I enlisted in the Navy at Minneapolis, July 15, 1917, and
was sent to Norfolk, Va., as second class machinist. At that
time a call was issued for skillful men who could stand the
sea, to serve on sub-chasers and I volunteered. After passing
a strict examination I was sent to Columbia University, New York,
to take up the further technical training required. Upon finishing
the work I was promoted to first class engineer and assigned
to U.S.S.C. 220, at Hampton Roads, Va., Nov. 20, 1917. Shortly
after I was made chief engineer and we sailed from New London,
Conn., May 15, 1918, via Bermuda Islands, Azores Islands, Brest,
France, Plymouth, Eng., to Queenstown, Ireland, where we had
our home port. We patrolled the Irish coast, Irish sea, English
Channel, and Bay of Biscay. We saw a number of German subs and
two times upon firing, brought black oil to the surface, a pretty
good sign that we had struck the submarines.
On the 11th of November, we were in Wales, and thought we
would soon go home, but instead we were sent from port
to port before we received orders to return. Then we went
to Queenstown, Plymouth, Brest, and to Lisbon, Portugal, where
we met the sub-chasers from the Mediterranean Sea. About 50 sub-chasers
sailed for the U.S. via the Azores and Bermudas, reaching Charlestown,
S.C., where we were distributed to different ports. Our ship
went to Boston, Mass., and there I was discharged June 14, 1919.