Where's the Wood on This Tin Can

Where's the Wood on This Tin Can Book Description

The author enlisted in the Navy as a carpenter's mate in September, 1941. On his first voyage at sea, headed toward Pearl Harbor, he asked a shipmate if he thought the cook would bake a cake for his birthday -- December 7. Ted Gruhn missed the attack by a day, but would see plenty of action at sea over the course of World War II, including Leyte Gulf and the biggest sea battle of the war at Okinawa. He served first on a destroyer, the USS Farneholt, then on a destroyer escort, the USS Abercrombie. Gruhn's wartime duty began as a shore patrolman in Honolulu, where he patrolled bars and whorehouses and came upon a murder in an alley. Shipboard, he was resourceful, requisitioning CO"2" canisters to keep beer cold, and participating in "borrowing" a second film projector so he and his mates could see movies without interruption for changing reels. All the while, he was corresponding with a girl back home, who he married while on brief stateside duty. This is one sailor's story, but it mirrors those of thousands other brave young servicemen who gave their all during that terrible time.