The Days of War: An Interview with Donald E. Kirkwood

KAT: So, to confirm the information that I got already and to establish basics, could you tell me your branch of service and your rank?

DK: I was in the United States Navy, my rank was EN2 which was an engineman Second Class

KAT: EM2?

DK: EN2, Second Class, submarine service which was designated SS, and your rank would be EN2SS. As far as your rank goes when you’re writing, write it on anything, it’s, ah, the SS stood for submarine service.

KAT: Okay. So how did you choose or enter into the navy?

DK: Well, when I was in high school, I thought about it, and ah, so there was four of us young fellows, seniors, we went down to the recruiting office one day just, just, teenagers are curious, and thought we were doing something big, and ah, two of us joined the navy, two of us joined the marine corps, and two joined the air force, and the day after we graduated we all went to Pittsburgh – I’m originally from Pennsylvania - and ah, we all went to Pittsburgh, took our physicals, said goodbye to each other, and went our separate ways.

KAT: What was it like separating from your friends?

DK: Eh, it really wasn’t too bad because, we went buddy system more or less, two of us in the navy, two in the marine corps, two in the air force, so the other fella that went in the navy with me, we both went from Pittsburgh to Bainbridge, Maryland, and went through boot camp together.

KAT: That’s Bainbridge?

DK: Bainbridge, Maryland, was at that time boot camp center for the navy. Now it’s Great Lakes, Illinois, or San Diego, California. And ah, by the time you got out of boot camp you’ve made new friends, so your high school friend is, ah, not as close as what you were, so you’ve got more friends to travel with from there on through. You get a little homesick, as usual.

KAT: What were the friends like that you made?

DK: One friend, well actually, it was after I got out of boot camp and got through submarine school and got onboard ship, he was from Pennsylvania also, and we became very close and ah, since then weíve both got out of the service, we both married girls from Connecticut, and he lives in Newington, Connecticut, works for the water burier, and I moved here to Collinsville and now I’m retired from Chandler Evans in West Hartford, so we both stayed in Connecticut. That was one long time friend.

KAT: So you’ve kept in touch with him?

DK: We still keep in touch. In fact, my wife talked to his wife last Friday

afternoon.

KAT: So you were a senior when you went into the service, and how long did you remain?

DK: I was in there four years.

KAT: Do you remember the specific dates?

DK: I went in May 26th or 27th, was the day I went in.

KAT: The year?

DK: ‘57. And I got out on March 14th of ‘71.

KAT: ‘71?

DK: Ah, ‘61.

KAT: So after your training where did you end up going?

DK: I went from boot camp, Bainbridge Maryland, to ah, submarine school, New London, Connecticut, from submarine school, New London, Connecticut, to engine school at Great Lakes, and ah, from engine school in Great Lakes I went to Norfolk, Virginia, on my first submarine.

KAT: What was the name?

DK: USS Sailfish, SSR572.

KAT: On the ships, were you on that one for the entire four years?

DK: Nope, I started on the Sailfish, and then I left the Sailfish, I went on the Argonaut, both of those was the old Diesel electric, and just before I got out I spent 6 months on the Nautilus, the first nukie.

KAT: The first nukie?

DK: Nuclear sub. We called them nukes.

KAT: Ah, okay, so in the big picture where did you fit in?

DK: Starting out like I said I went to engineman school, and I spent most of my time in the engine room, main propulsion, working on diesel engines. In fact they were the same diesel engines that are in the diesel trains going down the railroad tracks today. And then when I got on the Nautilus, I went into the auxiliary gang, which was air conditions, hydraulics, air.

KAT: What did you think of your commanding officers?

DK: Most of them was, ah, I thought, great people, yeah I had no qualms with any of them, they were great guys, that were uh, one of them was Irish, Captain O’Grady, the second captain I had, he loved sports, and he’d do anything to get you off the boat to go to a football game, baseball game, basketball game. He was a good guy. All the officers was great. Some of them was ex-enlisted men that went to, ah, not going through like Annapolis or military academies, they just enlisted as a regular man, and then, ah, from there they went to service school and got their commission, so I had officers both ways, academy officers and regular enlisted men that went through the ranks.

KAT: Did you find either type better, or different even?

DK: Ah, well, your officers that came through the ranks had more consideration, that they weren’t, ah, how do you put it, high hat -

KAT: They understood what it was like?

DK: Right, they had more consideration for your feelings, it wasn’t their feelings, it was your opinion and what your opinion was, they had a lot of consideration for your opinion.

KAT: So were there any better points for the officers who went thought Annapolis?

DK: Oh you had, ah, they were great at, ah, just like anybody. You have your good and bad personalities, ah, strong personalities, weak personalities, the same way with the people you worked with on the ship, some you got along with, some you stayed away from, you knew their personality and your personality clashed, so you avoided them. You worked with them cause you had to, but one thing with submarine crews, you were close-knit crews. Somebody came aboard the ship that was a misfit, didn’t fit in, they didn’t stay on too long. You had to qualify on the ship, and by qualifying I mean you had to learn every part of the ship because, ah, you had to be able to go into

any department and do the job, and part of the, in case there was an

emergency, like I was an engineman, I had to be able to go in the torpedo room and fire a torpedo, I had to be able to go back to the maneuvering room, propulsion room and run the electrical end of it. You knew your job A-1 and A job on the rest of it.

KAT: That had to be tough.

DK: It was a learning experience. It gave you a good education, cause you knew your job perfect and the other fella’s job almost perfect.

KAT: So did that reflect after you came out of the Navy?

DK: I think so, it gave you a broader insight.