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I met Paul Harris in 1944 |
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Rotarian Richard "Titch" Harrison ROTARY/One Club Historian REVOLVING AROUND MY ROTARY WORLD |
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In the beginning Late March 1941, a day or two remained on my first Navy
leave. I graduated as a Navy Ensign on the 14th with orders to USS
Lexington CV2 in Pearl Harbor. Since ten years old in 1927, I had
followed the exploits of that ship from launching, through its knocking
down the light poles along the Panama canal to the search for Amelia
Earhart. I asked for a carrier. The Navy just happened to assign me to
my favorite ship. My friends in Midshipman School asked why I wanted a carrier? "You will never see action." Until a few months before I enlisted, 7 August 1940, the Navy policy called for the Saratoga CV3 and Lexington CV2 sending off their planes into battle, then with their 8" popguns, join the 12", 14", and 16" guns in the battle line. What a spot, the Navy’s largest ships with the smallish guns up against the big boys on the other side. An Air Admiral, probably Halsey, put the carriers back behind a screen. Supposedly, that made us completely safe. A Rookie Rotarian With my leave short, my father, a Charter Member of the small Shelby, Michigan Rotary Club, spoke to me about joining the club as an Honorary Member. We walked a block down to the club Secretary´s commercial establishment. Without the benefit of the Board’s OK, I became a Rotarian. It took a matter of minutes. The Secretary gave me a pin and a card, "NAVEL (sic) RESERVE". I did not notice that until the San Pedro, California club Secretary asked me to reserve a few for him. Since 8 May 1942, those keepsakes have lain on bottom in the Coral Sea, still aboard LEXCV2. Many clubs stick very closely to protocol. Under ordinary circumstances, my chances of joining Rotary would have been iffy. My most obvious successes had occurred out of town at the very tough Muskegon, Michigan Junior college and The University of Chicago. Those schools had few local admirers. Neither played football. Most probably my father’s status and clout in town would have given me the membership. However, "haste was of the essence". A delay could have eliminated the "Dick" episode in the next section. Some of my benefit , and I humbly submit, some of Rotary’s would have been lost.. Tom, Dick and Harris  Mid-April,
we arrived in Pearl Harbor, 176 boot Ensigns crowded into the old,
stuffy, starboard listing USS Henderson. LEX had sailed for a week of
practice. That left me with a week of wandering. My Rotary handbook
noted a meeting in Honolulu that day. They met in the Moana Hotel on
Waikiki beach. I had no trouble getting there. Walking in, I found the
Rotary District Convention going full tilt. They were talking about
getting in touch with teen age boys. At the time, Rotary had not
prettied itself up. As the youngest of the lot, I got up and chattered. My advice centered on games. If Rotarians could sponsor or aid in baseball, tennis, surfing or any other sport, they had an in for other matters. Leo Rodby, the District Secretary, was so impressed, he asked me to join the Board in their after the meeting duties. The next day, he took me deep sea fishing. We became very good friends for the rest of his short life. Until last year, my wife and I kept in contact with at least one of the Rodby family. "Because of Speaker’s Table over population, the Keynote Speaker Dick Wells, RI President 1944-45, asked if Mrs. Wells could sit at my table. Of course! She proved to be a delightful companion. But why me? A rookie. Why not someone more mature in Rotary? Dick made a stirring Keynote Speech. In his two year stint as a Mormon Missionary in Hawaii, he had learned the Hawaiian language. In several places, he broke into a paragraph of Hawaiian. I am sure very few in the audience could translate. Perhaps not even Honolulu Club member Duke Kahanomoku the Oahu sheriff. Yet, few missed the meaning. Dick was good.  June
1942, we LEX survivors pulled into San Diego. The Rotary Club had a very
attractive 33 year old general secretary. I told her about Dick having
Mrs. Wells sitting with me rather than an older, more important
Rotarian. She laughed, "He knew what he was doing. You have not made a
hit on me. But, 45 year old Rotarians chase me around the desk" That
surprised me, because she was engaged to the San Diego Chief of Police.
