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LTJG JACK ARNOLD DRUCKEMILLER 3 February 1945

Jack A. Druckemiller entered the US Navy in 1941 and rose to the rank of LTJG. He served aboard USS FRANK E. EVANS DD 754 from 1945 to 1946 as an Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer ASW, and Assistant Communications Officer.

He was recalled to active duty in 1950 to serve two years aboard the destroyers USS RICHARD B. ANDERSON (DD 786) and USS VAMMEN (DE 644). Jack remained in the US Naval Reserve until 1967 when he retired as a Commander. Post Navy, Jack worked 40 years for American Electric Power.

Jack Druckemiller came from Marion, Indiana. When in high school he delivered groceries and worked as an usher in a theatre. His father was a wholesale candy distributor. In 1940 Jack graduated from high school and in the fall went to Marion College, then on to Perdue University where he eventually (after the war) received an EE degree, and worked 40 years for American Electric Power in various jobs including a stint at the D. C. Cook Nuclear Generating Station. Jack married later in life and had two children, a daughter now deceased, and a 42-year-old son, who just like his dad, has not married.

Jack Druckemiller enlisted in the Navy while a student at Perdue. It was on 14 December 1942. Originally in the reserve as a seaman apprentice, he was accepted for the V-12 program for officers, commonly known as 90-day wonders. He only had 8 semesters of college, no degree. He went to Columbia University Midshipman School. In 3.5 months, he was commissioned an Ensign. His first assignment, in June 1944, was at the Small Craft Training Center in Miami, Florida. He then went to Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida, and finally to Norfolk, Virginia where the crew was being formed for duty on board USS FRANK E. EVANS (DD 754), 3 February 1945. Jack was the assistant Communications Officer.

CDR Smith was a great skipper. FRANK E. EVANS’ first assignment was to escort USS GUAM (CB2), a 600 foot long Alaska Class battle cruiser. After going through the Panama Canal, GUAM could only make 7 knots in order to conserve fuel as there was no place to refuel along the route to Pearl Harbor.

After Pearl Harbor, we stopped in Eniwetok, Ulithi, and Guam on our way to Okinawa where we pulled radar picket duty all around the island. We were assigned to radar picket station 9. On 29 July 1945, we were relieved by USS CALLAGHAN (DD 792)which later that day, was hit by a kamikaze, sinking her and killing 48 crew. That could have been FRANK E. EVANS!

Jack remembered a poker game (strictly forbidden) going on in the Ward Room. In came captain Harry Smith in his pajamas, but with his captains hat, and said very softly, “Don’t ever let me see this again.” Nothing more said, nor done. The chief commissary steward loved to fish for shark. And finally, which should really have been first, during shake down in Brooklyn, while getting underway from along side four other destroyers, captain Smith gave the order to sound one long blast from the ships whistle. Nothing happened except he was hit by a 4 inch column of water that had never been emptied previously. Being senior, he was mighty embarrassed in front of the other three junior Cos.

From an oral history, Texas Tech University… Vietnam Archive

S1c SYLVA VESTER DOVE JR. 3 February 1945 – 11 June 1946

I Sylva Vester Dove Jr. was born 1 September 1926, at Fairfax, Virginia. I had black hair and my eyes are gray. I enlisted in the U. S. Navy at Washington D.C. on 6 June 1944 and went to boot camp for nine weeks at USNTC Great Lakes, Illinois. After Boot Camp, I was sent to Norfolk, Virginia for six weeks and then I was shipped to USS FRANK E EVANS DD-754 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I was assigned to the torpedo crew. I was there on board 3 February 1945 the day she was commissioned, and when she first got under way, so I’m known as a Plank Holder too.

We left the navy yard for a shakedown cruise with Commander Harry Smith as our captain, one of the best. We stopped at Bayonne, New Jersey to load ammunition supplies. We anchored at Bermuda. We started war training. Then we tied up at San Juan, Puerto Rico and from there headed back to Bayonne to resupply with ammunition. We travelled through the Panama Canal to Pearl Harbor, then to picket duty around Okinawa.

After the war ended we went to the Yellow Sea to Manchuria where we picked up Japanese rifles for the men on board. Then we headed back home to San Francisco where we could see the rioting on Alcatraz. We spent 30 days leave there and then I was sent on to Shelton, Virgina for discharge on 11 June 1946.

I remember a “long arm” shipmate who could swipe bread from the baker’s tray while he unlocked the bread locker. The bread was hot and we added butter. It was better than cake!!!

A shipmate of mine served on board FRANK E. EVANS for the same period as me. He lived close to me in Warrenton, Virginia. We visited each other quite often. We lost him recently in 2005. He was a real gentleman. His name was Vernon Godfrey.

Sylva currently resides at 301 Tibbs Shop Road, Brightwood, VA 22715. You can reach him at bochsbox@gmail.com or 540-543-2707.

S2c RICHARD H. CRINIGAN 21 August 1946

I Richard H. Crinigan “Dick” was born 7 August 1928, at Waterloo, Iowa. My hair was brown and I have green eyes. I entered the Navy at Waterloo on 4 June 1946, and went to boot camp in San Diego. On 21 August 1946, I reported on board USS FRANK E. EVANS (DD 754) for duty with the deck force in First Division.

Between September 1946 and April 1947, there was only a skeleton crew aboard all destroyers in the squadron. While I was aboard USS FRANK E. EVANS (DD 754) we went on a training exercise aboard USS JOHN W. THOMPSON (DD 760). Then I went to ET school at Treasure Island. EVANS was decommissioned by the time I finished school. I stayed in the reserve and retired as ETC.

Dick currently resides at 4318 “F” Avenue NW, Cedar Rapids, IA. You can reach him at (319)393-9308

I Frederick Charles Atkins was born 22 October 1922, at Passaic, New Jersey. My hair was brown and my eyes were blue. I entered naval service at An Arbor, Michigan in September 1940. My service aboard USS FRANK E EVANS DD-754 became official on 3 February 1945. My home at that time was listed as Maplewood, New Jersey. My assigned duty aboard FRANK E. EVANS as LTJG, was Torpedo Officer. Our first captain was “high speed Harry” Smith.

I was one of those who commissioned the ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on 3 February 1945. We did shakedowns off Bermuda and then escorted the cruiser Amsterdam to Pearl Harbor, then to Okinawa for Radar Picket duty. I left EVANS in early July 1945 for briefing and training for Operation Olympia, the invasion of Kyushu. There were 220 of us sequestered in an old camp on Oahu island. Of interest, the FRANK E. EVANS was one of 11 destroyers scheduled for the first “close in“ shore bombardment. After the second atom bomb was dropped, we were ordered back to our ships.

While I was on my back, FRANK E. EVANS was part of a group that went to the north China to pick up General Wainwright who was in a POW camp in Mukden. The Russians had already flown him out. John Harrier or Druckenmiller are more aware of this.

We escorted the sixth? Marines into north China and the Army in Korea. From October 1945, until I left FRANK E. EVANS in January 1946, we acted as mail ship and courier between Inchon and Pusan, Korea, and Tsingtao and Shanghai, China.

Fred currently resides in North Carolina.

WT2c John Milton Adock Jr.

3 February 1945

John Milton Adcock enlisted in the U. S. Navy on 15 January 1941 and served on board USS FRANK E EVANS DD754 for two years, since 3 February 1945. He was there on commissioning day and when she sailed for the first time. He is known as a Plank Holder. John was a Water Tender second class. When FRANK E. EVANS celebrated Christmas for the first time, she was in Shanghai, China. John Adcock had sent home this Christmas card.