As we approached Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 4th, we were greeted with the following message from Admiral Nimitz:
“NO WORDS CAN EXPRESS MY ADMIRATION FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO AND THE STERETT AND THE OFFICERS AND MEN WHO MAN THEM BUT TO YOU I GIVE YOU WHAT NO OTHERS HAVE MORE FULLY MERITED—THE NAVY “WELL DONE.” MY WISH FOR YOU IS THAT YOUR REPAIRS MAY BE FAST AND EFFECTIVE AND YOUR PERSONNEL LOSSES MADE GOOD BY MEN AS WILLING AS THE SHIPMATES YOU HAVE LOST TO GIVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND ITS NAVY’S HONOR. SIGNED NIMITZ.”
As the Sterett and San Francisco filed through the channel into Pearl Harbor, we received an honor which cannot be expressed in words, however eloquent. All shore units were formed up in ranks lining the channel; all ships in the harbor had their crews at quarters, and the ships that had bands had them on deck and playing. As each ship passed by a given ship or shore unit, we were given three cheers that resounded throughout the entire Navy Yard. It is something that happens only once in a life time and has a way of putting a curious lump in your throat* We had a few anxious days at Pearl Harbor while the various staffs were debating whether to accomplish our repairs in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard or to send us back to San Francisco with the San Francisco. I think that some fast talking by Captain Coward was largely responsible for the ultimate decision; to have denied us a trip back to the States under those circum stances would have produced very unfavorable results with our crew. We were all exhausted and had undergone a period of severe mental tension; the leave, liberty and recreation that San Francisco could offer us, and Honolulu could not, was never in our lives desired quite so much. And so it was with a great sigh of relief that we and the San Francisco saw Oahu drop down over the horizon on the first anniversary of the war, December 7, 1942. We were on our last lap homeward.
Our reception in San Francisco was vastly different from the one we had received in Pearl Harbor. We entered in a pea soup fog (which the Californian Pilot called “unusual—first of the year”) and lay at anchor for some four hours waiting for the fog to lift enough that we could find our way Into the Mare Island Navy Yard(about 20 miles north of San Francisco.) In the meantime the San Francisco had docked at San Francisco proper, to receive one of the biggest ovations ever staged by that city-~complete with a parade, receptions and the keys of the city. The Sterett, unannounced, and under conditions of strictest secrecy, was quite happy to be left alone to celebrate our return in our own individual ways.
Half of our crew was immediately sent on leave home—the other half to follow on the return of the first group, 15 days later. I look over the duties of Gunnery Officer while Ray Calhoun was on leave—and eagerly sweated out his return. My plane reservation was made two weeks In advance, leave papers signed by the Senior Officer Present Afloat—all set. On the morning Cal got back I was off like a shot, got a cab immediately— just enough time to make my plane at the airport. I got as far as the gate of the Navy Yard when the Marine Guard informed me that I was to return to the ship at once. Stalking back to the ship, bag in hand, indignant and fuming that I had missed my plane, the world seemed very cruel indeed. Cal met me at the gangway and explained that I was not being imposed upon, and the clouds were not as black as they seemed. I had received despatch orders detaching me from the Sterett and ordering me to Kearny, New Jersey, to commission one of the new 2,100 ton “glamour” destroyers that had just recently begun to bolster the Fleet. The Naval construction program was in full swing. Never again would a handful of cruisers and destroyers be expected to carry the load against the full strength, of a first-rate naval power. In a few months the Pacific would be flooded with ships of our New Navy, the numbers of which were to startle the world. Hereafter we could choose our own odds. And God willing they will always be in our favor.
It was with reluctance that I left the Sterett to proceed to my new assignment. Long association tempered by the hot flame of battle, had welded the crew of the Sterett into a sort of kinship; a group of men out of a common mould who understand and speak the same language; men of a metal as real as that of the Sterett herself, who made her live and fight as a hero. It was a great honor and privilege to have been a small part of that great little ship. (continued)