Davis In June 1943, while home on hospital leave, I attended the 1943 Rotary International Convention for the Shelby Club. I wore my uniform. Entering the Hall, a man came up to me. He introducing himself as Tom Davis the 1942-43 RI President. He asked me, "My daughter is here without her husband. Would you escort her to the RI Board’s party this evening?" "Yes! I would be honored." Then, Tom looked more closely and said, "We know each other." "No, we have never met". Then, he added, "Was your father at the University of Michigan 1910 to 1912?" He was.  In
spite of knowing my father as a young college boy, he did not renege on
his invitation.I had a very good time. Although Tom was a teetotaler, he bought me a scotch and water, or …perhaps two. I can also remember the outgoing President, Fernando Carbajal, kidding the Ohio delegates about their mispronouncing LIMA. And, my date was a good conservationist.  Col.
Carlos Romulo, George Fitch, Me -- At the 1943 Rotary International
ConventionCarlos served as Key Note Speaker. Paul said George worked to start Chinese Rotary. PerryHarrisOn 1 July, 1944, the Navy retired me for permanent disabling injuries in the Coral Sea Battle. That gave me a chance to return to the University of Chicago as a Senior. I got in on the opening of the GI Bill. Still having my Rotary card, I attended about a dozen meeting that Rotary year, when Ches Perry served as the ROTARY/One President.. One day, my good friend Paul Pair grabbed me as I came into the Sherman House. He exclaimed, "Paul Harris is here today" The Founder lived almost into the Chicago suburbs. With only two or three years of life left, he rarely endured the long trip into the Loop. We went over to a large round table. Paul introduce me to Paul. Although, he looked quite frail, he had a steady voice and a firm hand shake. He asked me several questions about my war experiences and how Rotarians treated the veterans. "Very well" I told him. Then, he introduced the seven or eight others at the table. Several, although not all, asked me more questions. How, I wish I had known more about the Rotary Pioneers. That would have really helped in my recent research. But, youth must learn first in order to judge what is important.  The
only two names that I can remember are Herb Angster, whom I already knew
and Herb Taylor who asked the most questions. The first Herb, a brother
in law to Ches Perry,
 served
on the 1910 Rotary Association Organizing Committee. Everyone should
know of the other for his Four Way Test. Herb Angster’s daughter
Mimi Altman served as one of the first eight Rotary District Woman
Governors. Others still in the club could have been there such as
Barney Arntzen,
Monty
Bear and
George Hager RI President 1938-39 among others. The endeavor in that Rotary year which gave me the most club notice was as speaker at the New Members Banquet along with the Club President Ches Perry. I can not remember Ches saying anything to me. Or, shaking my hand. And, I do not know how well I did. The only thing I can say, "After 61 years, the Club again gave me the speaker’s microphone." A Conflicted Interlude One week before 7 December 1941, Admiral Halsey ordered the two Pearl Harbor carriers, Lexington CV2 and Enterprise CV6 to Midway and Wake respectfully. They would deliver the LEX’s Marine fighter and bombing squadrons. Big E started for Wake immediately. Installing our new radar, kept us tied up in the Navy Yard. We planed on leaving 8 December. A miracle happened, our navy yard work ended two days early. We set out almost immediately. On Sunday, 200 miles off Midway, we went to flight quarters about 0800 Midway time. A few minutes later, general quarters sounded. I hurried to my turret #3, one those 8" pop guns, I talked of earlier. (One hundred ten pounds of smokeless powder could throw a 165 pound projectile 15 miles. The 16" used a 2500 pound projectile.) The bridge told us we were at war. Going back to my watch station, I saw the Admiral’s message. It said "Turn south, full speed, intercept, engage". We had one carrier, 3 cruisers and 6 cans (destroyers). They had 6 carriers and many support ships. The Japanese went north, we steamed south. Thank you, those who made the directions decisions. On 20 February, we started a bombing raid on Rabaul, New Britain. Spotting us, the Japanese sent out 9 Mitsubishi 97s. Our squadrons shot them down beyond our sight. Then, our planes came in to refuel, leaving only 4 fighters at the corners. Another flight of 97s came in. With only 1 fighter in their path, the fight almost reached us. I saw all of that skirmish. Butch O’Hare shot down 5 and damaged another before running out of ammunition. The damaged plane nearly crashed us. In a couple of days, Butch left us to receive the Medal of Honor, to sell War bonds and have a large air port named after him. Later, Butch flew out one night from Enterprise and never returned.  Yorktown
