Frank Lewis

Frank Lewis: I’m Frank Lewis and I was in the Navy during the Korean War. I joined the naval reserve in 1948 while working in the shipyard there in Virginia and when the Korean War started in 1950, I was a member of the Naval Reserve unit locally and the first thing was that ex World War II Navy veterans were called into active duty

00:00:30

F: With reserve first and then I was in the first group of five people that have never been on active duty. And we were all called in. In April of 1950, and we were called to Norfolk Virginia. We were given a physical at the draft board in Richmond then came back everybody passed the physical

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F: There’s big surprise, you know. But anyway then we were reported a couple of days later to the Naval Base in Norfolk Virginia. We’re there about five days, I guess and then I was assigned to board a troop transport the USS Monrovia and I was striking for raiders enginemen. The Monrovia was a ship that had 23 landing craft onboard that we would

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F: Haul marines or soldiers around and then if we had an amphibious exercise we would come alongside and load up with troops and then take them and put them on the beach. And that was kind of the purpose of our type of ship and all. The first thing we did, after I was assigned to the Monrovia, was we were sent up to Thule, Greenland to the site of a big Air Force Base

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F: That was being expanded and we spent the summer up there. We had these Arctic experts with us and what have you. I never saw so much ice and snow in all my life and but that lasted and we got back to Norfolk at the end of August. And after being back in Norfolk for about a month we’ve made a trip down into Caribbean to the island of Vieques,

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F: Which is a suburb of like San Juan Puerto Rico. And the Marines have a big base there and they do jungle training and what have you. And we went down with a number of ships and took a bunch of Marines down there we put them on the beach for approximately seven or eight weeks then we reloaded them back up came back off the coast of North Carolina

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F: And we had a an amphibious exercise where we put all the small boats in the water, we took the Marines and we put them on the beach. And they had ,we had some naval ships that fired shells on the beach up over the marines heads and this sort of things. So is to try to make it like a realistic amphibious exercise. I was on active duty for about two years. I never did get

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F: To Korea during that period of time. But we operated as a part of the 6th fleet in Europe. Now we would spend a six months tour over there. We made several trips down to Vieques, off Puerto Rico,and what have you the tour that we made in the Mediterranean we were assigned to the 6th fleet,

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F: Operating out of Naples, Italy. And while we were there we went to a number of places. We went to Beirut, Lebanon which at that point in time I had never even heard of, I didn’t even know where it was. I know. And we also went to Athens, Greece and we operated out of Naples, Italy there. That spot was kind of headquarters for the 6th fleet, but we spent six months over there coming back. After we got relieved

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F: We were getting back towards the Norfolk and we ran into a pretty heavy storm in the North Atlantic, and what have you,and had a lot of seasick people. But we all survived, and what have you, then we’ve made several more trips down to Vieques, there off of Puerto Rico, and what have you. And the ship was getting ready to go back to the Mediterranean,

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F: In 1953. I had signed up for a four-year enlistment and I had one year left when I got called into active duty and then President Harry Truman extended everybody for a year. So, I had two years left and the ship going back to the Mediterranean in 1953,

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F: The ship was going to leave. I wasn’t due to be discharged, excuse me, until actually about April or May of 1953. But the ship was getting ready to leave at the end of February rather than any of us that was going to be getting discharged or transferred, of what have you. Well they went ahead and discharged us a couple of months early. And a little funny kind of story that kind of went along

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F: With it, the day we got discharged there Norfolk at the naval operating base, we were wearing dress blues and we all fell out in parade rest and everything. And this lieutenant Navy lieutenant told us all, he said ‘Well, this is your last day in the Navy now you’re all being discharge.’ We were given a big envelope that had all of our discharge papers,and all. And one of the things

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F: He told us, he said ‘Now you need to report to your draft board because they will change your classification and you need for them to know that you’ve been in on active duty in the Navy. OR otherwise they might try to draft you back in the army.’ So he said, ‘As soon as possible, go to the draft board.’ So that day on the way home, I lived in Newport News across Hampton Roads Harbor, and on the way back over there, I decided I just go

00:07:00

F: To the draft board and get rid of it. And I walked in there and those ladies that ran the draft board because I had my dress blue on you could see they were disappointed. I think they wanted to draft me when I walked in there. Yeah. But, I had my discharge papers,and all, so it was. I got a kick out of the fact that they couldn’t touch me at that point in time. But anyway, I did get discharged

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F: And I got to say I did enjoy my time in the Navy. I was lucky. I was not involved in a shooting part of the war and so I didn’t have to worry about you know losing my life and everything. But, because everybody couldn’t go to Korea so some of us had to do other things but it was a good experience. I think I think it helped me develop, you know, as a man and that sort of thing.

