Thread – A 95-Year-Old Navy Master Chief Remembers Pearl Harbor and More

1. Monday, December 7, 2020 will be another anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, commemorating the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

2. I was 16, a senior at East Bakersfield High School. I was in a field (vacant lot) behind our house flying a model plane I had built.

3. It was a drizzly day, so I was making sure the plane would not get wet when my mother called for me to come in to listen to the radio. TV was still in the future.

4. The Japs (they were never Japanese in those days) had bombed Pearl Harbor. And just what and where was Pearl Harbor? My trusty 20-volume set of The Book of Knowledge immediately showed us its location.

5. We, the United States of America, had been attacked by those buck-toothed, scrawny midgets! How dare they? American propaganda had been working as the Co-prosperity Sphere was leading Japan’s aggression throughout Eastern Asia.

6. Being a Sea Scout in Ship 10, the Bakersfield unit, I knew that I would enlist – but, first, I would have to graduate, finally turn 17, then conn my mother into signing my enlistment papers.

7. I signed up on my birthday, but getting Mom’s signature and getting Chief Boatswain’s Mate Frank Wilson to submit my paperwork, took most of five weeks.

8. Finally, on August 14, 1942 I raised my right hand to begin a chain of events that led me to become a Torpedoman Third Class petty officer before my 18th birthday.

9. And, so began a 43-year journey as a full-time, part-time Navy Reservist involved in three wars, an accumulation of more than a year of combat time, five recalls to extended active duty and ending up reaching mandatory retirement at age 60 while serving on active duty.

10. My final active duty assignment which brought the total to about 20 years was as The Pacific Fleet Subject Matter Expert in Counter-Terrorism ended with my retirement.

11. My mantra is, “The Navy pays me well, but I no longer have to kill people or break their things.”

12. My one claim to fame: The claim to be the only WW2 PT Boat crewman to also crew the Vietnam War PTF Boats. Few understand, most Millennials will ask, “What’s a PT Boat?” Sigh!

13. Have a somber, thoughtful Pearl Harbor Day.

Master Chief Gunner’s Mate Jack Duncan, Navy ret.

14. The Master Chief has been a personal friend and mentor of mine for many years. Yes, that exactly what Navy chiefs have done for me my entire Navy career.

15. I would never have made it in the Navy had it not been for Boatswain’s Mate Chief Williams on my first ship. A good chief is worth his weight in gold and is irreplaceable. Period.

16. Thanks for your service, Master Chief, and all the best!! The end.