CV5 joined us in early April. Our planes made a joint raid over the Owen
Stanly Mountains in New Guinea. Without much opposition, we caused
considerable havoc. Then, leaving Yorktown, we returned to Pearl. There
we remove the turrets, replacing them with small AA. I took command of
the battery that shot down the plane Butch had damaged. In the picture
of us abandoning the ship, that battery at far starboard aft shows up
clearly. Again joining Yorktown in early May, we started looking for the Japanese fleet. On 7 May, we heard one of our pilots yell "Scratch one flat top." We had sunk their smallest carrier. We missed their two large carriers, in rain squalls. Nor did they did they find us for the same reason. The 8th arrived clear. By mid morning, our scouts had spotted the Japanese 200 miles away. At a quarter after 1100 the Japanese Torpedo planes arrived. We took two fish. The lighter, more nibble Yorktown escaped. Shortly, the dive bombers arrived at 15,000 feet. Each pealed off, coming down at increasing speed. Well below practice heights, they released their bombs. Each bomb started tumbling toward us. No one knew where they would land. The bombs and planes lit at the same time. They lost every dive bomber. An officer, near my battery, counted seven bombs missing our battery by about 25 feet. They really rattled our cage. A couple of bomb splashes cascaded upon us. Water is heavy. Two bombs hit the ship. One wiped out an entire Marine 5" AA battery. The other hitting in the stack killed my Division officer, my best friend, a great officer. Yorktown took one hit, requiring the emergency navy yard in Pearl, before the Midway Battle. The action took 16 minutes. It went so fast, it seemed surreal. On the other side, our planes made three hits on Shokaku. One bomb badly damaged the flight deck elevator, putting it out of action. We lost the Zuikaku in a rain squall. Losing all of their dive bombers, put them out of action for several weeks. The Japanese trained their pilots on their assigned ships. Neither carrier could take part in the Midway battle, much to our advantage. We trained our rookie pilots on great Lakes ships out of Glenview, Illinois Navy. After the all clear, I left my top enlisted man in charge and went below to help. I had asked Boats, if he would like to go instead. He said "No, I am afraid of what I would see." He was right. Reaching two decks below, an explosion that stopped the ship knocked me out and threw me some distant. Eventually, I found it had badly damaged my spine at the 1st lumbar. Because of that injury, I now pilot a wheel chair. ship The crew abandoning the cripple LEXCV2, my AA battery far starboard aft. As the heat spreading to our metal gun tub became too uncomfortable, we moved to the insulating teak wood flight deck. Before the flames reached the coolers, some of my enlisted men liberated a gallon of vanilla ice cream and utensils. They handed the lot over to me. Temporarily, I became a soda jerk, rather than the ordinary kind. Because of the confusion, I did not feel anything for several days, while retreating on an horribly overloaded destroyer, USS Aylwin DD355. When reaching Tonga Tabu, I could relax. Also, I found a brother’s ship USS Richman LC9 in the harbor, with whom to relax. Over the next four months, the pain and leg paralysis gradually worsened. Thinking it would subside, I continued at sea in an old WWI destroyer USS Alden DD211. The injury had also affected my eyes. I could no longer use a sextant. On 1 December 1942, my skipper denied me a promotion to LT. (34 years later the Navy gave me that promotion with all back pay. To show our wonderful pay, it amounted to $15,000.) I refused to sign the papers, before seeing a doctor. Trying to find a more congenial billet, I tried Lighter-Than-Air. Their doctor examined me and laughed, "I know why you are trying to get off that old rust bucket, but you can not pass any Navy physical exam." Finally, I went to Mare Island Naval Hospital in the first week of 1943. Naval Hospital Shenanigans You have heard of the atrocious treatment many of our wounded Middle Eastern War veterans receive at the present time. In 1943, I had the same type of treatment meted out. I asked a medical corpsman in the USS Whipple DD217 to give me the request for hospitalization. The Alden corpsman did not know how. Because of my occipital location head pains, the Whipple sailor inserted the diagnosis "Frontal Lobe Pathogenesis". He did not know what it meant. At the time, surgeons cured it with lobotomies. I told him that was wrong, take it out. He left it in. Getting the request, Mare