere. After about three weeks of training, he and his fellow crew members went to war.
“We never knew where we were going. That was a secret. Our first assignment was convoy. We picked up 50 merchant vessels. They had no means of defense. We would sweep out with sonar to pick up German U-Boat (submarine) activities and they would try to torpedo the vessels and stop them from bringing fuel and supplies to the troops. If we picked up a sub, we would pull the convoy close, so they couldn’t get to them.”
“When we got to North Africa, some of the ships went to Oran while some had to continue on into the Mediterranean into Casablanca, and they had to go unescorted. Those are the ones that really got blown up because we couldn’t go. It was very, very bad.”
When the war was over, his ship the U.S.S. Key West transferred to the South Pacific.
“We came back and went to Brooklyn, New York, and they put a weather station on the ship. We then went through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor to Guam, and from Guam, the invasion of Japan was in the process. We were doing weather prior to the invasion. We were about halfway to Japan when they dropped the bomb and Japan surrendered, so we turned around and we were sent back to Guam. I had enough points to be discharged, so I asked to be relieved of my duties, and I was transferred to a transporter.
“We went to all of the islands that the marines and soldiers had captured from Japan, and we picked up 7,000 troops and brought them back to San Francisco for their discharge.”
When asked what they did on board for entertainment, he replied, “Well, when you have that many people confined in a small area, you had several people that went crazy; however, on Sunday afternoons, they’d have a movie, but it was so old, no one wanted to watch it.”
Mr. Rhodriguez’s most memorable moment while serving was the day they told him he could return home. “They gave me a pin; we called it a ruptured duck and two-hundred dollars and wished us well.”
He was anxious to return home, for back at home, his wife had given birth to their son. Unfortunately, with the slow arrival of the mail, which was also censored for security purposes, he did not learn of his son’s birth until he was around 20 days old.
After returning home, “I had to get a job; I had a child, and jobs were pretty scarce.” Mr. Rhodriguez obtained a job in a rice mill and soon learned how to be a rice buyer. He then became manager of a small rice mill in Houston, Texas. When he went into business for himself as a broker, he returned to Lake Arthur and ran his business in Jennings until retirement.
He is a member of the VFW and American Legion. To this day, he keeps in close contact with one of his comrades who lives in an assisted living home in New Orleans. “I call him every Saturday morning,” stated Mr. Rhodriguez.
Overall, he is certain that his military experience has made him a better person.
“It made you tough to situations that would arise. I wouldn’t like to do it again, but it was beneficial,” he remarked.
His service was certainly beneficial, for because of his sacrifice, as well as all other veterans’ sacrifice, we live in the democracy known as the United States of America. We salute him and thank him for his service.
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