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Arthur Brown, of Brown County, Ind., sits
at his kitchen table, recounting his experiences aboard the USS
Enterprise during World War II, Jan. 24, 2013. The Big E earned 20
of 21 Battle Stars for action in the Pacific during the war. (Photo
by Army Staff Sgt. David Bruce, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Public Affairs)
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EDINBURGH, Ind. (1/29/2013) - Laid out upon the kitchen
table were the artifacts that chronicled one man's
experiences during World War II; photographs, clippings from
newspapers, orders of the day and other memorabilia from his
time aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, CV-6.
Arthur Brown, of Brown County, Ind., served aboard the
aircraft carrier from July 1942 until the end of the war as
a Petty Officer 2nd Class in the damage control section.
The Enterprise CV-6, or the Big E as Brown referred to
it, was a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier commissioned May
12, 1938 and seventh ship to bear that name. During the
course of the war, the Enterprise received 20 of 21 battle
stars, commendations issued to U.S. Navy warships for
meritorious participation in a battle, seeing action in
every major engagement with the exception of the Battle of
Coral Sea.
It was the sole survivor of the three
Yorktown-class carriers. After the aircraft carrier USS
Hornet was sunk during the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands and
the USS Saratoga was undergoing repairs, the Enterprise as
the only aircraft carrier operating in the Pacific. This
prompted the crew to post a sign reading ‘Enterprise vs.
Japan' on the flight deck.
The Enterprise was the
most decorated ship to emerge from World War II with the
aforementioned 20 battle stars, was the first aircraft
carrier to receive a Presidential Unit Citation, and also
received a Navy Unit Commendation and a British Admiralty
Pennant from the Royal Navy.
“I was on the ship for
28 months; from Guadalcanal to Japan, and got back alive,”
said Brown. “That was my home for all that time. When I got
to Pearl Harbor and saw the transports, I thought those were
the biggest ships. Then I saw the Enterprise; it was huge,”
said Brown.
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Brown said it required a lot of work to
keep the Enterprise in operational condition. The task was
made more difficult with Japanese navy trying to sink it.
“The ship is just like a city,” he said. “You always had
something to do. I worked in fresh water systems for several
months, then I worked in water tight integrity; every
compartment we had to make them airtight. When you were in
battle, all the air and blowers were turned off until it was
over. If you got hit, and things weren't watertight, you
would sink. And every time we went out of port, there were
only two things we went out for: either to kill them or let
them kill us.”
Brown said working I damage control
was a difficult undertaking.
“When we got blown-up, I
had the worst job; cleaning up the bodies, pumping the water
out, putting out the fires, getting guys out from below
decks. Damage control was a dirty job,” said Brown. “When
you got bombed, everything went dark, like in a mine. When
you went into those sections, you didn't know what you would
find.”
The Enterprise received severe damage during
the Guadalcanal campaigns, the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands
and supporting the Okinawa campaigns. The final damage
Enterprise sustained was May 14, 1945, from a kamikaze.
“When a bomb hit, it took out a wide area,” he said.
“You take a 500-bomb and everything's gone. But the biggest
fear I had in the war were the kamikazes. You could look up
and see them coming out of the sky, the sun, and you'd swear
you were the only one on that ship. When that plane comes
down, you think ‘Adios, this is it.' If it didn't, it might
have lit out there a mile or might have been disintegrated
before it got there, but you're still thinking that. But, I
never got over this, the battles. I never told the boys, but
I never sleep all night long. I can't do it; I have to get
up. I never told anybody, I just put up with it. You don't
forget - it's there.”
The finally tally for the
Enterprise: 911 planes shot down by its guns or aircraft; 71
ships sunk by its aircraft; 192 additional ships badly
damaged or sunk and numerous shore installations damaged or
destroyed.
“We had pretty good gunners and pilots,
said Brown. “I felt honored to be on that ship,” he said.
“Our ship was the flagship for the first part of the war
until they brought the new carriers out. The Japanese
claimed to have sunk us six times. After Santa Cruz Islands,
we were the only aircraft carrier in the Pacific for a
while. It was like they were always after us during that
time.”
Brown attended the decommissioning of the
present Nimitz-class aircraft carrier Enterprise CVN-65,
which was the world's first nuclear powered aircraft
carrier, Dec. 1, 2012. Brown said the attending the event
brought with it a measure of celebrity.
“I was the
only veteran of CV-6 there. I felt like a dignitary; they
treated me like royalty. I couldn't walk anywhere on the
dock without someone stopping us and talking about World War
II. They saw that CV-6 on my hat, and I would be talking to
this guy and that guy and couldn't get back to the car for
nothing.”
According to his son, Carl Brown, also of
Brown County, Ind., his father never sought out any
recognition for his service aboard the Enterprise.
“All he does is wear that CV-6 hat, and it comes to him,”
said the younger Brown. “It's good to see get the
recognition now. The respect they gave him was over the
top.”
The younger Brown said they took a tour of the
ship and had an opportunity to meet the captain of the
Enterprise CVN-65, Capt. William C. Hamilton.
“We
were escorted to the captain's quarters and had a one-on-one
meeting with him for an hour and a half. At the end, he
presented dad with one of the commemorative 51st year coin.”
By Army Staff Sgt. David Bruce, Atterbury-Muscatatuck Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2013
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