5-14-16
A couple of bits from Frank Studenski:
May 8-19, 1945: Today is VE Day with the war over in Europe. This does not mean very much to us, because we still have to go back to a war in the Pacific. I don’t know how long this war will go on, another year or two. Right now it seems like it will never end.
May 20-25, 1945: This morning we put out to sea off Long Beach, we will be out here for about a week testing out and training on the new equipment. Some of the people jumped ship yesterday, I guess they know what is ahead of us and will not go through this experience again. The new radar for the 40mm guns are very interesting. My battle station is now located below Quad 5 in the Control Room. I man the radar scope and the only target I see is on the radar screen. Civilian yard workers went out with us to check for bugs in the system.
As I’ve mentioned many times, Frank was one of the original shipmates that I was so fortunate to have met. In addition to his amazing diary, Frank was a skilled and gifted model maker. His scale models of ships that he donated to the Boston Shipmates are fantastic! Here is his model of Quad 4, the 40mm quad in which he was a fire director.
Amazing, right? Below is a picture that his friend, Laurie Wasilewski, daughter of plankowner of Frank Wasilewski, sent me after Frank passed away:
steve