God was with Don and blessed him in many ways. In 1940, the summer after graduating from High School, in Smyrna, Delaware, he enlisted in the Navy. Thankfully, the Marines first rejected him when he tried to enlist because at six feet, four inches (he continued to grow another two inches) he was a quarter inch too tall for Marine standards. I say thankfully because all the men of the unit of the Marines he would have been in were killed at Guadalcanal, in the Western Pacific, when their ship was sunk.
While in the Navy, Don met Muriel Heinrich, from Brooklyn, New York, on a blind date. After dating for about six months, they decided to marry. Muriel was 21, but Don was three months shy of his 21st birthday. Since Don’s parents were not supportive of the marriage, they eloped and Don waited until his 21st birthday to call his parents to advise them they had a daughter-in-law, because he was afraid they would annul the marriage. Don’s choice was good because his parents did accept the marriage, and they were married for 63 years.
After getting married, Muriel lived with her mother (her father died in his early fifties) while Don was in the Navy from 1940 to 1948. Don was assigned to the battleship USS Texas (BB35). He rose rapidly through the ranks and became a Chief Quartermaster, the highest enlisted rank in the Navy, answering to the Commander of the ship. Don taught me something here. I always thought a Quartermaster was someone responsible for provisions and supplies, which is true in some branches of the Service.
However, in the Navy, the Quartermaster is responsible for maintenance, correction, preparation of nautical charts of the ship, signaling other ships via lights, maneuvering ships, observation of scout planes, navigating the ship also at night using a sextant by following the stars and using a stadimeter to judge the distance travelled or distance to their next location.
The USS Texas lay claim to many firsts: First ship to mount anti-aircraft guns, to launch aircraft from atop its turret, to control gunfire with directors and range keepers (analog forerunners of today’s computers), to receive commercial radar, to become a memorial museum in the United States and the First Marine Division was founded aboard the ship in 1941. The ship was commissioned in 1914, was retired as a museum in 1948 and still exists as a museum today in LA Porte, Texas.
Don related the story that the builders of the ship were not that great at planning because the ship, around 100 feet tall, could not pass under the Brooklyn Bridge. To solve this problem, the mast had to be hinged and folded down until passing under the bridge. Don explained that the ship could carry two biplanes on deck that were used for surveillance. The planes would land in the ocean and ride on platoons onto a platform and then be lifted by a crane and positioned on deck. Because of the little space available on deck, in order to have the planes take off, a catapult was used. This consisted of a steam pressured track on the deck where pressure was built up and used as a slingshot to assist the plane’s takeoff.
After the usual naval training and the various Quartermaster schools Don was required to pass, he made voyages on the USS Texas from Norfolk, Virginia, to all major ports on the east coast of the United States and travelled to at least nine countries. In April of 1944, the battleship headed to Belfast, Ireland, eventually to travel to France to fight the Germans, at which time General Dwight D. Eisenhower came on board and addressed the ship’s crew, basically to thank them and give them a motivational speech for the assignment ahead of them.
Two men on the USS Texas, H.E. Menne, Watertender Machinist, First Class and W. H. W. Zessin, Motor Machinist, First Class (both positions responsible for the propulsion of the ship), were appointed to record the happenings during the battle at Normandy, France, known as Operation Neptune. The 51 page typed report indicates it began several days after General Eisenhower’s address to the crew. The invasion was a combined effort by England, France and the United States. Other countries followed.
The account was very detailed and included reports on the weather, the seas, number of ships, losses, enemies captured, allies killed/wounded and ships returning to England to replenish supplies. The operation between the countries took an incredible amount of coordination, some of which was Don’s responsibility: location of the ships for invasion, targets each of the ships were assigned to, not getting the ships so close that they would damage each other, proper time and distance when the ships should fire and not hit friendly forces (who were landing tanks, trucks and Army personnel in large numbers on the beach), details on the planes and their bombing attacks, passing through mine fields and orders from the shore fire patrol. The report goes on to tell of successes in battle as well as losses incurred. For much greater detail, refer to the Internet under Battle of Normandy.
Continue reading next week, for Don Ennis’s Treasures: Part III.
Jeff Hall, of Honey Brook, contributes columns to Berks-Mont Newspapers.