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Interviewer: And what was your ranking in the military?

F: I was a third class petty officer and my rating was an engineman. And in layman’s terms, as a diesel mechanic. The landing craft had Jimmy 6-71 diesels in them for power plants and we maintained those diesel engines.

I: And so you were in the Navy but y’all worked well with the Marines

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I: To make sure you helped with their water training, that’s correct?

F: Right.

I: Can you talk about your living conditions on the ship?

F: About what now?

I: Your living conditions.

F: Our living conditions were pretty good. The first thing everybody has to realize, that’s never been in the Navy or really been on the ship, is that a ship is only so big and you’ve got a lot of people on. And so you know

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F: Our racks, which is the bed, we slept in were like five high with you all stacked up, you know. And you had on either side of the stanchion you had racks piled up five high. and you and the guys sleeping next to you, your head would be by his feet and then his feet by your head, and that sort of thing. And so you know we you had

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F: Generally you tried to have a rack next to somebody that was fairly agreeable to get along with, you know. That at least you didn’t fight with, and that sort of thing, and all. But the meals were very good, I thought. I thought that our ship had good foo, and what-have-you, when we were up in Greenland that first trip that we made we worked around the clock because up there it was daylight 24 hours

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F: A day in Greenland. And so we had no docks or piers up there to unload all these merchant ships and we use the landing craft to unload everything that’s palletized. And so we use that to unload all of the building materials, and all. And we worked 12-hour shifts and so they serve four meals a day. in the mess hall. And the food was, I think, very good.

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F: Living conditions on the ship is just a fact that they’ve got a lot of people living in a small space. And so you got to try to remember that and not get in anybody’s way, you might say. And every once in a while there would be a couple of guys that would get at it and they disagree about something they want to go to fist city but they would end it pretty quick if an officer came around because otherwise they’d get put on

00:11:00

F: Report and they’d be in big trouble. So nobody wanted to be in trouble, you know, but so. Living conditions, I think, was really good. It’s a new way of life. I was young when I went in and everything. I’d been to high school. I’d gotten a job working in the shipyard in Newport News I had a girlfriend, you know. I was used to living a life of Riley and just doing what I wanted to do,

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F: And what have you. All of a sudden when you go in and you give yourself to uncle, he tells you when you can eat, when you sleep, and what you can do, and when you can go on the beach have a few beers. Or when you’ve got duty and got to work on the ship, and all. But so it’s a regimented way of life that you have to learn how to live with and all but I didn’t mind it at all.

I: Did you have any interaction with any other foreign

00:12:00

I: Troops, not US troops?

F: Beg your pardon, ma’am.

I: Did you have any interactions with any foreign troops, not U.S. troops?

F: Not really per se. When mostly we dealt with Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. We did have some soldiers when we went up to Greenland,that first time, we had some army people that were on board the ship. But most of the time, we worked with Marines out of Camp Lejeune and really

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F: We had some small contingence, I think when we went to Greenland, and then also when we were over in the Mediterranean attached to the 6th fleet. We had some British Marines just about a dozen of ‘em that came on the ship for a short period of time. And there was some sort of a special deal that our Marines there at Camp Lejeune were

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F: Doing like a swap deal. One of the times, it was that was kind of a different sort of situation was after I got my crow, which is you know your rating that you wear on your arm. The first time I had shore Patrol was in Beirut, Lebanon and me and this Marine corporal were assigned

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F: To go out and we were, we were actually stationed kind of out in a red lights section of Beirut, and everything. And a lot of the ladies of the night were in that area. We were given strict orders by this marine lieutenant that we were keep all of our people, that was a restricted area, and we weren’t to let anybody come in there and fraternize with the local, you know.

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F: But that was like, you know, telling two guys that don’t let these 50 people come in here. So, we just tried to make everybody be as quiet as they could and take care of themselves. And if they decided they wanted to be involved and take care of their business and get out of there, and all. And we did kind of get in trouble with that Marine Lieutenant ‘cause he came back and caught some people there. But it was my first shore patrol duty

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F: Which for people that don’t know shore patrol is, it’s like, it’s like your policeman on the beach. And the only authority you have is with other servicemen. And so you try to keep them from getting into trouble and if you have a problem with them well you might even have to take them into the police headquarters and get put on report. That was an interesting experience.

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I: What do you feel was your most difficult happy or rewarding time during the duty?

F: Well, I don’t know about rewarding or what have you but I really think that trip to Thule, Greenland, which was the place that I really almost never heard of. And all of that ice and snow that we had up there and being at the top of the world we were only about

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F: I think about eight or nine hundred miles from the North Pole. And going up Baffin Bay which we had to travel was frozen over and we had to delay to in Baffin Bay for about ten days. Because we had the Coast Guard icebreaker East Wind with us and the ice was so thick they couldn’t break it. We finally had a storm drove in off the North Pole and it caused some of the ice to crack.

