Hometown Hero - Sherwood Blair, by Myra Norman
Sherwood Blair enlisted November 20, 1943 in the US Coast Guard. After basic training in San Augustine, Florida, he enrolled in Gunnery School and earned Gunners Mate rating and was selected as an Assistant Instructor. He remained at Gunnery School until April 19, 1945 when he was assigned to the USS Hurst (DE 250) for Sea Duty. The ship left Bayonne, New Jersey to join a convoy of merchant ships headed for England and France. For nine days they were pounded by gale force winds and rough seas. "There were seasick sailors all over the ship, but most were sick for only two or three days."
The USS Hurst was an Edsall-class destroyer escort. With a length of 306 feet, she was home to over 200 men. Her job was to provide destroyer escort protection against submarine and air attack for Navy vessels and convoys. This included protection for merchant vessels and hospital ships. The Hurst made 10 more trips across the Atlantic from April to June of 1945. Her protection contributed greatly to winning the "Battle of the Atlantic."
The Hurst was then assigned to Pacific Fleet and left the convoy at South Hampton, England and headed to Guantanamo, Cuba for Submarine Warfare Training and Aircraft Warfare exercises. From there, via the Panama Canal, they ended up in San Diego, California. After a short stay, Sherwood left for Pearl Harbor where he was assigned to a search and rescue mission. They started at Samoa and went on to include over forty islands scattered over thousands of miles in the South Pacific Ocean.
The landing party consisted of an Air Force officer, a Marine Sergeant, a Samoan interpreter, an officer from the ship, a communications specialist, and Blair. This group would go ashore and search for downed aircraft, and survivors or casualties of the war. "The officers carried pistols, and the marine and I were armed with automatic weapons. Each island was somewhat different from the other, but most had one thing in common and that was thousands of sea birds and coconut trees. There was also evidence that people had been there at some point in time, leaving old structures, camp sites, dogs, hogs, sheep and on one island, an old horse."
The island of Eniwetok was memorable to Blair. "Eniwetok Island was occupied by the Japanese early in the war. On this island was a cemetery with hundreds of white crosses marking the graves of our troops who lost their lives taking it from them. Our troop landing barges ran aground on coral reefs, hundreds of yards from shore and the men became easy targets for the Japanese. This was an incredible disaster."
On Jarvis Island they found what was left of an old lighthouse, a radio room, a power plant and an underground food storage.
After more than two months at sea, they docked at Tahiti Island for four days of rest and relaxation. "At thirty years of age, I was the oldest man aboard. The enlisted men were eighteen to nineteen and the officers were twenty-three to twenty-five. I was considered 'Old Folks'. When these young guys went ashore it quickly became a total disaster and shore leave was cancelled before noon on the second day. Myself and three other sailors were assigned Shore Patrol Duty with orders to get all our people back on the ship. We were provided Jeeps and the necessary equipment to perform this task. Most guys cooperated, but as always, a few required some additional persuasion. Before midnight all were aboard and at day break we left Tahiti."
Sherwood was on board the USS Hurst on December 10 in New Jersey when it was prepared for decommissioning. On January 25, 1946, he once again became a civilian.
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