Gene Schroeder soon after he joined the Navy in 1943 during WWII.
(Courtesy of the Schroeder family. )
SAN DIEGO —
Gene Schroeder enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at just 16 years old, with a consent form signed by his mom.
“I just wanted to get out there and fight and do my duty for the country. The most important thing I did was join,” said Schroeder, 96, who served from 1943 to 1947.
Schroeder was born in Abbeyville, S.C., and grew up in Augusta, Ga. He went to boot camp at Whiting Field in Florida and was assigned to the USS Wyoming, a training ship for thousands of WWII gunners.
After training, he was assigned to the newly commissioned USS Wisconsin (BB-64), an Iowa-Class battleship commissioned on April 16, 1944.
Being a member of the crew at the time of the battleship’s first commissioning, Schroeder became a “plank owner, ” as those were called who were members of a ship when it was placed in commission.
He was based in San Diego before heading to war and fell in love with the city as soon as he laid eyes on it. He hoped to return some day.
The Wisconsin headed to the Pacific, participating in the Philippines campaign and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, serving mostly as part of the anti-aircraft screen to protect the aircraft carriers.
The battleship was tied up alongside the Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor in November 1944, before its departure to join up with the 3rd Fleet. The carriers were involved in heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during amphibious operations against Mindoro, an island in the Philippines.
Schroeder’s job was to assist with the 40 mm guns.
“I was a gun striker. I loaded the ammunition in the gun and greased it up so it was ready to fire and kept it in good operating condition and helped the gunner’s mates,” Schroeder said.
“I didn’t do anything ‘super.’ I loaded the ammunition to defend against the enemy.
“We ate our meals — k-rations — at the battle station by the guns, so we wouldn’t miss any action,” Schroeder said.
He recalled when they would have to sleep by the guns so they would be ready when the Japanese planes flew over. “I’ve seen guys fall asleep standing up.”
When asked by his daughter, Leslie Wilson, if it was terrifying, he replied, “Sometimes, sometimes it was, especially if you had an air attack in the middle of the night onboard. That happened many, many times.”
Schroeder said he will never forget the kamikaze attacks.
One memory stays with him. “When I was on the anti-aircraft guns high up on the ship and looked down to the aft end of the ship I saw the men running forward as they were being strafed,” Schroeder says. “We shot at the planes and sometimes they landed close by in the water.”
Wilson said her father never talked about his service when she and her sister, Kristen Slusser, were growing up in San Diego.
“But when he talks about it now, and only when asked about it, he looks back with humility,” Wilson said.
“For instance, when I talked to Dad recently, he said, ‘I don’t think anyone will be interested in reading about my war story.’ But I told him that it was an important part of our history and therefore it was important to share it,” Wilson said.
“We agreed that the war needed every enlisted man and woman’s effort, no matter what it was,” Wilson said.
“We couldn’t do it without everyone — it was a group effort,” Schroeder said.
“I just did what had to be done. I wanted to do my share in the war effort,” said Schroeder who now lives in an assisted living community in the South Bay.
“Looking back, I am appreciative of my shipmates and the camaraderie,” Schroeder said.
After the war, Schroeder studied engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He returned to San Diego, where he worked at Convair/General Dynamics as an aerospace engineer. Among other assignments, he worked on the Atlas Missile Program, building intercontinental ballistic missiles.
He returned to San Diego, because he was so taken by the area and its beauty when he first saw it as a teenager in the Navy, and he went on to raise his family here.
But he was not finished being on the sea. He bought a Cal-20 sailboat and enjoyed sailing off Point Loma whenever he had time.
Gene Schroeder sailing near Point Loma in the early 1960s.
(Courtesy of the Schroeder family. )
“The sea and the beautiful city have kept him in San Diego, a place he loves, and now he has a lifetime of memories there. It all began when he first saw the city as a 16-year-old sailor in the U.S. Navy,” Wilson said.
“His spirit hasn’t changed since he enlisted,” Wilson said.
“Dad has said more than once, when asked if he would do it over, ‘I’d go right now if they’d take me.’”
