I visited 2 Plankowners

June 8, 2013

John Farkas reading an issue of the ship’s primary newsletter, the BeanPot.

So, in my last entry, I was whining about losing my book into the Great Cyberspace Dump.   Three weeks later, not only have I rebuilt the 90 pages that I lost, I’ve finished a dozen more pages, and, oh yeah, I flew back east and met with two Original Plankowners (guys who were rostered onto the brand-new ship on Commissioning Day (June 31, 1943).   They live about a thousand miles away from each other, so it was a trip that required a little stamina.

I met two terrific guys, John Farkas (pictured above), who worked deep in the innards of the ship in the Plotting Room   –   where primitive computers funneled centralized gun-firing activities to the individual gun turrets and directors all over the ship.   John gave me lots of great insight into how the guns all worked, as well as some great anecdotes about his service and “life aboard the ship.”

I also met Frank Studenski, another great guy, who is also a Plankowner.   John and Frank both came to the Boston from New Jersey, and both went to Boot Camp in the dead of winter at Sampson (upstate New York).   Frank was also involved in fire control, but was stationed above a 40 mm anti-aircraft turret.   Frank got to see the epic battles between the ship’s gunners and incoming Japanese planes swooping in to try to sink the ship.

There will be more about Frank next time.

June 8, 1944    –   The Boston, having departed the anchorage in Majuro (Marshall Islands) Lagoon with all the ships of Task Force 58 two days earlier, was steaming towards the Mariana Islands.