Island Naval Hospital sent me to their Chief Psychiatrist a Commander. After a thorough exam, he said "This is not mental, but a very serious trauma. Get in here right away." Then, he added, "I am transferring tomorrow, so I can’t help you." I wondered about that remark. The Head of the officer’s section, called me into his office the next day. He opened, "As a Reserve, the Navy has no responsibility for you. Sign these waivers and return to civilian life." I told him, "NO! Send me back to active duty." A day after first entering Mare Island Naval Hospital, the very famous Captain "Dixie" Kiefer came into my room. He told me "Do not sign any papers, the Navy has to retire you." As the Exec in Yorktown, he had seen LEX explode. I told him I had asked for further active duty. He answered, "You will not get it." The section head could not send me back, as my next physical would have exposed his game. After four or five months, they dumped me as a problem on others. They sent me on a private hospital car, with four others destined for St. Elizabeth asylum. I went to Bethesda Naval Hospital as a lesser loony. Within a week, Bethesda knew they had a sane, badly injured individual on their hands. But, that did not change my treatment. After much leave, about Thanksgiving they sent me to a Retiring Board. These officers believed me. They retired me at pay and grade. I knew young enlisted men could be fooled, but why did they think they could pull that same scam on an experience officer? Eventually, I received my medical report. The section Head had tried to erase the Commander’s diagnosis and hand wrote in the enlisted man’s fancy. And, my spinal injury showed up as Spina Bifida Occulta. I remember some political opponents of President Kennedy declaring that the Navy retired him for Spina Bifida. Implying the SB diagnosis to JFK, me or any other active military individual is outright ridiculous. Navy retired our Exec, who was walking just to my right at the time of the explosion. He suffered almost the identical injury to mine. His retirement went through without a hint of SB or any of the other BS. The replacement Psychiatrist, a short course specialist with a weird psycho background, put me down as Manic-depressive without seeing me. He arrived, while I was on leave in Michigan. About 40 other errors (fantasies) graced my medical report. A Rear Admiral, on my Retirement Board, called the report "unbelievable" The Navy retired me 1 July 1944, stating "… (the Navy) found that you are incapacitated for active service by reason of physical disability; that your disability is permanent, and is the result of an incident of the service." After my retirement, Great Lakes Naval Hospital fitted me with a body brace. It had a steel rod the shape of my spine. That decreased the pain and allowed the muscles to regenerate. The hospital also awarded me the Purple Heart based on my Retirement Orders and the Great Lakes Hospital findings. Between my attendance at the 1943 RI Convention and the end of WWII, the Rotarian Editor, Leland Case, asked me, along with several other Honored, young Rotarians, to write two short articles on military/civilian conditions and arrangements. Because of my battle wounds, my reports tinged of pessimism more than the others. Close to the 101st Air Assault division Three years after retiring as Chairman for Economics in the City Colleges of Chicago, an elective position, Elaine and I attended a Coral Sea Battle Association reunion in Florida. On the way back we stopped at the Fort Campbell Guest House. Inquiring around, I found that the local Austin Peay State University had a Fort Campbell Center. The Director offered me a job. We moved down to Clarksville, Tennessee. A couple of years later, I learned a bit about conversation and writing. I told my very good friend Dolph Honiker, the News Editor of the Nashville Tennessean, "We are going to another Ship Reunion." He quizzed me, "How many ships will be there?" Our first week in Clarksville, I took my #7 to a theater tryout for The Man Who Came to Dinner. She qualified as the daffy daughter. Although, I had not been in a play since college, the director ordered me to play the doctor. As the teaching job had not opened, I took the role. I had fun, it was like teaching without papers to grade. Opportunities abounded, Fort Campbell had two theaters and the town a couple more. Still without a job, I took the roll of Baptista in Kiss Me Kate. During the run, an opening turned up. I turned it down. In our 22 year down there, I taught only one semester and acted in 16 plays and musicals. In that one semester on teaching, I found that the soldier and dependant students bullied the teachers. Most of the young instructors needed the $1,000 per class. I did