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F: Then the East Wind was able to move the slabs of ice apart and we could continue to Baffin Bay on up to going into the harbor in Thule. But it was so different than any other experience I’ve ever had and it’s not something I particularly want to do again, but it was interesting to see all of those type of winter conditions and in the middle of the summer.

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I: What impact did the war have upon your life?

F: Well, I think one of the things is that it kind of helped me grow up. It’s the first time in my life I had ever really been out on my own. I had an older sister, so with myself and my older sister, were only two children with my mother and daddy and she was off and working and grown,

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F: And everything. and I had been working in my apprenticeship there at the shipyard for a small while. And, but it was so different because you know I had to take all my uniforms and everything and pack a sea bag and leave home and tell mom and daddy I was gone and go over get on the ship with about 400 other people. And people that I didn’t know a single soul.

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F: in order to meet people, learn to follow orders as people gave them to you. and one of the things I think you learn in the service pretty quick is ,if you’ve got good sense, when people tell you to do something,you better learn to do it. Because if you don’t, you’ll be soft so you learn discipline pretty well. But, I think it helped make a man out of me.

I: Have you ever been to Korea?

00:18:00

F: No, I’ve never been to Korea, at all.

I: In 2014, we witnessed the 61st anniversary of the armistice that was signed by China, North Korea and the UN, on July 27th, 1953. There is no other war in modern history that has lasted 61 years after the official ceasefire and that mutual hostility among the parties involved has continued,

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I: What do you think must be done in order to bring closure to the situation?

F: Well, you know when you look at the people involved it seems like the North Koreans are not a country of people that we get along very well with, you know. They’ve got their own way to do things and all. And I think one of the things that was a plus was the fact that they finally did

00:19:00

F: Declare an armistice. After all those years and stopped the war. Now Ken, here, was actually in Korea while he was in the Navy. We’ve had some other people that have been volunteers down here, the kid that I got to know. We had one fella who was in the army and he was in the field artillery and he was sent to Korea with field artillery and spent,

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F: I guess, over a year actually in the front lines or near the front lines actually fighting with the North Koreans and the Chinese and everything and with field artillery pieces, you know and that sort of thing. And what he experienced with manning that field piece and everything was so different than say like somebody like myself, and all, but learning about what happened and

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F: Getting to know him and, what have you, how his life is different to mine you know it is also part of growing up and everything.

I: Do you support the movement to petition for an official end to the war and replace the Armistice with a peace treaty?

F: Excuse me, I didn’t

I: Sorry. Okay, do you support the movement to petition the official end to the war and then replace the Armistice that we have

F: Yes.

I: With a peace treaty?

F: Yes,

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F: I do. I certainly believe that as long as that has been hanging like it has and one of the things that was mentioned earlier was that one of the things that the North Koreans did was they captured one of our naval ships, an intelligence vessel. And that was something we never recovered and everything. And also, I think that we’ve got to realize that

00:21:00

F: The North Koreans are not going to be our friends. I don’t believe and everything. But, I think we have to keep our eyes on them.

I: So, mainly what I have left is do you have any messages for today’s youth or future generations that you’ve learned through this time?

F: Well I just, I think, and lot of young people probably won’t like what I’m saying. But I think

00:21:30

F: One of the things, is being in the service, and I don’t mean being shot at, but I think being in the service helps a lot of young people. They learn to stand on their own two feet. That they grow up quicker and learn what it’s like. What life is like when you get away from my mom and daddy. And I think that it’s good for a lot of people. I think that

00:22:00

F: Being in the service certainly wouldn’t hurt any of the young people. To have that experience to learn what it is to listen and obey your command. And to do as you’re told and learn to live on your own. So, I think that’s not a bad idea to have people put some time in the service.

I: And if anything you get to see different parts of the country that you hadn’t…

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F: Well that’s right you did to see different parts of not only the country, but the world for that matter.

I: Yeah.

F: I’m sure I would have never got to go to the places in Europe that we went and everything had it not been for being in the navy.

I: Is there anything else do you feel you want to share about your role in the Korean War?

F: No, I just think that, I guess, I’m glad I was in the Navy. I’m glad I had that experience.

00:23:00

F: And I think it’s helped change my outlook on life and a lot of that aspects. Another thing was that I had the GI Bill and I was able to go to school and further my education. Which I wouldn’t have been able to have done otherwise. and so I think it was a good thing for me to have been in the Navy.

I: Well I want to thank you so much for your time and for your service. We obviously wouldn’t be who we are today without all the brave men and women that have fought for our country.

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I: And for other countries in this case. So, thank you very much.