not. By then, I had a number of community projects. In 1980, ROTARY again popped up. The Clarksville Rotary Club decided to start a Sunrise Club. Knowing I had been in Rotary and had known Paul Harris, the club brought me in as a Charter member, my category Economist. Being an early riser, that really suited me. For my last twelve years in Clarksville, I became very involved again in the movement. In those twelve years: 12 years on committees 12 years perfect attendance 12 years as club historian Secretary 2001-2 President’s Significant Achievement Award 1990-91 Presidential Citation 1996-97 Rotarian of the Year 1998-99 Paul Harris Fellow 1985 with ROTARY/One More on Honorary Memberships that I had spoken of earlier. In 2002, the son of one of our members graduated from West Point. Remembering my Rotary beginnings, I proposed Bill for an Honorary Membership. Our senior member, a past District Governor, objected. He claimed that in this case we did not have such a privilege. I prevailed upon the Board to give the membership. The objecting member graciously accepted defeat. I left before finding how that turned out. Early Rotary was liberal with Honorary Memberships. The Chicago club in 1907 had 9 of them. The 1009 membership had had a list of 19 Honoraries. In 1910, the club boosted the Honoraries to 21. The 1909 and 1910 Rosters included Manuel Munoz a New Jersey friend of Paul Harris. In his first year, Manuel started the San Francisco club #2. Each year, we traveled to Chicago four times during those 12 years. I attended ROTARY/One each trip. In 1985, I became a Ches Perry Fellow at Chicago during Jack Hedrich´s Presidency. I attended ROTARY/One almost 50 times during those years. A Dozen Years At Old #1 In 2002, we moved back home. Old #1 was ready for me. Lollie McKeon, past Rotary District Governor, and Jack Hedrich sponsored me. Not long afterward, Club President "Dick" McKay asked me to research and write a biography of Ches Perry for the Centennial. Dick knew I had attended the club meetings when Ches served as President. I do not believe he knew my highest schooling was in Economic History. The very private Ches proved a daunting subject. Although, Ches and I shared a speaker’s table 6 December 1944 at the new member banquet, I do not remember a "Pleased to meet you." or even a hand shake. Paul reported "Ches was faithful to the last detail." That, gave him little time to explain. Russell Greiner 1913-14 RI President claimed "I defy any psychiatrist or psychologist or later-day scientist to penetrate his (Ches´s) brain machinery, tune into his think waves and tell you what he was thinking, until he was ready to reveal it." I got 43 pages. RGHF (Rotary Global History Fellowship) put my study THE ROTARY LIFE OF CHESLEY REYNOLDS PERRY on their web today 8 June 2010. While searching for nuggets, I found that the 1905 membership roster contained only half the year’s membership, and the 1906 roster completely down the drain. Using "Barney or Cupid" Arntzen’s 1907 and later work as secretary, I resurrected those two defective records. I deposited them in the Club and RI Archives. I can not understand why Rotarians let a Century go by with those incomplete records. After bringing the records into shape, I began to wonder how only 39 people, that first year, could grow so large in the century since. With what information I could find in the various records, I found a core of interested, active individuals. Eleven, I call MOVERS, Twelve more went on the BENCH. Fifteen, including Gus Loehr and Hiram Shorey, two of the first four, or six, acted only as SPECTATORS. I call the work THIRTY-NINE PIONEERS. One of the Rotarian Editors, Candy Isaac, gave me Paul’s five Peregrinations, trips around the world for Rotary the 1920s and 1930s. I gleaned 60 pages of quotes meant for speakers. I call it HARRIS*MEANT, because Paul meant almost everything he spoke or wrote. A shorter work A TEMPEST IN A COFFEE CUP is there as well. It concerned a silver coffee set given to Ches Perry in 1916, by the Southern Conclave. Future Chicago President David Templin and Alice LeDoux President Rotary Club of Santa Ana, CA got in touch with me the same week. They wanted information about what they described as two sets. Digging around, we found we had only one. It is on the 18th floor of Rotary International Headquarters. Incidentally, Ches Perry was Alice’s uncle. These are on the webs. Perhaps, I can call this account MY CONTINUING WORK IN ROTARY. But, at 93? I feel very gratified that Rotarians, include those in the Rotary Global History Fellowship, successfully ask me questions about those very early days of Rotary. I hope it continues. Posted 24 June 2010 by Jack M. B. Selway |
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